When Karol Wojtyla was elected pope on October 16, 1978, his compatriot and Polish primate Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski confidentially told him: "When the Lord calls you, you must lead the Church into the third millennium." Throughout his pontificate, the pope gradually prepared the Church for this event. He mentioned it right in the first paragraph of his first encyclical from March 4, 1979: "This time ... is already very close to the year 2000 ... For the Church ... it will be the year of Grace" (Redemptor hominis, 1).
We too have been preparing – in light of the apostolic letter of John Paul II. Tertio millenio adveniente (hereafter TMA) from November 10, 1994 – for the celebration of the Great Jubilee of the Incarnation, which particularly makes present the fullness of time that came with Jesus' incarnation, birth, death, and resurrection. The Lord himself, when he began his ministry, proclaimed: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel" (Mk 1:15). Whole generations awaited his coming, and when he came, many did not accept him, wasting the opportunity that the Father had given them.
The time of the year of grace is measured, and it is a pity to waste even a single day. "The jubilee year is a ‘year of favor’ of the Church, a year of forgiveness of sins and penalties for sins, a year of reconciliation among those who quarrel, a year of many conversions and sacramental penance.” (TMA 14). The words of the Apostle Paul: "the time is short" (1 Cor 7:29), "do not waste this time" (Eph 5:16), "make the best use of your time" (Col 4:5), can encourage us and rouse us from our daily routine. After all, it is a gift from God and the Church to us, weak and sinful children of God and children of the Church. The year of grace is a great help for all who feel their inner weakness and fragmentation, the inability for generous love and sacrifice; it is an opportunity for the renewal of the Church, for the transformation of our families and relationships within them, and a chance for society as a whole.
"Everyone is invited to contribute according to their possibilities so that the call of the year 2000, which is undoubtedly associated with a special grace of the Lord for the Church and all humanity, is not overlooked" (TMA 55). More easily than ever, we can regain through conversion and penance what we could never achieve by our own efforts: friendship with God, his grace, and the supernatural life that alone can fulfill the deepest desires of the human heart (cf. Incarnationis mysterium, 2; hereafter IM).
The Holy Father likens the jubilee year to an invitation to a banquet (see IM 4). From Jesus' parable about the wedding banquet, we know that many invited did not want to come and made excuses (cf. Mt 22:1ff; Lk 14:16ff). Elsewhere, the pope reminds every believer of their responsibility for their decisions regarding Christ and for experiencing the Jubilee year (cf. IM 8).
God has fulfilled time for us, and now it depends only on each of us whether this year will be a year of grace and transformation for us, whether it will be a hymn of praise to the Most High God (cf. IM 3).
P. Vojtěch Kodet, O.Carm.
