Don Bosco Philippines South Province

Homily on New Year’s Eve, Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God; 31 December 2024, Divine Mercy Chapel, Estancia

If we are to look back at the year 2024, siguradong mapapabuntong hininga tayo at magsasabing “Ay salamat sa Diyos at nakaraos pa rin kahit paano.” Sa dami ng hinarap nating mga pagsubok at paghamon, pagkakasala, sakit at paghihirap na ating dinanas, at mga problemang nalampasan, sa dakilang awa ng Panginoon eto po rin tayo ngayon, buhay na buhay at lumalaban pa rin. At higit sa lahat patuloy pa ring tayong pinagpapala ng Panginoong Maykapal.

I’m sure despite our many failures and mistakes, we can say that we have also done a lot of good, we have achieved some of our goals, we have experienced successes and have learned many lessons. Above all despite our human weakness and sinfulness, God made us experience his amazing love in a variety of ways. Some of us have grown in our spirituality; others have matured in their faith and still others have become better persons, perhaps much better than last year.

Thanks to God’s gift of JESUS. Because of our faith in HIM we are able to live life more selflessly and more meaningfully; we are able to see the invisible hand of God powerfully guiding us and making us overcome every trial along the way, thus giving us HOPE for better days to come.

What gives us greater joy tonight is that our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has declared 2025 as a Jubilee Year of Hope. In fact, last December 24, on the eve of Christmas, the Pope solemnly opened the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome to mark the beginning of this Jubilee Year. [And last Sunday December 29 all the other Cathedrals of the world also celebrated the solemn opening of the Jubilee Year, presided by their own respective bishops.]

What is this Jubilee Year really all about and what is its purpose? Following an ancient tradition, the Pope proclaims the Jubilee Year every twenty-five years in commemoration of the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Some of you might recall in the year 2000 we celebrated the Great Jubilee Year during the Papacy of St John Paul II.

The purpose of this Jubilee is primarily to offer everyone an experience of the outpouring of divine mercy. In the last Papal Bull issued by the Holy Father, the Pope said “…once more the Holy Door will be flung open to invite everyone to an intense experience of the love of God that awakens in hearts the sure hope of salvation in Christ” (art. 6). The opening of the Holy Door is a very symbolic gesture that stands for the opening of the Heart of Christ to everyone who needs God’s mercy and unconditional love.

Therefore it is the Pope’s wish that all those who will travel as pilgrims either to Rome or to their local churches may have “a moment of genuine, personal encounter with the Lord Jesus, the ‘door’ (cf. Jn 10:7.9) of our salvation, whom the Church is charged to proclaim always, everywhere and to all as ‘our hope’ (1 Tim 1:1).

Secondary to the purpose mentioned above, this Jubilee Year aims to usher the world to the 20th centenary, or 2000th anniversary of our Redemption this coming 2033, that is just eight years away from today.

What is the theme of the Jubilee Year 2025? For this Jubilee Year Pope Francis chose the theme, Pilgrims of HOPE. But why hope?

The reason is that everywhere in the world there is so much uncertainty about the future. At times this uncertainty gives rise to “conflicting feelings, ranging from confident trust to apprehensiveness, from serenity to anxiety, from firm conviction to hesitation and doubt.” It is observable that people in various places are getting “discouraged, pessimistic and cynical about the future, as if nothing could possibly bring them happiness” (art. 1). The Pope therefore sees the urgency of re-kindling that spark of HOPE in the hearts of all people today.

What then is hope and on what is it based? Pope Francis says that hope is commonly understood as “the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring.” Hindi talaga natin alam kung ano pa ang darating. And so the Jubilee is an opportunity for all of us “to be renewed in HOPE,” not so much in false hopes that the world offers, but in that kind of HOPE that is firmly grounded on God’s Word.

This HOPE of ours does not disappoint because Christ is the very reason for our HOPE. He, who died on the cross and rose from the dead, is the solid ground on which our HOPE is firmly rooted. He is truly God’s love made flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit and poured into our hearts through the liturgy and sacraments which we celebrate in church. In other words if we Christians are hopeful today despite the evil that might be happening around us, it is because Christ is our HOPE. It was he who overcame the darkness of sin by the surpassing brightness of his eternal light. And so we believe and are convinced that all evil in this world can be conquered and overcome even by the little good we do.

That is precisely what brought all of us here around the Belen. We are here to celebrate the Nativity of Jesus Christ. The birth of Jesus is no other than the birth of HOPE in us who are about to lose hope. Ika nga sa ating kasabihang mga Pilipino, “Habang may buhay, may pag-asa. Pero may masmaganda pa pong kasabihan kaysa dyan: “Habang may Kristo, may pag-asa tayo” Paki-ulit nga po ninyo yung sinabi ko… Paki-ulit po nito sa mga katabi ninyo…

At ngayon, habang ating pinagmamasdan ang marikit na Sanggol na isinilang sa sabsaban, tingnan din naman natin ang imahen ni Mariang Birhen na kanyang Inang minamahal. We honor Mary in a very special way tonight because through her humble but selfless YES to God’s call, the world’s promised Savior was born and dwelt amongst us. We Catholics are therefore blessed to call her as the Mother of God and the Mother of Holy HOPE. After Jesus, Mary is God’s greatest GIFT and the biggest blessing this world ever had.

And so, if Mary became instrumental for the birth of the promised Messiah 2,025 years ago, today she can still be instrumental for the birth of the Savior in the hearts of people who are hopeless; people still enslaved by sin, suffering from some illness, burdened by problems, trapped in some crisis situations, entangled in conflict or at war against each other,… Mary, the Mother of Holy Hope, can powerfully intercede for us, who are asking for God’s blessings and protection at the beginning of this New Year 2025.

Ito and dahilan kung bakit tayo ay hindi lamang nagpaparangal sa kanya ngayong gabi, tayo rin ay dumudulog sa kanyang pananalangin upang ang lahat ng ating mga hinihiling ay makarating sa harap ng trono ng kanyang dakilang Anak sa langit. Sa kanyang pananalangin tayo ay nabibiyayaan ng maraming grasya, kagalingan sa ating mga sakit, kapatawaran sa ating mga kasalanan at kabanalan sa ating buhay bilang mga tagasunod ni Kristo.

Today through the powerful intercession of our Blessed Mother, we too can look forward in HOPE to the many births of Jesus in our lives and in the lives of the weak and the vulnerable who need a Savior. Jesus is the only blessing we really need. He is the greatest HOPE this world can long for. And so, whatever trials and tragedies we might have faced in the past and still have to face this coming 2025, we are certain that everything will turn out to be better, in as much as we have a God who is always with us; a God who became a tiny little baby born in Bethlehem, but in reality we know he is infinitely much bigger than any of our problems, and all the trials, tragedies and tribulations our families will have to face.

May this Eucharist bestow upon all of us the abundant blessings of the Holy Child, born in our hearts tonight as our HOPE. May Mary, Mother of Holy Hope, pray for us. GiGsss!

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