The priest approached me with a bag of chocolates. Was this a bribe? I accepted them, gave him my salutation, and contemplated his question: “Will you become an altar server?”

His name was Fr. Francis Carabello. My dad started going to his church during lunch, because it was very close to his job. Due to rising gas prices, my family could no longer make the commute to our previous church that was 18 miles away, so we decided to make this our new parish church. I would estimate that 80% of the congregation is 65 years of age or older. When Fr. Frank saw me attending Mass consistently for a few weeks, he came forward with his request, the bag of chocolates signifying a sense of desperateness.

I felt obligated to help, but was nervous in that I had never done anything like this before. Assisting in the celebration of the Mass in front of hundreds of people was a daunting notion, especially as a novice. Despite this, I broke from my shell and accepted his invitation. David, the head altar server at that time, was happy to have a new comrade, and I was happy to learn.

Serving adds an entire new dimension to the Mass. The nuance and attention to detail needed to perform all the tasks required of a server is intense. Fast-forwarding a few years, Fr. Frank is retired and the new resident priest is a man of high standards, which consequently and sadly chased many of the younger servers away, leaving only two servers, a 15-year old and me. This has been a blessing and curse within itself. Upon noticing this situation, I began serving all the Masses to assure that every Mass had a server. I have come to love the Catholic Church even more because of this, a feeling that I desire to carry for the rest of my life. However, once I leave for college, I worry that there will be no one left to serve, a problem I am working to solve now.

Altar serving has impacted my life for the better, by making me appreciate and love my faith more as my life has progressed. My faith has become an integral part of my being now, a fundamental change that I wholly embrace.