Each Sunday, all around the globe, Catholics gather together to pray in a particular and distinctive way: to celebrate the Mass.  Go anywhere you like in the world:  The language may change, the clothes and sermon style may differ, but the Mass and its structure are always the same.  Even Sunday to Sunday, the way Catholics pray together changes in part, but is largely the same actions. Why?  What is the Mass and why do we do it?

The Mass is nothing less than the greatest prayer we have as a Church.  Handed down to us largely unaltered from the time of Christ and the Apostles, the Mass is God's gift to us: a way to worship Him as He would prefer. This aspect of the Mass is key: Like all prayer, this most perfect prayer is not something which we do ourselves.  Rather, it's a gift from God and something that God does in and through us.  This little fact is more important than most realize.  We cannot worship God as we ought unless God gives us a way to do this.  Through His only begotten Son, Jesus, God has taught us actions and words to do in remembrance of Him, actions and words that really are pleasing to our Father in heaven.  In a way, the prayer we receive through Jesus in the Mass is like a dad teaching his son to write, slowly but surely showing him how to make each letter, just so the boy can write his own note back to his mom and dad:  "I love you."

At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet "in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us". (Sacrosanctum concilium, 47)

 First Holy Communion is for children in 2nd grade and above who have been prepared to receive the sacrament through their Catholic School or our parish Sunday School and Faith Formation Program. For more information, contact the Parish Office at 301-769-3332.

Sick and homebound parishioners can call the Parish Office at 301-769-3332 to arrange for a visit from the pastor or the deacon.

The days designated by the Church as Holy days of obligation are: January 1st, August 15th, November 1st, December 8th, Christmas

Please call the Parish Office/Rectory for Mass times. The Parish Office/Rectory is open from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Monday – Friday.