Today for the feast of St. John the Baptist, I was again slated to be Master of Ceremonies for an 18:30 Missa Cantata at St. Francis de Sales Oratory, giving me a chance to get really accustomed to this new position. Having successfully done it the day prior, I felt much more confident of doing it correctly. Confidence which I would certainly find myself needing!
As the clock progressed closer to 18:30 and servers started to assemble, we came to the realisation that we were down quite a few servers. Worse than that, the servers who were missing were the experienced servers! Left with no other choice, we reassigned two of the little torchbearers as acolytes for the Mass.
Needless to say, the Mass did not go quite as smoothly as the previous day's. Of course, even the youngest of servers at St. Francis de Sales is very well trained on disposing himself as an altar server, but this could not make up for the simple fact that they did not know how to serve as acolytes, and having been assigned at the last minute, there was no time to give them any training. My special instructions as M.C.: "Keep an eye on those two to make sure they do what they need to."
Now, Mass still went mostly okay; I just had to give extra attention to them. For the first incensation, as we started to move we realised that the missal has not been removed from the altar, so we paused as I tried to encourage the first acolyte to remove it. Making a note to myself to make sure he does so for the Offertory, I whispered to the thurifer to do the same. After four explanations between the two of us, he seemed to understand what he was to do, and come the Offertory, off he went to the Gospel side, right on time! Which was a relief, until, as we start incensing the altar for the Offertory, up pops the first acolyte with the missal on the Epistle side again! Barely avoiding crashing into him (since I'm walking partially backwards at that point), I realised that he interpreted "move the missal" as "move to back to the Epistle side" instead of "move it from the altar", and everything once again ground to a halt again as I tried, with little success at first, to explain to him what to do.
Other than that, the issues were largely just having to whisper instructions and give reminders ahead of time for their different tasks. But this gave me an opportunity to do the "real" job of the M.C., which is not to follow the priest around assisting him with small tasks, but to make sure that everyone stays in line and does their job!
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Mass heard: 08:00, Corpus Christi; 18:30, St. Francis de Sales
Serving streak: 4 days
Datum S. Ludovici, die I mensis Augusti, in Nativitate S. Johannis Baptistae, anno MMXIII.
As the clock progressed closer to 18:30 and servers started to assemble, we came to the realisation that we were down quite a few servers. Worse than that, the servers who were missing were the experienced servers! Left with no other choice, we reassigned two of the little torchbearers as acolytes for the Mass.
Needless to say, the Mass did not go quite as smoothly as the previous day's. Of course, even the youngest of servers at St. Francis de Sales is very well trained on disposing himself as an altar server, but this could not make up for the simple fact that they did not know how to serve as acolytes, and having been assigned at the last minute, there was no time to give them any training. My special instructions as M.C.: "Keep an eye on those two to make sure they do what they need to."
Now, Mass still went mostly okay; I just had to give extra attention to them. For the first incensation, as we started to move we realised that the missal has not been removed from the altar, so we paused as I tried to encourage the first acolyte to remove it. Making a note to myself to make sure he does so for the Offertory, I whispered to the thurifer to do the same. After four explanations between the two of us, he seemed to understand what he was to do, and come the Offertory, off he went to the Gospel side, right on time! Which was a relief, until, as we start incensing the altar for the Offertory, up pops the first acolyte with the missal on the Epistle side again! Barely avoiding crashing into him (since I'm walking partially backwards at that point), I realised that he interpreted "move the missal" as "move to back to the Epistle side" instead of "move it from the altar", and everything once again ground to a halt again as I tried, with little success at first, to explain to him what to do.
Other than that, the issues were largely just having to whisper instructions and give reminders ahead of time for their different tasks. But this gave me an opportunity to do the "real" job of the M.C., which is not to follow the priest around assisting him with small tasks, but to make sure that everyone stays in line and does their job!
---
Mass heard: 08:00, Corpus Christi; 18:30, St. Francis de Sales
Serving streak: 4 days
Datum S. Ludovici, die I mensis Augusti, in Nativitate S. Johannis Baptistae, anno MMXIII.
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