On Christmas Eve, I had the privilege, along with members of the Holy Cross Generalate Community, to witness Pope Francis open the Holy Doors, or as he called them, the “Doors of Hope,” inaugurating the Year of Jubilee. This Holy or Jubilee Year ordinarily occurs every 25 years in the Catholic Church and is a time of reconciliation and pilgrimage for all of the faithful. The Holy Father has given this special year the theme, Pilgrims of Hope, with the desire that all Christians would renew their hope in the Gospel message and proclaim it to the world. As the Pope said in his homily that night, “we are called to recover lost hope, to renew that hope in our hearts, and to sow seeds of hope amid the bleakness of our time and our world.” for a better future. Because of their suffering from the violence of war, political or religious persecution, or dire poverty, many people have lost their hope, and instead, sadly experience nothing but despair.
We have just concluded our 40-day Lenten journey of fasting, prayer, and the giving of alms. We felt the loneliness of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane on Holy Thursday, his unspeakable agony and dying on Good Friday, and the eerie stillness of Holy Saturday as Jesus’ lifeless body lay in the tomb. Our faith, however, does not rest in the desolation of Christ’s death on the Cross. Rather, our faith leads us from the Cross to the glory of the Resurrection, where our many sung Alleluias joyfully proclaim that Christ is risen from the dead to die no more! Christ’s Resurrection is the fulfilment of His promise of eternal life and the coming of God’s kingdom. As St. Paul says, “Death is swallowed up in victory” (I Cor 15:54). Therein lies our hope.
As faithful Christians, during this Easter season and in this Year of Jubilee, I invite you to reflect on this virtue of hope in your own life. Where does your hope need to be renewed? Are you able like Jesus to carry your own crosses in life in the hope that new life and redemption eventually will be yours? How do you bring a comforting sense of hope in God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ to your family members, friends, and people you meet? Who are the people in your life or on the periphery who have lost their hope and how can they benefit from your prayers and life-giving hope?
Gospel-centered hope is not just mere optimism. It is the belief that new life awaits us because Jesus told us so and showed us through his Resurrection. In these uncertain times, this powerful, faith-filled witness of hope rooted in Jesus’ promise of salvation is needed now more than ever. Let us, therefore, go forth together as true “pilgrims of hope” for God and for the sake of our world.
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