Page 182 - spiritual_accompaniment_montreal_archdiocese

HOMILIES

By themselves, the apostle would have never been able to leave the Upper Room and go out to
speak of Jesus, to announce the name of Jesus. It would have been impossible.

What did Jesus do? He said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” But
shortly thereafter, he told them: “You will receive the Holy Spirit.” He means, “You will
receive the Holy Spirit because, by yourself, you are not capable to act and give witness to
me.”

He means, “When you look at yourself and think you can’t say my name, you probably think
that’s a problem.” “But for me,” he says, “it is not a problem because I give you the Holy
Spirit!” “With the Holy Spirit, you have everything that you need to complete the mission
that I entrust to you. You have all that you need to lead humanity to God. You have deep within
you the instrument of God’s peace.”

Stop focusing on your limitations! Stop thinking that you are not strong enough, not smart
enough, not intelligent enough, not rich enough or that you do not have enough money. These
are only excuses.

“I give you the Holy Spirit that will give you the strength to witness the Love of God in the
world. With the Holy Spirit, you will lack nothing. With the Holy Spirit, you will have no
excuse, no excuse at all not to be in mission!”

Do you know Blaise Pascal, whose powerful expressions woke up people? “The drama of man
is that he looks for excuses and often finds them.” If we look for excuses to not go on mission,
we will indeed find them. No doubt about it. But Jesus has given us his spirit, he gave us the
Holy Spirit. With the Holy Spirit, there are no more excuses! With the Holy Spirit, we must
stop making excuses to not speak publicly the name of Jesus Christ.

Filled by the Holy Spirit and with the peace of Christ, the apostles were able to overcome
their fears, to leave them behind and move out from Jerusalem to proclaim the name of Jesus.
Does this mean that now there were no more problems? Not at all! The problems continued
and the apostles were challenged in many ways! Some were crucified, some were persecuted,
but the Word of God continued its path around the world.

Thanks to the witness of the apostles and disciples, the Word of God spread to the ends of the
world, and the Word of God accomplished miracles. Lives were transformed, families were
comforted, and entire peoples converted to the love of Christ.

(cont’d)

Collection of texts by the Most Rev. Christian Lépine 182