Article from the April 3, 2015 Edition of the Harrisburg Catholic Witness (How it all began)

By Emily M. Albert, The Catholic Witness

“Courtney, I have something for you.” Courtney Abel recalled a December evening five years, when he was awakened at 3 a.m. by a voice.” “To tell you I was freaked out is beyond words,” he said. “I very much like to look at myself and see the similarities of St. Paul or St. Augustine. I had this very big conversion experience at 30, a very dramatic conversion experience. So I’m six months into being 30, and God says, ‘Hey, I have something for you.” That night, “I remember saying, ‘You know what, I’m really busy...’And I heard nothing else and thought, ‘Oh that was easy.’” But it wasn’t the end.

A week later, Mr. Abel was stirred again by the voice of Our Father, who said, “Courtney, I have something for you.” Mr. Abel decided to respond differently this time. He said, “OK, if you give me the tag line, Father, I will do it for you.” And he was answered with, “Servant in the house of the Divine King.” Coming from a bit of a business background, Mr. Abel thought to himself, “Boy, that’s really good.” He went to his writing desk that evening and began to draft the pages that would form the guidelines for what came to be known as St. Michael’s Guard. St. Michael’s Guard has served in parishes through the Diocese of Harrisburg since Holy Thursday 2011. Members serve as altar servers during Mass, as masters of ceremony for the diocesan bishop and assist priests and deacons in many liturgical needs.

Now, four years later, after approval from the late Bishop Joseph McFadden, continued support from Bishop Ronald Gainer and priestly support from Father Philip Burger, Father David Danneker, Father Joshua Brommer and Father Luis Rodriguez, the 68 active members of St. Michael’s Guard follow their mission statement written that December morning: “To provide the highest level of discipline, reverence, and humility serving at the Lord’s Holy Altar, with fervent study and practice of the rites of the Roman Catholic Church. The guardsman’s dedication to knowledge, discipline, reverence, and humility assists the celebrant in entering more deeply into communion with Christ and draws the congregation into the majesty and beauty of the sacred mysteries.” Membership is open to men who are 18 years of age and older, in good standing with the Church, who are physically able to serve the Mass and who have shown proof of their desire to conform to the spirituality of the guard.

There are several steps in preparing to be a guardsman. First, the men are Candidates. They show interest in joining, but have no formal training. Next, they become Postulants. According to the guidelines, “once a Candidate makes a statement of desiring to join he enters into an eight-week Postulancy period, during which he is trained in how to serve the Mass, and is introduced to the spirituality of the Guard.” After a Postulant receives vestments (a uniform), he becomes a Novice. This period lasts one year, during which Novices continue their education of the liturgy as well as about the spirituality, mission and charism of the Guard. “Novices are allowed and encouraged to serve at any liturgy the Guard participates in, and to take part in all Guard events.” Finally, at the end of the Noviate period, the title of Guardsman is taken and is the base rank for all full members of St. Michael’s Guard. Upon reaching this status Vespers services are held twice a year for installation: on the feast day of the Annunciation and on the feast day of St. Michael. A uniform is presented during the instillation of the new guardsmen. The symbol of this uniform is removing of self and becoming a brother of the Guard.

The Guard is named for St. Michael, who led Heaven’s forces in triumph over Satan, and who is considered the model for spiritual warfare. St. Michael’s Guard is not only new and one of a kind to our diocese, but also carriesan important service. Mr. Abel explained a two part goal of the guardsman: assisting priests and assisting the domestic Church. “So often, we see the priests running around here or there, getting the [altar servers] ready. Our goal is to actually allow the priest to pray the Mass. ‘Father, we are going to let you pray the Mass, and we are going to do our best to do the complete and highest level humanly possible of giving honor to the Lord in the liturgy,’” Mr. Abel said. “And through that, we have parishioners see this and are brought into that beauty. And we hope by them coming into that beauty that the heart opens up and receives more of that infinite grace that comes from the Eucharist.” He continued, “The biggest help for vocations is the domestic Church. And by seeing dad actively participating in the parish, actively serving in the liturgy, [children] say ‘Oh, dad is taking this seriously.’ He’s not just hanging out, he takes [the faith] seriously, he practices it, he reads about it. And then [dad] brings those examples home.

Through bringing that liturgical life back home, back to the domestic Church, these become examples for our sons, our daughters and hopefully it blossoms vocations. That is really what we want: we want to enhance the domestic Church. The guardsman truly tries to live out the liturgy in his life.” Guardsmen are seen actively serving and helping deacons and priests during Holy Week. They have been invited to Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s Divine Mercy service, and two guards were called to assist during ordination in Rome. They also run a camp July 11-19 for young men, ages 10-17. This camp, “Camp Call and Duty,” teaches young men what it means to be modern day knights.

Though it is not a requirement to be married, nearly 98% of the guardsman are. And their wives play an active role by organizing activities for the families to come together. There is a strong sense of brotherhood in St. Michael’s Guard. Mr. Abel explained the closeness of the brothers to be there for one another and to be a part of one another’s spiritual growth. St. Michael’s Guard started with only six men and in just four years has grown to 68. And as Mr. Abel understands that this is all under God’s will, he hopes the Lord will allow them to finalize the status of the Guard as an Association of the Faithful and be recognized under Canon Law and continue to gain more members and do the Lord’s will.

Article from the Catholic Witness. We thank the Catholic Witness.