"Open wide the doors to Christ!" --a reflection on Year 2000.

It is everywhere in the air; anticipation of disaster, fear and morbid speculation. Millennium fever and indigestion are upon us. A state of haggard ill-health presents itself at the doorway of our nation when we, the Church, need to bear witness to our two-thousand-year-old beauty as the radiant and eternally youthful bride of Christ.

One opens the internet and there the pirates are profiteering with sales of Y2K survival kits. You open your mail and the bank is announcing "The Year 2000; your money is safe!" "But is it really?" we mumble and fret. This same bank proudly announces: "[We have] been preparing our internal systems for the year 2000 since 1994".

That same year some awake and zealous members of the Prince Albert Diocese in Saskatchewan were urging everyone to buy and wear a Jubilee pin, to begin repentance and prayer for the Year of Jubilee. Unfortunately this Prairie fire did not ignite the country.

Signs

Catholic Insight recently received a letter from a reader in Whitehorse deeply concerned with false prophecies being spread by some local Catholics. A young mother in Saskatoon reports a lot of Y2K fear in the city. Though in a "good parish", she has not seen much community preparation for the Jubilee.

In Toronto, too, one hears similar stories of "good Catholics" stockpiling food and water "just in case". Again one looks in vain for a fervent following of the Pope's Jubilee aspirations. A priest in London, Ontario, was overheard several times sighing in consternation, "Quite frankly I don't get it, the Holy Father's hope and enthusiasm. I just don't see any signs of it around me."

In Prince George, B.C., an Insight reader reports that he hasn't heard any Jubilee messages in the Sunday homilies, nor a Jubilee prayer at Mass. On the other hand, in Kamloops they are fund-raising for an electronic bell as a Millennium project.

In London, Ontario, diocesan Jubilee preparation seems to have been preempted for the most part by massive restructuring programs, in preparation for the hard times to come in the "vocation crisis". We see this same pragmatism elsewhere. A time of grace and great mercy is upon us, but are we prepared and disposed?

A young man from Toronto recently visited London, England, and saw a different spirit there. The Cathedral has already ceremoniously sealed its west door with papal and episcopal insignia. It will be solemnly opened Dec. 24 to represent the entry into this year of special graces. Every Catholic in the diocese received a book of readings, prayers and Jubilee services.

Here in Canada, the Holy Father's urgency, enthusiam and zeal in preparing for the Jubilee does keep tugging at our sleeve, but we get distracted and brush it away.

Lest we sink into the all too common complaint--"They didn't do enough!"- perhaps it is best to move into overdrive and get to work. The desperate spirit of the Mad Hatter's guest could possess us at this point: "I'm late! I'm late, for a very important date!", the big fob watch ticking away mercilessly. A little extra enthusiasm is in order, though. It is not too late. The Gospel insists that the latecomers get the same reward as the early workers who sweat it out through the noonday sun. Our Father is generous. Hopefully he won't lock us out of the feast.

More signs

In his 1998 "Bull of Induction", Incarnationis Mysterium, Pope John Paul II emphasized one of the primary Jubilee "signs", that of pilgrimage:

"A pilgrimage...is an exercise of practical asceticism, of repentance for human weaknesses,...of interior preparation for a change of heart. Through vigils, fasting and prayer, the pilgrim progresses along the path of Christian perfection." (I.M.7)

Another "sign" is that of the indulgence which "discloses the fullness of the Father's mercy, who offers everyone His love, expressed primarily in the forgiveness of sins." (I.M. 9) The repentant sinner will receive a remission of the temporal punishment of sins as well as graces for others. The "Bull" outlines conditions.

Where do we go from here?

In reflecting on the Jubilee instructions, we will likely see that there are many things that have been and can be done. Many study groups have met and prayers been prayed. We were sent an announcement this summer from Joussard, Alberta. A Marian group there has a well-planned "Year 2000 Celebration", 20 hours of perpetual adoration December 31 to January 1.

In Toronto, the Cathedral rector and parishioners have recently undertaken several major initiatives to serve the homeless. "Lifesite", on the Internet, announced that a group of Protestants in Great Britain urge the faithful to give up Internet surfing, or a favorite television program, during the last three weeks of the year to spend the time in prayer and fasting.

A lay missionary in Lloydminster, Alberta, has begun a unique tract ministry which highlights holy men and women of native descent. In Orillia, Ontario, a "retired" priest has initiated a healthy forum for ecumenical discussion and cooperation. Pilgrimages are popular. This, and more, is the spirit of the Jubilee. The Bridegroom is at the door, knocking.

Anna Williams is a freelance writer from Toronto, ON.