Last night we had an inch of snow and single-digit temperatures that left snow and ice frozen on streets. That was no environment for riding my bicycle so I used Lyft to get to St. Boniface Church for 8:30 AM mass. The streets near Nazareth Home had a lot of snow and ice but downtown the streets were clear.
We anticipated that we would have fewer people attending the masses, and the 8:30 AM mass ordinarily only has 40-50 people so we proposed moving the mass from the main church to this chapel which was used by the Franciscan friars when they staffed the parish. We ended up with about thirty attendees, more than we expected, and we added some folding chairs to the monastic-style choir stalls in the room..
The small congregation, sitting next to each other rather than spread throughout a huge church, being able to see and hear each other, and being close also to the altar made such a difference! People commented how positive was the experience today with a real feeling of community and a sharing of something important and meaningful. That’s the way we should experience liturgy always!
