This year, 2025, is the Jubilee Year that is celebrated by the Church every 25 years. A lot has transpired in the quarter century since the last regular Jubilee Year in 2000. Here in the United States there was the September 11 terrorist attack in 2001 which was the beginning of many changes and a fomenting of distrust, a need to always be on high alert. The presidential elections of the last eight years have been especially contentious. This country seems more divided than ever before. Pope Francis’ proclamation of this Jubilee Year with the papal bull Spes non confundit is an encouragement in a time of fragmentation. The papal bull’s title puts forth the Jubilee Year’s theme, drawing from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans that “hope does not disappoint” (Romans 5:5). The theme for this Jubilee Year is “Pilgrims of Hope.” Whether or not we are able to cross the threshold of a holy door this year, we faithful are called to be not only pilgrims in this fallen world journeying towards the Heavenly Jerusalem, but pilgrims with that theological virtue which spurs us onward: hope. 

As Pope Francis states in the bull, 

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, as if nothing could possibly bring them happiness. For all of us, may the Jubilee be an opportunity to be renewed in hope. 

Beyond the human experience of hope of the “desire and expectation and good things to come” is the theological virtue of hope which springs forth from a firm faith in Jesus Christ. “Since we are justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; 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” (Rom 5:1-2.5). We are given access to grace through Jesus’s death and resurrection. Through his salvific love we are able, if we abide in faith and are obedient to his teaching, we can have true hope of sharing in God’s own glory! 

Faith and obedience lay the groundwork for a buoyant hope which cannot disappoint us. This is another difference between regular hope and the theological virtue of hope: we cannot be disappointed by God. Theological virtues have their beginning and their end in God. Human hopes can be frustrated: getting a particular job, getting pregnant, living in a comfortable manner, excelling at a sport or hobby. But theological hope, which is given to us by God and is fulfilled in God, cannot disappoint us because God keeps his promises. It does require our obedience, however. Unlike some of our Christian brothers and sisters who are outside of communion with the Catholic Church, we do not believe that it is enough to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord. Even the demons acknowledge that Jesus is the Lord of Heaven and Earth. The difference here is willing obedience and humility. We must cooperate with God’s grace. We must “walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:4), for the “mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law - indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (8:7-8). But those who reject the flesh and live according to the Spirit who dwells in them (via the sacraments and being in a state of grace) “are called children of God” (8:14). The sure foundation of our hope is that along with Jesus we are able to call to God as “Father.” A father loves his children and has mercy on them. 

The thought of God’s mercy and goodness spurs us on when we have not been obedient children. Though we live in a fallen world and are subject to a concupiscent nature we can ask for the healing forgiveness of God when we fall short of the glory he desires for us. We can avail ourselves of the sacrament of Confession and stregthen our hearts with the Holy Eucharist. These are the instruments of God’s grace and give us courage for the journey of this pilgrimage of life. 

Though the world may be dark and those around us may live according to the flesh, we have hope in our life of the Spirit. So in this Jubilee Year I encourage you to dwell in hope, to remember no matter how difficult your life here on earth may be there is hope for an eternal reward should you follow Our Lord with obedience and love. May this year of jubilee be a time of profound grace and confidence in the love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.