Gift bearers are needed at each of our weekend Masses. Persons who serve in this role bring forward to the celebrant the financial offering of the congregation as well as the bread and wine that are to be consecrated at that given celebration of Mass.
According to the Guidelines for Ushers at both St. Mary and at Resurrection Parishes, it falls to the ushers to find gift bearers. Hopefully, as we appreciate the significance of this role at Mass, we will want to volunteer to bring up the gifts at Offertory time.
The offertory procession reminds us that the celebration of Mass calls for the participation of all of us. It is sad when the action of Mass is perceived as a performance that is carried out by a few selected persons for the benefit of the majority who is present.
It is not by chance that our Lord chose bread and wine to be the means through which He offers to deepen and to strengthen His Life within us in a distinctive manner. Bread and wine are the products of human labor. They thus symbolize sacrifice. In the bread and wine that are brought forward, we are offering our very selves to the Lord. What a blessing of loving condescension it is for us that the Lord chooses to work through the products of our labor to offer us His very Self. Apart from bread and wine, there can be no Eucharist.
Bread and wine express the communal nature of the Eucharist. Many grapes pressed together produce wine. Bread results from many grains of wheat that are baked together. In bringing forth the bread and wine, the gift bearers represent the entire assembly at a given Mass. The actions of bearing and presenting the gifts at offertory time remind us that we have a relationship with Christ that is both personal and communal. When we receive the Body and Blood of our Lord, our relationship with the Lord as this is offered to us as members of the Church is deepened and strengthened.
How fitting it is that we are offered at Masses an opportunity to present our financial offerings as well as the gifts of bread and wine. Hopefully, our financial gifts express loving sacrifice in gratitude to the Lord Who is the Source of all that we are and have.
Serving as gift bearers is a role that is offered to all. We can do this as individuals, as families, as representatives of parish groups, and as friends. Making known to our ushers our willingness to serve as gift bearers before Mass can lighten their responsibilities. Presenting the gifts at offertory time expresses a public witness to our Faith. Serving in this role can deepen a spiritual bond with persons with whom we present the gifts as well as with the worshiping community as a whole. When persons proactively offer to be gift bearers, this testifies to all who are present that we are doing our part to express our parish as a vibrant faith community.
Sincerely yours in Christ, Fr. Nelson Beaver - Pastor