November 12, 2023: Waiting With Earnest

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