Holy Mass is celebrated every Sunday at 10:00.
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The word Mass means a service with Holy Communion. Liturgy comes from the Greek leitourgia, meaning service.
Holy Mass is the work of the whole people of God
Everyone is called to serve God through love and good works. At Mass we serve him with love and gratitude for all he has done. The name Eucharist means thanksgiving and may refer both to Holy Communion and to the whole Mass.
The order of the Mass
Mass begins with a hymn of praise. After the greeting, the congregation confesses its sins in trust of God’s mercy. “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9). Anyone conscious of grave, unreconciled sin should first make confession to a minister.
After absolution the congregation sings the angels’ song: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace” (Luke 2:14). The priest prays that the celebration may be a true encounter between God and his people.
In the Liturgy of the Word, readings normally come from the Old Testament, an Epistle and a Gospel. Psalms, hymns and the acclamation “Alleluia”—“Praise the Lord”—respond to God’s Word. The sermon explains the readings for life today. Silence or music may follow, and the congregation confesses the faith in the Creed.
In the intercessions the Church prays for the whole world, for all people and for itself. Christians approach God as children approach their Father and also pray for those who do not yet know such closeness to him.
The summit of the Mass is the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, or Holy Communion. Confession and forgiveness, prayer and song, hearing God’s Word and confessing the faith prepare us for communion with God. Receiving bread and wine, we receive Christ’s Body and Blood and share in his saving sacrifice on the cross.
Israel once lived in slavery in Egypt. Before the final plague, each Israelite household sacrificed a lamb and marked its doorposts with the blood. The lamb’s blood saved them from death and accompanied their deliverance. Jews remember this at Passover.
St Paul calls Jesus Christ the new and true Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7), who died to save humanity from death and slavery to sin. His Body and Blood bring freedom, forgiveness and eternal life.
The Church trusts Christ’s promise in Holy Communion: “The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread … and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way he took the cup … ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood’” (1 Corinthians 11:23–25).
Communion with Christ in his Body and Blood is the closest union with God possible in this life. The Lord’s Supper also expresses the unity of all who receive it—with the local congregation, with Christians throughout the world and with those who have died in faith.
St Paul writes: “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body” (1 Corinthians 10:16–17). An ancient prayer says: “As this broken bread was scattered upon the mountains and was gathered together and became one, so may your Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into your kingdom” (Didache 9:4).
Because Holy Communion is a sign of Christian unity, it is received by those who are baptised. Every Christian who is not knowingly and deliberately persisting in unrepented sin may receive Communion at Mass.
After Communion there may be silence for prayer. The priest gives thanks for the Word and the sacrament, blesses the congregation with God’s grace and peace, and the Mass normally ends with a hymn.
Holy Mass is an encounter and a feast of joy
At Mass people serve God with gratitude and love, while God serves his people by forgiving them, speaking to them and receiving them into communion with himself in the Sacrament of the Altar.
Mass gives us space to step away from the burdens of the world and receive strength to return with God’s love, serving our neighbours and doing good. The word Mass is associated with the Latin mitto, “to send”. Every Christian is sent out as God’s messenger: “We are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us” (2 Corinthians 5:20).
God is always and everywhere with us, but Holy Mass lets us experience his presence directly and our full communion with him.