Join us for Mass!
Sunday Mass Times | 8:00AM Said Mass | 11:00AM Sung Mass
Welcome to Eucharistic Worship at St. Monica and St. James.
The Mass, also known as the Eucharist, Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is celebrated each Sunday morning. On other Feast Days the times of Mass are mentioned in our calendar. The Liturgy, from the Book of Common Prayer 1979, follows the typical pattern of the Western Churches. Hymns are sung, Scripture is read, prayers are offered, sins are forgiven and the Eucharist is celebrated. Children are welcome to be active participants in the liturgy at St. Monica and St. James.
What is the Eucharist in the Anglican tradition? Anglicans are somewhat vague on specifics because explaining a mystery isn't easy. Most Anglicans believe in the Doctrine of the Real Presence in the Eucharist: that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of the Risen Christ. How that happens is not defined. Is it physical? Is it metaphoric? Is it merely symbolic? We don't know and in every reverent sense we don't care. All we know is that through it, Christ offers himself to us and that through receiving the Holy Eucharist our souls and bodies are fed with the very Being of Christ himself.
As a parish in the Anglo-Catholic tradition, we pay great reverence to the Blessed Sacrament as if it were the person of Our Lord himself. However our Lord is present in the Sacrament, it's the closest physical presence of him we can know this side of the grave. Incense is offered as a symbol of our prayers rising to heaven.
At the time of the administration of Holy Communion, if you seek God and are drawn to Christ you are welcome at God's table.
Join us each Sunday as we celebrate the Presence of Christ in our midst. Come as you are, knowing that you are welcome within this household of Christians at St. Monica and St. James.
