he
Catholic News Service movingly described that moment: On the night between
Dec. 24 and 25, 1999, John Paul II opened the Holy Door in St. Peter’s
Basilica thus initiating the celebration of the Bi-Millennial Great Jubilee of
the birth of Christ, our redeemer. Those
of us who watched the Pope live on TV on that evening could see how the Holy
Father never looked so physically fragile. Yet, rarely has the Pope left a
stronger spiritual impression than when he opened the bronze Holy Door. We know how important this moment was for him when at the
time of his election as Pope in 1978 he let the world know that he felt destined
to be the “Pope of the Millennium.”
But on Christmas Eve, with the eyes of the world upon him it looked for a moment that the 79-year-old Pontiff might not make it for he nearly fell backward as he was about to take the three steps up to the Holy Door he was going to push open. It was nearly a heart-stopping experience. Not a sound broke the sacred and tense silence. Come what may, this was his moment. One felt the intensity of it all. It seemed as though all were holding him with their silent prayers. He wavered a bit, then leaned forward into the door and pushed it open. We were ushered with him into the New Millennium.
It seems to me that it is both with the same resoluteness and hesitancy that we begin this most extraordinary historical event of our times. Very pointedly the US Bishops wrote “Only one in 50 generations has the opportunity we now have to prepare for and experience the completion of 2000 years of God’s special presence in our world – in us – through Jesus Christ.”
We should be deeply aware of this. As Bishop Rodimer of Paterson, NJ, put it in his diocesan paper The Beacon: “This is a grace-filled time we should treasure and make the most of. Yet, as we look back, if there is a one sentence summary of the 20th century that has just ended, I don’t think that we can do better than to quote the opening words of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
We, Xaverians and our friends, Partners in mission, have shared our missionaries’ fears, struggles, sufferings, captivity, while they witnessed horrendous wars, conflicts, genocides and ethnic cleansings in the some countries of Africa and Asia. Millions and millions of victims, families and countries destroyed, an ocean of refugees, misery, hunger and disease. It seems as though the human race is sighing with relief, “Thank God it’s over!” That sigh will not be heard, however, from more than one billion four hundred million people living in dire poverty.
At the dawn of the Great Jubilee Year, we are reminded of its basic biblical meaning and appeal: it is a time of conversion of the heart and of spiritual growth, a time of reconciliation and forgiveness – forgiveness of sins, forgiveness of debts, and it is a time of renewed commitment to evangelization and to Mission – our apostolic service being the overflow and continuation of the peace that results from reconciliation.
We can begin then to live intensely this year of grace as individuals and as communities in harmony with the universal Church and our own local church. This is my wish and prayer.
Fraternally
Yours in Blessed Guido M. Conforti,
(From Xaverian Mission Newsletter)