Lent During the Jubilee Year of Hope:
The First Week of Lent: Uncovering Signs of Hope – Becoming Beacons of Hope
“My refuge and fortress, my God in whom I trust.” Ps. 91:2
In Spes Non Confundit or “Hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5), the Papal Bull that officially established the Jubilee Year of Hope 2025, Pope Francis invites us on the one hand to uncover signs of hope in our world and on the other hand to become “tangible signs of hope for those sisters and brothers who experience hardships of any kind.” Recognizing that the lives of too many people are marked by darkness and despair, this Lenten Season is an opportunity for us to extend light and hope to people who experience different kinds of hardships. In Spes Non Confundit the Pope first draws our attention to the millions of people who are imprisoned, either here or abroad.
The plight of prisoners has been a great concern to Pope Francis. Since his election, he has visited Roman prisons on numerous occasions and has washed the feet of prisoners on Holy Thursday. In early 2022, Pope Francis issued a plea on behalf of prisoners stating: “It’s right that those who have made a mistake pay for their mistake, but it’s even more right that those who have done wrong should be able to redeem themselves from their mistake. There can’t be sentences without windows of hope.”
Most recently, on December 26, 2024, two days after opening the Holy Doors at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Pope Francis opened a Holy Door at the Rebbibia Prison, even before opening the Holy Doors at the other three Papal Basilicas. On that occasion, he told prisoners, guards and their families that he wanted everyone “to have the possibility of throwing open the door of our hearts and understanding that hope doesn’t disappoint.” He further warned “against closed, hardened hearts, which keep us from living.” The Jubilee year of hope he said “gives us the grace to fling open our hearts to hope. Even in the most difficult and challenging times,” and he reassured everyone, that “hope does not disappoint.”
During this first week of Lent let us pray for our sisters and brothers who are imprisoned and find ways to offer windows of hope to them, both during and after their incarceration through the three disciplines of Lent.
- Abstinance (fasting):
Aware of our human tendency to judge others, let us work on abstaining from feelings of anger and thoughts of vengeance this week and embrace the mercy God extends to all, including our incarcerated brothers and sisters who have made mistakes in their lives and now are making restitution for their mistakes.
- Appeal (prayer):
Mindful of the tenderness of our God let us pray fervently for our incarcerated brothers and sisters this week that they may find hope and discover a path toward a better life. And let us pray for ourselves that we too may turn away from “closed and hardened hearts” and “fling open our hearts to hope.”
- Action (almsgiving):
There are concrete ways we can assist in opening windows of hope for our incarcerated brothers and sisters both while they are in prison and after their release. One way of doing this is by becoming a Basilica Re-entry Mentor assisting our incarcerated brothers and sisters when they re-enter society (https://mary.org/volunteer).
And please remember to be patient with yourself and others and don’t let yourself be overwhelmed. Lent is neither an endurance test nor a time to prove our Christian heroism. Rather, Lent is a time to slow down and ponder what is essential to our faith and thus to our life as Christians. So please pace yourselves. Give yourself and others the necessary space. And above all be patient with yourself and others.
Johan van Parys, PhD
Managing Director of Ministries/ Director of Liturgy & Sacred Arts