Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." John 6:35
From the time I was born until I turned 23, I was Catholic. In the 1960's, I went to St. Louis Catholic Church in Austin, Texas. I was an altar boy too. This meant that I had some interesting training that served me well then - and continues today in my own ministry as a Presbyterian minister.
As an altar boy, one of our tasks was to help with Communion. This mainly involved standing next to the priest when the Communion wafer was given and moving a long-handled plate under the person's chin in case the wafer was accidentally dropped. During our training, Monsignor Matocha told us that if a wafer ever hit the floor, we were to stand over it for the rest of the service, and he would take care of it after church was done. At the time, I remember thinking, "How can it hit the floor? That plate will catch anything."
Sure enough...one day, the wafer dropped, I missed it, and the Communion wafer hit the floor. Immediately, Monsignor motioned me to stand over it and not move. He finished Communion and went back behind the altar to finish the service. I just stood there not knowing what to do and feeling foolish for missing that wafer with my plate. I wanted to just pick it up and disappear, but I remembered how seriously Monsignor explained what we needed to do in case it happened.
A few minutes later, mass was over, and everyone was gone. Monsignor came over to me and thanked me for standing there. I apologized for missing it, but he just waved it off. Then as I watched, he performed a short ceremony with prayers and very careful retrieving of that dropped wafer. I didn't understand it all, but I DID understand that Communion was something to take VERY seriously.
And wouldn't you know it...last Sunday during our own Communion service, I dropped a piece of Communion bread. Fortunately, it was a piece of gluten-free bread that we carefully put in plastic cups. I immediately thought of my old Monsignor as I bent over to pick it up. I also thought of him later when I put that piece of bread and the other left-over bread on our church property for the animals of the earth to eat; that's how I dispose of leftover Communion bread, which is probably much different than whatever Monsignor did with that piece I missed.
Monsignor might not approve of what I did last Sunday, but he would be pleased to know this particular former-Catholic-turned-Presbyterian Minister of Word and Sacrament takes Communion very seriously.
Amen!
In order to become an altar boy at St. Louis, I had to be properly trained. I remember my best friend, Gary, and I were trained by his uncle who was the senior priest of that church. Monsignor Matocha was pretty firm, but we all respected and loved him. He was very careful and very thorough with us when we were trained. He showed us the robes we wore, he went through the service and taught us what to do and when to do it. He impressed upon us the importance of doing our jobs correctly, properly, and reverently.
As an altar boy, one of our tasks was to help with Communion. This mainly involved standing next to the priest when the Communion wafer was given and moving a long-handled plate under the person's chin in case the wafer was accidentally dropped. During our training, Monsignor Matocha told us that if a wafer ever hit the floor, we were to stand over it for the rest of the service, and he would take care of it after church was done. At the time, I remember thinking, "How can it hit the floor? That plate will catch anything."
Sure enough...one day, the wafer dropped, I missed it, and the Communion wafer hit the floor. Immediately, Monsignor motioned me to stand over it and not move. He finished Communion and went back behind the altar to finish the service. I just stood there not knowing what to do and feeling foolish for missing that wafer with my plate. I wanted to just pick it up and disappear, but I remembered how seriously Monsignor explained what we needed to do in case it happened.
A few minutes later, mass was over, and everyone was gone. Monsignor came over to me and thanked me for standing there. I apologized for missing it, but he just waved it off. Then as I watched, he performed a short ceremony with prayers and very careful retrieving of that dropped wafer. I didn't understand it all, but I DID understand that Communion was something to take VERY seriously.
And wouldn't you know it...last Sunday during our own Communion service, I dropped a piece of Communion bread. Fortunately, it was a piece of gluten-free bread that we carefully put in plastic cups. I immediately thought of my old Monsignor as I bent over to pick it up. I also thought of him later when I put that piece of bread and the other left-over bread on our church property for the animals of the earth to eat; that's how I dispose of leftover Communion bread, which is probably much different than whatever Monsignor did with that piece I missed.
Monsignor might not approve of what I did last Sunday, but he would be pleased to know this particular former-Catholic-turned-Presbyterian Minister of Word and Sacrament takes Communion very seriously.
Amen!
