The great Jubilee 2025 inaugurated by the Catholic Church under the title of Pilgrims of Hopeinvites all the faithful to reflect on what it means to live Christian hope in the midst of a world full of challenges and difficulties.
To better understand the message, EWTN News spoke with the priest of Opus Dei, Alberto Clavel, who shared his reflections on this Holy Year.
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Father Alberto explained that, as Christians, we must maintain a hope aimed, mainly, at “achieving peace”, both in the soul and in society: “Hope that things will improve.”
However, he highlighted that Jesus invites us to look beyond earthly reality. “What Jesus announces to us is another kingdom: My kingdom is not of this world. That is to say, here we are passing through and there are some human characteristics, with sins, with wars, with hatred, with all those things. But Christians must see things with hope.”
Forgiveness: The key to understanding hope
The key to understanding this hope for peace, according to Father Alberto, lies in forgiveness. He recalled the teachings of John Paul II, who stated that “peace comes through forgiveness.” “If there is no forgiveness, there is no peace. Both in countries, in wars, and now in the East. If there is no forgiveness, there is no peace,” he emphasized. For the priest, true peace begins in the heart of each individual, and that process begins with forgiveness towards others.
Forgiveness, for Father Alberto, is not just an abstract virtue, but a concrete action that impacts our relationships and our inner peace. “In the Lord’s Prayer we say, ‘forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.’ Forgive, be forgiven, experience forgiveness, that is what we have to discover.”
The path to peace, he added, begins with a deep cleansing of the heart. Father Alberto recalled the beatitudes, especially the one that says “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
“How can I see God if my heart is full of resentment, resentment, envy, evil desires, revenge? There is no way,” he reflected, and invited the faithful to examine their interior and free themselves from any negative feelings.
Furthermore, he stressed that forgiveness and peace must not only be experienced on a personal level, but must extend to social and family life. “If you do not clean that, you will not have peace within you, nor will you sow peace around you,” he warned, highlighting that each Christian has to be a “sower of peace and joy,” as Saint Josemaría Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei, taught.
To achieve this, he urged the faithful to take advantage of the Christmas time to make a resolution for reconciliation and forgiveness. “Examine: Do I have something against someone? Forgive and pray for those people,” he recommended.
“True hope comes through forgiveness that leads us to peace, to be able to share that peace and joy with others,” he concluded.
Diego Lopez Marina
I was born in 1991. I have a degree in Communication Sciences. Since 2015 I have worked as a digital journalist. I started my career at the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio. In 2016, I started as an editor at ACI Prensa and I have worked as a web editor since 2018. Starting in 2024, I write the newsletter for social media. I specialize in Catholic news focused on the defense of life and family, international politics, technology, popular culture and the Vatican.