Mass of Acolytate
Paul Graham
Twenty-First Sunday Isaiah 22:19-23; Romans 11:33-36; Matthew 16:13-20
 
Dear brothers and sisters.
 
It is always a joy to be with you in Saint Joseph’s, especially today as we celebrate the institution of our parishioner Paul Graham as Acolyte in the penultimate step of his journey to the permanent diaconate in the diocese of Paisley.
 
Dear brother Paul, it is from the Scriptures that we learn about the ancient and divine origin of the ministry of Acolyte. It goes away back, as you know, to that time when the Lord was leading His people in the desert, teaching and forming them.  He gave them Ten Commandments as the rule of their lives and the Liturgy of the Tent as their law of true worship.  God established that His sanctuary would be served by well-trained men of devotion and so He charged Moses to find suitable ones to assist His priests, by performing certain duties for them and the whole community, at the tent of meeting and around the tabernacle. They were given the care of the sanctuary vessels and to be known men of service, given over wholly to the Lord’s Liturgy.
 
Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, dear brother Paul, the Church developed this ministry to fruition in the worship of the New Covenant.
 
Like all ministries in the Church the acolytate is a work of loving service.  The Lord, we know, instituted the idea of leadership as service or diaconia in the Church as the exact opposite of the worldly vision of power and prestige.  He said to His disciples: You know that in the world their rulers have their way.  But I am among you as one who serves.
 
Dear brother Paul you have taken to heart this blessed vision of ministry in the name of the Lord.   You know that, if our Church is to shine in the world with the face of Jesus, it must always challenge wrong ideas about authority as power and be a Church of continual reform and purification above all in this regard.  As the Prophet Isaiah puts, we have to continually remove from post any form of leadership, not least in the Liturgy, that seeks to be self-serving.  Instead the Lord calls you to be a faithful servant His people as you minister in His sanctuary.   He invests you with sanctified robes and entrusts you with a ministry that takes to heart and prayer the need of our people who come here to be fed and filled by the Most High God.  The authority given to you in your ministry is, first of all over your own heart, to close off any lukewarmness that all too easily arises from over-familiarity with sacred things and, instead, to open up in your soul that sense of wonder and awe at the sanctuary in which you stand, at the vessels you hold in your hands, and at the All High God Who deems you worthy to be in His presence and serve Him.
 
Yes, indeed, dear brother Paul, how rich are the depths of God in Whose presence you will serve – how deep His wisdom in teaching His people in His Word to which you draw close – and how impossible to penetrate His methods Who comes to meet us with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Sacraments of Bread and Wine!  Who could ever know the mind of the Lord Who allows us, poor simple men and women that we are, to meet and minister to Him in this place!  Who could ever merit to serve in His sanctuary and at His altar?  None of us is worthy, dear brother Paul. But you believe all that exists comes from Him; all is by Him and for Him’ and so you are worthy to serve, who seeks only His glory for ever!
 
As well as the example of loving service of God’s people this ministry of acolytate requires of you an exemplary faith in the Sublime Divinity of God Most High and of His Son Jesus Christ, here present and living among us.  It is this faith, dear brother Paul, that matters more than anything in these confused times of ours as you advance to serve in the sanctuary.  When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi and put the question to his disciples, ‘ Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ He found that the people, though they all seemed to be following Him as one, had in fact many differing opinions of Him, some just plain wrong,  and all falling short of the mark.  He was not, in fact, John the Baptist, nor Elijah or Jeremiah, and He was far more than simply one of the prophets.  Jesus insisted that the religion He was laying down had to be founded upon a clear view of the truth about God and Himself.  His disciples had to be sure what they believed why they believed it and had to be well formed in these truths, and so when Simon Peter spoke up, and said ‘ You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus knew He could found his Church on him and his faith. He replied, ‘ Simon,  it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church.’
 
My dear brother Paul, our Church today, even while professing to follow Our Lord sadly, finds itself in similar confusion as did the people of Jesus’ times.  We no longer quite know as Catholics anymore what we believe or why we believe it.  Our Paisley Synod pointed out how, today, among practising Catholics, the absence of a basic idea of how they are saved is striking and quotes a survey that asked, “If you die tonight why should you go to heaven?”  Most Catholics did not have a clue.  Hardly any even mentioned Jesus. The Synod text concluded that, when there is such confusion everywhere about even the basics of our Catholic faith, how will we ever have the necessary clarity and energy to go out, side by side, and preach the salvation Jesus brings?
 
One of the ways, that our Synod offers as a remedy, is in the attention we pay to Liturgy, or simply how prepared we are in mind and heart when we come to worship at Mass.  It says that: in Sunday Mass, above all, we encounter Jesus Christ as the source of our lives  and salvation and it goes on to say that the Eucharist gives life to the Church and is the source and summit of our Christian life. It concludes with a resolution that all Catholics will participate more actively in the celebration of Sunday Mass, in the Sacraments and in the Prayer of the Church.
It is into this present day scene, dear brother Paul, that you are called to the service of the Liturgy as acolyte. May what you teach and the way you minister be a precious sign to our people of your own strong, personal belief that the Most High God is really and truly present among us here at Holy Mass as our Sovereign Lord, as our Saviour and Redeemer and as our Paraclete and Guide.  Seeing your example may our people come to believe afresh in the power of the Lord among us, by encountering anew His Living Presence among us and receiving His grace to be saved and His understanding His good commission to us to spread His Good News in our world.
 
May the Blessed Mother, whose womb was the first Altar of the Messiah, lead you to the adoration of Her Son, Who is here among us to serve and give His life as a ministry for the many.