Page 187 - spiritual_accompaniment_montreal_archdiocese

HOMILIES

Many questions now come to mind and make us think of the meaning of our own life. What
makes it possible for me to view my death as a transition toward eternal life? Is death the end
of my life? Is death the end of hope? Is death the end of my plans? Is death the end of every-
thing for me? Is the death of a loved one the end of that relationship?

Does death have the final say on life and love, on my life and our life? Will death have the final
word or is death just a transition?

How we answer these questions gives us an indication of the way we look at life, at the way we
consider life, and this can depend on the outlook on life of each person.

Ultimately, if we think that death has the last word in life, we may find reasons to live only
when things go well. When all goes well, we can find reasons to love! But when things go badly,
for one reason or another, how do we continue to find reasons to continue to live? Why want
we continue to live? Why would we want to continue to love when it seems impossible? When
all goes well, we say yes to life! But if things go badly, or when we think that all is wrong in our
life, why continue to struggle, why continue to live?

Most people consider the question of death as a reality with which we can deal at a later time.
It is a question that we can think about tomorrow. Today, we are busy with life and we will
think of death when we have the time to think about it. But COVID reminds us that we cannot
postpone this question to some tomorrow. We cannot postpone this to the next day. Now is
the time to think of our death. We must think of it.

Our first reaction might be to avoid death, to flee! We can do so in many ways. We can lose
ourselves in computer games, spending hours on a screen, immersed in entertainment that
seems to take us out of real life, so that we can put off reflecting on the meaning of life. But
when the entertainment ends, we are where we started. We cannot forever put off the ques-
tion of the meaning of our life, the meaning that we are to give to our life.

What is the meaning of my life if death is to have the final say on my life? Or, on the contrary,
what is the meaning of my life if death is its transitions toward eternal life?

This brings us back to the question of faith. What does it mean to believe, today? What does
it mean to say, “I believe”? What comes to mind? What does it mean to you when you say “I
believe”? What do you believe in? Who do you believe in?

We could say that we believe in God. We believe that God exists. This is already a huge state-
ment! To believe in God is to believe that life begins before us and continues after us, and it
definitely means that it means believing in eternal life.

(cont’d)

Collection of texts by the Most Rev. Christian Lépine 187