His Excellency Monsignor Selim Sfeir
Priests, Religious
Knights of the Holy Sepulchre
Dear young people
Brothers and sisters
May the Lord give you peace!

We are here, summoned by Pope Francis who last December 24 opened the Holy Door of the Jubilee in the Vatican, and called on all the dioceses of the world to open the great Jubilee on this December 29. In the Holy Land, the Patriarch His Beatitude Cardinal Pizzaballa opened the Jubilee Year in Nazareth. Here in Cyprus we have chosen Saint Mary of Grace Church in Larnaca.

Yes, She, the Virgin Mary, is the door of all graces. And I would like to thank the parish priest Father Andrew Ahin for his availability, and also Father Andrew Verdote and Father Francesco di Palma for their availability, and they too, together with the entire community of Larnaca, will be the visible sign of mercy in welcoming all the pilgrims who will come to this Church during this Jubilee Year. The Saint Mary of Grace Church in Larnaca will be our Church for the acquisition of indulgences throughout the Holy Year of the Jubilee.

For this reason we are here with representatives of all our parishes and communities of our vicariate of Cyprus: with our young people and adolescents, members of our different pastoral cares, of the different groups to experience the opening of this Jubilee Year which has as its center, as its theme: Hope. Yes, it is the Jubilee of Hope… we are pilgrims of Hope. I would like to recall the words of the Holy Father Pope Francis remembering that hope is not only optimism. It is more than optimism. Hope is Christ himself. This Jubilee Year is the great opportunity to let Christ be the center of our actions and our reactions…. Yes, it is the time to forgive, and to let ourselves be forgiven. It is the time to ask for forgiveness, it is the time to change our minds, to change our behavior. And so we embrace our true happiness. There is no hope without forgiveness.

There is no true “hope” without the reason for our “hope”: Jesus Christ. The symbol of having entered together through this main door, symbolizes that we enter into the mystery of Christ, into the life of Christ. But be careful brothers and sisters: we have a double movement. We enter the door that is Christ, but we must let Him enter into our lives, into our hearts, into our families. A famous artist created a beautiful painting of a pilgrim Christ knocking on a door. But the artist received this criticism: The painting is beautiful, but the door does not have a handle. And the artist defended himself by replying: this is the door of the heart and the door of the heart opens from the inside, not from the outside.

Yes brothers and sisters, in this jubilee year let us open our hearts to Christ. But be careful: deciding to open our hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ is closing our hearts to evil. It is closing our hearts to resentment, to bad things that have happened in the past, to divisions, to indifference, to selfishness. Which are the reason for wars, hatred, divisions between friends, separations between couples, divisions in our families… scandals, and so much hypocrisy.

In this opening of the Jubilee Year, we are accompanied by the Holy Family of Nazareth. And I would like to conclude with hope by praying for all our families in Cyprus, especially the wounded families, in crisis and divided. Finally, for all our families. Yes, without our families, without our young people, without our priests, without our nuns there would be no Church, and there would be no hope. And we conclude with this beautiful prayer that I have prayed so many times in Nazareth in the house of the Holy Family:

Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
in you we contemplate the splendor of true love, we turn to you with trust.
Holy Family of Nazareth, make our families places of communion and cenacles of prayer, authentic schools of the Gospel and small domestic Churches.
Holy Family of Nazareth may families never again experience violence, closure and division: may anyone who has been hurt or scandalized soon experience consolation and healing.
Holy Family of Nazareth may the Church reawaken in everyone the awareness of the sacred and inviolable character of the family, its beauty in God’s plan.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, listen, grant our plea. Amen.