IMAGE: CNS photo/Junno Arocho Esteves
By Junno Arocho Esteves
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Among the thousands of young altar
servers braving the sweltering Rome heat, a group from the United States sat
patiently in the shade of the colonnade in St. Peter’s Square waiting to take
their seats.
“Rome is really cool, but it’s really hot,”
Francis Tran, an 11-year-old altar server from the United States, told Catholic
News Service July 31.
Tran was
among the 85 boys, girls, young adults and parents who traveled from Mary,
Queen of Vietnam parish in New Orleans for an international pilgrimage of altar
servers with Pope Francis.
The annual gathering, which began as a meeting of German
altar servers with the pope, has expanded worldwide and brought an estimated
60,000 young men and women from 19 countries to the Vatican.
Tran told CNS that he likes being an altar server
“because you get to be close to God, and it’s a good feeling.”
But like many of his peers, he is also excited about seeing
the pope for the first time. “I like that he’s religious and that he has
my name!” Tran said.
The idea of bringing the first U.S. group to the pilgrimage came when a
couple presented it to Deacon Vinh Tran over a year ago.
“The parents were excited. And after talking to the
kids, they were even more excited about going to Rome. So, we started
fundraising as much as we could for the kids to be here,” he told CNS.
As a former
altar server himself, Deacon Tran said it was important for the new
generation of altar servers to see that serving God is no small task. He also
said the international meeting was an opportunity for them to interact with
altar servers from
around the world and learn
more about their faith.
“Now as a deacon, I am still serving at the altar,
serving God,” the deacon said. “The kids told me that by being altar
servers, the closer they are to the altar, the closer they feel to God. It
makes them feel happier.”
The group also prepared a liturgical dance performance for
the event and several were chosen to carry the U.S. flag, read a Scripture
passage and present a gift to the pope.
Honoring their Vietnamese heritage, the group was to perform a traditional
fan-and-flower liturgical dance
accompanied by a song titled,
“The Greatest Love,” a Vietnamese hymn inspired by the Gospel of St.
John.
The song and liturgical dance, Deacon Tran explained, also are a tribute to the
117 Vietnamese martyrs who died for their faith in the 18th and 19th centuries and were canonized by St.
John Paul II in 1988.
To give one’s life is “the greatest love a person can
give to somebody. This implies Jesus Christ who died for us. So, our ancestors
died for their faith, they died for that greatest love,” Deacon Tran said.
Gabrielle Nguyen, a 14-year-old altar server who is among
the liturgical dance performers, told CNS that despite her joy, the chance to
perform in front of the pope and thousands of young men and women is “very
nerve-wracking.”
“Back at home our parish is very small, so we’re used
to performing in front of 400 people,” she said. “But going from 400
to over 50,000, it puts a lot of pressure.”
Nevertheless, Nguyen said the international meeting meant a
lot to her to and her fellow altar servers who “don’t often have this
opportunity to just come out to Rome and be here and experience the city.”
“It’s just a really special gathering of people who
share the same passion. We love serving for the Lord. We’ve met many people and
we’ve made many friends,” Nguyen told CNS.
“I hope to live this experience and deepen my faith in
God. That’s really it,” she said.
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