+ Crescenzio Sepe

I can find no better expression to summarise the profound moment of grace and communion we have experienced in these days than the words of the Apostle Paul: "It is God who, for his own generous purpose, gives you the intention and the powers to act" (Phil 2:13). In the end what we have done in these days is merely to look for God's "will" and to resolve to express our "works" which, as a gift from the Father, clearly reveal the riches of his Church in the plurality of the diverse circumstances of life.

To summarise what has been said in these moments of work could, for the moment, be the equivalent to emphasising more the common elements that were shown by many interventions. Unlike the first meeting, in which we worked in study groups, this session was characterised by the fact that it was a general meeting where everyone could participate more directly in the anxieties and expectations present in the various local Churches. The information we exchanged, the suggestions made by many, together with the understandable apprehensions that some expressed, are still before us.

What deserves to be noted first of all is that from each intervention the conviction emerges that preparation for the Jubilee is a concrete reality that is becoming more and more visible in the various communities.

At the beginning of my introductory report I had used the expression "an underground river" to indicate the movement that has occurred in the past months. In the light of our considerations, I must explain this image and say that the river is not so much underground; it is visible and swells more and more every day as we approach the Great Jubilee. The various local Churches in their different expressions of life are making a real journey that was expressed with catechesis, last year, on Jesus Christ and, this year, on the Holy Spirit. The running-in period is over and everything indicates that 1999 will be a successful year with catechesis on God the Father.

What also emerges is your appreciation of the various initiatives for printed aids that have been prepared by the Central Committee. Knowing that above all the work of the theological-historical, pastoral and liturgical Commissions has been used extensively and considered a valid instrument, encourages us to pursue more efficiently the remaining work of the respective publications for the coming years. As has been suggested, we will try even more to see that these instruments adopt a more intelligible language and include themes of greater interest for the apostolate, catechesis and the challenges that our contemporaries face today. In this context, we are fully in agreement with the requests made that these instruments should have an increasingly unitary content, so that the specificity of the biblical Jubilee with its central message, easily accessible to the different ecclesial realities, may be perceived.

We were therefore able to verify that preparation for the Jubilee is on the right track. The months that still separate us from the celebration of the Jubilee event will be characterised very much by two particular moments: the first will be the period of preparation more pertinent to the spiritual, catechetical and liturgical horizon; the second, to making pilgrims' welcome in Rome as adequate and safe as possible. The Jubilee is an event of grace in which one should experience the Lord's mercy at much closer range. We must prepare our faithful for this so that they may see with their own eyes that all are loved by the Father. This is why we must pay special attention - as many have reminded us here - to the categories of people who already visibly bear the signs of Christ's presence: the poor and the sick. Preparation for the Jubilee and its celebration will be marked especially by them and our greatest concern is for them.

But the Jubilee must also be a time in which those who come on pilgrimage to Rome may find a city and a Church that welcomes them as pilgrims and as believers. The pilgrim needs rest; the believer needs to live an experience of faith. The Central Committee together with the Peregrinatio ad Petri Sedem and the Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi, have guaranteed that they will do their utmost to ensure that the structures this city offers will be fully available to those who come to Peter's See. In the coming months they will also take it upon themselves to find a concrete solution to the difficulties of a procedural nature with the various Governments.

The voices of those who expressed a desire that the visit to Rome be a profound experience of faith are particularly sensitive. In Tertio Millennio Adveniente the Holy Father established that "the primary objective of the Jubilee is the strengthening of faith and of the witness of Christians" (TMA 42). The Jubilee celebration must keep this objective in first place. This is why some fundamental aspects that also constitute the distinctive character of this Holy Year must be stressed.

Above all, no one is unaware of the profoundly catholic nature of the Jubilee, which many have confirmed. This means making visible the universality of the faith that joyfully professes and celebrates the 2000 years since the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. It is a time of celebration for all the baptised, who at the beginning of a new millennium not only ask how the faith has been lived, but above all place themselves in a state of new evangelization. The Jubilee is a special time for praying and reflecting on the salvation we have received so that this gift, which we have gratuitously received, may be shared by all.

This universality also means that the various particular Churches should celebrate the Jubilee locally. Those who will be able to come on pilgrimage to Rome will, in any case, be united and in communion with the many who remain at home. Each one will find the most appropriate way for enabling the unique sign of the Jubilee to be found in the plurality of the various traditions, without eclipsing its original meaning. On the other hand, the various Synods that have been celebrated in these months and that have stressed how the faith of all can and must be lived in different cultural realities help us in this path. Moreover, as many have asked, we will make our own contribution so that there may be valid instruments for the Jubilee celebration in the local Churches. In this context, we should remember the interventions of those who drew our attention to the fact that different traditions involve a calendar with different dates. I would like to repeat that what has been presented by our calendar should not be received rigidly, but rather as a common basis which can be adapted in the different Churches in keeping with local traditions.

The Jubilee is also characterised by its ecumenical importance. It goes beyond the celebration of those now traditional moments of common prayer. In fact it wants to reach more concrete objectives which are expressed in celebration Vigils and in the joint recognition of those who have offered their lives to bear witness to Christ's love ("new martyrs"). The jealousy we feel for these witnesses to the faith must be so strong that it does not allow their witness to be forgotten (cf. TMA 37).

I would like to address a special thank-you here to the fraternal Delegates who have shared these days of work with us. With their direct intervention both here in the hall and in written reports, they have shown their concern and interest to see that the Jubilee is celebrated as well as possible. We must recognise that these too are signs of unity that allow us to look to the future with ever-greater confidence in the action of the Spirit.

The many interventions that mentioned the sign of reconciliation find a fertile soil. We all know that the first objective of the Jubilee celebration is conversion of heart. We do not need to go back to the history of the first jubilees to verify that this is a common denominator. The Jubilee means asking for forgiveness and an experience of mercy. This forgiveness which begins first of all within the Church herself and then extends to other Confessions and to the whole world, must be made visible through signs of personal and community repentance and reconciliation, as the Holy Father says in Tertio Millennio Adveniente (cf. TMA 34-35).

The reminder, made by some, that the celebration of the Jubilee should pay attention also to those who will come to Rome even though they do not profess a particular faith but perhaps only because they are seeking or are curious to live a different experience or because they are simply tourists is important. We should want to approach them in the same way as the risen Jesus approached the disciples on the road to Emmaus. We will walk along the road with them helping them to enter the profound meaning of the Scriptures and of our faith so that they may discover Christ and his love. Thus when they leave us, they will yearn to remain with him and with us longer. In other words, we will prepare people and places that will be able to attune them spirituality and offer a place for silence and meditation, starting from the major basilicas.

Finally we should not forget the interventions of those who rightly said that the pilgrim ways lead not only to Rome. The Holy Land, together with the places that witnessed the apostolic preaching and the foundation of the first Churches, will be included in religious itineraries and will also find a place in our publications.

Particular attention was also paid to the subject of information and many references were made to this topic. The sensitivity you have shown for the circulation of the Bulletin, which is becoming increasingly a valid instrument for publicising the Holy Year initiatives, tells us that we are on the right track. The demonstration that was given to us yesterday with the use of informational instruments - though it will require an effort in the beginning to use these programs - will prove a winner in the end. We will be able to communicate in real time; this means, essentially, a saving of energies and resources and, above all, a more direct service finalised for everyone.

We would not want to leave anyone with the doubt that this General Secretariat is not at your complete disposal so that the just needs of the local Churches can be heard. Our commitment must not remain on a level of preparation for the Jubilee and then abandon each one to his or her own fate. On the contrary, we undertake to support your work for the whole jubilee period, also asking you to meet our needs and to help us to help you. You will always find the General Secretariat available at all times so that in Rome or in your particular Churches, the Jubilee may be lived in a spirit of brotherhood and communion.

As we conclude our work here, we must open our hearts and our minds to hope. The Holy Father invites us, in Tertio Millennio Adveniente, to have "a better appreciation and understanding of the signs of hope present in the last part of this century, even though they often remain hidden from our eyes" (TMA 46). We know that at the end of this millennium our contemporary asks for and seeks hope. He is a person thirsting for hope and often he encounters despair, fear and anguish. Our commitment for the Jubilee is intended as a sign we want to give on the horizon of this quest. We will succeed in this if we can all listen with greater attention to the voice of the Spirit who calls the Bride of Christ to travel along the paths of "hope that does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts" (cf. Rm 5:5).

In thanking the Lord for this time of communion and shared responsibility which he has allowed us to live, let us again make our own the invitation Peter addressed to the first Christians, so that always and everywhere we are ready "to account for the hope" that is in us answering with courtesy, respect and a clear conscience those who ask us the reason for our faith and its manifestations (cf. 1 Pet 3:15-16).