Serving at the Altar of the Lord

Today the boys and I woke up early and headed to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Tyler for the annual Altar Server Mass.  The boys really enjoy this special Mass dedicated in honor of their service.  This year was especially exciting as we would be with our newly ordained, Bishop Strickland.

Mass was very nice and Bishop Strickland emphasized the "calling to serve at the altar of the Lord" throughout the Mass.  His homily was truly from the heart.  He was so funny...he wanted to make a point about the importance altar serving had in his calling to be a priest.  He asked the group (there were about 200+ present) if anyone was from Atlanta (where he and I grew up) but no one was present.  This threw him off guard as I am sure he was expecting some of the group to be there.  I don't think he took into account that most of the Atlanta congregation had just made the trip three days before!

Boys with our College group

However, he gained his composure quickly and said..."Well, I will represent the altar servers of Atlanta!"  Then as he was turning around he noticed me off to the side, and he exclaimed, "Wait!  You're from Atlanta!  Why didn't you say anything when I was asking for someone representing Atlanta? You and I can represent Atlanta of the past today!"  The lady next to me asked if I was an altar server.  I told her that girls were not allowed to be altar servers at that time!  How funny!

Bishop Strickland got back to his message and told the group that it was as an altar server that he began to hear the call from God to become a priest.  However, if someone had asked him if he would one day be the bishop of the Diocese of Tyler, he would have told them they were crazy!  First, there was not a Diocese of Tyler at that time, but also he was just a normal boy who was just happy to serve the church in a small way.  Now he knows that the role of the altar server is not a small job.  As a priest (and now bishop), he has come to realize the importance of the job an altar server does for the church.  They keep the altar ready for the Mass and assist the priest in the most important role.  Each of us is called at our baptism to taken on the roles of priest, prophet, and king.  We cannot leave these duties to the priests.  

After Mass, we had the opportunity to meet with Bishop Strickland for a luncheon.  We talked to him and had our picture taken with him.  Zaira had fallen asleep but we were able to transfer her to his arms.  Another funny moment...as he was not sure what to do with his crosier.  He looked around and he did not have his assistant with him (normally he would only need this help during Mass), so he looked at Sean and said "Here...hold this!" and took Zaira.  It was not until after the picture that he turned to Sean and told him that God might be calling him to the episcopacy...you never know!

During the luncheon, we also met a nice family from a near by parish.  It was interesting how things work out.  I was given the name of this family a few weeks ago.  I had decided to wait to contact them until Michael came home.  However, there they were and we had a good discussion about a situation concerning our family (more on this in later posts hopefully!).  It is nice when things like that work out!

We headed home at a leisurely pace.  We stopped at a lookout point that we have always wanted to see.  There is a sign from the road and we have always been curious.  It turns out that this was a historical site with a beautiful view into a valley 700 feet below!  I was able to take a few pictures but the boys did not cooperate so well.  No one was ever looking at the camera at the same time...LOL!  We will just have to stop here again some time!

We got home and decided that I needed to keep a promise to Edward related to pictures as well.  He asked me back in September to take a picture of him with Zaira in their sacrament clothes.  I decided that it was a good day for this photo opportunity...not to mention I was getting worried about them outgrowing the clothes!  This was such a blessing for the two of them to do...and a blessing for me to photo.  I am glad we did this!  At the end, I told him we took all the pictures needed.  He told me that he wanted to do one more thing before getting out of their dressy clothes. He wanted to dance with Zaira to 'Ave Maria' (her favorite song).  What a special moment and so sweet.  I told him that from now on he could not refuse her if she asked him to dance...she was hooked!  They both truly enjoyed the experience!

Days like today are easy to enjoy!  I will cherish this day and hope my children do also.  We are truly blessed.