YOUTH AND JUBILEE
The front cover portrays faces of various youth leaders from the parish of Regina Mundi in Soweto. This parish played a significant role during the 1976 uprisings, protecting those who took refuge in its shelter. Nearly 50 years later, these young men and women represent the hope for a better South Africa, where youth can exercise a meaningful role in society and in the Church, where their talents can be recognized and their voices heard. May their dreams for a bright future and a fruitful discipleship of Jesus be fulfilled.
FOCUS • JUBILEE IN PRETORIA
HOPE IS A JOYOUS PILGRIMAGE
During this Jubilee Year the youth of the Archdiocese of Pretoria have organized celebrations in the different deaneries. Some of the participants give witness to the event that took place in the Eastern Deanery.
BY SR M. MARTA VARGAS CMS
IF THE 2025 Jubilee Year is an invitation to pilgrimage, ours began on a joyful note. By “ours” I mean the youth of the Archdiocese of Pretoria, and by “joyful” I mean our vibrant and prayerful mood.
On 27 April 2025, at 2:00 p.m, about 100 young people gathered in one of the streets of the neighbourhood of St Joseph Parish, Eersterust, to celebrate the Youth Jubilee of the Eastern Deanery. Accompanied by some parishioners and with the help of the local police, we pilgrimed from the outskirts of the location to the church, carrying the Jubilee icons: the Holy Cross and the portrait of Our Lady of Good Hope.
It was indeed a colorful procession: lively hymns, pausing from time to time to pray for different realities which the young people face today: unemployment, ill health, depression, imprisonment, addictions, forced migration, loss of loved ones, violence, war… But above all, we prayed for hope, hope for all the youth. After writing down our dreams, we offered them in adoration to the source of all hope: Jesus. In His presence in the Holy Sacrament, we experienced His mercy through prayer and the celebration of the sacrament of reconciliation.
However, the story began a little earlier. On April 12th, the two Jubilee Icons arrived in the deanery as part of an Archdiocesan initiative to bring them to all its corners. Until May 24th, the icons have been moving from parish to parish, inviting the youth to come together, to pray and to become pilgrims of hope. These visits and celebrations are helping the youth of the Eastern Deanery and the Archdiocese of Pretoria to live and understand this Jubilee Year better.
Truly “hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5). Young people are the very embodiment of this promise. Why? Because they are full of dreams, desires and an active joy that, together with faith, will never fail.
If the 2025 Jubilee Year is an invitation to pilgrimage, ours began on a joyful note.
That’s exactly what we experienced during the Jubilee celebration of the Eastern Deanery, where two main characteristics of the youth prevailed: their ability to celebrate and rejoice spontaneously while singing, walking and dancing and, at the same time, their profound respect, silence and participation during the moments of intercession, adoration and quiet prayer. What a wonderful combination! It resembles the journey of life with its frequent changes: from easy patches to difficult ones, from health to sickness, from serenity to problems, from happiness to sorrow.
May the youth inspire us to live this Jubilee with a faithful spirit, always ready to either celebrate or to hold steady, depending on the situation. May this Jubilee continue to awaken a new hope in our youth, the hope of the Gospel: a hope that doesn’t end; a hope that can be shared and which transforms our lives and the lives of others in a joyful pilgrimage of faith which doesn’t disappoint.
MARY, MOTHER OF MERCY SHRINE: A HOME OF PRAYER
Situated in the serene landscape of Magaliesburg, and a short drive from the Cradle of Humankind— a World Heritage Site—the Shrine of Mary, Mother of Mercy, was officially inaugurated on 27 April 2024 by Archbishop Emeritus Buti Joseph Tlhagale OMI. This was a project, carried out with passion, and officially made known during the extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy.