LITURGICAL MINISTRIES
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One
of the principles guiding the renewal of the liturgy after Vatican
Council II was that
of
"fuller, more active and conscious participation of all" those
gathered to celebrate the liturgy. Not only the priest, but all present
are to be
more actively involved in
what happens at Mass and
other liturgical
celebrations. Because of our baptism, we
are not passive observers, but have both the right and the duty to be active participants in what h One of the ways laypersons are now more actively involved is through the various liturgical ministries open to us. This includes lectors, altar servers, choir members, cantors, instrumentalists, extraordinary ministers of the eucharist, ministers of hospitality, sacristans, those who prepare the church by cleaning and decorating, liturgy planners and others.
For
a lively and life-giving liturgy, there is a need for many different
services. Both the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (no.
28) and the revised General Instruction of the Roman Missal (no.
91)
ask that each ministry be done by a different person.
For example, at any given liturgy, a lector
will not also be an altar server, nor a choir member be a
minister of hospitality. This allows for more
persons
to share
their time and talent in the service of the liturgy. It also makes it
clear who is serving in
which role.
Those
who serve in these ministries do so as a way of offering themselves, so
that the worship of Each minister has certain functions which he or she performs, as outlined in the guidelines of the church. Some of these guidelines pertain to the entire church worldwide and others to a particular diocese or parish. All guidelines, however, are meant to help the entire community to worship God more lovingly and vibrantly. Before actually serving in some way at a liturgy, each minister is asked to fulfill two requirements. One of those is that he or she be responding to a call from God to serve in a particular ministry at this time. Not all persons in a parish are called at the same time in the same way for a certain ministry. God respects the responsibilities we have for our families and other obligations in our lives, and invites to ministry those who are ready to serve and to grow by serving.
A
second requirement is that ministers be prepared
for their ministry. They receive training on the whats,
whys and hows of serving as lector or cantor or extraordinary minister
of the eucharist. Along with this training, they receive periodic
updates in their ministry and in their faith. They do this by attending
periodic retreats or days of reflection, reading books
and articles about spirituality, perhaps belonging to a prayer group or
scripture sharing group, anything that
will help them to grow in their faith as Catholic Christians. They will
then be better able to serve the community in which they share their
time, treasure and talents as liturgical ministers.
Even
when ministers feel a need to take a
"sabbatical" from a certain ministry, they continue to
be active participants in every liturgy of
which they are a part. They pray and sing, together with the presider,
the liturgical ministers and the entire gathered assembly. They thus
remain full and active
participants in the liturgy. GIRM Bulletin 24E Office for Worship, Archdiocese of Los Angeles Ó 2003, Archdiocese of Santa Fe, NM. Used with permission.
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