Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has announced that 2025 will be a Jubilee Year. Drawing on the scriptural tradition of a Jubilee Year, the Church celebrates a Jubilee Year once every twenty-five years. This year, the Pope has wisely chosen "Hope" as the theme for our Jubilee, which he will open in Rome on Christmas Eve, 2024. Here at the Basilica, which will be one of our Diocese's Pilgrimage Churchces for the Jubilee Year, we will open the Holy Year on the Feast of the Holy Family, just after Christmas.
I can't think of a better theme for a jubilee at this time, as hope is a virtue of which we are greatly in need of in our world, and in most of our lives. Hope is not an artificial pretending that the evils of the world, and the suffering around us are not real, rather hope is the sure and confident expectation of receiving what God has promised, the confidence that God will be faithful to His promises to us, as He has been throughout history. Furthermore, the Scriptures remind us that our hope is in the Lord who made heaven and earth, not in an earthly power or authority, Christ, and Christ alone, is our one true hope!
There is something very fitting about the fact that, in God's wisdom, hope which conquers all things, came into this world as a tiny baby. I find that every time I look at a baby, I am filled with hope, wondering what will become of this child, just as we are told Mary and Joseph did with the child, Jesus. As we gaze upon the Babe in the manger, and adore Him together with the shepherds and the wise men, as we raise our voices in praise in our Christmas carols, and as we share the warmth of Christmas with our loved ones, let us all be filled with hope, remembering the beautiful words of St. John, "The Light has shone in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
May Christ, the source of our hope fill your hearts and minds with his light at Christmas and throughout the coming Jubilee Year of Hope.
On behalf of Bishop Ustrzycki, Father Bill, Father John, Deacon Quinto, Deacon Moices, and the entire parish team, I would like to wish you and your loved ones all the blessings of this Holy Season.
I remain faithfully yours in Christ,
Father Ian Duffy