A prayer for the New Year 2025, the Great Jubilee of Hope
As we are preparing ourselves for the beginning of the New Year, 2025, the year of the great Jubilee of Hope, let us be filled with that spirit of gratitude we all need.
Let us thank the Lord that He has given us the grace to see another year coming. How many people could not have the grace of seeing this new year, 2025. But you and me, may be without knowing it, has been given to us the grace to see the new light of Christ, the light of new life, the light of a new year, the light of hope.
In his homily at the opening of the Holy Door at the beginning of the Ordinary Jubilee and Midnight Mass at the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, on Tuesday, 24 December 2024, Pope Francis said: Sisters and brothers, this is our hope. God is Emmanuel, God-with-us. The infinitely great has made himself tiny; divine light has shone amid the darkness of our world; the glory of heaven has appeared on earth. And how? As a little child. If God can visit us, even when our hearts seem like a lowly manger, we can truly say: Hope is not dead; hope is alive and it embraces our lives forever. Hope does not disappoint!
With this spirit of faith and hope we turn to you, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and to you we address this prayer at the beginning of the New Year 2025, the Year of Hope:
Lord Jesus…
You are our healing…prepare us for surprises.
Your are our strength…prepare us for surprises.
Your are our vision…prepare us for surprises.
You are our transformation…prepare us for surprises.
You are our messengers…prepare us for surprises.
You are our community…prepare us for surprises.
You are our acceptance – of ourselves and others…prepare us for surprises.
You are our making room at our tables…prepare us for surprises.
You are our Truth-seeking…prepare us for surprises.
You are our support…prepare us for surprises.
You are our Common Ground…prepare us for surprises.
Walk beside us, O Jesus Christ, The Holy One of God,
as we question and welcome,
as we challenge and invite,
as we discover and understand,
as we see, touch, taste, smell, and listen for the Newness awaiting us in 2025.
May we, Your Holy People, walk forward together side by side in your saving hope. Amen.
Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap
