Recalling the fear and the cries from students, parents and school staff to “get low, stay down, stay down, don’t get up” as bullets tore through Annunciation Church at an all-school Mass in Minneapolis, Fr. Dennis Zehren, the pastor, said it marked a new beginning.

Four days after the now-desecrated church remained closed, the auditorium in the parish school next door was filled with more than 400 people on Aug. 30, hugging, talking, crying and even smiling. They were celebrating the first weekend Mass since the attack Aug. 27 that killed two students at the elementary school, wounded 18 others and three adults, as Zehren was presiding. The suspected shooter was found dead at the scene of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda concelebrated the Mass, and drew people not only from the parish, but from other parts of the archdiocese. But at this Mass, members of the congregation were not in the pews to which they had grown accustomed, Zehren said. They were in folding chairs, with the sanctuary on the auditorium’s stage. And they were still wrestling with the tragedy that had unfolded.

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“It’s clear to us all here at Annunciation that we will be sitting in a different pew for a long time to come because of what happened,” Zehren said in his homily, as the church remained closed and must be reconsecrated before it can be used again for worship.

The Scriptures for the day point to humility, Zehren said. Jesus encourages His listeners in the Gospel passage from Luke to avoid taking the seat of honour at a banquet feast. Rather, take the lowest place.

“My good people of Annunciation, my good people of Minneapolis and beyond, we are in a very low place,” the pastor said. “We are in a lower place than we could have ever imagined. We can look around and see that this is not our normal seat. This is not where we usually gather, not in our usual worship space.”

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At the same time, they were seated in the high school auditorium where Masses had been held for decades before the new church was built in 1961, Zehren said.

“Jesus speaks about humility, so we come back to our humble beginnings,” Zehren said. “That’s what this day represents. It’s a humble beginning. … It’s a call to begin again. The tricky part about the virtue of humility is that we don’t always get to choose the seating, the chart.”

At times, people get the seat of honour, or a seat where they are comfortable, with “all sorts of nice cushions,” the priest said.

“But sometimes we have to sit in the dust,” he said. “It’s a very humbling seat. I know the best thing we can do is just sit there for a while. … Jesus says, ‘Can you just sit with me here, in the dust? Because that’s where He is. It’s the same dust that Jesus fell in when He was carrying the Cross. It’s the same dust that He bled in. Jesus said, ‘Can you just come sit with me and sit in this humble place?’ ”

Annunciation parishioners Sean O’Brien, his wife, Mallory, and their four children were at the Aug. 30 Mass. Sean O’Brien was at the all-school Mass as well, with their two-year-old daughter, when the shooting occurred. Their fourth grader and first grader were in the pews. None of them were injured.

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“I think capturing how we all felt in such a strong way from the pulpit, it’s really meaningful to have a leader (Zehren) who can speak to that emotion,” said O’Brien, a lifelong member of the parish, where his grandfather was a deacon.

“I came in here optimistic that this community would rebuild, and I now have never been more certain of anything in my life,” he said. “I can’t wait to see what the Lord will do now.”