Category Archives: Sunday Mass

Sunday Mass: August 02, 2026 | Justified Rather Than the Other

Justified rather than the other — bright midday light in an ancient temple courtyard, two distant figures apart

Opening Address Justified rather than the other — that’s the plain, startling verdict Christ hands down at the end of today’s parable, reversing exactly who the room would have expected to hear it about. Bloom’s Sunday Mass, offered today in the Independent Catholic tradition — not affiliated with or recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, […]

Sunday Mass: July 26, 2026 | The Things That Are to Thy Peace

The things that are to thy peace — a distant hillside city at dusk seen through an archway

Opening Address Bloom’s Sunday Mass, offered today in the Independent Catholic tradition — not affiliated with or recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, but standing in the same apostolic lineage, the same Roman Rite, the same devotion, held by a pastor for whom this tradition has always been home. Beloved, grace and peace to you […]

Sunday Mass July 19, 2026 | Children of This World, Wiser Than Children of the Light

Children of this world wiser than children of light — an old ledger book by candlelight

Opening Address Bloom’s Sunday Mass, offered today in the Independent Catholic tradition — not affiliated with or recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, but standing in the same apostolic lineage, the same Roman Rite, the same devotion, held by a pastor for whom this tradition has always been home. Beloved, grace and peace to you […]

Sunday Mass: December 28, 2025 | An Heir Also Through God

A folded deed of inheritance tied with ribbon and a brass key laid on a plain table in morning light, the standing already granted before anyone earned it, which is what it is to be an heir also through God

Opening Address Welcome to Bloom’s Sunday Mass for the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas. Today’s Epistle draws a small legal picture and then overturns it in a single line, and the line it lands on is the one we are staying with: an heir also through God. This is offered in the Independent Catholic […]

Sunday Mass: December 21, 2025 | Judge Not Before the Time

Judge not before the time — an empty panelled hall with rows of plain benches and a closed ledger on a bare table, in flat winter daylight from tall clear windows

Opening Address Bloom’s Sunday Mass, and Paul spends this morning’s Lesson telling a congregation to stop the trial they have already started, so judge not before the time. This is the Fourth Sunday of Advent, first class, violet, the last Sunday the Church will give us before the feast. We offer this Mass in the […]

Sunday Mass: December 14, 2025 | Let Your Petitions Be Made Known

Let your petitions be made known — a paper list pinned to a plaster wall with a pencil on a string beside it, in bright daylight from a skylight above scuffed floorboards

Opening Address Bloom’s Sunday Mass, and the Church begins this morning by telling you to be glad and then, in the same breath, telling you to ask for something—so let your petitions be made known. This is the Third Sunday of Advent, first class, the Sunday the Church calls Gaudete, and the vestments may be […]

Sunday Mass: December 7, 2025 | Receive One Another

Receive one another — a heavy wooden door standing open from a bare stone room onto a bright dusty road running downhill in flat noon light, a rough stool beside the doorway

Opening Address Bloom’s Sunday Mass, and this morning the Church asks you to receive one another, which is a smaller instruction than it sounds and a harder one to get out of. This is the Second Sunday of Advent, first class, and the vestments are violet for a second week. We offer this Mass in […]

Sunday Mass: November 30, 2025 | Put On the Armour of Light

Put on the armour of light — a coat and a folded jacket hanging on wooden pegs in a bare hallway, boots beneath, the front door ajar onto pale morning light

Opening Address Bloom’s Sunday Mass, and the Church’s instruction for the first morning of a new year is to put on the armour of light. Not to take stock, not to strip down, not to begin again from nothing—to get dressed. This is the First Sunday of Advent, the vestments are violet, and a new […]

Sunday Mass: November 23, 2025 | My Words Shall Not Pass

My words shall not pass — a plain wooden signpost at an empty crossroads on a wide plain, half the sky clear and half under an advancing rain front

Opening Address Bloom’s Sunday Mass, and this is the last one of the Church’s year. Next Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent and the vestments go violet, so this morning closes the long green season—and the Church closes it by reading you twenty-one verses about the end of everything and then handing you, in […]

Sunday Mass: November 16, 2025 | Thoughts of Peace

Thoughts of peace — a dusty road running out through an open town gate at midday between low stone walls

Opening Address Bloom’s Sunday Mass, and the Church opens this one by telling you what God is thinking about you: I think thoughts of peace, and not of affliction. We offer this Mass in the Independent Catholic tradition—not affiliated with or recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, but standing in the same Roman Rite, held […]