On December 25, 2024, Pope Francis gave his final Christmas address to the world from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica. In it, he referred to the beginning of the Jubilee Year and the opening of the Holy Doors of St. Peter’s. The Holy Pontiff spoke of the symbolic meaning of the open doors, through which millions of pilgrims would pass through over the course of 2025. The Holy Door, he explained, “represents Jesus, the Door of salvation open for all. Jesus is the Door; the Door that the Father of mercies has opened in the midst of our world… so that all of us can return to him.” He continued:
“Brothers and sisters, do not be afraid! The Door is open, the door is wide open!… Come! Let us be reconciled with God, and then we will be reconciled with ourselves and able to be reconciled with one another, even our enemies…. Often we halt at the threshold of that Door; we lack the courage to cross it, because it challenges us to examine our lives. Entering through that Door calls for the sacrifice involved in taking a step forward… towards something so great [that] calls us to leave behind our disputes and divisions, and surrender ourselves to the outstretched arms of the Child who is the Prince of Peace.
“Jesus… is the wide-open Door that we are invited to enter, in order to rediscover the meaning of our existence and the sacredness of all life… and to recover the foundational values of the human family. He awaits us at the threshold…. He awaits the children who suffer from war and hunger. He awaits the elderly, so often forced to live in conditions of solitude and abandonment. He awaits those who have lost their homes or are fleeing their homelands in an effort to find a safe haven. He awaits all those who have lost their jobs or are unable to find work. He awaits prisoners who, everything notwithstanding, are still children of God. He awaits all those – and there are many of them – who endure persecution for their faith.”
Finally, the late Holy Father spoke of our need to show Christian mercy to others. “Each of us is called to forgive those who have trespassed against us, because the Son of God, born in the cold and darkness of the night, has forgiven our [trespasses]. He came to heal us and forgive us. As pilgrims of hope, let us go out to meet him! Let us open to him the doors of our hearts as he has opened to us the door of his heart.”
This Tuesday, January 6, Pope Leo will celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany, officially marking the end of the Jubilee Year. He will perform the ritual closing of the Holy Doors that his predecessor opened last Christmas. Although those physical doors will no longer be open, the Door of Salvation, who is Christ Jesus, will remain open forever. May we ask for the grace in this new year of 2026 to keep our hearts open to His grace and His mercy, that we might be conduits of His grace and mercy to others.
posted 1/3/26
The Parish of St. Cecilia-St. Gabriel 