Manila (AsiaNews) – The Jubilee of Hope for the year 2025 will be a unique opportunity “to form a community of missionary disciples,” writes Card Pablo Virgilio David, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and bishop of Kalookan, in a pastoral letter published on 29 December for the opening of the Holy Year in dioceses around the world.
“As pilgrims of hope, we are commissioned to form a community of missionary disciples" and the year that has just started represents the "best opportunity" to begin in a perspective of "synodality in our basic ecclesial communities, parishes and dioceses.”
This journey "in hope" and “in love” will follow in the footsteps of Jesus in the synagogue for a "synodal Church on mission".
Pope Francis proclaimed the Jubilee Year for 2025 centred on the theme "Pilgrims of hope", emphasising the figure of the "pilgrim" who bears witness to a different type of travel, whose purpose is to obey by showing the true testimony of family life, not only within the home, but as the family of God, the CBCP president explains.
A public opinion research company that has carried out polls to measure hope and optimism in Philippine society over the past few years recently released its latest findings, showing that since the early 2000s, people trust and hope have never fallen below 80 per cent.
Since 2010, the score has never gone below 90 per cent, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, averaging around 93 per cent, up to 96 per cent when respondents expressed confidence in a better life at the start of 2024.
Many factors are thought to contribute to this positive outlook. According to scholars, one of the main reasons for this predisposition of Filipinos is the role played by their strong faith in God, which is summed up in the quote: “While there is life, there is hope.”
“Despite the trials and tribulations that we face, we will always hold on to the belief, ‘God has mercy’ or ‘God will take care,” Card David writes. For some, this might sound fatalistic or just surrender to fate. But for many, it expressed confidence that God is “all things can be done.”
For the prelate, “There seems to be a strong hope that remains within Filipinos that cannot be destroyed by any calamity or calamity that may face life.” Yet, “we also know this isn't true for everyone. Many of our countrymen are also having a hard time finding hope. Many Filipinos are living in extreme poverty or facing inhumane conditions and extreme experiences of suffering”.
Despite the high level of hope that characterises Filipinos, mental health issues are also on the rise, because many unresolved problems like climate change and natural disasters are "wrecking devastation” in entire communities.
“Nature itself seems to be groaning for help,” the pastoral letter reads. “It's easy to give in to the temptation of despair and surrender”. Perhaps, the real “challenge to us is to stand firm in our faith.”
“Pope Francis chose this theme to restore the climate of faith and trust, to ignite the fire of hope within us, and to help each gain newfound courage and certainty while looking ahead with open spirit, and confidence in the future.”
Indeed, as pilgrims of hope, “We are called to go forward together, in the spirit of synodality.” For this reason, “the Jubilee Year logo depicts God's people in a boat, sailing on the turbulent sea, with the cross as their anchor”.
After all is said and done, “We are called to transform our relationships so that we may grow in friendship and fellowship.”
