Since I was in second grade I have been an alter server; I’ve served on the weekends, on Christmas eve, and Holy week. This year I served Holy Thursday and the Easter vigil Saturday evening. For both masses my main duty was incense, as it has been for many years. As you can imagine the incense is an important part of these masses, not as big as the Eucharist, but still important. For me to light the charcoal and pray that it burns before it is time for incense, is both exciting and nerve wracking at the same time. It is a big responsibility for me to light the incense and to keep the flame alive until it is time. But I think that doing incense at both masses brings me closer to Jesus and teaches me patience. Lighting the charcoal can be challenging at times, taking me sometimes up to ten minutes to get in lit. But I think over the years lighting the charcoal has taught me patience because without patience I will get frustrated and the mass would be without incense. I need patience in order to get the charcoal lit and to keep the charcoal lit till the time comes for the incense. This can be compared to Jesus during holy week, he knew that his time was near and he accepted that, he was patient with his father’s plan for his life. During this week Jesus was patient with his disciples as well because he knew that one would betray him and another would deny him, but yet he still led them and set an example for them. He was patient with Peter in the Garden when he cut off the ear of one of the guards, even though that is not how he wanted to approach the guards. There is a lot that we can learn from the way that Jesus dealt with his disciples and even the criminals on the cross during holy week. During holy week we are also called to be patient between the time that Jesus is taken into custody and when Jesus rises on the third day. He was setting an example for all of us as well because we must be patient with one another in our daily lives. Just like the charcoal and the disciples, it is true that none of us our truly perfect, but if we are all patient with one another we can live in perfect harmony with one another.
