Some final thoughts on the Jubilee, looking forward to the coming year:
25. In our journey towards the Jubilee, let us return to Scripture and realize that it speaks to us in these words: “May we who have taken refuge in him be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us. We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered” (Hebrews 6:18-20). Those words are a forceful encouragement
for us never to lose the hope we have been given, to hold fast to that hope and to find in God our refuge and our strength.
The image of the anchor is eloquent; it helps us to recognize the stability and security that is ours amid the troubled waters of this life, provided we entrust ourselves to the Lord Jesus. The storms that buffet us will never prevail, for we are firmly anchored in the hope born of grace, which enables us to live in Christ and to overcome sin, fear and death. This hope, which transcends life’s fleeting pleasures and the achievement of our immediate goals, makes us rise above our trials and difficulties, and inspires us to keep pressing forward, never losing sight of the grandeur of the heavenly goal to which we have been called.
Lots of maritime imagery. (Stay tuned for a brief commentary on this weekend’s Roman lectionary Psalm.)
The good thing about multivalence here is the relevance in many life situations. There are times when bravery is needed, to let go of the tried and true and maybe things no longer true. There are times when we need to navigate by a star. Other times when we need to drop anchor sheltering in port. The journey has a goal. The mission may be merely paused for a bit of rest.
A prayer for the coming year, including a recovery of trust:
The coming Jubilee will thus be a Holy Year marked by the hope that does not fade, our hope in God. May it help us to recover the confident trust that we require,
- in the Church and in society,
- in our interpersonal relationships,
- in international relations,
- and in our task of promoting the dignity of all persons and respect for God’s gift of creation.
Any one of those would be a challenge.
May the witness of believers be for our world a leaven of authentic hope, a harbinger of new heavens and a new earth (cf. 2 Peter 3:13), where men and women will dwell in justice and harmony, in joyful expectation of the fulfilment of the Lord’s promises.
Let us even now be drawn to this hope! Through our witness, may hope spread to all those who anxiously seek it. May the way we live our lives say to them in so many words: “Hope in the Lord! Hold firm, take heart and hope in the Lord!” (Psalm 27:14). May the power of hope fill our days, as we await with confidence the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and glory, now and forever.
Given in Rome, at Saint John Lateran, on 9 May, the Solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the year 2024, the twelfth of my Pontificate.
FRANCIS
You can check the full document on the Vatican website here. Last comments, go for it.
Catholic Sensibility 
Hope is the first counter to the power of Chaos. It is open to a possibility beyond all sense and experience. It is the arm and hand thrust out into and through the blackest hole, with no certainty of if and how it may be grasped, allowing God to surprise us.