In Praise of Folding Chair Masses

Every church eventually has a folding chair Mass. Maybe the pews are being repaired. Maybe it's a full renovation. Hopefully it's not that their church had a fire or a flood. And I truly feel for you if your parish is having one week after week, awaiting something better. We never want them to feel like the norm, but when you are at one it can be a profound meditation, either on the blessings we usually have, or on the Blessing we have at every Mass no matter where it is or what the trappings are. This homily also tells how weeks of Mass in a crappy old parish center when I was 17-years-old was huge in my becoming a priest. And it touches briefly on the reason why I started attending that industrial-carpet-and-florescent-lighting Mass then, and of a sad later chapter to that story.