GABRIEL KISSES THE ALTAR WITH THE PRIEST
I was assigned to a Parish in the Aragonite Pyrenees, six months after i was ordained. I was to replace a Pastor, who had been there for more than 3 decades, so I met the unacceptance of the inhabitants of the Parishioners. The task was arduous but fruitful and I would not have had so much fruitfulness without the help of a little boy named Gabriel, the protagonist of this story.
Two weeks after my arrival, a young couple presented me with their little but very special Son. They requested I accept him as an Altar Boy, I thought about rejecting him: not because he was a child with different abilities, but because of all the difficulties with which I began my Ministry in that Parish. But I could not say no, because when I asked him if he wanted to be my Altar boy, he did not answer me, but hugged me around the waist. What a way to convince me.
We had an appointment for the next Sunday, 15 minutes before the Celebration of the Holy Eucharist and he was punctual with his red Cassock and his rocket that his grandmother had handcrafted for the occasion.
I have to add that his presence brought me more parishioners because his relatives wanted to see him debut in his role as an Altar Boy. I had to prepare everything I needed for the Eucharist, I didn't have a sacristan or bell ringer so I ran from one side of the Sanctuary to the other and it was not until before the mass begun that I realized Gabriel knew nothing about how to help at Mass; due to the haste of time it occurred to me to say to him:
"Gabriel, you have to do everything I do, okay ...".
I should not have told him that, a child like Gabriel is the most obedient in the world, so we started the Celebration and when I kissed the Altar, the little one fell in love with him; In the homily I saw that the parishioners smiled when speaking to them, which made my young priestly heart happy, but then I realized that they were not looking at me but at Gabriel who kept trying to imitate my movements, in short, one of the details of that first mass with my newbie.
At the end I told him his do's and don'ts among other things. I told him that the Altar could only be kissed by me, I explained how the Priest joins Christ in this kiss. He looked at me with his big questioning eyes without fully understanding the explanation I was giving him ... and without shutting up what he was thinking he told me: "come on, I want to kiss him too ..."; He explained why not again ... at the end I told him that I would do it for both of us, it seemed that he was satisfied.
But the following Sunday when we started the Celebration and kissing the Altar, I saw how Gabriel put his cheek on it and did not leave the altar with a big smile on his small face. I had to tell him to stop doing that, at the end of mass I reminded him:
"Gabriel I told you that I would kiss him for both of us."
He replied: "Sir, I did not kiss him, He kissed me ...".
Seriously, I told him: "Gabriel, don't play with me ..." he replied: "really, he filled me with kisses !!". The way he told me filled me with holy envy; When closing the temple and saying goodbye to my Parishioners, I approached the Altar and put my cheek on it, asking: "Lord ... kiss me like Gabriel."
That Child reminded me that the work was not mine and that winning the hearts of those people could only be from that sweet intimacy with the Only Priest, Christ.
Since then, my kiss at the Altar is double because always after kissing him I put my cheek to receive his kiss. Thanks Gabriel!
Bringing others closer to the mystery of Salvation calls us to live our own encounter every day, and like me with my dear altar boy teacher Gabriel, I learned that:
Before I kiss the Altar of Christ ... I have to be kissed by Him!
By: Bro. José Rodrigo López Cepeda
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