Dear Friends,
Just a few days ago, on Christmas Eve, December 24th,
Pope Francis opened the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica, marking the
beginning of the Jubilee Year 2025. The door will close again and be
sealed on Epiphany, January 6, 2026, for the next 25 years – until the next
Jubilee Year, 2050.
The theme of this Jubilee Year is “Pilgrims of Hope,” an apt
focus for our times.
At the head of this blog is the logos for Jubilee 2025. A
background of green (green being the color of hope) holds a circle (of unity)
featuring people of all colors awash in a sea, holding onto each other, holding
on to a cross that bends toward them. Rich symbolism.
We are those people, living in a time when climate change
and ongoing wars in many parts of the world threaten human existence and thwart
peace among the people. This year (the only one we have) is a time to lift high
the cross, to cling to the cross, even as we cling to one another.
In our very being, human beings are pilgrims, here on this
earth for only a short time, moving through life, moving from place to place,
seeking a blessed life. In the Jubilee Year, pilgrims are asked to pause and to
ask: What have we seen and heard? What have we added to the value of life? What
Holy Door will we pass through? What will we leave behind at our end of life?
Whom do we choose and welcome this year to be our models of hope?
Whom do we choose and invite to be our companions on this pilgrimage?
Some people will make a point of traveling to a holy place
to symbolize their own pilgrim status. Rome is prepared to receive 35 million
pilgrims this year. Some will go to the newly re-opened Notre Dame Cathedral in
Paris. Some will find a holy place nearby where they can sit and contemplate
life’s deep meaning. Will you go somewhere, even if it is only a few steps
away?
Still other people will travel in their minds, hearts and
bodies to seek forgiveness of God and others for the ways they have inflicted
hardship. Some will go a step further and seek reconciliation with God or
others from whom they have been alienated. In whatever way you can, make
forgiveness and reconciliation a part of this year.
In this year of Jubilee, give generously of yourself
to others who need your particular gifts.
One last thing: take a page from the Hebrew tradition. Their
celebration of the Jubilee Year was seen as a time of rest from the ordinary
day to day labor of their lives. It’s not likely we can take a whole year off,
but we can have Jubilee hours, or days when the computer and phone are off, and
we rest in the Lord.
Happy New Year!
~ Sister Joan Sobala
