Page 145 - spiritual_accompaniment_montreal_archdiocese

HOMILIES

No, it is a gift forever! If today I am the image of God, I must always be the image of God. After
all, what is an image? It is a reflection, it reflects the reality of which it is the image.

We have many vocations, as we are called by God in many ways, but the most fundamental
of all vocations is to reflect the reality of God. To be the image of God in the world—what a
vocation!

To be in the world as visible signs of the invisible God is a calling that goes beyond our being.
How can we be this sign of the invisible God when what is visible is so important to us?

We can read a little further in the Book of Genesis: “God created humankind in his image, in
the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. A man leaves his father
and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.”

Right from the beginning of the Bible, we are reminded not only of the dignity of the human
being as created in the image of God, but also the importance of vocation. It is the vocation
to the married life. In this vocation, we see the archetype of vocation as giving oneself to the
other in a community of persons, the vocation to open up one’s life in love that is fruitful.
Within it, there is the vocation that is God’s call to every human being, whether they are mar-
ried or not. The heart of the vocation to the married life is the universal vocation to love. Love
is the fundamental vocation is each human being, always one among many, called to love.

Now we have a way for being the image of God in the world: The reflection of the invisible
God is the love that becomes visible. Love is visible! Love is manifest! Love communicates!
Love expresses itself! Love shows itself and proves itself!

In a general sense, our call to love, through our vocation to love in married life as a couple or
as a family, is a path on which we carry the image of God into the world.

The vocation to marriage is a vocation in its fullness. Life as a couple is a vocation in its full-
ness. Openness to life is a vocation in its fullness. In these vocations, we become visible signs
of the invisible, signs of God in the world. And as these are vocations to love, these signs are
visible signs of the love of God, a love that is invisible but becomes manifest throughout the
work of his creation.

How do we know an artist who may have died centuries ago? We consider their works! We
study their works! Michelangelo, Raphaël, and all the others. Rembrandt. And there, in their
works, we try to feel and get close to the artist. The one who composed this work, who created
this work. In this way, we learn something about the artist.

(cont’d)

Collection of texts by the Most Rev. Christian Lépine 145