Page 177 - spiritual_accompaniment_montreal_archdiocese

HOMILIES

told them that they could not go out on mission unless they received the Holy Spirit because
they would not have been able to accomplish their mission. It is that way, we might dream of
it and perhaps want to swing into action right away, but we need to wait on the Holy Spirit.
Otherwise, it would be impossible to fully witness to God’s life and love, or to bear witness
to the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

Just like the apostles, we remain with Mary in prayer, waiting for the gift of the Holy Spirit
that will transform our lives. This vigil today is a time of waiting. Tomorrow will be the time
to receive the gift. We need to be aware, however, that we cannot receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit and not be transformed by it. We are indeed transformed by the Holy Spirit. This trans-
formation will lead to another thirst. This is the thirst of loving, the thirst of giving ourselves
over totally, freely, once and for all in a continual offering of ourselves. It is one thing to have
a thirst to be loved, but somehow, when we receive the gift of love in life, from the Holy Spirit,
we also receive the thirst to love. It is the thirst to respond to the love of God, by loving God
and others.

Since we are at the Vigil for Pentecost, we can pray together that in receiving the gift of the
Holy Spirit at Pentecost, our heart will be renewed and we will have a new impetus, a new
freedom, a new strength, a new peace to witness to Jesus Christ in the world. That is because,
through the Church, through the people of God, through each baptized person, each mis-
sionary-disciple, Jesus Christ, through all of us, wants to cry out to the world; “Those who
thirst, come to me. I will give you rivers of living water.”

We have a choice in how we view this pandemic. We can focus on waiting for it to end, waiting
for “normal” to return or for a “new normal” to emerge, or we can see it as a time to reflect
on our own frailties, our own priorities and the meaning of our lives. We are being offered a
unique opportunity to grow as we live through it. We can become better persons, better
families, a better Church, a better society.

Think about how the pandemic has shaken things up. The powerful of this world have been
somehow shaken by this pandemic. What remains when all is not destroyed but shaken? What
is left? The person with their dignity, every human being on the face of the earth, the family as
a nucleus of society and as a nucleus of the Church, and God. Through this pandemic, the only
one able to reach out and touch everyone on the face of the earth is God. Nobody else can do
that. The only one with the power to comfort, sustain, nourish, lighten burdens, and console
every human being on the earth, is God. Nobody else can do that. No power of this world can
do that.



(cont’d)

Collection of texts by the Most Rev. Christian Lépine 177