This article first appeared in Our Sunday Visitor magazine. Subscribe to receive the monthly magazine here.
In his bull of indiction for the ordinary Jubilee Year of 2025, Spes non confundit, Pope Francis states that “During the Holy Year, we are called to be tangible signs of hope for those of our brothers and sisters who experience hardships of any kind.”
The pope calls attention to several areas where signs of hope are urgently needed. “The need for peace,” for example, “challenges us all, and demands that concrete steps be taken” (No. 8). While the world is certainly wracked with violent conflicts, there are also more subtle threats to peace such as political or other forms of factionalism in our homes and parishes.
Another area cited by the pope in which we are in need of hope is the transmission of life. He speaks of “an alarming decline in the birthrate” in many countries (No. 9). He locates causes in “today’s frenetic pace” and “the quest for profit” among other areas.
There are also marginalized groups needing signs of hope: prisoners, the sick, migrants, the elderly, the poor and young people (Nos. 10-15).
How can we become signs of hope to everyone in need during this Jubilee Year? Certainly a number of spiritual gifts are available to us, but let’s consider five.
Experiencing the Church as “Catholic”
Rome is expecting some 32 million pilgrims for the 2025 Jubilee. While that is a huge number, it’s only a small portion of the planet’s Catholics. Most of us won’t have the chance to visit St. Peter’s in 2025, but we can still be renewed in our awareness that our Church is “catholic” (universal). From Nigeria to South Korea to Indiana, the whole Church will be united in this special year. Dioceses will be hosting their own local jubilee celebrations and pilgrimages; participating in a local event is like adding your own thread to the worldwide tapestry of festivities. It’s also a reminder that the Church is much more than your parish; even just uniting with your diocese is a way to affirm your faith in the catholicity of the Church.
Highlighting the Church as mother of all
The Jubilee highlights the motherly role of the Church, who gathers all her children around her, in all the variety of their talents and missions. Not every possible vocation and career will be represented in Rome during the Jubilee, but nearly all of them. From marching bands to artists, from seminarians to grandparents, the list of people who will travel to Rome for special jubilee events is long and varied. The Jubilee of Families, Grandparents and the Elderly is May 30 to June 1, and the Jubilee of Youth is from July 28 to August 3.
Recognizing young people as the Church of today
In fact, the Jubilee gives young people and even children a chance to realize that they have an essential role in the Church of today, not just the Church of the future. This is particularly highlighted by the Jubilee mascot: “Luce.” She and her friends are manga cartoons, representing young people from around the world. They are accompanied by an adorable pet dog and wear boots dirtied from the paths of life.
Uniting with all the baptized
If every jubilee is an invitation to unity and to put aside the scandal of division, this year’s has a particular focus on this theme. That’s because 2025 is the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, held in 325 — the council from which we have the Nicene Creed we pray every Sunday. That council took place some seven centuries before the great schism, which divided Catholics from Orthodox. In other words, it was a council of the whole, united Church.
Providentially, this year East and West will celebrate Easter on the same date, and Pope Francis hopes to mark the anniversary of the Council by going to Nicaea (in modern day Turkey) with Orthodox leaders.
Even if we are approaching 1,000 years of separation, one constant has continued to give testimony to our common baptism: martyrdom. Christians from East and West have given their lives for Christ all these centuries and continue to do so in great numbers today. The “ecumenism of blood,” as the Pope calls it, is a force toward unity and one that will be especially highlighted during the Jubilee.
Filling our hearts with hope
As he said in the letter declaring the Jubilee, Pope Francis wants this year to especially fill us with hope. He laments a sadness that “lodges in the heart” and that is too widespread today for so many reasons, from wars in dozens of countries to loneliness fostered by internet usage. Without hope, the Pope notes, quoting Vatican II, “the problems of life and death … remain unsolved.” But as Christians, he insists, we are a people of sure and steadfast hope, hope that does not disappoint, because Christ has already conquered the last enemy, death.
The Jubilee, then, is a time for families to be renewed in hope and share that hope with their neighbors, classmates, colleagues and friends. Thus the Pope exhorts, “May the way we live our lives say … in so many words: ‘Hope in the Lord! Hold firm, take heart and hope in the Lord!'”