On Christmas Eve, 2024 Pope Francis kicked off the 2025 Holy Year, inaugurating a celebration of the Catholic Church that is expected to draw some 32 million pilgrims to Rome.
From his wheelchair, Francis knocked a few times and the great Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica swung open. He was wheeled across the threshold as bells tolled across Rome and the choir inside the basilica began Christmas Eve Mass.
In his homily, Francis said the Holy Year is an opportunity to relieve the debt of poor countries and commit to protecting the planet. The aim of the Jubilee, he said, is “to bring hope to the interminable, dreary days of prisoners, to the cold and dismal lodgings of the poor and to all those places desecrated by war and violence.”
The ceremony inaugurated the once-every-25-year tradition of a Jubilee, in which the Catholic faithful make pilgrimages to Rome. Francis has dedicated the 2025 Jubilee to the theme of Hope.
An Italian newspaper once carried a story about a young couple in Italy who seemed particularly devoted in their worship.
The priest at a cathedral there reported that the pair spent an hour or more on a regular basis sitting before a statue of the Virgin Mary. Naturally, he assumed they were praying.
It turns out, this young couple was recharging their cell phones. They had noticed a stray electric cable sticking out of the wall behind the statue of the Virgin Mary.
Whenever their phone’s power supply dwindled, the young couple came to the church and re-charged it from the cable behind the Virgin Mary. The priest states that the young couple is welcome to use his church for this purpose.
We talk about coming to church to “re-charge our batteries,” but this is ridiculous.
What looked to the unobservant eye like an act of piety was actually a self-serving ploy to save money. This young couple was using the church for their own purposes.
Why should I be surprised? I need to learn that my actions affect other people. I must be careful what I say and do. LIFE IS NOT ALWAYS JUST ABOUT ME. Too often I am like the young couple – I think life is just about me!
Think of a time recently when YOUR life was just about YOU.
JESUS WILL ONLY PROVE TO BE OUR SAVIOR WHEN OUR IDOLS AND OUR SMART PHONES FAIL US!
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