All About Hope: This Christmas and throughout Holy Year, Catholics called to reflect hope to a weary world

December 12, 2024 at 7:00 a.m.

The Virgin and Child, also referred to as the Virgin of Paris or the Virgin of the Pillar, is Notre Dame Cathedral's most emblematic object. It was surprisingly spared by the fire on April 15, 2019, when it stood at the transept crossing, under the cathedral's spire. It has since been housed in the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois, near the Louvre, from where the Nov. 15, 2024 procession will start to return the statue to Notre Dame. (OSV New photo/Trung Hieu Do, courtesy Archdiocese of Paris) (Trung Hieu Do)

Just like the sentiments of JOY, LOVE and CHARITY … the feeling of HOPE has always been part of our experience of Christmas.

But this year, when Pope Francis inaugurates the Jubilee Year on Christmas Eve and opens the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica, hope takes on new life as our beacon to follow throughout the season of Christmas and in the months to come. That journey will unfold with parishes and dioceses around the world taking up the Holy Father’s call to be pilgrims of hope. 

Here in the Diocese of Trenton, Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., will begin this special year by celebrating Masses in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral in Trenton and St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral in Freehold. Throughout the Jubilee Year, hope will serve as a theme for conferences, campaigns and many programs and events engaging Catholics of all ages and walks of life throughout our four counties.

Pope Francis has focused on the subject of hope since he first announced the coming Holy Year this past May.  He has reminded us that hope is a gift from God, and even in the darkest of times we must look for signs of hope.  He wrote, “We need to recognize the immense goodness present in our world, lest we be tempted to think ourselves overwhelmed by evil and violence.”

He assures us that, “Christian hope does not deceive or disappoint because it is grounded in the certainty that nothing and no one may ever separate us from God’s love.”

Sometimes signs of hope can be found in temporal, physical realities, like the exquisite restoration and reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris that has the attention of the entire world right now. And sometimes hope reveals itself in the intangibles . . . the conversion of hearts; the softening of differences; the renewed sense of charity toward others. 

There is guidance for this Jubilee Journey if we are open to it.  Articles that follow and more on TrentonMonitor.com suggest ways to draw closer to God in the coming Holy Year, from going to Confession, fulfilling the requirements to seek an indulgence and carrying out individuals acts of charity and love.

It is so easy for those who don’t recognize God’s love in their lives to lose hope.  The human challenges that draw people into despair are powerful, especially at the holidays when feelings of loss and loneliness are more intense.  At Christmastime, many families struggle with grief; worry over a health crisis; marital discord and financial needs. 

That is where we, as pilgrims of hope, can have a positive impact.  Stories in this year’s Christmas issue provide just a sampling of parishes reaching out to those who are grieving . . . to those who may be alone or in need . . . to those who need prayers.  Parish groups and Catholic schools carry out acts of charity on behalf of those in need, and in so doing, reflect the hope that is always present in God’s love.

We are well on our way, in this Jubilee Year, to follow through on the encouragement of Pope Francis, to not only strengthen our own sense of hope, but also to “be tangible signs of hope for those of our brothers and sisters who experience hardships of any kind.”

We have our instructions!  Merry Christmas and Happy Jubilee!

Cindy Wooden of Catholic News Service was a source used in this story.