Homily for the Jubilee Year of Hope
Diocesan Pilgrimage to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Brothers and sisters, what a blessed day this has been as we’ve journeyed here, to Mary’s house, in celebration of the great Jubilee Year of Hope.  I’m grateful to be with all of you on this pilgrimage. Doy una bienvenida especial a nuestros hermanos y hermanas hispanos que nos acompañan hoy.

Thank you to my brother priests and deacons, religious sisters and all the faithful who have traveled at great sacrifice from around our eleven counties to give witness to our faith and our hope in Jesus Christ.  Monsignor Rossi, on behalf of the hundreds of faithful from the Diocese of Scranton who have gathered here in our nation’s capital on pilgrimage, thank you for your hospitality.  It is a joy for us to be here today.  I know that this day has particular meaning for you as you join with brothers and sisters from the local church that you call “home.”

Earlier this year in a gathering commemorating the Jubilee Year, Pope Leo offered insight into the second reading proclaimed this afternoon from Saint Paul’s letter to the Church of Rome.  “Amid life’s trials, our hope is inspired by the firm and reassuring certainty of God’s love, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. That hope does not disappoint.  …  The living God is in fact the God of hope, and Christ, by his death and resurrection, has himself become our hope. We must never forget that we were saved in this hope and need to remain firmly rooted therein.”

Saint Paul was a realist.  He knew well that life was filled with joys and sorrows, that love is tested amid trials and that hope can be shaken in the face of suffering.  Yet, what is so distinctive about Saint Paul’s teaching is that the hope which he proclaims rests not upon mere human achievement.  We can’t save ourselves, regardless of our resolve!  No, our hope rests solely upon God’s saving action realized in his son, Jesus Christ. 

Lo que distingue de manera especial la enseñanza de San Pablo es que la esperanza que él proclama no se basa simplemente en logros humanos. ¡No podemos salvarnos a nosotros mismos, por mucha determinación que tengamos! No, nuestra esperanza se basa únicamente en la acción salvadora de Dios realizada en su Hijo, Jesucristo.

It is that very power of Christ, as Pope Francis wrote in announcing the Jubilee Year, that enables us as disciples of Jesus, despite our weaknesses, to “be for our world a leaven of authentic hope, a harbinger of new heavens and a new earth, where men and women will dwell in justice and harmony, in joyful expectation of the fulfillment of the Lord’s promises.” 

That, brothers and sisters, is why we have gathered today at this great Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.  That is why you have expended a great deal of time, effort and energy to be here this day to pray and to celebrate our faith in Jesus Christ and the hope that we are given through his life, suffering, death and resurrection! 

Por eso, hermanos y hermanas, nos hemos reunido hoy. Por eso ustedes han dedicado tanto tiempo, esfuerzo y energía para estar aquí en este día, para orar y celebrar nuestra fe en Jesucristo y la esperanza que se nos da a través de su vida, sufrimiento, muerte y resurrección.

Today’s gospel passage, which is especially offered for our reflection by the Church during the Jubilee Year, compliments so beautifully the pilgrimage that we have engaged this day.  Saint Matthew invites us to reflect upon the power and authority of our God in Jesus Christ – upon his hope-filled promise to be with us “all days until the end of the age” – and the call given to each of us to proclaim the gospel message of hope and love as disciples of the Lord. 

Let’s look at this gospel passage through the lens of Mary as we gather in her house today.  Mary’s words in the scriptures, although few, give us powerful insight into her life and speak to ours as well.  Most especially, her words carry us to the threshold of hope where God is given room to work his greatness in and through our simple and often fragile lives. 

Mary was born into a world fraught with suffering and pain – a world of hardship, struggle and grief – a world in many ways no different than our own.  Yet, her willingness to believe that the promises of the Lord would be fulfilled is a posture that she assumes for her entire life.  Her willingness to say “yes” to God’s plan to bring salvation to his people is rooted in a faith so strong that it establishes the parameters for authentic discipleship down through the ages, even to our own. 

Writing about Mary in his book Jesus: A Pilgrimage, Jesuit Father James Martin offers his readers profound insight into the nature of Mary’s faith and trust in God.  He states that during her initial encounter with the angel Gabriel, “Mary was told that her son would be the Son of God, not that he would be tortured, put to death on a cross, and then rise from the dead.”  As a result, “Mary says ‘yes’ to a future that she does not know.”  Imagine that!  “She is an example of letting God do God’s work, without trying to figure it out.”  …  And isn’t that a lesson for us all?  Don’t we often spend far too much time trying to figure out life instead of trusting that God will work it out?

Perhaps now we begin to understand why God looked to Nazareth, a poor, hostile, outback area of Palestine, to find a family in which his son could be born.  Perhaps it also begins to make sense why one of its poorest daughters, Mary, was set apart by God as the most appropriate of vehicles in and through which his son would take on human flesh and form.  …  While the world has long set misguided parameters for greatness, God sees greatness in hearts that are humble enough to trust in his power, to acknowledge their need for his mercy and to be generous enough to extend that mercy to others.

Dios ve la grandeza en los corazones lo suficientemente humildes como para confiar en su poder, como lo hizo María, reconocer su necesidad de misericordia y ser lo suficientemente generosos como para extender esa misericordia a los demás.  

Brothers and sisters, God continually works in my life and yours – if we but open our hearts to his presence and trust.  He continues to use unlikely individuals like Mary and me and you to accomplish his purpose in our world – to give hope – and to proclaim his message of life, salvation, mercy and peace.  And just as he did with Mary, God looks into our hearts and calls us to holiness – to be saints – his enduring presence in a world that far too often fails to reflect his will and his way.

Así como lo hizo con María, Dios mira dentro de nuestros corazones y nos llama a la santidad —nos llama a ser santos— su presencia perdurable en un mundo que con demasiada frecuencia no refleja su voluntad ni su camino.

Look around you.  Look at the faces that you see – not just the familiar faces of family members and friends but faces wounded by pain and grief, longing to be healed – faces that are grateful for God’s abiding presence in their lives. 

This gathering is so powerful and hopeful, isn’t it?  First, it reminds us that we are loved – that God hasn’t given up on any of us and never will.  He continually calls us, as we are, to himself.  …  This gathering also reminds us that God accomplishes his greatest works in the small, quiet, ordinary moments of life – in the simplest and least likely of individuals who open their lives to him in trust and with hope.  That was true for Mary and it is true for every one of us – from the teenager struggling to balance school and work – to parents who seek to instill Christian values in the lives of their children – to the recovering addict who thinks that she can never be forgiven – to the elderly soul who struggles with the consequences of age and poor health – to the immigrant who simply wants a better life for his family. God uses us as we are when we open our hearts to him and trust.

So, we move forward, my friends.  …  We move forward in a world that for all its misgivings is still subject to the power of God who rules the times and seasons of our lives with his love and grace.  …  We move forward, embracing Jesus’ call to discipleship, despite our limitations, and trusting in his resolve to work in and through our lives.  …  And we move forward with hope, knowing that God is with us all our days, even until the end of the age. 

Gracias por su fe, su presencia y su testimonio. Que Dios los bendiga siempre.  May we sear into our hearts these words of our Holy Father, Pope Leo.  “Let us now be drawn to this great hope!  And through our witness, may hope spread to all those who anxiously seek it.”      Amen!