“I thought it was just an altar”

On the Saturday night of the retreat, the Blessed Sacrament was carried from the garden room at The Briars into the chapel. For Catholics this is the consecrated host, the real presence of Jesus Christ. There, Fr Neil Peoples brought it to each of the twenty young people in turn, pausing before every one of them. One server had arrived that weekend, by their own admission, not expecting much: “I thought it was going to be really boring.”

Then the Host reached them. “It was really emotional,” they said, “because you get to see Jesus, and you get to have a moment with Him.” Serving on a Sunday had become routine, something done without much thought. Not any more: “From being disconnected from a long time, you connect with Him again.”

That night in the chapel was the moment most of the twenty named as their highlight of the weekend. One described being “so close with Jesus” that they could “feel him.” Another, blessed individually for the first time, said it “felt so personal to me.” A third said it “reminded me that God loves everyone individually as well as the whole world.”

“God is with me and not just with the community. He’s with me.”

One parish leader watched it happen: “As Father Neil went round and gave everyone that almost individual blessing, that solitary moment with Christ, we noticed a massive change.” A leader from St Peter’s and St Paul’s in Swadlincote had come simply to accompany two young people and was caught off guard. “I didn’t realise I was coming on a retreat for me,” they said. “I thought I was just bringing them, but I’ve had one too.”

The weekend, called Sanctuary, was the first of its kind in the diocese: a retreat designed just for young altar servers, hosted at The Briars, the diocesan youth retreat centre in Crich, Derbyshire. Twenty young people in school Years 7 to 13 came from four parishes for two days of prayer, formation and friendship, along with the kind of fun that comes with a weekend away together.

On the Saturday, Fr Jonathan Whitby-Smith and Fr Neil walked the group through the Mass, step by step. They explained what the vestments mean, what the priest does and why, and what the altar stands for. For more than one server it answered a question they had never thought to ask: “Before, I knew what I was doing, but I didn’t really know why we were doing it.” Another said they “didn’t know the altar had that much meaning,” having always thought “it was just an altar.”

At the closing Mass, Fr Neil told them that their place near the altar is “holy ground,” and that serving there is meant to draw them closer to Christ. On a weekend named Sanctuary, he left them with one line to carry home: “make your own heart a sanctuary for Christ.” Looking back on the weekend, he said: “it’s amazing what the Lord can do in a simple situation.”

For the server who had expected to be bored, next Sunday already looks different. “I’ll take it more seriously,” they said. “I’ve been connected with God again.” By the end of the retreat, they didn’t want to leave.

The first Sanctuary retreat might be over, but something goes home with them: twenty servers who better understand what they are doing at the altar, and a friendship with Christ that, for at least one of them, has been reignited by this weekend.

If there’s a young person in your family, parish or school who serves at the altar, or who has wondered about it, you can see what’s coming up for young people across the diocese at ndcys.com. No pressure, just an open door, and the same Christ those twenty servers found waiting for them at The Briars.