Volunteer to Bring up the Offertory Gifts at Mass!

It’s as simple as picking up the bread and wine off the table and carrying them up the aisle to the presider.

But, it’s actually much more.  You’ll find that this simple gesture will be most meaningful for you and your family and friends who join you.    It expresses your openness to the Lord and your desire for you and your loved ones to make the journey to the altar of the Lord – now and forever. 

Families are being invited to “bring up the gifts” prior to the offertory at weekend Masses. It’s a very simple, but special gesture: picking up bread and wine that have been placed on a table in the back area of the Church and bringing the gifts forward to present to the priest. The procession with the bread and wine is symbolic of our own journey from this life to eternal life. The bread and wine are also symbolic of each one of us. Just as the bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, so are we transformed as members of that Body.

Normally, there will be 3 Gift Bearers assigned to each weekend Mass. One will carry the Wine and another will carry the Water. These Gift Bearers will be the first ones to hand the gifts to Father. The third Gift Bearer will carry the Host. Once all of the gifts have been presented to Father, he may say a few words of thanks to the Gift Bearers; then Father, the Deacon and the Altar Servers move to carry the gifts to the altar. The Gift Bearers, in front of the altar, will bow together and return down the aisle to their seats. Please sit in reserved sitting, there will be a reserved sitting sign 4 rows up from the offertory gift table on the right side of the main aisle.

Stepping up to bring the gifts up shows our willingness to put Jesus’s invitation to follow him into visible practice. It is a concrete way for us to show our desire not to be possessed by our riches, not to have divided hearts, not to be reluctant, but to give of ourselves, emptying ourselves to follow Christ.

Information explained wonderfully from NewRoadsCatholic.org