Page 192 - spiritual_accompaniment_montreal_archdiocese

HOMILIES

Living in the presence of the Resurrected now asks us to open up to his grace: Do we really
want to live through Jesus Christ? Do we thirst for Jesus Christ? Do we want to live by the
presence of Jesus Christ in us? Are we prepared to make the effort to pray more? Are we
prepared for the effort to open Sacred Scripture and read and meditate on the Word of God?
When our church doors are open again, are we prepared to make the effort to go to Mass? Let
us be ready! Are we ready, today, to make the effort to go to Mass?

During the pandemic, we have been deprived of the Eucharist. The people of God, all across
the world, in a stunning and mysterious way, have been deprived of the Eucharist. It forced
us to engage in other ways of praying, some that we may already have known, but also finding
new ones, either in our personal or in our family life.

For example, we may already have been familiar with the Word of God, but now we might be
praying with it more. Perhaps we have become more confident and aware that our family is
a small domestic church, a house of prayer, a house of communion where different people
come together, as a family, to be of service in society and in the Church.

Parishes looked for ways to be more present in the media, in various ways. Mass continued to
be celebrated on television or online, to let the faithful be present even if in a different way.
At the same time, we know that virtual presence cannot replace real presence or physical
gatherings of the faithful.

Virtual meetings cannot replace life in community! But we cannot deny that this experience
widened our horizons. By discovering new ways to be church, our prayer lives have deepened.

In a mysterious way, by knowing that the virtual presence at Mass cannot replace our physical
presence, this absence of physical presence allowed our thirst for the Eucharist to grow.
Perhaps we used to take the Eucharist for granted as something that was available to us every
day, every week, without us being fully aware of it.

Quite often, we take things for granted. But here, we could no longer take it for granted.

For many of the faithful, the physical absence from the Eucharist is a real test! But we could
transform this into something greater, as it lets our thirst for Eucharist grow, our hunger for
the Eucharist grow. In this way, we are transformed if our awareness of the presence of Jesus
Christ in the Blessed Sacrament of his body and his blood has grown! It will be to the good,
if our faith in the Eucharist has grown, if our life became more eucharistic! It was a test to be
deprived of the Eucharist, but good will come of it, if it increased our thirst, if it grew our
desire to live life according to the call of Jesus Christ, the call to be true disciples who walk
with Jesus Christ, faithful to God’s commandments and the beatitudes.

(cont’d)

Collection of texts by the Most Rev. Christian Lépine 192