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HOMILIES

17. Homily - Thursday, May 14, 2020

Mass to celebrate the dignity of human life (bilingual homily) Jn 15, 9-17

“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Jesus tells us: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

On this day of the March for Life, we also pray and celebrate the Eucharist for life, as we do
each year.

This day is an opportunity to renew our commitment to the dignity of life from conception
to natural death. At the same time, this day is an opportunity to renew our faith and entrust
life to the one who is the origin of all life: Jesus Christ, who came to save our lives, and to God,
who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the origin of life.

For many years, a large number of men and women have literally given their lives to the
service of life. Through their actions, they bear witness to and promote the dignity of the
weakest, the smallest and the most fragile, children in their mother’s womb and the sick and
the elderly who are approaching the end of their life. In serving, they best promote the dignity
of the life of each person. Those who consecrate their life to the dignity of each human being
work at the same time to proclaim and promote the dignity of each human being and each
person.

Today, we pray for those who devote themselves to the cause of life and the dignity of each
human being, wherever they are on this planet, in this country, in our province or in our town.
At the same time, in this current time of vulnerability, we can place ourselves with renewed
faith into the hands of God.

Today, we celebrate the Apostle Saint Matthias, the twelfth apostle whom the other apostles
had chosen to replace Judas. In choosing him, they combined faith in human actions with
faith in God.

First, they identified two disciples who accompanied Jesus from the beginning until his death
on the cross and who bore witness to his resurrection. We can think of this part of the partici-
pation of human action in the choosing of St. Matthias.

Then they casted lots to determine who of the two would be the new apostle, the twelfth
apostle, and this part of the decision represents the presence of God in their choice!

(cont’d)

Collection of texts by the Most Rev. Christian Lépine 157