Great Jubilee of 2000.

When my great aunt was afflicted with Alzheimer's late in life, she would often arise in the middle of the night and start to do laundry. The only way Uncle George could get her to stop would be to say, "Beth, it's Sunday." Immediately, her labours would cease.

It well may be that in the pressures of city life we moderns are forced by circumstance to do washing on Sunday. The point is, however, that my aunt's life was informed by her Catholicism to such an extent that even when her mind failed her, her faith did not.

In another instance, the founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, Dorothy Day, tells of two encounters instrumental in her eventual conversion to the Catholic faith. One occurred when she was a child, and burst into a friend's home only to find her friend's mother on her knees, calmly saying her morning prayers. The other encounter was with a nurse during the First World War, of whom Dorothy wrote: "She was the average sort of Catholic whose faith was so solid a part of her life that she didn't need to talk about it. I felt the healthiness of her soul; I felt that it was strong and vigorous, but she did not discuss it any more than she would discuss the health of her body."

One could argue that this unassuming Catholicism, as natural to one's life as breathing, has become more and more difficult to sustain in the face of an aggressive, alienating technological and secular culture. It also has declined greatly as a result of internecine turbulence in the Church after Vatican II--which has left in its wake a demonstrably confused and unschooled laity. Witness the poll which revealed that 63 per cent of Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence (see CI May 1995).

Many generous-hearted laymen have, after the last twenty-five years, begun to feel like weary soldiers in an unending religious war. One can, as a Catholic, develop a siege mentality without realizing it. Or one's zeal to maintain the faith can lead to a certain lack of charity--which I have heard referred to as the "flush 'em out and shoot `em" approach to dissenters. One can also run the risk of becoming, as a friend puts it, "professional Catholics."

The Holy Father's challenge

Let it now be stated, again, that for the beleaguered, for the bewildered, for the broken-hearted Catholics, for the indifferent, for the skeptical, for those who have felt betrayed by the Church, for all of us in the communion of saints, for all men of good will, the present Holy Father has set before us both a challenge and a great hope for the Church, and that is earnest preparation for the year 2000, which he has proclaimed as a Great Jubilee. It is patterned on the Jubilee marked by the Jews in the Old Testament, which would fall every fifty years, a "sabbath" year in which debts were forgiven, the fields left fallow and slaves freed.

The Pope sees Vatican II as a providential event leading to the third millennium. In his apostolic letter Tertio millennio adveniente (The Coming of the Third Millenium) he notes that preparation for the Great Jubilee calls for "a renewed commitment to apply, as faithfully as possible, the teachings of Vatican II to the life of every individual and of the whole church" (No. 20).

John Paul II has outlined a five year plan, of which one year has already passed away. The emphasis for 1996 is still on the examination of conscience, a call to personal and collective repentance in order to prepare for the following three years, which are to concentrate on the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the Father respectively.

He has also emphasized the need for new evangelization, and for an effort to realize a greater unity among the Christian churches, especially with the Orthodox, than has hitherto been possible.

Pope John Paul II sees it as his special mission to lead the Church into the third milleniuum. All Catholics would do well to read his letter on the Jubilee year.

Our response?

It is unfortunate, but one response to John Paul II's emphasis on the millenium is, "So what?" Why would our proclamation of the year 2000 as a jubilee, inspire the indifferent among the faithful or impinge seriously on the time-table of the profane?

Quite simply, we couldn't not notice the coming of the third millenium. Christ is the "focal point and goal of all human history" (Gaudium et spes, No. 10, quoted in Tma, No. 59) and His bride, the Church, is attentive to mark the cadence of the seasons with commemorations of His coming, death and resurrection. To celebrate the year 2000 is entirely within our nature and in keeping with worship of an Incarnate God, who, as Cardinal Ratzinger points out, "came so close to us we killed him."

Moreover, the Great Jubilee represents a real opportunity for those of good will to recall the undeniable obligation to "proclaim Christ to all peoples" and to counter the doomsday prophets who foresee only an acceleration of misery, cruelty and strife as the millennium approaches.

What can the individual do? To begin with, the Pope has emphasized a renewed commitment to adoration of Christ in the Eucharist. An International Eucharistic Congress will take place in Rome on the occasion of the Great Jubilee. "The year 2000 will be intensely eucharistic," John Paul II writes in Tertio millennio adveniente.

Another message to bear in mind is his exhortation to young people on the 11th World Youth Day, November 26th, 1995. The Pope urged them to "give a strong witness of love for life . . . . I ask that you become `prophets of life' . . . in word and deed, rebelling against the civilization of selfishness." He also asked them to be "prophets of joy in this often dark and sad world."

As a final spin on this, I refer back to my aunt and the laundry--to the need to recapture that vigorous, unassuming Catholicism which will breathe spiritual life into the surrounding culture. After all, for most of us, love is lived out not in cosmic and grandiose gestures but within the confines of four walls, and in the daily acceptance of those frustrations obligations and joys contained within "the unforgiving minute."