Pope Francis officially opened the YEAR OF PRAYER after Mass, on the Sunday of the Word of God, on January 21, 2024, after praying the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square. Inaugurating the Year of Prayer in preparation for Jubilee 2025, he called on the faithful to intensify prayer to live well this event of grace: “The coming months will lead us to the opening of the Holy Door, with which we will begin the Jubilee. I ask you to intensify your prayer to prepare us to live well this event of grace and to experience the strength of God’s Hope. Today we begin the Year of Prayer; that is, a year dedicated to rediscovering the great value and absolute need for prayer in personal life, in the life of the church and in the world.”
Rome is preparing to welcome approximately 35 million visitors for the 2025 Jubilee. This is the first ordinary Jubilee since the Great Jubilee of 2000. Jubilees, rooted in the biblical tradition, are important holy years of grace and pilgrimages in the Catholic Church. The Jubilee Year 2025 will be a special time to pause and reflect; a time to re-establish a proper relationship with God, with one another and with all of creation. Pope Francis reiterates the importance of prayer saying: “Prayer unites us; it makes us brothers and sisters. It is in prayer that our hearts find the strength not to be cold and insensitive in the face of injustice. In prayer, God keeps calling us, opening our hearts in charity.”
GREAT SYMPHONY OF PRAYER
In preparation for the Jubilee 2025, the year 2024 has been designated as a Year of Prayer. Pope Francis calls for ‘Great Symphony of Prayer,’ highlighting the importance of both communal and personal prayer. He says, ‘In this time of preparation, I would greatly desire that we devote 2024, the year preceding the Jubilee event, to a great “SYMPHONY” OF PRAYER. Prayer, above all else, to renew our desire to be in the presence of the Lord, to listen to him and to adore him.”
Sr. Celine D’Cunha FMA
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