Fr Tom Thomas IC

Apostolic Administrator of the Falkland Islands and Superior of the Ecclesiastical Mission to St. Helena, Tristan Da Cunha and Ascension Island

Pastoral Letter for Advent 2024

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

My warmest greetings to all. I had the privilege to meet Fr. Ambrose and the parishioners in mid-November at Stanley, my first pastoral visit. I had a rewarding and useful time. It was a pilgrimage.

I am sure that we are all aware of the passage of seasons and times. I thought of writing this letter to you to invite you to prepare well for Christmas this year. We are in the Liturgical Year C and Sunday readings are from the Gospel of Luke most Sundays with a few exceptions. We have this year the introduction of the new Lectionary for our Scripture readings. The Lectionary is a book contains readings for Mass (Sundays and Weekdays), for Saints and Sacraments, and other occasions, such as funerals. The new edition of the Lectionary for Mass (Ordo Lectionum Missae) is from the English Standard Version – Catholic Edition of the Bible confirmed by the Apostolic See in 2023 comes to use on the First Sunday of Advent 2024. I hope and pray that the new translation of the Lectionary will help us to deepen our love for God’s Word and the effective proclamation of the Word of God. Hence our special veneration of the Word of God, are to be liturgical action, truly signs and symbols of higher realities and hence should be truly worthy, dignified, and beautiful.

The Church has just concluded the synod on Synodality. It was a time to renew and transform the way the Church gathers to listen, discern and respond individually and collectively to the will of God in our times. The synod on synodality is of particular importance to our local parish communities too. We must all ask: How is this “journeying together” happening today in our Local Church? To listen, as the entire People of God, to what the Holy Spirit is saying to the Church. How – by listening together to the Word of God in scripture and the living Tradition of the Church, and then listening to one another, especially those at the margins, discerning the signs of the times. It is of greater importance in our own local communities to start this process of listening and discerning the will of God and work together for the good of our communities. I hope that you will work in collaboration with your priest for the well-being of the community and for your personal spiritual well-being.

Pope Francis will declare this liturgical year as the Year of Jubilee 2025 with the opening of the Holy Door of the St. Peter’s Basilica on the 24 of December 2024 in Rome and the Jubilee Year will formally conclude in Rome on the Solemnity of Epiphany, 6 January 2026. The theme is “Pilgrims of Hope”. A Jubilee year happens in every 25 years. The first Jubilee was declared by Pope Boniface VIII on 22nd February 1300 to mark the beginning of that century. He later recommended it occurring every 100 years. Pope St. Paul Il set the present 25-year interval in the 1500s and an “extraordinary” Jubilee Year is proclaimed for very special reason.

The logo of the Jubilee Year 2025, which it says, depicts humanity coming from the four corners of the Earth in the act of clinging to the Cross. It will be year of hope for a world suffering the impacts of war, the ongoing effects of COVID-19 and a climate crisis. Every Jubilee Year is indeed a time of conversion and emphasis on God’s mercy and forgiveness of sins, Jubilees begin with the opening of the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica. Holy Doors at each of the four papal basilicas in Rome are destination points for pilgrims, who pass through seeking special graces. In his letter of the Holy Father for the Jubilee 2025 invites all of us to study the key documents of the Second Vatican Council: Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy, Dogmatic Constitution of the Church, Dogmatic constitution of the Divine Revelation and the Pastoral constitution on the Church in the modern world. Holy Father believes that this study will provide direction and guidance to us, so that it can press forward in its mission of bringing the joyful proclamation of the Gospel to everyone.

Pope Francis continues: “we are pilgrims because we have been called: called to love God and to love one another. Our pilgrimage on this earth is far from a pointless journey or aimless wandering; on the contrary, each day, by responding to God’s call, we try every step needed to advance towards a new world where people can live in peace, justice and love. We are pilgrims of hope because we are pressing forward a better future, committed at every step to bringing it about. This is the end, the goal of every vocation: to become men and women of hope. As individuals and as communities, amid the variety of charisms and ministries, all of us are called to embody and communicate the Gospel message of hope in a world marked by epochal challenges.”

It is therefore, important for us to prepare ourselves as a pilgrim community to celebrate the Jubilee Year in the best way possible. I encourage all of you to read the Church’s documents recommended by the Holy Father for our consideration, the Word of God and other materials that will come out during the Jubilee Year. It will all help us enormously to deepen our faith in the Lord. May this time of advent in preparation for Christmas be a time of giving and sharing. God the Father has given us His Son Jesus as a brother showing us the way and by sharing his life made us partakers of eternal life. Let us adore the humble Child of Bethlehem! Let us also worthily wait for His glorious second coming! Stay awake at all times!

May God blesses always and keep us safe.

Fr. Tom Thomas IC

Apostolic Administrator