A conversion to a Life of Prayer and Service

Today, Sunday, December 29, 2024, Bishop Michael Mulvey opened the 2025 Jubilee Year at Corpus Christi Cathedral. The Rite of Opening began in the foyer of the Cathedral with the reading of Pope Francis’s Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee Year, Spes non confundit. Following the sprinkling of holy water, the bishop knocked on the door of the Cathedral, and it was opened to allow him to process in, followed by a large crucifix placed to the right of the altar. 

Bishop Mulvey began his homily by saying that the Jubilee year, which occurs every 25 years and has been practiced by the Church since 1300, is a time of grace to grow in faith, hope, and charity. Pope Francis has designated 2025 specifically as a year of hope. It will be a year of mercy and conversion.

“We are pilgrims of hope,” said Mulvey. “We are looking for hope, asking God for hope, doing our part to bring back hope. Hope is rooted in faith. The book of Hebrews reminds us that hope is the assurance of things hoped for but unseen.” 
IA group of young adults from Young Catholic Adults were blessed by the bishop after mass. Some of them will be journeying to the Jubilee in Rome this summer.The bishop said that all are called to two conversions in this Jubilee Year: “The realization of God’s love is the first step. Ask God, through His grace, to put His love in your heart. Hope can bring that necessary conversion.”

Further, he explained that each one must have faith in God’s love, not as a concept but as a reality. “To know God’s love, we can imitate Jesus. He often left the crowds to go to a secluded place to pray. How often do I imitate Jesus by simply going apart to pray?” He emphasized that it is not only praying with words but with the heart: “Say to him, ‘I love you.’ This is the path to grow in the love of God. Look into his eyes: Those eyes are looking at you. Be in his presence and live in his will to experience his love. So often, we allow ourselves to be distracted instead of basking in the love of God. Turn off distractions. Be rooted in the love of God. That can bring us to a new hope.”

The second type of conversion we are called to, said the bishop, is love of neighbor. “If God loves me, then He loves everyone.” He suggested that a point of the Examination of Conscience this year could be, “How often do I turn away from people?” He quoted St. John the Evangelist who said, “If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar” (1 Jn 4:20). And St. Paul wrote to “humbly regard others as more important than yourself” (Phil 2:3). “Journey to a new conversion to love of neighbor, which will certainly be a new conversion to the life of hope. Hate is born from the intolerance of difference. We can’t let those things dominate our hearts.” 

The Bishop shared an incredible story of a young seminarian in Pakistan who was attacked by a Muslim man. He was cut across the face with a piece of glass. Even though the seminarian was attacked for his Catholic faith, he put his hope in God and wrote a letter to the Muslim man to ask him for forgiveness. Several months later, at Christmas, the Muslim arrived at his door with a card, asking, “Why did you write this?” The seminarian replied, “I believe we are all God’s children and I want to ask your forgiveness.” The Muslim answered, “I believe the same thing... but I don’t do it.” The seminarian told him, “The scar on my face is permanent. I see it daily. It will remind me that you and I are brothers and children of God.”

The Jubilee Year 2025 is a year of conversion, a time to look honestly at our sins, anger, and prejudices and remember that we are called to be pilgrims of hope. There will be six Holy Sites in our diocese where one can receive a Plenary Indulgence (visit diocesecc.org/hope for more information).