In this homily by Father Loomis, all three of our readings are connected by one common idea… the Church as the bride of Christ awaiting our bridegroom.

We are each made the bride on the day of our baptism, clothed in white and innocence. We were given a candle and told to keep it burning brightly.

The candle, like the lamps in the Gospel, represent the divine life given to us in our baptism… “the pure union we now have with God.” The oil that fuels that is the Holy Spirit.

But, as the foolish virgins in the Gospel, that love we have can break down in the waiting if we neglect to keep our lamps trimmed.

How many people do you know that have just stopped engaging the graces of the Holy Spirit? How many times has that happened for you?

When it occurs, “faith wanes, the desire for God dries up”… “the spiritual life becomes burdensome… and we become desensitized to sin.”

Christ saw this happening himself which is why he was warning the disciples.

Father proposes the question, “How do we wait in a manner that enriches us in this spiritual life? That the gift of the Holy Spirit, not diminished, but welled up within us?”

He answers this question in saying that a rich sacramental life is necessary… frequent confession and communion. This can be supported by spiritual reading and resources that motivate us in the spiritual life.

“But, at its core, what it must include is prayer… and the highest form of prayer outside of the Mass is Adoration, where in we places ourselves physically in the presence of the bridegroom.”

In this meditation, our desire for Him is awakened, everyday until He comes.

In adoration we exercise this habit of waiting with earnest for the bridegroom to return, so that when He does, He finds us ready.

Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time:

First Reading- Wisdom 6: 12-16

Responsorial Psalm- Psalms 63: 2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8

Second Reading- First Thessalonians 4: 13-18

Alleluia- Matthew 24: 42a, 44

Gospel- Matthew 25: 1-13

What do you do when the shepherds are bad? That’s the question that Father Loomis asks today in light of the readings.

Jesus addresses the vanity of the office and abuse of power of the Sadducees in today’s Gospel. Similarly, the vein of corruption proceeds through all of the Church’s history.

Jesus ordained Judas to the priesthood, and then he betrayed Christ. A corrupt bishop put Joan of Arc to death for his own political advantage. The corrupt priest, Martin Luther, led the Protestant revolution that splintered the bride of Christ into a million pieces.

Similarly, today some priests and bishops insist on sowing confusion, division, and scandal in the Church.

So what do we do? Father Loomis says that there are generally 3 answers to that question, two of which can be very dangerous.

He says our best option comes straight from the psalmist… ”Oh Lord my heart is not proud nor my eyes haughty. I busy not with great things, nor with things too sublime for me.”

God’s plan can be messy… but it’s not our place to change it. It is not our place to rewrite His plan for salvation. Instead, like the psalmist, we must “lean on God like a child on it’s mother’s lap.”

We are called to trust- not to do nothing- but “to stay within the confines of the Lord’s plan for salvation, trusting that the Lord is acting even through the chaos.”

Thirty-first Sunday In Ordinary Time

First Reading: Malachi 1: 14b – 2: 2b, 8-10

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 131: 1, 2, 3

Second Reading: First Thessalonians 2: 7b-9, 13

Alleluia: Matthew 23: 9b, 10b

Gospel: Matthew 23: 1-12

“Love your neighbor as yourself”. We all know it as “The Golden Rule”… But is the Golden Rule enough? This is the question Father Loomis asks in this homily.

He argues, “When the principle barometer for love is myself, then love never entirely takes me out of myself and into the other. And so something about it falls short.”

Father Loomis shares that this can occur in the relationship of married couples, and it can occur in our relationship with God. Sunday mass is substituted with evening prayer or meditation, loving God as the person wants to love God… not as God wants to be loved.

Jesus says, “ love one another as I have loved you.” And how has he loved us? With his whole self, in obedience to the Father, in the order of the one receiving it.

The crucifixion is the ultimate example of this love… giving his whole body soul and future for us, in obedience to the Father, and in a way that we can fully see, hear, smell, and taste.

God says, “If you love me, then you will obey my commandments.

Jesus said, “Do this in memory of me.”

The Bible, the works of the Church fathers, the lives and examples of the saints, the counsel of the Holy Spirit, and years of tradition and church history give us all of the information we need to love God as HE wants to be loved. “We have everything we need to love God on a platinum level.”

Father ends by saying, “Yes, to loves as you want to be loved is good… but to love God and to love your neighbor as Jesus has taught us to do so… that would just change the world.”

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading: Exodus 22:20-26

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51

Second Reading: First Thessalonians 1:5-10

Gospel: Matthew 22:34-40

What happens when there is a tension between the word of God and what we see in our world today?

Father Loomis teaches that “divine consolation often comes amidst evil, not necessarily apart from it.”

In the first reading, Isaiah is relaying words of consolation to a people that are in exile. God is promising to spread a banquet while they are surrounded by their enemies.

Father states that, “God’s promises and God’s goodness are not compromised by the presence of evil… they are actually promised in it.”

Through connecting the readings to the idea of this banquet, Father tells us that the Mass is actually the consolation that God promises.

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading: Isaiah 25: 6-10a

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 23: 1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6

Second Reading: Philippians 4: 12-14, 19-20

Alleluia: Ephesians 1: 17-18

Gospel: Matthew 22: 1-14

In this episode, Father Loomis discusses the marital language used in the reading of Isaiah where God is singing a song about a friend that owned a vineyard that yielded wild grapes.

The Hebrew word used for “friend” in this context actually means “beloved”… the preferred term in Song of Songs for the royal bridegroom of a bride who is often referred to as a vineyard.

Father Loomis suggests that we read the passage of Isaiah, making the groom His son Jesus, and the vineyard as us, His bride.

“He clears it of the stones”… meaning “he takes away our sins.”

“He spades the soil”… meaning “he proclaims the good news to till the heart.”

“He plants the choicest vines”… meaning “he gives each of us the gifts of the Holy Spirit.”

Father continues, “But now we have to ask ourselves- is it unreasonable for the Father to ask that His Son be loved in return?”

He asks us to reflect on the question, “are we bearing the fruit intended by this nuptial union?”

In the words of Saint Paul, “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” Obviously we WANT to yield good fruit, but quite often we miss that.

Father asks, “what helps a good marriage be good?” and suggests three basic expectations: exclusivity, monogamy, and permanence.

He identifies the ways in which we can fulfill these expectations to strengthen our bond and our union with God, one of those being in the practice of Adoration- asserting that it is the BEST way to strengthen intimacy with Christ.

Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time:

First Reading: Isaiah 5:1-7

Second Reading: Philippians 4:6-9

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 80:9, 12, 13-14, 15-16, 19-20

Gospel: Matthew 21:33-43

“You examined your conscience. You got on your knees. You poured your heart out. You received absolution… Now what?”

In this homily, Father Loomis discusses what we do after we have received God’s mercy. Oftentimes the thought is that we will just “do better” or “try harder” to be “perfect”. But then how do we know that we have satisfied the intent for which God’s mercy was meant?

Father Loomis asserts that we need something to aim at. “Otherwise we have no idea if the purpose for that mercy was realized.” He suggests that God has a plan for you in that moment.

“If God’s mercy is going to change our lives, then we need to know what our lives are going to change into.”

Two examples of the recipients of this mercy and it’s life changing abilities are the apostle, St. Paul and St. Thérèse of Lisieux.

After experiencing the mercy of Christ, St. Paul gives up everything to serve and follow Christ- “to be the love of God for other people that he himself personally experienced.”

St. Thérèse of Lisieux knew her own littleness and made it her mission to get to heaven “the little way”… practicing little acts of virtue with extraordinary love. She did everything in her life as of she was doing it for Christ himself.

So, what is the mission of God’s mercy? To make us more like Himself.

We have received divine love, and now we must become divine love for others.

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time:

First Reading: Ezekiel 18: 25-28

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 25: 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

Second Reading: Philippians 2: 1-11

Alleluia: John 10: 27

Gospel: Matthew 21: 28-32

The story of St. Maria Goretti is a powerful one… a young girl, taking care of her younger siblings, fighting off an attacker who attempted to rip her of her innocence. She ended up dying from the 14 stab wounds that she received during that attack- but not before forgiving her attacker.

An equally powerful story- is that of her attacker, Alessandro. After spending years of refusing responsibility for his actions, he eventually makes a complete conversion when Maria Goretti appeared to him in his prison cell, offering him 14 roses as a sign of forgiveness for the 14 stab wounds. He makes a confession, serves his sentence, goes on to take care of her aging mother- to whom he sits next to during Maria’s canonization, and lives out his life as a friar.

Father Loomis compares Alessandro’s story and that of today’s readings. Society would have likely Alessandro be hanged for his crimes, but God says “my ways are not your ways”.

Even when we forfeit our relationship with God, taking us into our own prison created by our sinfulness, God still desires to grace us with his mercy. “My justice is not your justice. Let me love you. Don’t take that opportunity away from me”, is how Father Loomis shares his portrayal of that mercy.

“God’s ways are not our ways… and thank God for it.”

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time-

First Reading: Isaiah 55:6-9

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18

Second Reading: Philippians 1:20-24, 27

Gospel: Matthew 20:1-16

Today’s second reading says, “Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”

But what happens when “love” means “correction”?

The first reading states: “If I tell the wicked, "O wicked one, you shall surely die,"

and you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way, the wicked shall die for his guilt,

but I will hold you responsible for his death.

But if you warn the wicked, trying to turn him from his way, and he refuses to turn from his way,

he shall die for his guilt, but you shall save yourself.”

Correction is uncomfortable… uncomfortable to give, and uncomfortable to receive. But, according to scripture, is an act of love for and from our friends. We should love those who are willing to offer correction.

Father Loomis shares his experience in being given correction and also in giving it as a priest through communicating uncomfortable truths in his homilies. He says, “If you have never heard a homily that has challenged you, that’s a problem… you aren’t being loved enough to be told the truth.”

On the topic of fraternal correction, St. Ambrose says, “Should a friend think he is being wronged, correct him none the less. Even if his soul is wounded by the bitterness of correction, correct him none the less. Wounds from a friend are better than the fraudulent kisses of an enemy.”

May we offer correction to our friends with humility, and be humble enough to graciously receive it when needed.

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading: Ezekiel 33:7-9

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9

Second Reading: Romans 13:8-10

Alleluia: 2 Corinthians 5:19

Gospel: Matthew 18:15-20

“You duped me oh Lord, and I let myself be duped. You were to strong for me and you triumphed.”

Father Loomis teaches that the word “duped” in this context actually best translates to “seduced”- meaning that God drew Jeremiah in to His infinite love. The suffering he experiences is a by product of that love.

Today’s reading from Jeremiah can be compared to Cardinal Pell in Melbourne Australia, who was falsely accused of crimes that he did not commit in an effort to silence him.

The same comparison can be made to Catholics in today’s world, as we love God in a world that hates him. It does not make evangelization an easy feat- but once you’ve experienced the goodness and beauty of God, how can you deny His existence, even in the face of suffering for your belief?

Just like countless saints who suffered for their love of God, so do we in today’s world as we face mockery for our love. But as we bare our cross, Christ is with us as we carry it.

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time:

1st Reading: Jeremiah 20:7-9

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9

2nd Reading: Romans 12:1-2

Alleluia: Ephesians 1:17-18

Gospel: Matthew 16:21-27

“And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.”

Today’s Gospel reading is the creation of what we now call the office of the Pope, the first of which being Peter. Father Loomis brings up a good question- “why do Catholics even have a Pope?”… the short answer being that “Christ instituted it for our good” and the office is very clearly instituted in scripture.

Father draws the comparison between Solomon in the book of 1 Kings and Jesus, both calling forward 12 leaders. Solomon creates the office of “master of the palace”, and in a similar way, Jesus hands Peter the “keys to the kingdom”.

The office of the Pope isn’t one that is always met with acceptance, and the person holding the office isn’t always a saint- but Father Loomis argues that the papacy is Christ’s gift to you… “a gift that unites a universal church under one voice”.

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time:

First Reading: Isaiah 22:15, 19-23

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 138:1-2, 2-3, 6, 8

Second Reading: Romans 11:33-36

Gospel: Matthew 16:13-20