CONTEMPLATIVE ARTIST

 

A fascinating artist of many of my favorite saints is KREG YINGST. 
Kreg is obviously a very contemplative man, as he uses his art for prayer.
He is both a painter and a self-taught printmaker. Through a series, or “body of work,” he has a personal vision of his subject.

One example is  his reaction to the school shooting at Sandy Hook in 2012. He had two young daughters at the time and was deeply moved by the loss those parents were enduring. He decided to carve one prayer a week for the entire year. Those images became “Light from Darkness: Portraits and Prayers” ($29.95). All proceeds  he donated to orphanages. 

He started out as a printmaker. His initial printmaking influences were the book illustrators and WPA artists of the 1930’s. All of his original works are created from carved blocks of wood, linoleum, or other materials, and printed onto paper, board, or wood using an antique Showcard proof press. 

A native of Illinois, Kreg studied art at Trinity University in San Antonio where he received his BA after attending the University of Texas (1978-’80).  In 1996 he received an MA in painting from Eastern Illinois University. After graduation, he taught art for thirteen years and has been a full time artist since 2003.

Trained as a painter, Kreg developed a passion for relief block prints, after discovering the black and white wordless woodcut novels of Belgian Illustrator Frans Masereel and his American counterpart, Lyd Ward. He was inpired by works of the German Expressionists and Mexican Social Realists.  Like these movements, he makes “message art,” informed by issues of social justice. 

His larger works are hand-burnished using the back of a spoon. Some of the images are printed multiple times with different blocks to create colored layers, or in some cases, are individually hand-painted using watercolor. He says of his work: “I like the fact that someone can receive something made directly from my hand.”

During the pandemic, Kreg found a large audience for his body of work on sacred themes, ranging from portraits of the Virgin Mary and Celtic saints to illustrations of the Psalms and the life of Saint Francis of Assisi with special suites of prints on the Passion of Christ.

 Creating block prints by hand is a way for Kreg to engage with the world and with God. He set up Starving Artist Books in 2005 to publish his own titles, including illustrated editions of the Psalms, a history of blues music, and the writings of Brother Lawrence, using the proceeds to support international charities. 

His church-sponsored volunteer work with marginalized people in Pensecola, Florida, where he now lives, inspired "Glory among the Ruins: The Homeless Project", a portfolio of 15-linocut portraits of homeless men, accompanied by meditations on their life stories.

 Kreg believes his slow and tedious artistic method nurtures his contemplative side, “keeping him centered and introspective”. Before he begins work each morning, in a bedroom in his home converted into a studio, he pauses for a prayer, a connection with God that continues into his art-making.

His book, Everything Could be a Prayer: 100 Portraits of Saints and Mystics, with portrait prints of saints and mystics who developed disciplines for living in isolation relevant to our own time in and out of lockdown, can be found at Amazon. He says: “I’m studying people who have wrestled with their passions and triumphed with God.”  The title of the book comes from a quote by St. Martin de Porres.  The book features a a mixed bag of people from various spiritual walks, from hermits to Harriet Tubman, but all have in common some point of contact with Christ.

 His art is found in numerous international private and corporate collections, including Purdue University and the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art in Charleston, SC.

It seems Kreg puts Christ at the center of not only his work but his life. “I feel like I’m the one to bridge the gap, to educate myself, and to find people who are wrestling in their own faith, and have found this connection in their own right, and to share that. I look at it as the tree.

 Jesus is the roots, and the stump began to grow when the Church was birthed. You have the schism with the East and the West and another split with the Protestants, and now you’re looking at a tree with a hundred tiny branches. But I like to think they can all trace back down to the root.” (Quote “Our Sunday Visitor” July 20, 2023 -  Simcha Fisher)

 “My whole lineage goes through Jesus. He was my contact point on that day 35 years ago. I called out, and he was that one that answered. He was the one who was my friend, my savior, and everything else. I come from a Christology, a cruciform. I see God through the cruciform Christ. He becomes the center of everything else.”

He has a great love of the Desert Fathers as well as the Celtic saints.  Here is an artist who knows the saints and in his "primative" art, conveys their spirit.

PRAYER FOR UKRAINE- TODAY

 

A Prayer for Ukraine

God of peace and justice,
we pray for the people of Ukraine today.
We pray for peace and the laying down of weapons.
We pray for all those who fear for tomorrow,
that your Spirit of comfort would draw near to them.
We pray for those with power over war or peace,
for wisdom, discernment and compassion to guide their decisions.
Above all, we pray for all your precious children, at risk and in fear,
that you would hold and protect them.
We pray in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
Amen.

Archbishop Justin Welby (UK)
Archbishop Stephen Cottrell (UK)

Mother of God of Tenderness- Iryna Solonynka Ukrainian artist- Master of the Department of Sacred Art-          National Academy of Arts, Lviv 

 

 

INVASION ANNIVERSARY

 

 

 

February 24 marks the third anniversary of Russia's INVASION of UKRAINE in 2022. Though Ukraine has won many battles, the war for Ukraine’s right to exist as an independent, democratic nation rages on at a very steep cost. 

The U.S. has supported Ukraine—but now, the new U.S. administration has ended the support. How can we help support Ukraine, find an end to this death and destruction, and get the Russians to withdraw? At present it looks like prayer is  the only answer, and as European leaders meet to try and determine the next step in this mess, we can only pray for a peaceful solution.

This invasion was a violation of international law, breaking 75 years of peace in Central Europe.  Many felt Kyiv would fall in a week and the army would collapse, while President Volodymyr Zelensky would flee, abandoning his people. But the Russian tyrant miscalculated the strength, tenacity and bravery of the Ukrainian people, holding off the world’s third largest army for 3 years.

Russia has paid the price with sanctions which have led to economic problems, which is nothing compared to the loss of lives. More than 850,000 have been killed and wounded while a million men have fled the country to avoid military service. Russia has now reverted to using convicts, mercenaries, and North Korean troops to continue this war.

President Zelensky said that between 300,000 and 350,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the war compared to 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed.  Western officials estimate that Moscow is losing an average of 1,500 men, killed and wounded, every day. One has to remember that the Russian soldiers are not defending their own homeland, but rather fight in foreign land, hence not as committed,  as they are forced into a situation most would rather not be in.

Russia’s war against Ukraine has robbed millions of Ukrainians of their previous lives which once seemed stable and predictable. Even when the war ends, how will the Ukrainians rebuild their lives?  More than 2.5 million Ukrainians have lost their homes, 5 million Ukrainians are internally displaced, and an additional 6 1/2 million have become refugees abroad. Staggering statistics!

Ukraine’s independence and democratic future is for the security of all the West.  We pray for a rapid cessation of this unjust war  which will allow the rest of Europe to breath more deeply. Right now the future does not look good. We ask our Mother of Peace to intercede!

Paintings Ukrainian artists:

Top- Olenka Zahorodnyk

Right- Mariana Mykytiuk

VIRGIN of HODEGETRIA- HELP OUR MESS

 

 

The Marian icon of the VIRGIN of HODEGETRIA is the only example of UKRAINIAN art held in the Vatican Museums.  This sacred image dating from the seventeenth century, now more than ever cannot fail to evoke the suffering of the Ukrainian people in this dark moment.

 

Its history is linked to the figure of Saint John Paul II, who received this icon as a gift in Lviv in 2001, during his apostolic journey to Ukraine. Along with the original, which has deteriorated over time, the pontiff also received a copy with an ideal reconstruction of the missing parts. Both were donated in turn by Saint John Paul II to the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, until 2004 when they became part of the Vatican Collections.

Hodegetria is a Greek word that means " she who shows the way" or "the indicator of the way". It is also the name of a type of icon that depicts the Virgin Mary holding the Christ-Child and pointing to him. 

This icon, scarred and in some parts devastated, narrates today’s tragedy to us all, and in the face of the Child which is no longer present, there is the face of every Ukrainian child. Of every child who is an innocent victim of the folly of war. We can only ask our heavenly Mother for her intercession in the on-going mess, whch can only lead to more tragedy for the world!
 

BIRD COUNT IN FEBRUARY

February 14–17, 2025 is the annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC). Bird lovers everywhere unite in the effort to tally as many of the world's bird species as possible over these four days. Combined with other bird counts, such as the Christmas count, the GBBC results help create a clearer picture of how birds are faring. Are individual species declining, increasing, or holding steady in the face of habitat loss, climate change, and other threats?

The Great Backyard Bird Count is a joint project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, National Audubon Society, and Birds Canada and is made possible in part by founding sponsor Wild Birds Unlimited.

More than a half-million people participated during the 2024 GBBC—double the number of participants in the past five years. They reported 7,920 species of birds from 200+ countries and subregions. 

First-timers should make it a point to read complete instructions on the GBBC website, where they will also find helpful birding tips and birding app downloads. The GBBC website also features a new map for marking local GBBC community events. As with other counts, birders can join up to help celebrate birds in their hometown. 

To take part in the 2025 GBBC, each participant or group counts birds for any length of time (but for at least 15 minutes) and reports the birds they can identify at each site they visit. While it is called the backyard count, it could also be a park, a wilderness area, apartment balcony, or a neighborhood street. For us on Shaw, it is the whole island, sea shore as well as woods and fields.

Two of my favorites on Shaw:

Top: American kestral- painting by David Stribbling- UK

Right:  Varied thrush- found only in winter

FATHER OF THE CHANT

 

The following letter may be of interest to those who follow the Liturgy. This letter is to the Abbot of Saint-Pierre de Solesmes (France), Dom Geoffroy Kemlin, from the Holy Father on the anniversary of the death of SERVANT of GOD DOM PROSPERO GUERANGER (Blog 11/21/2023).

 

As you celebrate this year the 150th anniversary of the death of your founder, Dom Prosper Guéranger, I am pleased to join in your thanksgiving. I wish to express my encouragement and my affectionate closeness to those who have committed their lives in the wake of this servant of the Church, or who are working to make his life and work better known. Benedic anima mea Domino. This verse from Psalm 102 was one of the last words he spoke before committing his soul to the hands of the Father on 30 January 1875.

In evoking Dom Guéranger, my predecessors have underlined the various expressions of his charism received for the edification of the whole Church: his role as restorer of Benedictine monastic life in France, his liturgical knowledge placed at the service of the People of God, his ardent piety towards the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, his work in support of the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception and that of papal infallibility, his writings in defence of the freedom of the Church. I would also like to highlight two aspects of this charism that correspond to two current needs of the Church: fidelity to the Holy See and the Successor of Peter, particularly in the area of liturgy, and spiritual paternity.

Dom Guéranger was undoubtedly one of the first architects of the Liturgy Movement, the fruit of which would be the Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium of the Second Vatican Council. The historical, theological and ecclesiological rediscovery of the liturgy as the language of the Church and an expression of its faith was at the heart of his work, first as a diocesan priest and then as a Benedictine monk. This rediscovery inspired in particular his publications favouring the return of the dioceses of France to the unity of the Roman liturgy, and it was this rediscovery that prompted him to write the volumes of L’année liturgique in order to make available to priests and lay people the beauty and riches of the liturgy, which is “the first wellspring of Christian spirituality” (Apostolic Letter Desiderio desideravi, no. 61). He strongly affirmed that “the prayer of the Church is the most pleasing to the ear and heart of God, and therefore the most powerful. Happy, then, is he who prays with the Church” (Preface to L’année liturgique). May the example of Dom Guéranger inspire in the hearts of all the baptised not only love for Christ and his Bride, but also filial trust and docile collaboration cum Petro et sub Petro, so that the Church, faithful to her living Tradition, may continue to raise “one and the same prayer capable of expressing her unity” (Apostolic Letter Desiderio desideravi, no. 61).

I would also like to evoke another aspect of the charism of Dom Guéranger: spiritual paternity. Attentive to the work of the Holy Spirit in souls, Dom Guéranger wanted only one thing: to help them in their search for God. Shaped by the Benedictine Rule and divine praise, his gentle and joyful confidence in God touched the hearts of the monks who came to gather around him, the nuns who benefited from his teachings, but also the men and women with responsibilities in the Church and society, and above all the fathers and mothers of families, the children, the little ones and the humble who sought his spiritual advice. In times of peace, as in times of adversity, they all found in him the strengthening or renewal of their faith, a taste for prayer and love of the Church. May his example of docility to the Holy Spirit and of service inspire and guide many of the faithful in the ways of the Lord, “meek and humble of heart” (Mt 11:29).

I pray that the work of the Servant of God Dom Guéranger may never cease to produce fruits of holiness in all the faithful, and that it may also remain a living witness to the fruitfulness of monastic life at the heart of the Church.

It is with this wish that I impart my Blessing to you, Reverend Father, and to your brothers of the Abbey of Saint-Pierre, to those of the Congregation of Solesmes, and to all those who will take part in the commemorations of the   return to God of Dom Prosper Guéranger. From Saint John Lateran,                                                                                                        January 31, 2025,   FRANCIS

 

CONSECRATED LIFE DAY

 

Today, February 2, is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord and also the World Day for Consecrated Life, a commemoration instituted by Pope St. John Paul II in 1997. The World Day for Consecrated Life takes place on this feast the Holy Father explained, because “the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple is an eloquent icon of the total offering of one’s life for all those who are called to show forth in the Church and in the world, by means of the evangelical counsels the characteristic features of Jesus, the chaste, poor and obedient one.”

In his message for the 1st World Day for Consecrated Life, St. John Paul explained that the day has three purposes:

 In the first place, it answers the intimate need to praise the Lord more solemnly and to thank him for the great gift of consecrated life, which enriches and gladdens the Christian community by the multiplicity of its charisms and by the edifying fruits of so many lives totally given to the cause of the Kingdom …

In the second place, this day is intended to promote a knowledge of and esteem for the consecrated life by the entire People of God …

The third reason regards consecrated persons directly. They are invited to celebrate together solemnly the marvels which the Lord has accomplished in them, to discover by a more illumined faith the rays of divine beauty spread by the Spirit in their way of life, and to acquire a more vivid consciousness of their irreplaceable mission in the Church and in the world. Immersed in a world which is often agitated and distracted, taken up sometimes by the press of responsibilities, consecrated persons also will be helped by the celebration of this annual World Day to return to the sources of their vocation, to take stock of their own lives, to confirm the commitment of their own consecration.

UKRAINIAN MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTA

 

Now that we start a new month (where did January go?) it is time to get back to our saints, the real purpose of this Blog.

BL. JOSOPHATA (MICHAELINA) HORDASHEVSKA, another new Ukrainian saint, was born 20 November 1869 in Lviv ( then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire now Ukraine), into a family who were members of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. At the age of 18, she considered consecrating her life to God in a contemplative monastery of the Basilian nuns, then the only Eastern-rite women's religious congregation.

She attended a spiritual retreat which was preached by a Basilian monk, Jeremiah Lomnytskyj, whose spiritual guidance she sought. With his permission, she took a private vow of chastity for one year. She was to renew this vow twice.

Ethnic Ukrainians, living under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, were very poor, both materially and spiritually. Women and children were especially neglected. Immorality, illiteracy, superstition, and drunkenness were rampant in the villages.

Father Lomnytsky and co-founder Father Kyrylo Seletsky, pastor of Zhuzheliany, seeing that there was a need for active religious sisters to meet the social needs of the poor and needy faithful of the church, had decided to establish a women's congregation which would follow an active life of service and felt that Michaelina would be an appropriate candidate to found such a congregation.

When she agreed, she was sent in June 1892 to the Polish Roman Catholic Felician Sisters to experience the life of community which followed an active consecrated life.

She returned to Lviv two months later and, on 24 August 1892, took the religious habit of the new congregation, receiving the name Josaphata, in honor of the Ukrainian Catholic martyr Josaphat Kuntsevych (see Blog 10/30/24).

Sister Josaphat then went to Zhuzhelyany, and at the age of 22 became the first Superior of the seven young women who had been recruited for the new institute, training them in the spirit and charism of the Sisters Servants: "Serve your people where the need is greatest".

For the rest of her life, she led the new congregation, through its growth and development. She and her new congregation established daycare centers for children, supplied basic medicines, taught children to read and write, taught the bible and lives of the saints to adults and children, sewed vestments for the clergy, encouraged upkeep of churches, and cared for the sick during cholera and typhus epidemics.

She even sent sisters abroad. In 1902, four sisters were sent to Canada to serve the Ukrainian immigrants. By 1906, the Sisters Servants were in Croatia, and by 1911, they were in Brazil.

By 1902, the congregation numbered 128 sisters, in 26 convents across the country. They were able to hold their first General Chapter in August of that year, at which Bl. Jpsophata was elected the first superior general of the congregation, 

Bl. Josaphata’s life was filled with hardships and sufferings: trials that failed to neither discourage her energetic spirit nor her inner joy and peace. 

Internal divisions led the blessed to tender her resignation to the Metropolitan Archbishop of Lviv. Under the new superior general appointed by the Metropolitan Archbishop, she and her natural sister, Arsenia, were denied permission to take permanent vows. 

Due to her canonical status of still being in temporary vows, Bl. Josophata was ineligible to participate in the next General Chapter of the congregation. Nonetheless, she was elected vicaress general of the congregation in absentia, with the delegates of the chapter petitioning the metropolitan that she be allowed to make her permanent vows. This request was granted, and she did so the following day, 11 May 1909, and assumed the office to which she had been voted.

Bl. Josaphata suffered stoically as her body was ravaged by painful tuberculosis of the bone and she died at the age of 49 on April 7, 1919. Her  remains were transferred in 1982 from the closed and abandoned cemetery in Chervonohrad (formerly Krystynopil), Ukraine to the Generalate of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate in Rome. There, hundreds of people come to pray for the intercession of Blessed Josaphata for their physical and spiritual needs.

According to the testimony of Philomena Yuskiv, "She showed her love for her people through her heart-felt desire to lift them up morally and spiritually; she taught children, youth and women, served the sick, visited the poor and needy, taught liturgical chant and looked after the Church's beauty." Numerous miracles are ascribed due to her intercession after her death.

On 27 June 2001, she was proclaimed Blessed by St. Pope John Paul II in Lviv, in a beatification ceremony during the Holy Liturgy in the Byzantine rite. Over 1 million people attended. Bl.Josaphata speaks to modern people about the beauty of a radical life according to the Gospel and the need for compassion and solidarity with those in need. She shows that even small acts of love can change the world

THE LUCKY 1%

 

It is normal for seniors to tell the present generation how great their youth was, remembering the uncomplicated  good times, comparing them to the ills of today.  But here is proof that growing up in the 40s and 50s was a  special  time, perhaps never to be repeated.

 If you were born between 1930 and 1946, you belong to an incredibly rare group: only 1% of your generation is still alive today. At ages ranging from 77 to 93, your era is a unique time capsule in human history.

Here’s why:

You were born into hardship. Your generation climbed out of the Great Depression and bore witness to a world at war. You lived through ration books, saved tin foil, and reused everything—nothing was wasted.

You remember the milkman. Fresh milk was delivered to your door. Life was simpler and centered around the basics. Discipline came from both parents and teachers, with no room for excuses.

Your imagination was your playground. Without TVs, you played outside and created entire worlds in your mind from what you heard on the radio. The family gathered around the radio for news or entertainment.

Technology was in its infancy. Phones were communal, calculators were hand-cranked, and newspapers were the primary source of information. Typewriters, not computers, recorded thoughts.

Your childhood was secure. Post-WWII brought a bright future—no terrorism, no internet, no global warming debates. It was a golden era of optimism, innovation, and growth.

You are the last generation to live through a time when:

Black-and-white TVs were cutting-edge.Highways weren’t motorways. Shopping meant visiting downtown stores. Polio was a feared disease.

 While your parents worked hard to rebuild their lives, you grew up in a world of endless possibilities. You thrived in a time of peace, progress, and security that the world may never see again.

 If you’re over 77 years old, take pride in having lived through these extraordinary times. You are one of the lucky 1% who can say, "I lived through the best of times."

Paintings: Edward Henry Potthast (1857-1927) American Impressionist 

HOPE FOR YOUTH

 

Everyday one reads about the youth in our country, or around the world, and the negative effects they have on culture and society.  Then one or two (or more) young people show up at the monastery and we gasp at how joyous, caring and just downright great they are. So does the monastery attract only the special ones, or are they the norm? I would like to think (and am sure) that  the majority of today's young people have HOPE for the future and are working to make a better world.`                                                                                                                      

"I also want to encourage you to encourage young people. Young people are the first pilgrims of hope! They thirst for meaning, authenticity and true encounters. But be careful, let the young meet with the elderly, because the elderly are also witnesses of hope. Young people, when they go to the elders, receive some special mission. Do this work, which is very important. Help young people to discover Christ, because Christ is the answer. Help them to grow in faith, to dare to make courageous choices and to become missionary disciples of Jesus, living witnesses of the Gospel. Pass on to them the boldness to dream of a more fraternal world and accompany them, so that they may become artisans of hope in their families, schools and workplaces.  Pope Francis   (Jan. 10, 2025)

                                          Local youth putting in new deck at OLR

STRUGGLE AND HOPE

 

“We know that hope is often put to the test. Our world is marked by war and by so many injustices; it is torn by individualism. All this often generates doubt, fear of the future and very often desperation. But we Christians bring a certainty: Christ is our hope. He is the door of hope, always. He is the good news for this world! And this hope – it is curious – does not belong to us. Hope is not a possession you can put in your pocket. No, it does not belong to us. It is a gift to share, a light to transmit. And if hope is not shared, it falls.

Do not be afraid to respond to this call! Being missionaries means letting oneself be shaken by the Holy Spirit. I recommend that you read the first chapters of the Acts of the Apostles and see what the Holy Spirit does. It is the Spirit who guides the Church, He stirs hearts. And hope is born here. At times, letting oneself be shaken by the Holy Spirit can mean coming out of our habitual mindsets and even accepting to “mess up”. The Holy Spirit is the Master.”

                                 Pope Francis' words to the leaders of the “Congrès Mission”

 

The above mural, Struggle and Hope, at Portland Community Collage, was designed by former PCC art faculty member William Dyas Garnett (1939-2004) and painted in 1988 by over 50 community volunteers. While it celebrates the struggle for political freedom and land reform in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua during the time of U.S. Military involvement when the region was in the grip of widespread poverty and political repression, it certainly illustrates the on-going struggle not only of these countries  but of many across the globe. This mural celebrates the hope for grassroots movements in healthcare, education and land reform amidst this turmoil.

 The painting memorializes two casualties of this struggle. On the left is the funeral procession for Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, a heroic advocate for freedom and justice and an outspoken critic of government political oppression and torture, who was assassinated in 1980 while performing Mass. On the right is Portland engineer Ben Linder, shown working on a hydroelectric dam project to bring energy to local farmers in the remote mountain region of El Cua-Bocay, where he and Nicaraguan co-workers Pablo Rosales and Sergio Hernandez were killed in an attack by U.S. backed Contras in 1987.

HOPE HAS RISEN

 

At Christmas, we received a card from France from the Abbey of Jouarre, where our foundress Mother Benedicta Duss started.  We were all struck by the one line on the card from NABIL ANTAKI a doctor in Aleppo, Syria.

In 1986 with his wife Leyla and brother Georges Sabé, he founded the association “The Ear of God”, a project that would involve him in solidarity with the most needy people in his city.

 

In 2012, with the war, “The Ear of God” became the “Blue Marists”. Currently the group in Aleppo, Syria, has 150 volunteers who work helping the displaced and refugees of Aleppo, promoting and encouraging care and health service programs, labor, educational and social projects, and also distributing food packages and hygiene kits, distributing food plates and visiting the most vulnerable people. 

“We are not a charitable association, we are an association of solidarity. We want to live with the poor and the displaced in order to alleviate their suffering and to develop humanity and hope. This is our goal. To sow hope. To help people to live and to stay in their country.”

 "To Hope is to live fastened when everything trembles

It is to accept the risk when everything is assured
It is to propose a presence when everything is senseless
To Hope, is to live inhabited by love,
nourished by tenderness,
encouraged by peace
to Hope, is to advance when everything seems to be blocked
when everything seems to be finished
when all is condemned
It is to live at the  limit, at the frontier, at the extreme
of an essential choice:

'do not fear anything,
I carry you in the palms of my hand
I make you my friend'

 To hope, is to say Magnificat
You are in my life
and I am in yours
an eternal poem of Love
It is Hope which helps us to exceed, to go beyond the gift and the sacrifice of self, to love more than one could imagine, to believe with all our heart and not only with all our reason.  Hope means that Jesus, who was incarnate and died on the cross for us, has risen and He lives in us."

BAPTISM- THE BEGINNING OF HOPE

 

The BAPTISM OF JESUS, is a sign of HOPE for all in a life that Christ has promised we too will participate in. It is the hope that can come only when we realize that through the birth and death of Jesus,  we have been baptized into new life through Him who was baptized by John in the Jordan River.

 

                                           Baptism of Jesus by Ivanka Demchuk- Ukraine

This feast should also be a reminder of our own baptism where we are born into new life in Jesus bringing us Hope. Hope that can only come from our Savior, whose birth we have just celebrated. He who came into this world as a light in the darkness, where we have new life and where death has lost its sting.

"If we are true to our Baptism, we will spread the light of the hope—Baptism is the beginning of hope, that hope—of God, and we will be able to pass on to future generations the meaning of life."

Just as this Advent season gave us hope of new life, so too does the baptism of Jesus, for baptism is the sacrament of hope and of new beginnings.

The Christmas season comes to an end with the feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. 

RETURN TO THE HEART

 

 

 

In calling for 2025 to be the YEAR of HOPE, Pope Francis has asked all Catholics to become “pilgrims of hope”. “Kindness is not a diplomatic strategy” nor “a set of rules to ensure social harmony or to obtain other advantages” but rather “a form of love that opens hearts to acceptance and helps us all to become more humble... Wars, social injustices, and the many forms of violence we are exposed to every day should not dishearten us nor draw us toward skepticism and discouragement… The door of God’s Heart is always open; let us return to Him. Let us return to the Heart that loves us and forgives us.”

PILGRIMS OF HOPE

 

"In the last two years, not a single country has been unaffected by the sudden outbreak of an epidemic that made us experience first-hand not only the tragedy of dying alone, but also the uncertainty and fleetingness of existence, and in doing so, has changed our very way of life. Together with all our brothers and sisters, we Christians endured those hardships and limitations…

We must fan the flame of hope that has been given us, and help everyone to gain new strength and certainty by looking to the future with an open spirit, a trusting heart and far-sighted vision.

 The forthcoming Jubilee can contribute greatly to restoring a climate of hope and trust as a prelude to the renewal and rebirth that we so urgently desire; that is why I have chosen as the motto of the Jubilee, Pilgrims of Hope.

This will indeed be the case if we are capable of recovering a sense of universal fraternity and refuse to turn a blind eye to the tragedy of rampant poverty that prevents millions of men, women, young people and children from living in a manner worthy of our human dignity. Here I think in particular of the many refugees forced to abandon their native lands. 

May the voices of the poor be heard throughout this time of preparation for the Jubilee, which is meant to restore access to the fruits of the earth to everyone. As the Bible teaches, “The sabbath of the land shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves and for your hired servant and the sojourner who lives with you; for your cattle also, and for the beasts that are in your land, all its yield shall be for food” (Lev 25:6-7)." (Pope Francis)

Pope Francis call for “signs of hope” in the Jubilee Year, including the desire for peace in the world, openness to life and responsible parenthood, and closeness to prisoners, the poor, the sick, the young, the elderly, migrants and people “in difficult situations.” Pope Francis calls on affluent counties to forgive the debts of countries that would never be able to repay them, and address “ecological debt,” which he describs as “connected to commercial imbalances with effects on the environment and the disproportionate use of natural resources by certain countries over long periods of time.”

While many jubilee events will take place in Rome and at the Vatican, it’s a celebration for the whole Church. On Dec. 29, diocesan bishops are expected to open the Holy Year locally with Masses at their cathedrals and co-cathedrals. Catholics are encouraged to make pilgrimages to their cathedral during the year, and should watch diocesan communications for local events. While Pope Francis encouraged bishops to designate Holy Doors for their own cathedrals during the Jubilee Year of Mercy in 2015, there will only be Holy Doors at the Vatican and in Rome this year.

The Jubilee Year concludes with the closing of the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica Jan. 6, 2026, on the feast of the Epiphany. However, the Holy Doors at Rome’s other major basilicas will close Dec. 28, 2025, the same day dioceses are to end local celebrations of the Holy Year.

A YEAR OF HOPE

2025  is a JUBILEE YEAR- which occurs every 25 years.  The theme this time is HOPE. The last ordinary holy year, the Great Jubilee Year of 2000, which took place under St. John Paul II, was one of the biggest events in the history of mankind.  Pope Francis wants this Jubilee Year to be lived as a “year of hope,”  symbolic in times when wars across the world seem to be multiplying.

From the Letter of the Holy Father Francis to the Most reverend Rino Fisichella, President of the pontifical Council for the New Evangelization for the Jubilee 2025:

“The Jubilee has always been an event of great spiritual, ecclesial, and social significance in the life of the Church. Ever since 1300, when Boniface VIII instituted the first Holy Year – initially celebrated every hundred years, then, following its biblical precedent, every fifty years, and finally every twenty-five years – God’s holy and faithful people have experienced this celebration as a special gift of grace, characterized by the forgiveness of sins and in particular by the indulgence, which is a full expression of the mercy of God. The faithful, frequently at the conclusion of a lengthy pilgrimage, draw from the spiritual treasury of the Church by passing through the Holy Door and venerating the relics of the Apostles Peter and Paul preserved in Roman basilicas. Down the centuries, millions upon millions of pilgrims have journeyed to these sacred places, bearing living witness to the faith professed in every age.”

Jubilees were started in 1300 by Pope Boniface VIII,  but they trace their roots to the Jewish tradition of marking a jubilee year every 50 years.  According to the Vatican website for the jubilee, these years in Jewish history were “intended to be marked as a time to re-establish a proper relationship with God, with one another, and with all of creation, and involved the forgiveness of debts, the return of misappropriated land, and a fallow period for the fields.”

Jubilees are traditionally held every 25 years, with occasional extraordinary Jubilees for special causes. Pope Francis called for an Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy in 2015-2016. Jubilees include pilgrimages to Rome, indulgences for sins, and reflections on our spiritual life and forgiveness, leading us closer to Christ.

The 2025 Jubilee, with its theme of reconciliation and unity, comes at a time when the world is striving to recover from economic challenges, environmental crises, and division in society, all of which we see, not only in third world countries, but in wealthier countries, such as the USA. The Jubilee is expecting over 25 million visitors to Rome.

Jubilee 2025 opened Christmas Eve with the rite of the opening of the Holy Doors at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican immediately before Pope Francis celebrated midnight Mass. Holy Doors were also opened at Rome’s three other major basilicas: St. John Lateran on Dec. 29, St. Mary Major on Jan. 1, and will be opened at the Benedictine St. Paul’s Outside the Walls on Jan. 5. The opening of the doors  represent the passage to salvation. 

Major events in Rome, include special liturgies, speakers and papal audiences to celebrate different groups within the Church. The first is the Jubilee of the World of Communications Jan. 24-26, followed by the Jubilee of the Armed Forces, Police and Security Personnel Feb. 8-9. The jubilee also includes gatherings for artists (Feb. 15-18), deacons (Feb. 21-23). Some of these special gatherings will coincide with major canonizations, such as the canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis during the Jubilee of Teenagers April 25-27, and the canonization of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati during the Jubilee of Young People July 28-Aug. 3.

“Often we come across people who are discouraged, pessimistic and cynical about the future, as if nothing could possibly bring them happiness. For all of us, may the Jubilee be an opportunity to be renewed in hope. God’s word helps us find reasons for that hope.” (Pope Francis)