On this Fourth Sunday of Advent with Christmas just two days away, I wish you a blessed Christmas Day and the days that follow.
I will remember all of you at my Christmas Masses as I give thanks to God for the gift of His Son and the gift of every one of you!
As we move into 2025, the Church will celebrate a Holy Year of Hope, and I believe this is just what we need as a parish, a Church, a nation, and a community of brothers and sisters worldwide. On May 9, 2024, Pope Francis released the Papal Bull of Indiction formally announcing the Jubilee Year of Hope. Entitled Spes non condfundit – “Hope does not disappoint” – the document contains the reasons for the Holy Father’s selection of hope as the theme of the Jubilee Year 2025:
In the spirit of hope, the Apostle Paul addressed these words of encouragement to the Christian community of Rome. Hope is also the central message of the coming Jubilee that, in accordance with an ancient tradition, the Pope proclaims every twenty-five years…. For everyone, may the Jubilee be a moment of genuine, personal encounter with the Lord Jesus, the “door” (cf. Jn 10:7.9) of our salvation, whom the Church is charged to proclaim always, everywhere and to all as “our hope” (1 Tim 1:1).
Everyone knows what it is to hope. 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. Even so, uncertainty about the future may at times give rise to conflicting feelings, ranging from confident trust to apprehensiveness, from serenity to anxiety, from firm conviction to hesitation and doubt. Often we come across people who are discouraged, pessimistic and cynical about the future, as if nothing could possibly bring them happiness. For all of us, may the Jubilee be an opportunity to be renewed in hope. God’s word helps us find reasons for that hope.
The Jubilee will begin on Christmas Eve, when Pope Francis opens the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica. He will then proceed to open the holy doors of the remaining major basilicas of Rome between the Feast of the Holy Family and the Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord. The Ordinary Jubilee itself will close on January 6th, 2026.
Throughout the year, we will offer special prayers at Mass to mark this Year of Hope, and I invite you to pray the prayer below to ask for the transformational grace that will awaken our hearts to truly bring the joy and hope of the Redeemer to the world.
In Christ, our Hope,
Welcome to the Saint Aloysius! Our parish was founded in 1896 to serve the Catholic families that were settling in the greater New Canaan area.