JUBILEE OF HOPE The Church is now in a year of Jubilee. I truly hope that you, who read or hear of this letter, live the Jubilee Year with the force of life through the presence of the Lord in your heart. The Holy Spirit is the strength and power for you as a child of God the Father. What does Jubilee mean? This word comes from the Hebrew “yobel” or “jobel” and refers to the ram’s horn, the Shofar, that was used to announce the beginning of this celebration. In ancient Judaism, the Jubilee year was declared Holy, as the Mosaic law marked it as the year re-establishing relationships with God, one another and all creation. This happens every 50 years. In the Catholic Church, in the year 1300, Boniface VIII established this time would be celebrated every 100 years. With the passage of the centuries, Pope Clement VI reduced it to 50 years and later Pope Paul II fixed it at every 25 years. The first Jubilee was celebrated in 1475. The Jubilee has all the characteristics of God’s merciful Love, Hope, and Forgiveness. As members of the Church, we will celebrate it in 2025 as a way to remember how God the Father and His Son manifest themselves in us during these months. What lessons can we learn and practice? Jesus said “I will be with you always, even to the end of the age” (Mt 28:20). He also said “I will not leave you orphans; I will come back to visit you” (Jn 14:18). These promises should fill us with Hope, even when we pass by or walk through valleys of suffering. Hope means seeing beyond what is in front of us, for example, whenever we are suffering being able to see beyond the immediate pain believing that we will not always suffer like this and this suffering is part of a Divine Plan; if I believe and persevere, that is Hope. Jesus is our Hope, both here and in the future and our Eternal Life. In times of Jubilee, God asked His people to be generous with others, with strangers, the widows, the poor, and to forgive the debts owed them. This became a celebration full of happiness and joy. The same is true in Heaven, where “there is a joyful celebration every time a sinner repents,” as Jesus told us (Lk 15:7). At the beginning of each New Year, most people make plans, resolutions and goals, which is good. However, the first thing our plans should contemplate is God and ask Him for the Wisdom to know what we should truly try to achieve in the coming months. In the spiritual arena, we should begin by seeking God’s Forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and extend such forgiveness to those who have offended us, while at the same time asking for forgiveness from those we have offended. The next thing would be to truly resolve to be more generous with the three T’s. What…