O Lord, I trust in your merciful love. My heart will rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord who has been bountiful with me. (Psalm 13:6)
February 25, 2025
Hello Everyone –
A couple of items for your reflection this week:
For the past two weeks, I have been writing about different aspects of the Jubilee Year that we are currently celebrating. Today, I wish to offer one more thought and then will take a break from the subject for a time.
In laying out the plan for the celebration of this special year wherein the Holy Father desires that all who engage it will experience a “moment of genuine, personal encounter with the Lord Jesus,” he speaks about the notion of indulgences. Pope Francis writes, “Indeed, the indulgence is a way of discovering the unlimited nature of God’s mercy. Not by chance, for the ancients, the terms “mercy” and “indulgence” were interchangeable, as expressions of the fullness of God’s forgiveness, which knows no bounds.”
Rather than getting into a detailed explanation of indulgences in this limited space, I offer you a succinct description provided by the Holy Father himself when he explains, “as we know from personal experience, every sin ‘leaves its mark.’ Sin has consequences, not only outwardly in the effects of the wrong we do, but also inwardly, inasmuch as ‘every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death, in the state called Purgatory.’ In our humanity, weak and attracted by evil, certain residual effects of sin remain. These are removed by the indulgence, always by the grace of Christ, who, as Saint Paul VI wrote, ‘is himself our indulgence.’”
Therefore, during this Jubilee Year, we are all encouraged to grow in our relationship to and our love for our Lord Jesus Christ. We are also encouraged to become more sincere and authentic disciples by the manner in which we live our lives and spread the Good News as Pilgrims of Hope. The opportunity given to us to visit the various designated sites around the archdiocese and to receive the gift of an indulgence is one more way of growing in that love and spreading the Good News. You never know who you might encounter on the way.
I suggest that you periodically refer to the archdiocesan website for other materials and opportunities for consideration throughout this Jubilee Year. And rest assured that I will periodically ask if you are still offering the special prayer composed for this year.
On a completely different note, I want to provide you with a warning, or at least a reality check. Do you realize that there are only seven shopping days left until the beginning of Lent?
It seems like we barely have the pine needles swept up and the Christmas garlands packed away for another season, and the time is already looming large on the horizon to receive the ashes of last year’s palm branches on our foreheads. The reason I mention this now is to encourage you to be proactive as you head into next week. Why not give some thought now as to how you want to spend the 40-day journey through Lent. What do you want to accomplish with the Lord as you walk together to discover the empty tomb?
As I do for you, please pray for me,
Most Reverend Jeffrey S. Grob
Archbishop of Milwaukee
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