Jubilee Year Service for Lent

I

Jubilee Hymn

Like a flame my hope is burning,
may my song arise to you:
Source of life that has no ending,
on life’s path I trust in you.

Ev’ry nation, tongue, and people
find a light within your Word.
Scattered fragile sons and daughters
find a home in your dear Son.

God, so tender and so patient,
dawn of hope, you care for all.
Heav’n and earth are recreated
by the Spirit of Life set free.

Raise your eyes, the wind is blowing,
for our God is born in time.
Son made man for you and many
who will find the way in him.

Lord, you awaken our faith:  R. Lord, have mercy.

Christ, you inspire our hope:  R. Christ, have mercy.

Lord, you enkindle our love:  R. Lord, have mercy.

Lord, you opened the eyes of the blind and freed prisoners:  R. Lord, have mercy.

Christ, you promised a new heaven and a new earth:  R. Christ, have mercy.

Lord, you now reign at the right hand of the Father:  R. Lord, have mercy.

Jubilee Prayer of Pope Francis

Hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.For while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a good person someone would even dare to die.But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him. ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life. Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Psalm Response

Meditation (Pope Francis; Spes non confundit; Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025)

“Hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5). In the spirit of hope, the Apostle Paul addressed these words of encouragement to the Christian community of Rome. Hope is also the central message of the coming Jubilee that, in accordance with an ancient tradition, the Pope proclaims every twenty-five years. My thoughts turn to all those pilgrims of hope who will travel to Rome in order to experience the Holy Year and to all those others who, though unable to visit the City of the Apostles Peter and Paul, will celebrate it in their local Churches. For everyone, may the Jubilee 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).

Everyone knows what it is to hope. In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring. Even so, uncertainty about the future may at times give rise to conflicting feelings, ranging from confident trust to apprehensiveness, from serenity to anxiety, from firm conviction to hesitation and doubt. 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. Taking it as our guide, let us return to the message that the Apostle Paul wished to communicate to the Christians of Rome.

“Since we are justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing in the glory of God… Hope does not disappoint, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Rom 5:1-2.5). In this passage, Saint Paul gives us much to reflect upon. We know that the Letter to the Romans marked a decisive turning point in his work of evangelization. Until then, he had carried out his activity in the eastern part of the Empire, but now he turns to Rome and all that Rome meant in the eyes of the world. Before him lay a great challenge, which he took up for the sake of preaching the Gospel, which knows no barriers or confines. The Church of Rome was not founded by Paul, yet he felt impelled to hasten there in order to bring to everyone the Gospel of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen from the dead, a message of hope that fulfils the ancient promises, leads to glory and, grounded in love, does not disappoint.

Hymn (Kathleen Deignan)

Intercessions

The word of God to which we have listened is the foundation of our faith, the nourishment of our hope, and the ferment of our fraternal charity. Let us invoke the Father for the needs of the world.

May the Church, custodian of the plan of salvation, proclaim to all by word and deed the faith in the risen Lord. R. Hear us, O Lord.

May the world, drawn by the love of the incarnate Word, resist the clash of arms and seek instead harmony and peace. R. Hear us, O Lord.

May those who suffer not fall into discouragement, but experience in their hearts the gift of Christian hope. R. Hear us, O Lord.

With the example of the Holy Family of Nazareth, may families be responsive to the plan of God who calls them each day to live in the newness of love. R. Hear us, O Lord.

Strengthened by the power of forgiveness and renewed by the grace of the Jubilee Year, may our diocese continue to walk in the light of the Gospel. R. Hear us, O Lord.

Collect

Closing Hymn