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SERVE WITH HEAD, HANDS AND HEART

 
  The following is taken from a homily delivered at the annual Altar Servers’ Mass at Westminster Cathedral by Cathedral Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, archbishop of Westminster, February 8, 2003. Reprinted from Archconfraternity of St. Stephen Spring, 2003 Newsletter for Altar Servers
 		  
  "So, today, I am taking the letter H, What does H stand for? Well first of all, it stands for ‘head’. You have all got heads which means that you think and you learn. And I hope that all of you, when you serve at the altar, that you think and learn what you are doing because when you serve and when you are at the altar you are, in fact, learning about Jesus Christ; about His life and about what He does for us and about His Presence – His Presence in the Word that is spoken to you when you listen to the Gospel or the Lesson. Also, His Presence in a special way in the bread and wine, when He becomes truly present on the altar.

"I want you to think about what you are doing – even thinking about the instruments that you use – the thurible. Why do we incense the altar? Because it is like a prayer – incense rising up to God – our prayer. Why do we carry candles? Because Jesus is the light of the world and the candle is a sign of Jesus as the Light of the World.

"Bread and wine, you know, because the bread and wine are to become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Yes, learn. Use your head to learn and understand the mystery that you are serving. And as you get older you will understand more and more and it becomes more and more precious to you. That is HEAD.

SERVING, SUNDAY AFTER SUNDAY

"The second H is ‘hand’. You have all got hands. You all use your hands. I just want you to think that when you serve at the altar you use your hands that you are serving Jesus Christ in the church because, you know, I want to thank you all today for all that you do in the different parishes, when you are there, Sunday after Sunday, maybe weekdays too, that you are there to lend your hands, your service to the Church. When you serve the Church, you are serving Jesus Christ and when you are helping, helping others, you are helping Christ and when you serve at the altar you are, in a special way, serving Jesus Christ just as he serves us – Jesus, who gave his life for us. So, ‘HAND’.

LOVE OF SERVING

" The last H. I wonder if any of you can guess what this H is? So, you have got the head to learn about Jesus. You have got the hands to serve the Church – to serve Jesus. Well I will tell you – the last H is ‘HEART’. Ahah! I can see that some of you are nodding your heads – you got it!

"The heart, because the point about serving is not only that you are, as it were, doing a valuable service – a good job. At the heart of your service is your heart because your prayer, your love of Jesus is why you are doing it, ultimately. You say to yourself: ‘Why am I serving? Because I’ve been invited to – because I want to – because I believe and love Jesus Christ.’

"So, don’t forget, my dear altar servers, that at the heart of your service – at the heart of your celebration, at the heart of your altar serving, is your love. Jesus came on earth because God loves you so much that He gave us Jesus and He asks of us in return, our love and when you serve, it shows in a special way, it seems to me, that you are showing your love for Jesus Christ present in the Church.

"So keep up your serving. Keep it up with your intelligence, your learning with your head and be generous with your hands – your service. Even sometimes when you find it difficult and you feel: ‘Oh I wish I didn’t have to get up this morning’ or ‘I have other things to do’.

"Be faithful with your service to the Church and above all remember your heart because He loves you so much – so much that He gave us Jesus. Jesus who is still with us in His Word, in the Sacrament, in His Spirit – that we want to love Him and when we love Him then we grow closer to Him and that, after all, is what we want to do so that when we serve Him in this world in all our ways, He will say ‘Well done’. At the end of our time when, in many, many years’ time you will have to end your life, what will Jesus say? He will say: ‘Well done, good and faithful altar server, enter into my joy.’"