
Pope Francis announced that 2025
will be a year of Jubilee – an event
that happens every 25 years. A
Jubilee is a special year of grace,
a time of conversion and increased
emphasis on God’s mercy and
forgiveness of sins. The theme of
Jubilee 2025 is “Pilgrims of Hope”,
and it is intended to be a year of
hope for a world suffering the
impacts of war, the ongoing effects
of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a
climate crisis.
The Jubilee Logo
The logo shows four stylized
gures, representing all of
humanity, coming from the four
corners of the earth. They embrace
each other to indicate the solidarity
and fraternity which should unite
all peoples. The gure at the front
is holding onto the cross. It is not
only the sign of the faith which
this lead gure embraces, but
also of hope, which can never be
abandoned, because we are always
in need of hope, especially in our
moments of greatest need. There
are the rough waves under the
gures, symbolising the fact that
life’s pilgrimage does not always
go smoothly in calm waters. Often
the circumstances of daily life and
events in the wider world require a
greater call to hope. That’s why we
should pay special attention to the
lower part of the cross which has
been elongated and turned into
the shape of an anchor which is let
down into the waves. The anchor
is well known as a symbol of hope.
In maritime jargon the ‘anchor
of hope’ refers to the reserve
anchor used by vessels involved
in emergency manoeuvres to
stabilise the ship during storms.
It is worth noting that the image
illustrates the pilgrim’s journey not
as an individual undertaking, but
rather as something communal,
marked by an increasing dynamism
leading one ever closer to the
cross. The cross in the logo is by no
means static, but it is also dynamic.
It bends down towards humanity,
not leaving human beings alone,
but stretching out to them to offer
the certainty of its presence and
the security of hope. At the bottom
of the logo is the motto of the 2025
Jubilee Year: Pilgrims of hope –
represented in green letters.
2025 – JUBILEE YEAR
It was battered and scarred,
And the auctioneer thought
it hardly worth his while
To waste his time on the old violin,
but he held it up with a smile.
“What am I bid, good people” he cried,
“Who starts the bidding for me?”
“One dollar, one dollar, do I hear two?”
“Two dollars, who makes it three?”
“Three dollars once, three dollars twice,
Going for three; But, No,
From the room far back
a grey-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow,
Then wiping the dust from the old violin
And tightening up the strings,
He played a melody, pure and sweet
As sweet as the angel sings.
The Touch
of the
Master’s
Hand
The music ceased and the auctioneer
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said: “What now am I bid
for this old violin?”
As he held it aloft with its bow.
“One thousand, Do I hear two?”
“Two thousand, who makes it three?”
Three thousand once,
three thousand twice,
Going and gone,” said he.
The audience cheered,
but some of them said:
“We just don’t understand.”
“What changed its’ worth?”
Swift came the reply:
“The Touch of the Master’s Hand.”
And many a man with life out of tune
All battered and scarred with sin,
Is auctioned cheap
to a thoughtless crowd,
Much like that old violin.
A mess of pottage, a glass of wine,
A game and he travels on.
He is going once, he is going twice,
He is going and almost gone.
But the Master comes,
And the foolish crowd never
can quite understand,
The worth of a soul
and the change that is wrought,
By ‘The Touch of the Master’s Hand.’
(Myra Brooks Welch)
6 Winter 2024 Winter 2024 7