As I began to write my petition to receive the Ministry of Acolyte, I realized that the next petition I will be writing (God-willing, of course) is for ordination to the diaconate. From that thought, to the busyness of seminary and the excitement of my internship year coming up, receiving the Ministry of Acolyte could easily become just another box to check off on my journey and discernment towards priesthood. However, it is so much more!
Being an acolyte is not just a preparation for priesthood, but it is a ministry to the service of God and His Church. I can now serve God and his Church during mass by helping to prepare the altar and assisting the priest in various duties. But this ministry extends from Mass to all of my service. Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, who celebrated the institution Mass, explained it best by calling all of us who received the ministry to be “visionaries”. Someone who sees and reverences the body and blood of Christ through the veil of bread and wine. My ministry is to be focused on helping lead the people of God into the mystery of God’s outpouring love that is made present at Mass. To help others see the love the Lord has for each one of us in the Eucharist. Love that is tangible, vulnerable, and freely given. To truly lead others to recognize with their whole hearts and minds that the Eucharist is the “source and summit” (CCC 1324) of our faith.
In addition to being a visionary of the Eucharist, I am called to be a visionary of the people entrusted to me in ministry. I am to see the body and blood of Christ in each living person that I encounter. To see and love each person as a gift that God is entrusting to me. To show them love that is eucharistic; tangible, vulnerable and freely given. To participate in this ministry as a way to “serve and not be served” (Matt 20:28). As great of a task as it is to lead others into the mystery of the Eucharist, I think it is an equally difficult task to help people recognize their utmost value in the eyes of the Lord. To help them see themselves through the eyes of the loving Father in heaven. That their value is not in what they do or how much they succeed but is actually in who they are, a beloved child of God.
I look forward to being a visionary for the Lord at the altar and among His people. To helping everyone recognize the love the Lord reveals at every mass in the Eucharist. A love that transcends and pierces our doubts and beliefs that we are unlovable. I am grateful to the Lord for choosing me (John 15:16) to be a visionary in a time of spiritual blindness.