by Father Mark Goldasich
Did you hear the blaring of the ram’s horn? Yeah, me neither. But hopefully you heard the turning of the key opening the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican on Christmas Eve ushering in Jubilee 2025.
So, what’s the deal with the ram’s horn? Well, the word “jubilee” comes from the Hebrew word “yobel” which refers to a ram’s horn being sounded to inaugurate a jubilee year in the Old Testament.
Pope Francis has declared 2025 a jubilee year that will last until Jan. 6, 2026. Its theme is Pilgrims of Hope. The pope wrote of his desire for this year: “We must fan the flame of hope that has been given us and help everyone to gain new strength and certainty by looking to the future with an open spirit, a trusting heart and far-sighted vision. The forthcoming Jubilee can contribute greatly to restoring a climate of hope and trust as a prelude to the renewal and rebirth that we so urgently desire.”
This is a big deal for us as Catholics. In fact, the Vatican is expecting some 35 million people there during Jubilee 2025. (With my aversion to things too “peopley,” I’ll not be among them!)
A jubilee year is a time for conversion as well as joyful celebration. If you’re looking where to start, spend a few minutes with this story:
Many years ago in India, a rich man suffered from severe eye pain. He consulted numerous physicians and was getting multiple treatments. He consumed heavy loads of drugs and got hundreds of injections. But the pain only got worse.
At last, a monk who was supposed to be an expert in treating such patients was called for by the rich man. The monk understood the problem and told the man that for a certain period, he should concentrate only on green colors and not look at any others.
So, the rich man assembled a group of painters, purchased barrels of green color and directed that every object his eye was likely to fall upon be painted green just as the monk had directed.
When the monk came back to visit after a few days, the rich man’s servants ran with buckets of green paint and poured them on him since he was wearing a red gown, and they didn’t want their master to see another color and have his eye pain return.
Hearing this, the monk laughed and said to the rich man, “If only you’d bought a pair of green glasses, worth just a few rupees, you could have saved these walls, trees, pots and all other articles and saved a large share of your fortune. You cannot paint the whole world green!”
The moral of the story is: Once we change our vision, the world will appear accordingly. It is foolish to try to shape the world, let us shape ourselves first. (Story found in Meir Liraz’s “Top 100 Motivational Stories.)
Can we begin to view our world with hope, rather than despair? A simple place to start is by making a daily “hope journal.” The inspiration for this comes from Todd Doughty’s book “Little Pieces of Hope.” Its subtitle summarizes it well: “Happy-Making Things in a Difficult World.” The 244 pages of this book are filled with thousands of small things that brought a smile to the author’s face and made his world a better place.
May our Jubilee celebration focus our eyes on the countless blessings that the Lord showers us with daily and help us be active and joyous pilgrims of hope for our families, churches, communities, country and our world.
At least, that’s what I’m hoping for!
