Episode Transcript
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Hi, my name is Nattasha,
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I'm Director of Youth and Young Adults
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at Archdiocesan Ministries.
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Chances are you've seen these images
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around churches and parishes this year.
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These are announcing the Year of Jubilee of 2025.
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It's a year where, as a Church,
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we're called to be intentional in our prayer
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and we're invited into celebrations
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and pilgrimages that happen throughout the year.
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But the tradition of Jubilee
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isn't something as recent as our own Church's history,
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but it goes back thousands of years beforehand.
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When the law was first given to Moses
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and to the people of Israel.
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In Leviticus 25, God said,
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and in the fiftieth year, call a jubilee.
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And among all the things that would happen in that year,
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there were three really strong themes that came forward.
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The first was rest.
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And in the Year of Jubilee,
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the very land itself had to rest,
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not just the people,
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they could not sow, they could not plant,
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they could not work the ground.
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But their practice was
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that in the crops beforehand you would
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store up the storehouses
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and between those supplies
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and what the land would naturally produce
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was plenty for the people to be sustained.
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But the land itself had to rest.
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The second was return,
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that a call would go out in the Year of Jubilee,
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and when people heard the call,
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they knew that they had to return
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to the land of their father.
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They had to go back
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from where they were from across the country,
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and return to the place of their ancestors,
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of their tribe,
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and to be with their family.
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And the third, new beginnings.
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But in that era,
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slavery was a common thing.
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And if you had fallen into debt
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and you could not sell your livestock
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or your crop had failed
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and you could not repay your debts,
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then you had to repay it with your life
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and with your servitude.
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And if that was not enough,
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if your debts were still greater,
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then your children, your family
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would be brought into slavery as well.
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But in a Year of Jubilee,
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debts were forgiven.
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The slates were wiped clean,
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and those who were brought into slavery due to debts
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were given their freedom.
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Rest, return, renewed.
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Let us pray on those three themes today.
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In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
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O Lord,
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so many of us at this time of year just have our eyes
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on summer holidays,
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a time to give rest to our bodies,
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and to our minds.
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But as Saint Augustine said, our hearts are restless
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until they rest in You.
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So Lord, let our hearts and our spirits
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find rest in Your presence.
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Return
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as the people of old who had to return
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to their families.
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Let us hear the call in our own hearts,
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today in this moment.
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Called to return to the Father's embrace.
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To the One who loved us first
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and the One who loves us most.
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And renew.
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Lord, Your grace is freely given.
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Your mercy is never ending.
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So let us be renewed by this,
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be renewed by Your spirit to go out
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and to live the gospel today,
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to be Your hands, Your feet, and to bring Your love
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into our world today.
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Rest.
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Return.
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Renewed.
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All Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
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as it was in the beginning,
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is now, and ever shall be,
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a world without end.
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Amen.
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In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
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Amen.
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God bless.
