Our Jubilee Year has begun. Pope Francis opened the Holy Door at St. Peter’s in Rome on Christmas Eve. The Holy year comes every 25 years and is a special time of prayer and forgiveness that goes all the way back to the Old Testament at which time it was every 49 years. During those times it was very common for people to forgive debts, free slaves, and even give back land that people had to sell because of very difficult times. Then and now it is a time of prayer and forgiveness.
Pope Francis has proclaimed this Holy Year to be a Year of Joy, the Joy of the Gospel. The joy that the Gospel brings into our lives is not the same kind of joy the world has to give us, but it is a joy that can produce peace and contentment in our lives no matter what we may be going through in our lives at the time. We may be experiencing good times or bad times, we may be experiencing sickness or good health, we may be having hard financial times or good ones, or we may be experiencing family or relational difficulties. The Word of God tells us to rejoice in the Lord in good times and in bad. It is really the Lord who gives real joy in our lives because He is always with us. Our joy is in the Lord.
One thing that can bring joy into anyone’s life is forgiveness. It is not easy to forgive someone when we have been hurt, overlooked, rejected, or even ridiculed. Our first inclination is to somehow get back at the person. Jesus tells us to forgive one another from our heart because only then can we expect God to forgive us. That is what we say to God every time we pray The Our Father, the prayer Jesus taught us. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
It is only through prayer that we can truly forgive our brothers and sisters from our heart. When a person refuses to forgive, they block a lot of joy from their hearts and their lives. Unforgiveness causes great bitterness in so many lives. We can bring so much joy into our lives and the lives of those around us if only we can forgive. Forgiveness is an act of love, real love, the kind of love God has for all of us.
We can make this jubilee year a real time of joy by forgiving one another from our hearts. Like I said, it is not easy, but it is not impossible. Nothing is impossible with God.
Christian Unity: We are in the midst of the yearly week of prayer for Christian unity. The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity has a history of over 100 years, in which Christians around the world have taken part in an octave of prayer for visible Christian unity. By annually observing the WPCU, Christians move toward the fulfillment of Jesus’ prayer at the Last Supper “that they all may be one.” (cf. John 17:21)
This year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity has some special significance since we will mark the 1700 anniversary of the Council of Nicea. It was from this council that we received the Nicean Creed which we pray at Mass on Sundays and other solemnities of the Church calendar. It is our Profession of Faith, and we pray this prayer as a way of proclaiming and witnessing to the truths of our Catholic Faith. We need to reflect more on the words of the creed and what they mean to us in our daily lives. We cannot just read the words off of the page or recite the prayer from memory. Each time we say this prayer we should allow ourselves to go more deeply into some aspect of the prayer. These are the articles of our Faith and as we pray the words each Sunday, we need to ask the Holy Spirit to help live our Faith more and more each day.
Let us pray for Christian Unity in the world today so that all Christians may work together to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Through the efforts of all Christians may the prayer of Jesus be fulfilled that there would be one Shepherd and one flock. The Lord came to call us together to live as the sons and daughters of God, our Father with Jesus as our brother. The week of prayer for Christian unity began on January 18 and concludes on January 25, the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul.
As we can all see, the Christmas decorations have been taken down for another year. It is rather sad to see them go, but they will be back before you know it. I am very grateful to everyone who helped decorate and undecorate the church. Our church looked very beautiful for the Christmas Holidays. We should all be very proud and grateful for a job well done. Thank you everyone for all your help and hard work. Special thanks to Amy and Tom Uhase who were very instrumental in accomplishing such a great undertaking. God bless all for their help.
