Spring Break has come and gone, almost too fast.  It was a much needed break from school, even though it was not as long-lasting as I had thought and hoped for.  Today, I got to do something that I had never done before: altar serve a Mass in the Extraordinary Form.

Yesterday was the Feast of St. Joseph, my patron saint.  I attended St. Joseph’s Church in Krebs for Holy Mass.  When verifying the time for Thursday’s Mass, I discovered that the pastor, Fr. Kevin Willis, would be saying a Mass in the Extraordinary Form on Friday.  For this, I got super excited.  I very rarely get to go to the Latin Mass, much less two miles from home.  After Mass on Thursday, while talking to Fr. Kevin, I mentioned “I would ask if you need help serving, but I have no clue how to do it.”  Father proceeded to walk me through it.  That alone was a treat.

I have served more masses than I could even attempt to count.  All of these, until today, had been in the Ordinary Form.  The Extraordinary Form is a whole ‘nother animal.  Not only are there more things for altar servers to do in the EF, you’re making the responses for the people in another language.  Every move you make must be calculated as everything you do is a symbol or representation.  It’s very easy to become numb to the importance of serving at Mass in the Ordinary Form.  Let’s just say that I won’t be numb to it anymore.  There was recently an article published by Patheos that reinforces why you shouldn’t be numb to serving.  Reason #7 is “You are the Angels before the Throne.”  The Extraordinary Form made this very evident today.