Discipline

Discipline; Mind, body, spirit & soul

  23.   You must be trained to serve. Imagine trying to serve a funeral without being trained! What chaos would take over during the final rite over the casket. How hurtful it would be to the people assisting at the funeral of someone they loved. But with training, this particular ceremony can be carried out in an orderly and smooth fashion; then the people are consoled and helped because reverent respect was given to someone they loved.

  24.   Training involves discipline. In each parish, some capable person should take charge of the training of servers and the planning of teams and rosters. People who serve well should be encouraged, and those who do not cooperate should be asked to leave the team. Part of the discipline of serving is teamwork. Even when you have to serve Mass on your own, you are part of a team, priest and people. It is more obvious in a Solemn Mass, when precise teamwork helps makes a great act of worship more beautiful, peaceful, and prayerful. To the clergy, the master of ceremonies, sacristan, and servers’ team leader, that is, obedience to responsible people; to the liturgical law of the Church, obedience to correct procedures. The server always behaves with sense and cooperation and quickly carries out practical duties, such as setting up the sanctuary before Mass, cleaning up the sacristy after Mass. Good servers always keep to the correct rules of liturgy. They never “do their own thing”, because this disrupts good liturgy. Faith always involves obedience. A strong life of faith always involves self-discipline

Excerpt from: "Ceremonies Explained for Servers: A Manual for Altar Servers, Acolytes, Sacristans, and Masters of Ceremonies" by Peter J. Elliot.