At the door of hope

Fr. Livio Tonello, director

This year at Christmas we will be celebrating the birth of Jesus and the beginning of the Jubilee year at the same time. The opening of the Holy Door symbolically marks the beginning of the Holy Year. Pilgrims and penitents pass through it as a gesture of leaving the past behind and crossing the threshold from sin to grace. The bull of indiction invites us to be Pilgrims of hope, this virtue that our world needs so much. The only way to develop this virtue is to come closer to Jesus.The birth of Jesus that we celebrate on 25 December has brought hope to the world and we continue to ask for it. “In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring” (Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee n.1). This gift invites us to be the witnesses of hope and to announce it to people in despair. The birth of Jesus has marked a turning point for mankind. Jesus made himself a pilgrim amongst pilgrims and he still walks alongside us and helps us to find meaning and hope in a war…