By Marie Dennis
Fifth Sunday of Lent
Is 43:16-21 | Phil 3:8-14 | Jn 8:1-11
Like Jesus, we are weeping … in the Holy Land, in Ukraine, in Sudan, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Myanmar, in the United States, in schools, homes and public spaces around the world. But this week, even as we prepare to retell the story of his Passion and Death, we hear Jesus say: I am the resurrection and the life …
A few years ago, Christians across the United States spent months reflecting on the signs of the times in their local communities, across the country and around the world to discern what should be the response of Christians to the brokenness and injustice that they saw. In the tradition of the kairos documents from South Africa, Central America, Palestine and several other countries, their message was powerful, challenging and hopeful. It was about Jubilee — and, in ways it carries a critical message for these times of crisis.
We are led by the Spirit to a new relationship with the earth and all its creatures based on a deep sense of kinship — to reject the obsessive patterns of consumption which drive the disintegration of creation.
We are led by the Spirit to shape a culture of radical nonviolence — a living alternative to the reality of our times, consciously countering racism, sexism, heterosexism, domestic violence, street violence, state violence, militarism.
…We are led by the Spirit to relinquish and renounce economic privilege … We are led by the Spirit to restructure radically the global economy … to benefit the excluded poor and the rest of creation — to lift the burden of debt from the backs of the poor.
We take the spirit of Jubilee to be a preeminent sign of this kairos time.
We are frightened by the signs of crisis … encouraged by the signs of hope … compelled by the urgency of both.
Thus, we commit ourselves to the works of repentance — to reparation, redress, re-valuing.
We commit ourselves to enact the Jubilee concretely in our communities, our institutions, our lives.
The Jubilee is calling for nothing less than a paradigm shift to a world where right relationships between humans and the earth shape domestic affairs, international relations, and the global economy, fueling a transformation of pervasive direct and structural violence into a more just and peaceful world. It is a massive and demanding shift, but urgently needed. And well-organized action is the only way to accomplish the deep transformation Jubilee promotes.
Pope Francis, quoting Bishop and former president of Pax Christi Italy, Tonino Bello, reminds us that “We cannot be content to hope; we have to organize hope.
The possibility of transformational change — including debt cancellation, an end to the death penalty, spending on human and environmental needs rather than armaments — is a claim on hope.
The challenge is to see signs of the Reign of God — of Resurrection — inbreaking now, to recognize them, to hang onto them in spite of the questions that shake our confidence to the core. Jubilee defines changes that we must make to our way of organizing the world in order that the Reign of God can break in. Right relationships among human beings and with the rest of creation … reorder the economy of life — cancel debts, release slaves (debtors), restore the land (debtors’) — Jubilee.
“I am the resurrection and the life…”
Marie Dennis is director of the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative, a project of Pax Christi International. She was director of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns for 14 years.
The 2025 Lenten Reflection Guide from the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns contains contributions from missioners around the world.
Featured image: Marie Dennis and others pray outside the World Bank in Washington, D.C., for the 2000 Jubilee Year Good Friday Way of the Cross led by the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns. (Courtesy of Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns/U.S.)
Questions for Reflection
As you think about organizing hope not only in our own lives but in our communities, institutions, and wider world, what is one injustice you feel called to heal?
What actions will you take in this Jubilee Year to connect with others in overcoming social sin, institutional violence, and injustice?
Prayer
Beloved God, This little moment we would spend with Thee
in gratitude for a lifetime of little moments.
I would thank Thee for Thy Spirit
breathing in me, directing me
Stained Glassto follow the flow of Freedom.
I would thank Thee for Thy Promise,
fulfilled in me, assuring me
of Thine abiding Presence.
I would thank Thee for Thy faithfulness
strengthening me, upholding me
in Compassion’s trustworthy arms,
I would thank Thee for Thy Providence
sheltering me, reminding me of Thine eternal
Abundance made available to me.
I would thank Thee for Thy Life, extended in me, extended
in all Thy children, each Thine own original creation. Amen
— Maryknoll Sister Joan Metzner
