Rethinking the "Blue Ladies"

One of my very first posts on this blog (if not *the* very first) was about "the Blue Ladies"--Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion--at a local parish. I was quick to judge the intended symbolism of the royal blue albs they wore (and still wear) when they serve at Mass.

The other day, I was there for the early Mass on Ash Wednesday. Because of its importance and popularity, the daily Mass that day was more of a Sunday-like Mass--complete with the "Blue Ladies".

Thanks to The Roving Medievalist,(and the Holy Spirit, of course) I've been rethinking my former opinion of them. Perhaps the royal blue they wear was not intended to make them look particularly clerical. Perhaps they wear blue specifically to distinguish them from both the priest (for whom blue is never a proper vestment color) and the ordained deacons who also serve at Mass.

If wearing royal blue albs is not proper for Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist, it is really between that parish and the bishop. It may not be the "hill to die on".

Is the glass half empty, or half full?