From the Desk of Father John
WALK WITH MARY IN THE YEAR OF THE JUBILEE ESPECIALLY IN THE MONTH OF MAY
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The Jubilee Year 2025, with the theme "Pilgrims of Hope," is a special holy year in the Catholic Church. The Blessed Virgin Mary is a central figure in this Jubilee, especially as she is known as the Mother of Hope and the Queen of Hope. The Blessed Virgin Mary is a powerful symbol of hope and faith, and her role as Mother of the Church is especially highlighted during the Jubilee. In the document declaring this jubilee year, Spes Non Confundit, Pope Francis exhorted everyone to let the year be “a moment of genuine personal encounter with the Lord Jesus, ‘’the door' (cf Jn. 10:7,9) of our salvation, whom the Church is charged to proclaim always, everywhere and to all as our ‘’hope’ (1 Tim 1:1).” The jubilee then is and should be about Jesus Christ. It is a time to build and/or deepen one's relationship with Jesus Christ. The jubilee Year then is one “of hope… Jesus, our Hope.” We get to Christ through Mary, His mother. During this jubilee Year one way to encounter Jesus is to encounter Mary. If the jubilee is meant as an encounter with Jesus, why the proposal to journey with Mary? It is not a Marian year. Why inject Mary into everything? The simple reason is in the fact that there is an intrinsic link between Jesus and Mary, between son and mother. It is a very simple truth and fact of human relationships that sons and their mothers are often so close.
Nobody drives this point home more beautifully than St. Pope John Paul II who himself harbored doubts about the intensity of devotion to Mary. He wrote I began to question my devotion to Mary believing that if it became too great, it might end up compromising the supremacy of worship owed to Jesus. He learnt from St Louis de Montfort, who wrote that all true Marian piety was Christocentric, or Christ-centered - all true devotion to Mary necessarily pointed us to Christ and through Christ who is both Son of God and son of Mary into the mystery of God Himself. Rather than being an obstacle to an encounter with the living Christ, Mary is a privileged vehicle for meeting Christ the Lord.
One finds an incredible wealth of resource in St Pope John Paul II's Apostolic letter in 2002, Rosarium Virginis Mariae [Rosary of the Virgin Mary} where he offers a passionate foundation for the rosary. The image of the rosary as a school of Mary is so powerful and contains the essence of what devotion to Mary accomplishes. In Chapter One of that “must read” document, John Paul II invites all to enroll in the school of Mary. It is a school of contemplation whereby when we pray the rosary for example, we are contemplating the face of Christ in union with and at the school of His Most Holy Mother. St Pope John Paul II states that “Mary is a model of contemplation given that in a unique way the face of Jesus belongs to Mary. It was in her womb that Christ was formed receiving from her a human resemblance which points to an even greater spiritual closeness. No one has ever devoted himself to the contemplation of the face of Christ as faithfully as Mary.” Mary treasured these things and stored them in her heart is a verse repeated twice in the Gospel. (Luke 2:19 & 51). Mary's memories are precious and priceless. She was there from the hidden beginnings in the womb through his life to the tomb and Resurrection. Who better then than Mary can teach us about Jesus Christ? And as St John Paul II noted. “Among creatures no one knows Christ better than Mary; no one can introduce us to a profound knowledge of his mystery better than his mother.” (14) We learn from Mary the best teacher about Christ.
When we journey with Mary we are praying to Christ, says John Paul II. Pope Francis casts the jubilee Year as a pilgrimage. We encounter Christ in and through a pilgrimage. The jubilee is a pilgrimage of hope. It is a year of Journeying. The Gospels portray Mary as a traveler. After the Annunciation, Mary left in haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth. She brings Christ to Elizabeth. Then she journeys to Bethlehem for the census where she gives birth to Christ. Next, she escapes to Egypt carrying her newborn baby, Jesus and returns home. She travels to Jerusalem and brings Christ to the temple. Remember the Presentation. Then during annual religious festivals, Mary and Joseph would bring Jesus to the temple and during one of these, He got missing and was later on found. She journeyed with her son to Calvary. It is from this cross that Christ offers his mother to the care of his beloved apostle John and offers John to the maternal protection of Mary. In his 2014 homily, Pope Francis summarized this by saying Mary has always been present in the hearts, the piety and the pilgrimage of faith of the Christian people. The Church journeys through time…and on this journey she proceeds along the path already trodden by the virgin Mary. (Redemptoris Mater, 3). Our journey of faith is the same as that of Mary and so we feel that she is particularly close to us. As far as faith, the hinge of the Christian Life is concerned, the Mother of God shared our condition.
Our pilgrimage of faith has been inseparably linked to Mary ever since Jesus dying on the Cross gave her to us as our Mother, saying “Behold your Mother!” (Jn. 19:27). These words serve as a testament bequeathing to the world a mother. When the faith of the disciples was most tested by difficulties and uncertainties, Jesus entrusted them to Mary who was the first to believe and whose faith would never fail. (Jan 2014). Welcoming the mother into our lives is not a matter of devotion but a requirement of faith: If we want to be Christians, we must be Marians, that is children of Mary. During this jubilee Year then let us dedicate time to journey with Mary to encounter Christ.
And as Pope Francis stated in Spes Non Confundit: “Hope finds its supreme witness in the Mother of God. In the Blessed Virgin, we see that hope is not naive optimism but a gift of grace amid the realities of life...” “I am confident that everyone, especially the suffering and those most in need, will come to know the closeness of Mary, the most affectionate of mothers, who never abandons her children and who, for the holy people of God, is “a sign of certain hope and comfort”. [21] We learn from Mary the best teacher about Christ.
The month of May is HERE NOW, a time when the People of God express with intensity their love and devotion for the Blessed Virgin Mary. Holy Family Catholic Community will join the School of Mary and walk with Mary in the month of May in these year of Jubilee in three ways:
First, invite and encourage families to pray the Rosary together every day; For this reason, I want to encourage everyone to rediscover the beauty of praying the Rosary at home in the month of May.
Second, as a community we shall pray the rosary 30 minutes before every weekday and the weekend celebration of the Eucharist (Mass) in all our FOUR CHURCHES.
Third, Crowning of Mary in all four churches in May 3/4! Our Faith Formation children preparing to receive Holy Communion for the first time will crown and present flowers to the Blessed Mother during the Family Mass at Sacred Heart Church, Perkinsville, Sunday, May 4th! A statue of Mary is honored with a wreath of blossoms to indicate Mary's virtues, virtues that were to be imitated by the faithful.
The Rosary is also a great way to honor Our Lady and obtain her powerful intercession for ourselves as well as for others. I keep all of you in my prayers, especially those suffering most greatly, and I ask you, please, to pray for me. I thank you, and with great affection I send you my blessing. To you, who shine on our journey as a sign of salvation and hope, do we entrust ourselves, O Clement, O Loving, O Sweet Virgin Mary. Amen. Fr. John