HOLY YEAR. 2025. UNDERWAY.
We are halfway between Jubilee Years (2000 ad and 2050 ad) and are in a “Holy Year” of the Church. It was declared as begun on Christmas as Pope Francis opened up a particular door at St. Peter’s for the occasion. As done by popes for several centuries, the “eternal city” of Rome and the Vatican opens up some “holy doors” and announces welcome especially for pilgrims to come to the Church’s central place and make connection with it.
A huge number will answer this call to Rome, but it’s not just about going there. Many cannot afford the time or money for it. Yet in a general sense, as Pope Francis reminds us, we are to mark ourselves in the Holy Year as our being “pilgrims of hope;” celebrating our identity as children of God and as witnesses of the Gospel. We are to celebrate being Catholic and as people on the way to the Lord’s Everlasting Kingdom, in fostering life and community on earth in His Name. We are daily encouraged to help “God’s kingdom to come, (for) His will to be done on earth, as it is in Heaven,” and a Holy Year just heightens us to strive so to this fulfillment in Christ Jesus. We are pilgrims of hope. While the world is in its struggles of war, climate crisis, economic peril and massive displacement of peoples, with lingering effects of the pandemic, and isolation of people in a tech/AI world, and with separation from one another on many levels, due often to self-centeredness—a call to be Holy and unite in God seems timely. A Holy Year.
You may recall the events of the 2000 Jubilee as we went into the Third Millennium of Catholic Christianity (in counting Christmas as our start in Christ). Back then to 1975, to its Holy Year, Pope Paul VI called it a year dedicated to the interior renewal of mankind, with emphasis on peace in the world and a reconciliation with God.
The Church of Christ has adopted the Holy Year theme from the Jewish times, which records that the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai and Ordered a Jubilee every 50 years; “jubilee” being the ancient Hebrew word for the ram’s horn which “trumpeted” in the special time. It was supposed to be a dramatic time of mercy, reconciliation and actions in the community; Sometimes it did lead to a great renewal for the Jews. Other times it did not, as the people of God did not want to be in such disposal to God. Their loss. Same history for the Church with Jubilees and Holy Years.
Yet in Jesus’ coming, and with the Incarnation Mystery of God begun on the earth for her people, a Jubilee is found in what He offers. May His people want such restoration. It is much of a rehearsal for life in the Kingdom Eternal.
PARISH PLANS
We have a paperback book to review through the year. At each First Saturday Mass, we’ll talk after about the contents of “Doors Of Mercy: A Journey Through Salvation History.” It is by Fr. Jeffrey Kirby. $20. SKU: SB7714 ISBN:9781618907714
BY FR. JEFFREY KIRBY
We are living in an extraordinary time: A Time of Mercy.
But what is mercy? What does it mean to be living in a Time of Mercy? How can we receive God’s Mercy? And how should we respond?
In Doors of Mercy, authors Fr. Jeffrey Kirby and Brian Kennelly answer these important questions. They act as your guides on a whirlwind tour of salvation history, from Adam and Eve to the coming of the Savior, into the present day with the beautiful story of St. Faustina and the Divine Mercy message and devotion. You’ll discover:
- How the rebellion of Adam and Eve in the Garden affects our relationships with each other, with God, and with the world around us
- Why God chose a rainbow as the sign of the covenant with Noah
- The purpose behind Abram’s name being changed to Abraham
- How the plagues in the time of Moses were not random but had symbolic meaning
- How David’s Kingdom serves as a template, or blueprint, for the Church
- The hidden meaning behind some of Jesus’s well known parables and why the Eucharist is the sign of the new and eternal covenant
- How the Church and her saints have spread mercy throughout the centuries, with short biographies of Sts. Vincent, Camillus, Margaret Mary, Maria Goretti, and more
- The history behind St. Faustina’s visions of Jesus and the spreading of the Divine Mercy message and devotion
- How you can continue Christ’s mission of mercy in your own life…
Follow the intricate stitching of a divine rescue plan that would not be stopped by anything. Across countless generations the Lord’s mercy acted as the lifeblood of this rescue plan, so that neither our own weakness nor the devil himself could thwart it. He would deliver us a Savior and a King of Mercy no matter what it took, one who would bring His Kingdom to the ends of the earth, and who would smash the very gates of hell.