Teen keeps his eyes on heavens

Whether flying above the Earth in an airplane and dreaming of flying it, or standing on the ground and helping at Sunday Mass, Josh Dill wants to serve.

"All work is valuable," said Josh, 18, a parishioner of St. Jude the Apostle Church in Wynantskill. "Ultimately, you should be doing something to serve God."

Josh became an altar server in third grade, when his family lived near Portland, Oregon. For him, it was a way to get involved, express his faith, connect to what was going on in the Mass and "keep my mind clear." He soon came to know the liturgy inside-out.

Training others

When his family moved to the Albany Diocese last year and joined St. Jude's -- where his mother Liesl serves as music director -- Josh noticed things that bothered him: The altar servers sometimes played with their robes, missed cues, forgot books and seemed distracted.

So he approached Rev. Salvatore Rodino, pastor, to ask if he could train the servers.

"I noticed the servers didn't know as much as they should and what their role was up there," he explained. "What I try to do is show them what their job is supposed to be, and then they take an active role in the Mass and they're not distracted."

After Confirmation

Josh endeavors to be an example for the younger students, so they understand that participating in Church activities isn't something that comes to a halt at Confirmation, he said.

"I'm serving God, literally, up there in the Mass," he said. "A lot of Catholics have the idea that once you're confirmed, you're done. This is just the beginning, not the end.

"A lot of people see [being an altar server] as a kids' job, and I don't see a lot of high schoolers any more. It seems like there's this underlying idea that you get too old to serve God, and that's something that I never understood."

Catechist

When Father Rodino asked for new catechists, Josh decided to volunteer and now teaches a seventh-grade class.

He hopes his students gain "knowledge of what Christ did, stood for and why He came. A lot of these kids have no knowledge of Scripture. It's important to teach. They say [we should] 'know, love, and serve the Lord.' the first is 'to know,' and that's what I'm trying to get these kids to do."

He hopes that, as his students get older, they'll share their own talents with the Church.

Living his faith

Josh, a senior at Averill Park High School, is vice-president of the National Honors Society, plays varsity baseball and is involved with the chess club.

It can be "frustrating" to be a Catholic teenager in a public environment sometimes, he said, because of the standards he sees religious people held to by society.

"As a religious person, you are constantly struggling in your faith and you're not perfect," he said. "But, if you waver at all, if you fail, people see that. [Being a believer] is really hard."

What helps, he added, "is the constant knowledge that God is never going to abandon you. It's something you need to work on every day. He's going to give you strength when you need it, but it's your life, your decision."

Next step

Currently in the midst of making his college decisions, Josh plans to major in aviation and aeronautical engineering in the hopes of becoming a pilot. He partly credits his family for this interest: Four of his uncles work for airlines.

"When you're up 30,000 feet in the air, you really get a perspective on life," he said. "Being up in the air is an opportunity to take a step back from life and look at it through heaven's eyes.

"It seems today that a lot of people want answers right away -- the movie idea that you look up at a star and God answers your prayers the next day. But the reality is that God doesn't work like that. God works slowly in people's lives. I have no knowledge of what's going to be in ten years, but I know that I'll be happiest if I'm right where God wants me."

(11/9/06) [[In-content Ad]]