Spoken Word: A gentle breeze

I thought when the priest said that God speaks to you

in a gentle breeze it was a Trini saying.

But to de bone I felt it like a bell’s toll one ordinary day,

not knowing God already audited and altered my fervor for me to be an altar server.

I came to serve the altar, not knowing how much it

would alter me.

I came to serve God, not knowing I was about to be shaped and carved.

I came to carry Candles, Cross and Corporals, not knowing it would give me courage to face my own crossfit of crosses.

But a crossfire exists that sometimes catches us in

the middle,

where we mistake a medallion for a medal and an alb

for armour.

We forget that the altar is a classroom on how to listen.

We forget that in teaching someone how to stand, we must first learn how to kneel.

We need to remember when we too carried our candles

of light hoping it wouldn’t flicker.

We need to remember to sever the several serpents separating us from being a server.

Nine years later I carry a community of support, where common mishaps unite us in laughs and grace, where I was raised on my grandfather’s reminders and teachings.

I am learning that there is holiness in the hidden, strength in the silence.

I’m still learning that being an altar server is about being present, not perfect, that His presence is a present amidst the worldly pretenses.

I presented a new commissioning, where yesterday’s lessons become a mission to protect their wonder and make their journey gentler.

I have learned that being an altar server meant carrying something sacred even when hands were shaking.

Being an altar server is being a whisper in the gentle breeze for others to take up the mantle.

By Kerlyssa De Verteuil

IG: @echoes_of_kc

Member of the Good Shepherd RC church community attached to the St Francis of Assisi, Sangre Grande parish.