Dear pilgrims of hope, we pick up our reflections for the Jubilee Year in this month of September which is the Season of Creation. The late Holy Father Pope Francis, who inaugurated the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation ten years ago, chose the theme for this year's observance – “Sowing Seeds of Peace and Hope”. How fitting for the current Jubilee!
The last couple of months have been an intense time of pilgrimage for me – I had the joy of welcoming my family and some friends to Rome where they could pass through the Holy Doors and obtain the Jubilee Indulgence. Thank the God of hope for such a blessing! It was customary during Jubilee Years in biblical times to return to one's homeland - I was fortunate enough to return to my diocese for a short visit before taking up some supply work in parishes around the UK and Ireland until I go back to the books in Rome at the end of this month. I’d like to think of these opportunities as a time of sowing seeds of peace and hope and I am grateful to all those who continue to sow such seeds in my own life. This also gave me a chance to experience some of the great Jubilee events away from Rome like many of those who read this blog. I was particularly touched by the Jubilee of Youth and the much-anticipated canonization of Carlo Acutis, the first millennial saint to be formally raised to the altars for the veneration of the faithful.
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| Some pilgrims outside St John Lateran The Cathedral of Rome |
Young people have been flocking to the Eternal City this year. In fact, the canonization of Acutis was originally scheduled for April and had to be put on hold for the funeral of Pope Francis, an event, given its context, sowed seeds of peace and hope. In July they were back in Rome, this time more than a million of them, for the Jubilee of Youth. It was by far the largest gathering presided over by our new Holy Father Pope Leo XIV.
It has become customary for Pope Leo to make a spontaneous appearance whenever the youth are gathered in large numbers. After all, the youth have always brought out the best in the popes; there was even a “good morning” message before his first canonization Mass today. These short greetings certainly sowed seeds of peace and hope in the hearts of those young people. At the opening Mass of the Jubilee of Youth, moved by the enthusiasm of the youth, the Pope reminded them that they were the salt of the earth and the light of the world and that their cries for Jesus would resound throughout the earth, cries for peace, so as to become messages of hope to the world.
What better example to the youth of today than that of St Pier Giorgio Frassati and St Carlo Acutis! Both of them died from illness at a young age, leaving behind a model of holiness, one at the beginning and another at the end of the last century. They were known for their love of Jesus in the Eucharist and the poor. In their desire to please God in all things, they brought joy to the families and peers. They join other young saints who were canonized during a Holy Year, like St Therese of Lisieux, canonized in the Jubilee Year 1925, and St Maria Goretti, canonized in the Jubilee Year 1950. Incidentally, the mothers of Acutis and Goretti are the only two mothers in the history of the Church who have attended the canonization of their chidren in St Peter's Square. These "saints of the Jubilees" show us that ‘in Christ, we too are seeds, and indeed, “seeds of peace and hope”’ (Pope Leo XVI).
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| St Carlo Acutis and St Pier Giorgio Frassati (Image: Jubilee 2025 Website) |
As the Jubilee Year slowly moves to a
close we would do well to reflect on the seeds of peace and hope that it
has sown in our hearts so far, as we continue our journey together with the Lord
Jesus and with one another through this our common home by the highway
of the Eucharist to our true homeland in heaven.
The Pilgrim,
Fr Runaine James Radine
