By Ivy Chai
KUCHING — The Archdiocese of Kuching concluded the Jubilee Year of Hope 2025 by carrying out the cross of the Jubilee Year in the recessional procession at the evening Mass for the Feast of the Holy Family, on 28 December at St Joseph’s Cathedral.
At the Mass presided by Archbishop Emeritus John Ha, he reflected on the journey the Holy Family had to take to protect the infant king from King Herod. They became refugees to Egypt. Joseph encountered challenges but “God preserved them.” Joseph trusted that “God was there to protect him and his family” and that was a “pilgrimage of hope.”
Hope is what sustains us today
It was 400 years later that God delivered them out of Egypt to the promised land, a fulfillment of the prophecy and God’s plan. They were pilgrims. “Hope is what sustains us today, and the last one year of Jubilee has reminded us over and over again that we are pilgrims of hope,” said the archbishop emeritus.
Archbishop Emeritus John in closing the Jubilee Year of Hope, noted that we have been “focusing on ourselves as pilgrims of hope.” Pope Francis recognized both individual struggles and wider global uncertainty, encouraging perseverance through his declaration of the Jubilee Year with the message: “don’t give up.” The pilgrimage serves as a metaphor for our journey from God’s kingdom on earth to the promised land…God’s kingdom in heaven.
Closing of Jubilee Year of Hope but not pilgrimage to the promised land…Heaven
Archbishop Emeritus John Ha invited the community to draw from the experience of the Holy family. Even when facing personal life challenges, we must trust in the Lord with hope. We are to continue our journey to the promised land, by being “attentive to God’s voice” so we can “hear God calling us to himself in the promised land in heaven.”
God is with us not to take away our problems but to see us through our problems. We are to pray for grace and trust in the Lord.
