Opening Address Welcome to Bloom’s Christmas Eve Mass, the Vigil of the Nativity of Our Lord. Tonight the whole Church leans toward one birth, and the Gospel it hands us this morning is not the stable and not the shepherds. It is a man alone with a decision, and the single adjective Matthew gives him: […]
Tag Archives: Independent Catholic
23
Dec
Dec
Opening Address Welcome to Bloom’s Daily Offering for Tuesday, December 23, 2025. Today is a feria of the fourth week of Advent, second class, and the vestments are violet. There is no feast, no saint and no commemoration, and for the third morning running the Church hands us the same Mass without changing a syllable […]
22
Dec
Dec
Opening Address Welcome to Bloom’s Daily Offering for Monday, December 22, 2025. Today is a feria of the fourth week of Advent, second class, and the vestments are violet. There is no feast, no saint, no commemoration, and not one word in today’s Mass that was not said yesterday. So the whole morning belongs to […]
21
Dec
Dec
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 […]
18
Dec
Dec
Opening Address Bloom’s Daily Offering for Thursday, and the Lesson ends this morning on a sentence that asks nothing of you at all—a peace which surpasseth all understanding. This is the Feria V after the Third Sunday of Advent, second class, and the vestments are violet. There is no saint on the calendar, nothing displaced, […]
15
Dec
Dec
Opening Address Bloom’s Daily Offering for Monday, and the Gospel this morning is a short interview in which the interesting question comes last—what sayest thou of thyself. This is the Feria II after the Third Sunday of Advent, third class, and the vestments are violet again. Yesterday they were rose for one morning; today the […]
14
Dec
Dec
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 […]
12
Dec
Dec
Opening Address Bloom’s Daily Offering for Friday, and the Lesson ends this morning the way it ended on Sunday and twice since: with a prayer that you may abound in hope. Not hold on to some. Not keep enough to be going on with. Abound. This is the Feria VI after the Second Sunday of […]
11
Dec
Dec
Opening Address Feed my sheep. That is the whole of the order given in this morning’s Mass, and it is given three times before the Lesson has even begun. Today is white, in the middle of a violet fortnight, for a bishop of Rome who died on this day in 384. The Mass itself is […]
09
Dec
Dec
Opening Address Bloom’s Daily Offering for Tuesday, and today the Church gives you a text you were given two days ago, on the grounds that it was written for our learning and learning is not a thing that happens once. This is the Feria III after the Second Sunday of Advent, third class, and the […]