PARAÑAQUE:
14 September 2013 -- Ten
new acolytes and lectors were installed during the Holy Mass
in
celebration of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. Fr.
Eli Cruz,
SDB, provincial of the FIN Province, presided at the
celebration.
Those taking their first steps on the way to priestly
ordination came
from seven of the eleven circumscriptions in the EAO Region:
FIN, FIS,
MYM, ITM, PNG-SI, VIE-MGL (Mongolia Delegation).
The acolyte is instituted "to serve at the altar and to assist
the
priest and deacon. Among his functions count the preparation
of the
altar and the sacred vessels and if there is a need,
distribute the
Eucharist to the faithful" (cf. GIRM 98).
On the other hand, the lector is instituted "to proclaim the
reading
from Sacred Scripture, with the exception of the Gospel" (cf.
GIRM 99).
The Salesian Ratio marks this movement of these candidates to
Holy
Orders as the “progressive exercise of the ministry of the
Word and of
the altar” (cf. 474, SDB Ratio).
Addressing the newly installed lectors and acolytes, Fr. Eli
challenged
them that their ministry at the sanctuary inspire and involve
them in
conusming themselves to the point of exhausting their body and
pouring
their blood for the cause of the Word of God and the offering
of the
Eucharist.
