From Jubilee 2025 to Lent

I don’t know about you, but this past month has knocked the stuffing out of me.

I began the year preaching hope, inspired by the declaration of Pope Francis that 2025 was to be a Jubilee Year, a year of reconciliation and renewal of faith.

When the Pope opened up the Jubilee Year in December, he called for Catholics to be Pilgrims of Hope. I wrote about that in my January 1 post, A New Year, a Year of Hope?.

Now the Pope is critically ill, and there is so much in my news feed that disturbs and alarms me, I am on the verge of being overwhelmed.

Our Faith should inspire us to be people of compassion and consolation, but also people of hope and joy. Right? Hope and joy are a struggle for me at this moment.

And now Lent approaches, that solemn season in which we anticipate the suffering and death of Jesus. I want to make a “good” Lent, a Lent that, in a sense, purifies me, and truly prepares me. So, I’ve been back in my Prayer Chair struggling to figure out how to do that. How to merge my Jubilee intentions with reality.

I mentioned in my Jubilee post that I was going to choose a particular charity to support during the Jubilee Year 2025; a charity that seemed to need extra support and attention during this year.

I have chosen the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS).

JRS works in 50 countries around the world helping displaced persons find homes and resettle. It was started in 1980 by Fr. Pedro Arupe, SJ, a Jesuit priest, currently on the path to sainthood; survivor and first responder to the bombing at Hiroshima, Japan; witness to the plight of Vietnamese boat people fleeing their war-ravaged homeland.

JRS’s Mission Statement commits it to compassionate service to some of the world’s most vulnerable people:

“The Jesuit Refugee Service seeks to accompany, serve, and advocate the cause of refugees and other forcibly displaced people that they may heal, learn, and determine their own future.”

“Home is where we all begin, and what we want all people to find.”

In addition to supporting JRS financially, I’ve decided to make the plight of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers the focus of my prayer during Lent. Why?

As an American Catholic, I have to admit to a vast amount of confusion surrounding the treatment of refugees, migrants, and immigrants in this country.

My Catholic faith tells me that all people are created in the image and likeness of God. That all men and women – no matter where they come from - are loved equally by God and should have the opportunity to live a life of dignity - a life that includes access to healthcare, housing, education, and work.

But I also live in the United States of America, a nation of laws that has the right to protect its borders and regulate how and when people may come here and become citizens.

I ask myself, when people are not able to achieve a dignified life where they are, shouldn’t they have the right to emigrate to somewhere else where they will have that opportunity?

This is difficult to understand and harder still to reconcile.

So, this Lent, as a person of Faith, as the descendant of immigrants myself, and a citizen of this country, I am challenging myself to look deeper. Rather than relying on the vast oversimplification, half-truths and slinging of insults which seem to pass for conversation on immigrants and refugees these days, I’ll try to understand this complex situation myself, for my own sanity. To try to better understand why this emotionally charged issue is so confusing and troubling to me. In addition, I want to find a way to help that is constructive.

Dear Holy Spirit, I started this Jubilee year writing about hope, but current events leave me on edge. Give me the wisdom to look beyond myself, my situation, and see through the eyes of others. Help me to trust in you and do my part. AMEN