At a very important time in Jesus’ life, He accepted the services of a young boy. This young boy provided five loaves and two fishes for that very momentous miracle with which Jesus launched his teaching on the Holy Eucharist. The Sacred Writers do not tell us the name of the young boy, only his deed, and his act of service.
Similar to the boy, Altar Servers also perform a great deed of service; they have the important role of assisting the priest at all liturgical celebrations of the parish by preparing the Altar for the celebration of the Eucharist throughout the Mass.
In the use of the term knight, the Altar Server is reminded of his duty to serve the Lord of lords with loyalty and honour, to treat others with respect and justice, and to live an upright personal life, defending always the rights of God and His Holy Church.
Altar Servers are required to attend on-going training, annual retreats, camps and monthly meetings (every 1st Sunday of the month). These provide them the opportunity to improve on their skills, to be more familiarised with their responsibilities as well as to learn new skills.
Serving of weekend masses operates on a fixed mass system here at SMOTA. The usual procedure for assigning of mass timing is that at the start of each year, each server fills in 4 choices for their mass timing, and the society allocates each server to a mass timing based on his choice. The society does it's best to give every server the most convenient mass timing, but servers may not get their preffered choice due to the popularity of some mass timings. Servers also have to be willing to serve at masses that are not so convenient.
On the lighter side of things, BBQ‘s are organised for them to interact with each other, and games, soccer & other sporting activities to build fellowship and teamwork. At parents’ meetings, the priests and the leaders of the society get to know the servers’ parents better and obtain feedback for improvement.
Recruitment of new servers usually takes place at the start of each year. If you are interested to join the society, do make an enquiry at the Parish Office/Sacristy and someone will get back to you.
