Page 198 - spiritual_accompaniment_montreal_archdiocese

HOMILIES

There is also a loneliness that affects the mind, so to speak. This is a loneliness that
can invade the mind when we struggle to find the meaning of life. And surely during this
pandemic, some of you might have taken a second look at your life, wondering at one point
whether it has meaning. As we live our busy lives, always having somewhere to go or some-
thing to do, then coming home and doing the same, we tend to forget at times what is the
meaning of our life. But when our life is put “on hold” because of sickness or the threat of
sickness, like COVID-19 currently has done, perhaps we stop for a moment and ask ourselves:
What is the meaning of my life? What am I living for? Why am I working in that job, which
keeps me so busy? Sometimes, the questioning even extends to the family because we may be
unaccustomed to spending so much time together, which the pandemic has made necessary;
this can expose our weaknesses and wounds! Why … Why?

This loneliness makes itself felt in the body, heart and mind. It is the essential loneliness
confronting each person in various ways and at different levels. And loneliness is a real hard-
ship, but it is even more of a hardship because we are not made to be alone! In Genesis, God
himself says in the creation story: “It is not good that the man should be alone.” We were not
created to be alone! We were created to live as individuals, body and soul, but not to be alone.
We have been created to live in openness with others. We are made to be in relationship with
others.

Loneliness eventually hits us, because we tend to flee from it through various pleasures and
distractions, perhaps even alcohol and drugs. But loneliness remains there, somewhere,
lurking in the shadows like a threat. And we may want to run away from it, but it catches up
with us. Loneliness catches up with us.

Being confronted with loneliness is so difficult to bear. Let’s imagine, for example, that some-
one is caught in a burning building on the 10th floor. The situation may become so desperate
that he or she may want to jump out the window, even if they are on the 10th floor, just to
escape the fire. Sometimes to escape loneliness, we throw ourselves into unsatisfying
experiences. But the goal is not to jump out the window, but to flee from the fire of loneliness
burning within us!

So, when we are surrounded by the darkness of loneliness, we are called to realize that we
are not alone. For instance, let me take one example from among others, because not all
examples apply to everyone: when I am in a forest, I walk. I follow a path. But if I see a stream,
a flower or a mountain, I may get distracted and leave the path. A few hours later, I might
realize that I am lost. At first, it was fun because I was discovering the landscape, but now I am
scared because I have lost my way. I am lost. Just when I realize that I am lost, when I thought
I was completely alone, all of a sudden, someone is there, right by my side. I do not know from
where the person came, how he came to be there, but he is there and is guiding me.

(cont’d)

Collection of texts by the Most Rev. Christian Lépine 198