Opening Address Today the Church keeps St. Louis IX, King of France, and the Gospel appointed for his Mass is the one about the ten servants and the ten gold pieces. I want to say at the start what this parable is not, because it has been preached badly for a very long time. It […]
Tag Archives: daily offering
24
Aug
Aug
Opening Address And coming down with them, he stood in a plain place. Luke gives us one clause, eight words long, and the whole feast turns on it. He came down. He stood in a plain place. Beloved, grace and peace to you this Monday morning, whatever you are carrying into the week. Bloom asks […]
22
Aug
Aug
Opening Address Let us go therefore with confidence to the throne of grace. That is not an invitation. It is an instruction, and the word sitting in the middle of it has no business being there. Confidence. Beloved, grace and peace to you this Saturday morning, however you have arrived: steady or shaking, praying for […]
21
Aug
Aug
Opening Address The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field. Hidden. That one word is where this whole morning starts, and everything after it follows from it. Beloved, grace and peace to you, however you arrive at this hour: rested or wrung out, praying easily or not praying at all, […]
20
Aug
Aug
Opening Address He will pour forth the words of his wisdom as showers. That is today’s promise about a holy man, and the whole day hangs on one word in it. Beloved, grace and peace to you, however you arrive this morning: steady or scattered, praying easily or not praying at all, three years into […]
19
Aug
Aug
Opening Address New religious families—that is the Church’s own phrase, in today’s prayer, and I want to sit with it all morning. Beloved, grace and peace to you, however you come to this: rested or wrecked, sure of God or sure of nothing, held by the people you were born to or held by people […]
18
Aug
Aug
Opening Address Stand her ground—that is what today’s prayer asks for the Church, in those words, and it is a stranger request than it first sounds. Beloved, grace and peace to you this morning—however you arrive here: tired or hopeful, certain or doubting, welcomed elsewhere or shut out elsewhere. Bloom is not a room you […]
17
Aug
Aug
Opening Address St. Hyacinth spent roughly thirty-seven years walking, and that fact is the door into everything today’s Mass is saying. Beloved, grace and peace to you this morning—however you arrive here: tired or hopeful, certain or doubting, welcomed elsewhere or shut out elsewhere. Bloom is not a room you have to earn your way […]
15
Aug
Aug
Opening Address Blessed art thou that hast believed—six words spoken by one pregnant woman to another in a hill town, and the reason the Church gives us this Gospel today of all days. Beloved, grace and peace to you this morning: however you arrive here, tired or hopeful, certain or doubting, welcomed elsewhere or shut […]
14
Aug
Aug
Opening Address Blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it—that is Christ’s own correction of a compliment, and it’s the sentence to carry into this morning before anything else is said. Beloved, grace and peace to you: however you arrive here, tired or hopeful, certain or doubting, welcomed elsewhere or shut […]