Page 199 - spiritual_accompaniment_montreal_archdiocese

HOMILIES

Jesus has the power to stand beside us always whenever we feel lonely. That is the truth. He
is there regardless of the intensity and depth of our loneliness. Jesus Christ is always there.
And that power is doubled, even tripled! This is divine power in action because, as God, He
remains close to his creatures, to all the creatures of God. Jesus is close, very close to us.
He ensured that He would be close to us. First, He assumed a human nature. In doing so, it
is as though our human nature becomes the language through which He speaks and draws
close to us, so to speak. He is closer to us than we are to ourselves. Sometimes we move away
from ourselves, but Jesus remains right beside us always. Second, He does so because He is
God. He assumed our human nature to become a human being. And, third, He bore the entire
weight of our loneliness when He was on the cross. Hanging on the cross, in his plea “My God,
my God, why have you forsaken me?” He saw the extent of the loneliness crushing the body,
heart and mind, and He bore it all. He bore the loneliness that we feel, the loneliness of body,
heart and mind. He bore the weight of it on the cross, and in doing so one might say that He
became the most solitary man in the history of humanity! Jesus, the Son of God made man,
was the loneliest human being in the history of humanity when He hung on the cross, because
He bore the totality of our loneliness.

No matter how intense or deep our loneliness is, no matter how overwhelmed we might feel,
Jesus remains right by our side. When the darkness of loneliness invades us, what does Jesus
say to us in that darkness: “I am with you always. I am with you always. Remember that I am
with you always.”

This is where prayer is of utmost importance, because it is during prayer that we will hear
Jesus tell us: “I am with you always.” It is during prayer that we discern Jesus Christ’s
presence. It is during prayer that we realize that we are not alone. At one moment in his
ministry, Jesus speaks about the depth of his loneliness, saying: “I am deeply grieved, even to
death.” Jesus felt the crushing weight that loneliness brings to bear. But at the same time, as
though in self-reflection, this response: “… yet, I am not alone because the Father is with me.”

As a human being, Jesus felt the depth of loneliness, but He knew He was not alone. This is
reflected in his plea from the cross, when He cries out: “My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me?” But those words were not addressed to those standing at the foot of the cross,
as if to say: “He has forsaken me.” No, Jesus addressed his plea — “Why have you forsaken
me?” — to the Father. So, if Jesus was speaking to the Father, it is because Jesus wanted to say
that He knows the Father has not abandoned Him. He knows the Father is there, and Jesus
cries out to Him: “Why have you forsaken me?”

(cont’d)

Collection of texts by the Most Rev. Christian Lépine 199