In the letter with which the Pope called the Church to promote Evangelization in the years before the Great Jubilee of 2025, Pope Francis closes with a strong invitation for the whole Church to make 2024 a year of prayer. The Pope makes reference to the many things that had a negative effected on every person. Faced with many terrible news, the Pope calls the whole Church to enkindle the flames of hope. With this thought in mind, the Pope closes the letter expressing his strong desire and urging us to mark this year as a year of prayer.
I would greatly desire that we devote 2024, the year preceding the Jubilee event, to a great “symphony” of prayer. Prayer, above all else, to renew our desire to be in the presence of the Lord, to listen to him and to adore him. Prayer, moreover, to thank God for the many gifts of his love for us and to praise his work in creation, which summons everyone to respect it and to take concrete and responsible steps to protect it. Prayer as the expression of a single “heart and soul” (cf. Acts 4:32), which then translates into solidarity and the sharing of our daily bread. Prayer that makes it possible for every man and woman in this world to turn to the one God and to reveal to him what lies hidden in the depths of their heart. Prayer as the royal road to holiness, which enables us to be contemplative even in the midst of activity.
In a word, may it be an intense year of prayer in which hearts are opened to receive the outpouring of God’s grace and to make the “Our Father,” the prayer Jesus taught us, the life programme of each of his disciples.
