"That's so proactive of her", I thought. So, I approach her at the ambo to check if everything was fine. It turned out that the mass reader used to be one of the parish's regular commissioned lectors.
Since the other mass reader wasn't around yet, I just requested this lector to orient that mass reader when she comes.
Always Mistaken as a Priest
That freed me up so I just waited at the commentator's lectern. I was pleasantly surprised when one of the boys who I assumed was the Ring Bearer went up the sanctuary. I was about to turn him away since they were not allowed in the sanctuary.
As I was raising my hand to motion him to go down the steps, I realized he was coming up to me. He took my raised hand and kissed my hand on his forehead as a sign of respect.
There it goes again. I suppose the Ring Bearer mistook me for a priest. In cases like this, I no longer correct them to tell I'm not actually a priest. At least that was a kind gesture that the boy showed.
Ring, Arrhae and Bible Bearers
In the past, there was only one boy in the wedding entourage. The boy was called the Ring Bearer. The flower girls may be one or more.
Nowadays, there is now the Bible Bearer and the Arrhae Bearer for the boys.
In my own wedding, I don't even remember a bible as a wedding item. Of course there were the rings which the couple gave to each other to wear and then the arrhae which symbolizes wealth or material possessions.
Playing Kids at the Wedding
I probably could count with the fingers on one hand how many weddings I've serviced where the boys in the entourage are well-behaved. No kidding.
Most of the time, parents have to come in and goad the boys to go back to their seats at the foot of the sanctuary - and stay there. I've seen boys grabbing each other's throats, chasing each other at the pews, and lying on the floor or the steps. And these are boys who have roles to play in the wedding entourage.
Boys simply become restless and are bored to death. Imagine, therefore, when in this wedding, there were ten boys in all. The wedding couple probably thought it was harmless and cute to have ten pairs of kids (boy and girl) marching down the wedding aisle!
One of the boys was really busy playing with what looked like a small coin. Right at the part of consecration, he tossed the coin. The coin landed on the sanctuary and started to roll. It rolled past the altar and towards the tabernacle.
The boy ran after the coin to retrieve it. It was the Ring Bearer! This was exactly the instant when the priest was holding up the host.
I literally had to chase and shoo him away to go down from the sanctuary. Sensing I was furious, the boy didn't play nor go up the sanctuary again. Fr. Rex, the wedding mass presider, didn't seem to notice what was happening behind him.
Good for him.
