INBOX INSPIRATIONS
January 15, 2025
The Holy Year of Hope – 1
Dear Friends,
Pope Francis has proclaimed 2025 as a Holy Year of Hope. What is a Holy Year?
These specially designated years find their origin in the Jewish tradition. The Hebrew Scriptures speak of a Jubilee as occurring every fifty years (Leviticus 25:10). Ideally, this was to be a time when slaves or prisoners would be freed, debts would be cancelled, the land would lie fallow, and God’s mercies would be particularly manifest. Scripture scholars generally agree that these practices were not literally implemented. Certainly to us, and maybe to the people of those times, they were not practical. Nevertheless, the emphasis was on God’s love and mercy and on our mercy, forgiveness, and reconciliation with one another.
In our Christian history, the first Holy Year was proclaimed by Pope Boniface VIII in 1300. The original intention was to have a Holy Year every 100 years. However, since 1300, the frequency of these years has changed and eventually, Pope Paul II in the year 1470 determined that we would have a Holy Year every 25 years. These are considered ordinary Holy Years. There have also been extraordinary Holy Years, such as the Holy Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis in 2016.
A very visible beginning of a Holy Year is the opening of the Holy Door. There is a Holy Door in each of the four major basilicas in Rome: Saint Peter’s, Saint John Lateran, Saint Mary Major, and Saint Paul Outside the Walls. Each of these Holy Doors is ceremonially unsealed and opened to mark the beginning of a Holy Year and then sealed and closed at the end of the year. Pope Francis himself opened the Holy Door at Saint Peter’s on December 24, 2024.
All persons of faith are invited to enter these special churches through the Holy Door during this year. The four Roman basilicas have the primary Holy Doors for the universal Church, although the Pope can designate other Churches throughout the world as also having Holy Doors. For example, there is a Holy Door in the Notre Dame Basilica-Cathedral in Quebec City. Diocesan bishops can designate certain churches as places for prayer and for receiving the traditional indulgences attached to a Holy Year. More on this in next week’s Inbox Inspirations.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
January 22, 2025
The Holy Year of Hope – 2
Dear Friends,
The opening of the Holy Door is the most visible, concrete expression of a Holy Year. The four Roman basilicas have the primary Holy Doors for the universal Church. Entering a church through one of these Holy Doors signifies our desire to follow Christ as “the way” (John 14:6), to heed Jesus’ caution to “enter through the narrow gate” (Matthew 7:13), or to be centered on Jesus as “the gate” (John 10:7) of the sheepfold.
Diocesan bishops can designate certain churches as places of pilgrimage for the special prayers that are encouraged in a Holy Year. In the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Archbishop Lori has designated the National Shrine of the Basilica of the Assumption and the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore and then seven other shrines or shrine churches throughout the Archdiocese.
There seem to be five traditional elements that form the spiritual practice of a Holy Year.
1. A pilgrimage or visit to one of the special Holy Year churches (explained above).
2. A renunciation of attachment to sin. The idea is to identify any areas of sinfulness that are consistent or habitual, maybe addictions, and resolve to move away from them and avoid situations that lead us to them. We entrust ourselves to God’s power or grace for this.
3. Confession. This follows from the above. One of the purposes of a Holy Year is the forgiveness of sins. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a special part of our tradition that both forgives us of sin and strengthens us to grow spiritually. Ideally, this is be celebrated in the pilgrimage church.
4. Communion. It is probably obvious that the reception of the Eucharist would be part of the Holy Year practices. This deepens our relationship with the Lord and strengthens us for living this. The reception of Communion also reminds us that we are always God’s beloved, even if we are imperfect and in need of spiritual and/or personal growth.
5. Prayers for the Pope. This again has always been part of Holy Year practices. So, we pray for Pope Francis in his leadership of the universal Church. Next week I will focus on Pope Francis’ Holy Year statement. This is why I have first given all of this background last week and today.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
January 29, 2025
The Holy Year of Hope – 3
Dear Friends,
On May 9, 2024, Pope Francis formally announced the Holy Year of 2025. He did this through a document called Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025. A papal bull is a formal declaration by a Pope, the word bull coming from the Latin word bulla which means seal. So, this is a document stamped with the Pope’s seal to make it official. The word Indiction (a word we do not use) means an announcement or proclamation. Jubilee is the original term in the Old Testament for Holy Year. So, this Bull of Indiction announcing this as a Holy Year is thirteen pages long. Today I am sharing some highlights from it just to give a flavor of what Pope Francis is thinking.
Pope Francis begins with these words: “Spes non confundit” which means “Hope does not disappoint” (Romans 5:5). That is the title or theme of this Holy Year. We are look to Jesus as “our hope” (I Timothy 1:1). Pope Francis quickly turns to the human reality of hope in a way that is needed and poignant for the present moment.
“Everyone knows what it is to hope. In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring. Even so, uncertainty about the future may at times give rise to conflicting feelings, ranging from confident trust to apprehensiveness, from serenity to anxiety, from firm conviction to hesitation and doubt. Often we come across people who are discouraged, pessimistic and cynical about the future…For all of us, may the Jubilee be an opportunity to be renewed in hope.”
The Holy Father places the theme and calling of the Holy Year in the context of the three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity. “Since we are justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…and we boast in our hope of sharing in the glory of God…Hope does not disappoint, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:1-2, 5). The Pope goes on to say: “Here we see the reason why this hope perseveres in the midst of trials: founded on faith and nurtured by charity, it enables us to press forward in life.”
Next week I will share some more highlights from this papal document.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
February 5, 2025
The Holy Year of Hope – 4
Dear Friends,
Today’s column shares some additional highlights from Pope Francis’ statement, “Spes non confundit,” the Latin words for “Hope does not disappoint” (Romans 5:5). These words are the theme of this Holy Year.
The Holy Father notes that the reason for visiting certain designated churches or shrines during a Holy Year is to give us a sense of pilgrimage or journey. As persons of faith, we are to see our lives as a journey. “The Jubilee Churches…can serve as oases of spirituality and places of rest on the pilgrimage of faith, where we can drink from the wellsprings of hope, above all by approaching the sacrament of Reconciliation.” Pope Francis sees this sacrament as part of our journey since a journey involves ongoing growth and conversion.
Then the Holy Father calls us to see signs of hope in the signs of our times, interpreted in the light of the gospel. “We need to recognize the immense goodness present in our world, lest we be tempted to think ourselves overwhelmed by evil and violence. The signs of the times, which include the yearning of human hearts in need of God’s saving presence, ought to become signs of hope.”
“The first sign of hope should be the desire for peace in our world…” Pope Francis lifts this up even in the midst of existing warfare. He prays: “May the Jubilee remind us that those who are peacemakers will be called ‘children of God’ (Mt 5:9). May diplomacy be tireless in its commitment to seek…a lasting peace.”
The Holy Father also sees “enthusiasm for life and a readiness to share it” as a sign of hope. “For the desire of young people to give birth to new sons and daughters as a sign of the fruitfulness of their love ensures a future for every society. This is a matter of hope; it is born of hope and it generates hope.”
Then Pope Francis shifts the focus. “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.” He goes on to mention specifically prisoners and those sentenced to the death penalty, the sick and disabled, the young and the elderly, migrants and refugees, and the billions of poor. “We are called to be tangible signs of hope” for these people.
Next week I will conclude these highlights from this papal document.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
February 12, 2025
The Holy Year of Hope – 5
Dear Friends,
Today’s column will conclude some highlights from Pope Francis’ statement, “Spes non confundit,” the Latin words for “Hope does not disappoint” (Romans 5:5). These words are the theme of this Holy Year.
The Holy Father begins his concluding paragraphs by again connecting hope with faith and charity.
“Hope, together with faith and charity, makes up the triptych of the theological virtues that express the heart of the Christian life (cf. 1 Cor 13:13; 1 Thess 1:3). In their inseparable unity, hope is the virtue that, so to speak, gives inward direction and purpose to the life of believers.”
Pope Francis goes on to ask: “Yet, what is the basis of our hope? To understand this, let us stop and reflect on the ‘reasons for our hope’ (cf. 1 Peter 3:15).”
“‘I believe in life everlasting.’ So our faith professes. Christian hope finds in these words an essential foundation… The problems of life and death, of guilt and suffering, remain unsolved, so that people are frequently thrown into despair. We, however, by virtue of the hope in which we were saved, can view the passage of time with the certainty that the history of humanity and our own individual history are not doomed to a dead end or a dark abyss, but directed to an encounter with the Lord of glory. As a result, we live our lives in expectation of his return and in the hope of living forever in him.”
For the renewal of this hope, the Holy Father asks us to recall the new life we were given in baptism. During the Jubilee or Holy Year, “it is worth recalling how that mystery has been understood from the earliest centuries of the Church’s life. An example would be the building of baptismal fonts in the shape of an octagon, as seen in many ancient baptisteries… This was intended to symbolize that Baptism is the dawning of the ‘eighth day,’ the day of resurrection, a day that transcends the normal, weekly passage of time, opening it to the dimension of eternity and to life everlasting; the goal to which we tend on our earthly pilgrimage (cf. Rom 6:22).”
With that thought and image, I conclude these reflections on the Holy Year of Hope and Pope Francis’ document proclaiming this.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
