April 2, 2025
“You shall count off seven weeks of years—seven times seven years… This fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you… each of you shall return to your family… You shall not sow, nor reap what grows of itself, nor gather the grapes from the unpruned vines. For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you.”
(Leviticus 25:8-12)
Dear Sister Ana Belén and all the Dominican Sisters of the Anunciata,
We celebrate the Jubilee of the dies natalis of Saint Francisco Coll in heaven, our brother and founder of your congregation, within the Jubilee of the dies natalis here on earth of Our Savior, in the Year of the Lord 2025. Truly, this is a year of grace!
The Book of Leviticus tells us that the Holy Year has two important purposes: to return to the family and to enter into the Sabbath. Thus, the Jubilee is, first and foremost, an invitation to “return” to the Lord (conversion and renewal); and for us Dominicans, to “return” to the charism that Dominic received, to renew our commitment to preach the Gospel as Dominic did, and in particular, for you, dear sisters, to return to your foundational spirit, the inspiration of Saint Francisco Coll.
The second invitation is to enter into the Sabbath, to “rest in God.” Paradoxically, the preaching of the Gospel is a demanding and unending task from which we cannot “rest.” What, then, is this rest? Jesus invites us:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
(Matthew 11:28-29)
The “rest” of the Jubilee is not the cessation of activity, but an experience of closeness and union with God, who shares with us His “yoke” or mission. It is the rest of which Saint Augustine wrote: our heart is restless until it rests in God.
Christ is the Preacher of Hope, as our General Chapter in Tultenango, Mexico declared (ACG 2022, 57). Truly, Christ is the Preacher of Hope!
“He brings good news to the poor” (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18-19).
With His coming, Christ is hope incarnate—“whom we have heard, whom we have seen with our eyes, whom we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life” (1 John 1:1-2).
In the Order of Preachers, Dominic has promised us that “wonderful hope,” O Spem Miram—of enduring presence, of grace poured out, of help assured, beyond death, darkness, difficulty, and despair.
In this Jubilee Year, this is the Hope we celebrate with gratitude, the Hope we preach, the Hope we carry on our pilgrimage, the Hope we “proclaim insistently, whether the time is favorable or unfavorable, convincing, rebuking, and encouraging with great patience in teaching” (2 Timothy 4:2).
On behalf of the Order, I greet you in your Jubilee and pray that the Lord may continue to bless you with new vocations and fruitfulness in your various ministries of Gospel preaching.
Your brother,
Fr. Gerard Francisco Timoner III, OP
Master of the Order
