A POCKET FULL OF HOPE: LIVING THE 2025 JUBILEE YEAR
The world is a bit of a mess these days, isn’t it? Sometimes I just can’t face the news. There is so much conflict, political instability and suffering of all kinds. Our planet is in peril, and it’s hard to stay positive.
That’s why we sorely need this Jubilee Year of Hope in 2025. Hope is not mere optimism or wishful thinking but an active way of living that can change the world one heart at a time. As baptized Christians, we are all called to hope in Christ, even in the face of darkness and strife. St. Paul notes, “Hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:5). He even goes so far as to say, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer” (Romans 12:12).
Every 25 years, the Church celebrates a Jubilee – a holy year of renewal, reflection, forgiveness, reconciliation and grace. In his letter announcing the 2025 Jubilee, Pope Francis urges us: “Through our witness, may hope spread to all those who anxiously seek it. May the way we live our lives say to them in so many words: ‘Hope in the Lord! Hold firm, take heart and hope in the Lord!’ (Ps 27:14).”
Many people will make a literal pilgrimage this year to a parish, shrine or even Rome (and our own Living with Christ pilgrimage to Greece, In the Footsteps of St. Paul!) to mark this significant event in the Church’s life and their own. Even if you can’t get to the Holy Door in Rome, an important symbol of the act of pilgrimage and journeying with Jesus, there are lots of ways to be a pilgrim of hope this year:
- Pray the Jubilee Prayer every week or every day
- Listen to the Jubilee Hymn (and encourage your parish music ministry to sing it at mass)
- Look for signs of hope amid difficult situations and thank God for these
- Nurture hope in your family, parish and community, especially on dark days
- Do a virtual pilgrimage to a shrine, such as the Martyrs’ Shrine in Midland, Ontario
- Pray the Prayers for the Pilgrimage to the Holy Door
- Read books or articles that inspire hope, such as Pocket Book of Hope: Words of Inspiration, where a dozen or so Novalis authors offer brief reflections on hope to boost readers’ sense of where hope is found
Each flame of hope we light helps to cast out darkness and can be shared with others. Together, we pilgrims can help to bring healing to our world and to our suffering planet.
As Pope Francis writes in the Jubilee Prayer, addressed to our Father in heaven:
May your grace transform us
into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel.
May those seeds transform from within
both humanity and the whole cosmos
in the sure expectation
of a new heaven and a new earth,
when, with the powers of Evil vanquished,
your glory will shine eternally.
Anne Louise Mahoney is managing editor of Novalis. She is the editor of Pocket Book of Hope: Words of Inspiration and the author of I Hope, a book for young children.
