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HOMILIES

19. Homily - Thursday, May 21, 2020

Sixth Week of Easter Day (Jn 16, 16-20)

How can we pray in preparation for Pentecost?

Today, Thursday, is 40 days after Easter. This means that the universal Church celebrates the
Feast of the Ascension of Jesus. But in some countries, including in Canada, the feast day is
postponed to Sunday to make its celebration easier for the faithful. For this reason, our cele-
bration of the Feast of the Ascension will be not today but on Sunday.

The event of the Ascension of Jesus stands between Easter and Pentecost. After Easter, after
the death and resurrection of Christ, Jesus appears to his apostles and disciples to comfort
them and strengthen them in faith. Yet while He comforts them in faith, Jesus’ appearances
to his apostles and disciples prepare them for receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit.

After the Ascension, therefore, our gaze turns towards the celebration of Pentecost. When
the Ascension is celebrated on its traditional day, then the feast is followed by a novena
prayed in preparation for Pentecost. It is a novena to prepare for the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, the church’s tradition throughout history invites us to make this a truly special
time of prayer in preparation for Pentecost. How do we do so?

By doing what the apostles and disciples were doing on the day of Pentecost: They were in
the Upper Room, the Cenacle. They persevered in prayer, and Mary was with them and they
were with Mary. In the Upper Room were Mary, the apostles along with the male and female
disciples. And in this prayer with Mary, they were preparing themselves to receive the gift of
the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Now I invite you, wherever you are, in your parishes, in your dioceses and in your religious
movements and associations to think about preparing yourselves. Remember here, that the
apostles were not preparing themselves individually for the gift of the Holy Spirit!
They were preparing themselves together with others, and with Mary, to receive the Holy
Spirit. We, too we can gather as a family, as a few families, as a few people in a group or in an
ecclesial movement. We, too, can gather to pray together, with Mary, to prepare ourselves to
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

(cont’d)

Collection of texts by the Most Rev. Christian Lépine 167