Religious sisters sing in the choir during the March 26, 2024 Chrism Mass for the Diocese of Owensboro, held at the Owensboro Sportscenter due to space limitations at St. Stephen Cathedral. ELIZABETH WONG BARNSTEAD | WKC
Pilgrims of Hope: The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Me
Editor’s note: In celebration of the Jubilee of Hope, The Western Kentucky Catholic has launched Pilgrims of Hope, a yearlong blog series inspired by Pope Francis’ Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025: “My thoughts turn to all those pilgrims of hope who will travel to Rome in order to experience the Holy Year and to all those others who, though unable to visit the City of the Apostles Peter and Paul, will celebrate it in their local Churches.” Blog reflections will be written by individuals from across the Diocese of Owensboro, sharing their unique perspectives on the virtue of hope in a world that so greatly needs it.
BY MICHAEL BOGDAN
The author of the Gospel of Luke includes the portrayal of an event the other evangelists omit.
In it, Jesus, known in the vicinity as the son of Joseph the carpenter, has returned to his hometown of Nazareth and goes to the synagogue for the sabbath liturgy. He stands up to read and is given a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He proclaims:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”
And then,
“Today, this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:16-20)
The congregants meeting in the little synagogue in Nazareth must have been astounded. Did their Yeshua bar Yosef just identify himself with Isaiah’s description of the “year of the Lord’s favor,” the Jubilee, a theological concept thick with the hope and promise that no one would remain poor, be enslaved or imprisoned forever?
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In ancient Jewish tradition, Jubilee was celebrated every 50 years, beginning with the blast of a shofar, or ram’s horn.
Christians only began celebrating Jubilee in the year 1300 AD, first every 50 years, then every 25 and on some other special occasions.
I have lived through several of these Jubilees. There was the one on Reconciliation in 1975, the one in 1983 on the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, the regular Jubilee in 2000, the one on Mercy in 2016, and this one, on Hope.
After these many Jubilees, has anything changed?
Yes, and there is more to come.
Throughout my life, I have seen many marks of Jubilee here on this earth (heaven is taken care of; this planet is in need of some repair).
Dorothy Day felt the ire of more than one hierarch with her embodiment of the Gospel mandate of service to the poor and her opposition to war. Jimmy Carter enabled the building of more than 70,000 homes through Habitat for Humanity. Sister of St. Joseph Helen Prejean raised our collective Catholic consciousness of the death penalty through her relentless witness against it. Cesar Chavez helped bring Catholic social teaching to our shopping carts. Ursuline Sister of Mount Saint Joseph Larraine Lauter enables communities all over the world to have clean water through the “Water by Women” program which she founded. The disciples of Jesus sound one shofar blast after another.
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Every Sunday and feast day, we come up against the hard edges of an outrageous Gospel, one of Good News and hope, one proclaimed by a Son of the Torah two thousand years ago in a land scarred by suffering and conflict.
This year, at the diocesan Chrism Mass on Tuesday of Holy Week at the Owensboro Sportscenter, the deacon will stand and announce to the gathered pilgrims: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…”
And who knows what will come of it? Who knows what dreams, prophecies and visions may be performed by people who gather there, baptized disciples anointed priests, prophets and royalty and bearers of Good News? Who knows what they will accomplish in the name of Jesus, the One who is our Jubilee, our sure and certain Hope?
Mike Bogdan is a retired professional lay minister residing in Owensboro
To learn more about the Diocese of Owensboro’s celebration of the Jubilee Year of Hope 2025 visit https://owensborodiocese.org/jubilee-year-pilgrims-of-hope/.
