In his message this year for January 1^st, the World Day of Peace, Pope Francis has asked Catholics to reflect on “Forgive us our trespasses: grant us your peace.”

Emphasizing “forgiveness, justice, and solidarity as pathways to hope and peace,” Pope Francis points in particular to the start of the Jubilee Year, a time of deep transformation.

The Jubilee vision at the heart of the Judeo Christian tradition speaks clearly to the reality of our broken world where horrific, almost surreal violence seems omnipresent– in the Holy Land, in Ukraine, in Sudan, in the DR Congo, in schools, homes and public spaces, but also in the lack of access to a decent quality of life for millions of people; in the violence of racism; in the suffering of millions of displaced persons and refugees; in the production and marketing of weapons; in gun violence, domestic violence, gangs and cartels; in the devastation of the natural world.

Each week on the Sabbath, every seven years during the Sabbatical Year, and finally, during the Jubilee Year (every 50 years), we are challenged to re-arrange everything toward harmony and balance on a personal and societal level, centering nonviolence in our lives, in our communities and in the public square.  

In the Book of Genesis, the direction was immediate and clear.  The work of creation was balanced at once with Sabbath/Shabat – every 7^th day rest, stop working -- a lesson in abundance (the spectacular gifts of creation were gratuitously given) and limits (the human had to learn to say “enough!”), a lesson in nonviolence to the worker and to the earth.

Every week, a Sabbath; every 7 years, a Sabbatical year; after seven sabbatical years, the Jubilee.

Sabbath, Sabbatical and Jubilee are rooted in right relationships. Neither people nor the earth were to be exhausted or exploited. The Jubilee year offers a time for the land and the people to rest, for forgiveness of debts, the return of land to its original owners, and the release of slaves. It is an economic, cultural, environmental, and communal reset that occurs every 50 years, signifying a time to renew nonviolent ways and to re-establish proper relationships with God, with one another, and with creation.  

Isaiah proclaimed the Jubilee’s good news: “The Lord has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour” ( Is 61:1-2).

And Jesus made Isaiah’s words his own at the beginning of his ministry, presenting himself as the fulfilment of the “year of the Lord’s favour” (cf. Lk 4:18-19) Just as Jesus taught his disciples nonviolence - to love their enemies (cf. Mt 5:44) and to turn the other cheek (cf. Mt 5:39), so was Sabbath/Jubilee a common theme in his stories and parables.

In his reflection on the Jubilee Pope Francis says, “Only from a genuine conversion on all levels – personal, local and international – will true peace be able to flourish, not only in the cessation of conflicts but also in a new reality in which wounds are healed and each person’s dignity is recognized.”

He lays out a direct challenge to incorporate into the Jubilee Year in 2025 specific and truly radical changes to the way the world is now working: “Sporadic acts of philanthropy are not enough,” he says. Cultural and structural changes are necessary, so that enduring change may come about. (WDP 2025 #4)

Pope Francis goes on then to make three specific proposals in the context of this Jubilee Year:

·      debt cancellation, and a new financial framework,

·      elimination of the death penalty in all nations, and

·      creation of a Global Fund from a “fixed percentage of the money earmarked for armaments ... to eradicate hunger and facilitate in the poorer countries educational activities aimed at promoting sustainable development and combating climate change.”

The Jubilee is calling for nothing less than a paradigm shift to a world where right relationships between humans and with the earth shape political life and the global economy – for a transformation from perpetual direct, structural and systemic violence to nonviolence. It is a very demanding but extremely urgent shift. Well organized, nonviolent action is the only way to accomplish the deep transformation Jubilee promotes. Pope Francis said, “We cannot be content to hope; we have to organize hope”.

But how will this organization of hope take place? How will these necessary cultural and structural changes happen? How will relationships between humans and the earth be mended?  What can nurture this critically-needed paradigm shift?

The gift of this moment in time, the opportunity of this focus on Jubilee is that it specifically, clearly invites us to begin this reimaging task. The social, political, economic, cultural and ecological implications of even small efforts to implement the Jubilee are enormous! To stop producing and consuming to allow ourselves to rest; to stop exploiting and polluting to allow the earth to rest; to stop running in order that we might nurture relationships.

Even the possibility of transformational change is a claim on hope. It is the good news we await with great joy and, hopefully, a basis for peace on earth.