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February 17, 2025I am very happy to be with you for my third pastoral visit to your parish of St. Francis Xavier in Salalah.
The pastoral visit is a very important moment for the bishop because he can meet the faithful and exercise his ministry as a shepherd and as the successor of the Apostles, confirm you in the faith of the Apostles and be among you as a humble sign of unity among all believers in Christ. And it is important for you faithful to be in contact with your bishop to remind you that you are part of a larger community of the baptized people of God.
The parish in Salalah is very beautiful and is a community made up of people who come from different cultures, with different languages and traditions. You are not a very large community, but you are all precious in the eyes of God. I am sure that many other faithful would participate in the celebrations and meetings of the parish, but unfortunately, they are prevented because of the geographical distance to the Church from their places of residence, or because of the various work commitments that do not allow them to have a free day to go to the Church with the other faithful.
Today I want to tell all of them that they are all in my heart and that the Lord loves them just as they are. It is important that we strengthen in all of us the profound sense of belonging to the Lord, we are his, we are not alone. He gave his life for all of us.
This year the pastoral visit takes place at a special time, in fact we are in the year of the Lord's Jubilee, we remember that 2025 years ago Jesus was born into the world: God wanted to live among us, to be a companion of our life. Pope Francis has dedicated this Holy Year to the theme of Hope. We are called to be pilgrims of hope.
This year we also celebrate the seventeen hundred years of the Nicene Creed, which we profess during Mass on feast days. It is the creed that unites all Christians. True faith leads us to recognize that Jesus is our hope. Being pilgrims of hope means being on a journey, not attaching our hearts to passing things, but placing our hope in the Lord.
A pilgrim is very similar to being a migrant, and we are a Church of migrants. As migrant persons, you have left your country, your land, your friends and have set out on a journey to this place for a job to support your family and loved ones. Being migrants, we are called to be pilgrims, traveling towards a significant destination, the kingdom of heaven. For our journey to reach the sure destination we need to have our hope fixed on God.
Precisely in the Psalm, the liturgy today has us say: blessed is he who hopes in the Lord. Let us ask ourselves: where do we place our ultimate hope of our life? In our possessions, in what we do or in the Lord? Prophet Jeremiah has strong words for those who do not trust in the Lord: Curse on the man who puts his trust in man, who relies on the things of the flesh, whose heart turns from the Lord.
These are very strong words; they are a warning: in fact, if we place our hope in things that pass away we become slaves to things that pass away. We make idols of things that pass away. Then we begin to live for money, career, success and disordered pleasure. But all these things are idols that lead us to disappointment and slavery.
Saint Paul instead invites us to look to the risen Jesus, he is our reliable hope. He has conquered evil and death. If we place our hope in him, we will be able to face every difficulty and look to the future with courage. Jesus our hope assures us eternal life that begins here, in this world, when we live in union with Jesus and with each other. He is the rock on which to build our future, and who frees us from the slavery of sin. His mercy allows us to resume the journey even after sin.
Certainly, we are fragile and often we put our hope in goods: this makes us selfish and closed to ourselves. This is why the Gospel invites us to poverty: How happy are you who are poor: yours is the kingdom of God. The poor know the secret of hope in God. The Lord invites us not to close our life on the goods of this world but to seek security in the love of God.
I invite you to live intensely this Jubilee year dedicated to being pilgrims of hope! I invite you to join the initiatives that the parish promotes to celebrate this jubilee. In this way you will experience the mercy of God that makes life reborn.
I conclude with a concrete proposal. Surely each of you knows other Catholic Christians here in Salalah who for various reasons do not come to Church. In this Holy Year I propose that you invite at least one such person to a Mass or to participate in a meeting of the jubilee and anniversary of the Nicene Creed. Do not judge them, but invite them with kindness to participate in the life of the Christian community. In this way you will experience a profound joy of the heart and you will feel the gift of hope in the Lord grow within you.
May Mary Mother of Hope support your journey and always keep you united with Jesus.
