Daily Meditation for April 7, 2025

Happily, the youngsters at our parish love to be the servers at Mass! Is it that they like to dress up in costumes from centuries ago? Or, I wonder, do they agree with the answer little Tony gave me: “We can be closer to Jesus when we serve”? Occasionally, they giggle, twirl the belt cords, or trip over their flowing garments, but usually they enhance our celebrations of Eucharist. One Sunday after Mass, I visited with three of the altar servers. I asked how old each one was. Their responses were 11, 13, and the third dark-bearded young man dropped his head as he answered, “19. We didn’t have a church building in Guatemala, so we had church outside, and the priest did it all.” I assured the young man that at age 19 he was a most valued server, that we all have a place to serve, a role to play, and that the priest shouldn’t have “to do it all”!

By Judy Kramer, OSB