On Sunday, January 5, the Solemnity of the Epiphany, I celebrated for our Diocese the opening of the Jubilee Year. At that Mass, I preached on the theme of the Jubilee Year: hope. The following are excerpts from that homily. May they encourage your participation in and understanding of the Jubilee Year of Hope:
Prior to offering the first Mass of Christmas, our Holy Father, Pope Francis, opened the jubilee door at Saint Peter’s Basilica. He crossed the threshold, and thus began this Jubilee Year of Hope. During his Christmas homily, Pope Francis prayed that this Jubilee Year would strengthen us in our faith, help us to recognize the risen Christ in the midst of our lives and transform us into pilgrims of hope.
Sisters and brothers, may these prayers be realized in our lives during this Jubilee Year. The problems, tragedies, sufferings and difficulties we suffer can weaken our faith. When they happen, we ask, “Where is God?”
The risen Christ lives. Do we recognize Him when we pass through the valleys of darkness? May our participation in this Jubilee Year 2025 help us to live as pilgrims of hope.
The Christian symbol of hope is the anchor, about which Pope Francis said, “It helps us to recognize the stability and security that is ours amid the troubled waters of this life. The storms that buffet us will never prevail, for we are firmly anchored in the hope born of grace, which enables us to live in Christ and to overcome sin, fear and death. Hope makes us rise above our trials and difficulties and inspires us to keep pressing forward.”
Among the trials we face and the troubled waters we pass through are the destructive effects of wars – particularly in the Middle East – on nations, cultures and peoples, especially women and children; the social injustices that plague the poor; the violence in our country; the growing drug culture and abortion industry here in South Jersey; the failure to provide affordable care for the sick, the dying and the aged. These social ills accompanied by the collapse of family life and the decreasing numbers who regularly and faithfully practice the Catholic faith can discourage, dishearten and make us skeptics.
We need this Jubilee of Hope because hope does not disappoint. We need to be reminded that the door of God’s heart is open to all; is always open; loves us unconditionally and forgives us. The Holy Father concluded his Christmas homily saying, “There is hope for you.” Sisters and brothers, I repeat the pope’s words; let them resound here and throughout our Diocese: There is hope for us.
The opening of the jubilee door at Saint Peter’s Basilica symbolizes an invitation to cross the threshold to encounter the living God, whose open heart welcomes us with divine love. When the Magi found the “place where the child was,” the door of that “place” was open to them. When they crossed its threshold, whom did they meet? God’s promise of hope, Jesus. “They saw the child and falling to their knees they did him homage and gave him gifts.”
Today is the feast of Jesus revealed to the whole world represented by the Magi. Jesus Christ is the savior of all women and men, not just some. He is the savior of women and men of every race, culture, language and nation. God is shown to the whole world in the child encountered by the Magi. That child is God in human flesh. He is the savior of the world.
The Magi are pilgrims of hope. Their story and this Jubilee Year challenge and encourage us to be like them, pilgrims of hope. The child adored by the Magi is our Lord who draws all peoples to himself. May this Jubilee Year help us on our journeys to meet and to know the living risen Lord. The savior of all women and men.
The first century Jews who heard this story of the visit of the Magi were shocked. They considered pagans as dogs. And worse, the visitors from the East were not just ordinary pagans, but astrologers. Star seekers. Students of the stars. Unthinkable! Unbelievable! That these pagans were welcomed to the Christ child to whom they gave gifts. Yet, their gifts recognized Jesus is a king. His Birth crosses all human barriers. He is shown to all. May our faith in Him, as Lord and savior of all, be strengthened during this Jubilee Year – which is a time of reconciliation with God and others and a time of conversion. To seek holier lives.
Epiphany celebrates a journey. The Magi traveled. They searched; they sought. Like them, we are seekers and searchers. Sisters and brothers, take whatever roads you need to find Him. Some have to go a distance, as did the Magi. For others, the journey is not as difficult. Recognize Him on your journeys. May this Jubilee Year open our hearts to Him. We meet Him in each other, in our frailties, in our strengths, in our everything. He is God present.
The theme of this Jubilee 2025 is hope; its challenge for us is to be pilgrims of hope despite what is happening in the world and in our own lives. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews counsels that we are to “hold fast to hope.” (Heb. 6:18) In the bull announcing the Jubilee Year, Pope Francis wrote that we need to “rise above our trials and difficulties; to keep pressing forward, never losing sight of the grandeur of the heavenly goal to which we have been called.” (#25, “Spes Non Confundit”)
Sisters and brothers, as pilgrims of hope, let us cross the threshold during this Jubilee Year and be strengthened in our faith and on our journeys to encounter He who is risen, the savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Most Reverend Dennis J. Sullivan, D.D.
Bishop of Camden