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HOMILIES

When someone says ‘I’, this ‘I’ takes its center in the soul, in the spirit, in the heart. It
expresses itself body and soul. But takes its center is in the soul. So the rediscovery of the
spiritual life is very important. It’s a necessity. It certainly can be something we try to
rediscover for ourselves in our own personal life, for our families.

Especially one way to grow through this pandemic would be to grow in the rediscovery of
the family as a domestic church. There’s a classic expression: a family that prays together,
stays together. But the family is called to pray. The family is the work of God, comes from
God. It is God who invented the family.

And certainly, the family is called to be, is a cell of society. No family, no society! Life comes
from the family. And at the same time, no family, no Church! Life comes from the family.
The first transmission of faith is within the family! It is the parents who present their child
to the Church for baptism.

Rediscovering the value of spiritual life, the primacy of spiritual life, is a task that is ahead
of us. But at the same time, we can work on it right now! We’ve been doing it for many years,
for a long time! But this pandemic manifests to us that we need to renew our prayers and
our efforts.

I will invoke for you a prayer that is based on Mother Genevieve Micheli and it puts togeth-
er all those aspects of the value of life, the value of spiritual life:

“We are living at a time that is both disturbing and amazing; a time that is dangerous and
where nothing preserves the soul. As members of faith communities, being aware of the true
value of the spiritual life, we carry a great responsibility and we must live up to it. Together, we
must help each other to create places of refuge for spiritual peace. We come together today, on
the 14th of May 2020, on this day of prayer, fasting and charitable works in order to implore
God to preserve the world, to help us to overcome this pandemic, to restore security, health
and prosperity. Together we pray that once the pandemic is over, humanity may come to know
the true value of spiritual life, to grant a larger place to brotherhood and to protect life and
creation.”



Collection of texts by the Most Rev. Christian Lépine 161