As we begin a new year of 2025, and also have commenced the Jubilee Year of 2025, I wanted to share with you about the “2025 Jubilee Year Logo,” which has various levels of meaning, as it helps us to understand a bit more about what the Jubilee Year is all about.

Unity & Solidarity: The logo shows four stylized figures, representing all of humanity, coming from the four corners of the earth.  They are depicted in various colors, to symbolize people coming from various cultures, ethnicities, races, and nations.  They embrace each other to indicate the solidarity and fraternity which should unite all peoples.  For we belong to the Kingdom of Christ which unites is together as one people across various cultural, ethnic, racial, national, and geographical boundaries.

Faith and Hope: The figure at the front is holding onto the cross. It is not only the sign of the faith which this lead figure embraces, but also of hope, which can never be abandoned, because we are always in need of hope, especially in our moments of greatest need. There are the rough waves under the figures, symbolizing the fact that life’s pilgrimage does not always go smoothly in calm waters. Often the circumstances of daily life and events in the wider world require a greater call to hope. That’s why we should pay special attention to the lower part of the cross which has been elongated and turned into the shape of an anchor which is let down into the waves. The anchor is well known as a symbol of hope. In maritime jargon the ‘anchor of hope’ refers to the reserve anchor used by vessels involved in emergency maneuvers to stabilize the ship during storms.

Pilgrimage: It is worth noting that the image illustrates the pilgrim’s journey not as an individual undertaking, but rather as something communal, marked by an increasing dynamism leading one ever closer to the cross. The cross in the logo is by no means static, but it is also dynamic. It bends down towards humanity, not leaving human beings alone, but stretching out to them to offer the certainty of its presence and the security of hope. At the bottom of the logo is the motto of the 2025 Jubilee Year: Peregrinantes in Spem (Pilgrims in hope), represented in green letters.

On a different note: Just a reminder that Jan. 1 is the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God and a Holy Day of Obligation.

Masses for this Day are Tues. Dec. 31 at 5:30pm in Hampton or Wed. Jan. 1 at 8:30am in Ackley

Let us prayerfully to pray to the Lord and ask Mary’s intercession as we bring in a New Year.  And as it is a Jubilee Year, we pray that is a year particularly fully of experience of God’s grace, experiences of God’s liberation and healing, and a year of us choosing to forgive and reconcile with one another.

Peace,

-Fr. Kevin