What makes someone want to become an altar server / acolyte?

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goodcatholic

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I refer to adults who do this. They like to be close to the priest? They like to be close to what is happening near the priest?
I don’t understand the motivation. I was an altar boy and enjoyed ringing the bells and so on. But that phase is past now.
 
As a younger person, it’s a great way to see how the liturgy works. Curiosity is not limited to youth.
 
goodcatholic said:
I refer to adults who do this. They like to be close to the priest? They like to be close to what is happening near the priest?
I don’t understand the motivation. I was an altar boy and enjoyed ringing the bells and so on. But that phase is past now.
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For me the desire to help provide an orderly liturgy for the glory of God. I assist at a Byzantine (Ruthenian) Catholic Divine Liturgy from time to time. There are not very many of us in the congregation, and about half of us are men and boys (the particular law of the Ruthenian Catholic metropolitan church in the U.S. requires men and/or boys only to serve at the altar - in case anyone here is argumentive, I am not going to quarrel with you). Someone has to step up and do it. That being said, we are getting more volunteers, and I don’t have to serve as often and have not done so in about half a year or more. Nevertheless, I will concede that when I did, the idea of becoming a priest occasionally popped up in my mind.

You said: “I don’t understand the motivation”.

Do not think of us as weird; we serve for God’s glory.

(In case anyone is looking at my profile picture, that is me vested as a server after Divine Liturgy according to the Byzantine rite, held in a Roman rite parish.)
 
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As a small boy, I was an altar server. In our small world then, being an altar server was quite a novelty. Those days only two boys were required to serve during each mass. It was kind of a privilege.

Now, I think when an adult does it, idk, I think it is because they want to serve so that mass is done accordingly for the benefit of the people.
 
Until you’re in the zone, you won’t understand. There’s nothing like watching father make the secret hand sign that means “bring me the cruet of water.” And, when you see it, you know the whole team is counting on you to get that water up there pronto.
 
I like doing anything I can from time to time to assist in the liturgy. There’s a humbling feeling of being able to serve the one who is in persona Christi for us during the most divine moments we can experience.

I also find a distinctly different satisfaction in the literal communion of being an EMHC or in carrying out the tradition of oral proclamation of scripture as a reader.
 
From the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM):

“97. The faithful, moreover, should not refuse to serve the People of God in gladness whenever they are asked to perform some particular service or function in the celebration.”

The “pastor or rector of the church” decides who is to be an altar server, in the absence of an instituted acolyte. From the GIRM:
“107. Liturgical functions that are not proper to the Priest or the Deacon and are mentioned above (nos. 100-106) may even be entrusted by means of a liturgical blessing or a temporary deputation to suitable lay persons chosen by the pastor or the rector of the church. As to the function of serving the Priest at the altar, the norms established by Bishop for his diocese should be observed.”

Instituted acolytes are discussed in n. 98 and 187-193. Also from the GIRM:

“100. In the absence of an instituted acolyte, there may be deputed lay ministers to serve at the altar ….”.

Some rubrics from the Order of Mass in the Roman Missal that highlight that there should not be a Priest alone in the sanctuary for the Mass are:

“1. When the people are gathered, the Priest approaches the altar with the ministers while the Entrance Chant is sung.
When he has arrived at the altar, after making a profound bow with the ministers, the Priest venerates the altar with a kiss and, if appropriate, incenses the cross and the altar. Then, with the ministers, he goes to the chair.”

“21. When all this has been done, the Offertory Chant begins. Meanwhile, the ministers place the corporal, the purificatory, the chalice, the pall, and the Missal on the altar.”

Another task requiring a second person in the sanctuary is described in the GIRM:

“145. … the Priest washes his hands standing at the side of the altar and, as the minister pours the water, says quietly, Lava me, Domine (Wash me, O Lord). "
 
Being an altar serve is nothing I aspired to or wanted for myself, but shortly after I was confirmed, I was approached by the church ladies after daily mass and asked if I wanted to serve.

Not knowing what I was getting myself into, I agreed.

After my first week of serving daily mass my parish priest suggested I should sign up for Sundays. So, off I went.

`If I were to apply a biblical verse of my call to service, I would refer to an antiphon we hear occasionally at mass,
As the sparrow finds a home

and the swallow a nest to settle her young,

My home is by your altars,

LORD of hosts, my king and my God!

~ Psalm 84:3
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As a server, I admit, I enjoy the proximity to the priests and to the altar. I enjoy being so intrinsically involved in the liturgy and I joyously take on the responsibility of bringing more reverence to the mass. It’s just an opportunity to make that push towards a greater appreciation of our Catholic faith.
 
goodcatholic said:
I refer to adults who do this. They like to be close to the priest? They like to be close to what is happening near the priest?

I don’t understand the motivation
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A lot of people like to volunteer, not just for altar server but for reader, EM and usher duties as well. They socialize with others in the group, I think its really a lot about being in the group and being involved.

Its not just the Catholic Church that gets people involved like this, my former neighbor started attending a local baptist church and after a month, he borrowed a black tie from me as they ordained him as a deacon.
 
I think you could ask the same of any church ministry. I’m 30 and I sing in the choir, I’m the youngest person by a few years. I sang in the children’s choir from 1st-8th grade. At that time, we didn’t have a teen choir. When I graduated college, I came back. It’s the same director I had all that time and it just felt natural.

I do it because it’s fun, I like to sing, and also, like others have said, I like knowing that I’m contributing to the Mass in some way. It’s a nice feeling when we do a piece and it goes pretty well. But what makes it special for me is knowing that we are providing the music that some people find so beautiful, so moving, such a part of special events, etc. Being a part of special moments for the congregation is a neat feeling.

Also, I regularly feel like I experience the Holy Spirit while singing in the choir. When there’s a piece that we didn’t know too well, or something unusual happens and we “go with the flow,” or when the director drops out on the organ and we sing a cappella for a few measures – those are moments when the Holy Spirit takes over. Especially the organ dropping-out. She never tells us when she is going to – because I don’t think she ever really knows. It just happens and it’s always wonderful. It chokes me up sometimes!

My first Holy Week in the choir was amazing. I still wish I’d feel that way again.
 
My brothers are altar servers (both adults). But they are doing it because that’s what they have been doing in our parish since 7 and they just didn’t ‘quit’
 
They don’t mind it. They would rather serve than to go for Mass like the rest of us. They said it’s less boring 💀
 
Lea101 said:
They said it’s less boring
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That might be why many do it. I only find Mass boring when the music ministry want to sing almost everything on the agenda. We had a Kyrie that went an extraordinarily long time the other day. About 3 minutes.
 
Lea101 said:
They don’t mind it. They would rather serve than to go for Mass like the rest of us. They said it’s less boring
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I suppose after you’ve been used to serving for a long time, its tough to sit in the pews. I don’t have any relatives who are priests, but I suppose it feels a bit peculiar for priests to be in the pews at a relative’s funeral and not be part of it, which i guess sometimes happens.
 
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