On December 24th, 2024, Pope Francis opened the Holy Doors of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, officially inaugurating the Church’s Jubilee year. Our Jubilee theme this year: Hope! In western Christianity, the celebration of jubilee years first arose from the journey of pilgrims to Rome in 1299. They traveled long distances by foot to pray before the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul. Moved by their devotion, Pope Boniface VII declared the following year, 1300, a jubilee year dedicated to the forgiveness of sins. Since then, the Church has typically celebrated a jubilee year roughly every 25 or 50 years with extraordinary jubilee years declared as spiritual needs arose. You may recall that Pope Francis proclaimed the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy in 2015. Our jubilee year concludes on December 28th, 2025, when the Pope will again close the Holy Doors. While these door remain open, we are challenged to keep our hearts open as well to the power and lessons of hope in our lives and times. As the Bull of Indiction (the papal decree) of the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025 proclaims, “Spes non confundit – Hope does not disappoint.” Let us invoke the Spirit of God throughout this year to fill our hearts with the gift of hope. Recalling Psalm 27, “Have hope and wait for the Lord, be strong and wait for the Lord.” Paul explains in his Letter to the Romans (5:5), “this hope does not disappoint, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Pope Francis cites the prophet Isaiah in encouraging us to lift our eyes to the horizon and see the blessings that God has in store for us. Could it be though that we have tried a lot of things in the past and are tired of waiting? Perhaps our own discernment has left us feeling disappointed and discouraged. Have you been there?Pope Francis observes that, “we often find that some people have lost hope, they look towards the future with skepticism and pessimism, as if nothing can offer...