Bishop Stephen Wright shares a pastoral letter on the First Sunday of Advent, 1 December 2024: The Holy Year – Pilgrims of Hope.
“We begin the Season of Advent and so a new Church Year. A new beginning is the new translation of the Scriptures which we proclaim and listen to at Mass. Biblical scholarship never stands still and this fresh translation, faithful to the original Greek and Hebrew, offers us new insights into familiar texts. You will notice occasional rewording. When we do, please see them as invitations to reflect again on what the Lord is saying to us in His Holy Word. As today’s psalm prays:
O Lord teach make me know your ways. Teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me. (Ps 25:4-5)
This Year we will celebrate a Holy Year, a Jubilee Year. Pope Francis asks that it begins on the Sunday after Christmas, the Feast of the Holy Family. On that Sunday I will celebrate Mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Newcastle and then later at St. Joseph’s Church, Hartlepool and open the Holy Doors at both churches. I thank all who will volunteer to help pilgrims through the Year. Please do consider volunteering. The Holy Year will then run until the Feast of the Epiphany in January 2026, when the Holy Doors are closed. The theme of the Holy Year is “Pilgrims of Hope.” We are invited to be pilgrims of true Hope and share it with others.
So why a Holy Year? Its origins go back to Old Testament traditions. The seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest from work. In the seventh-year land was left fallow to recover. A sabbath for the land. Seven sabbaths for the land was the forty ninth year. The next year, the fiftieth year was declared a year of Jubilee. Debts were cancelled, land restored to original owners, slaves and prisoners set free. Poverty in the community was addressed. It was a year of restoration, justice, freedom and celebration. The Jubilee Year was certainly a radical act of social justice in the community. But it was not simply a political or social act. Primarily it was an act of prayer and worship followed by service.” [continued]