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CV NEWS FEED // Catholic author and theologian George Weigel recently offered practical guidance for making the most of Jubilee 2025, urging the faithful to embrace this holy year as a time of spiritual renewal and grace.
The Jubilee began on Christmas Eve 2024 with the opening of the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and will conclude Jan. 6, 2026. Weigel shared several ways for Catholics to engage with this sacred time in a recent article for First Things.
He suggested reflecting on the virtue of hope, offering Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Spe Salvi (“Saved in Hope”) as an excellent resource for understanding how hope can shape the Christian life.
“Hope, one of the three theological virtues, is not optimism, which is a far more fragile commodity — especially in a world that seems to be careening out of control,” Weigel wrote. “Hope, by contrast, ‘never disappoints’ because hope is based on ‘God’s love [which] has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.’”
Weigel also recommended incorporating the Liturgy of the Hours into daily prayer routines. Resources like Magnificat and iBreviary make this practice accessible to modern Catholics seeking to sanctify their days. According to Weigel, the daily Office of Readings, which can be followed on the iBreviary app, is “a treasure chest of Christian wisdom spanning two millennia.”
Engaging deeply with Scripture is another step he encouraged. Tools such as the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible and the Word on Fire Bible offer valuable insights for developing a more profound understanding of the Bible’s teachings.
Turning to the saints, Weigel suggested that their lives can serve as inspiration for the faithful. Books like Bert Ghezzi’s Voices of the Saints offer reflections that can accompany Catholics on their own spiritual journeys.
With 2025 marking the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, Weigel advised studying the Nicene Creed, calling it “the bedrock of Christian orthodoxy.” He went on to recommend Bishop Robert Barron’s book Light from Light as offering an accessible theological exploration of this foundational statement of belief.
Weigel also encouraged making regular visits to the Blessed Sacrament for prayer and reflection and frequent participation in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. These practices, he said, can bring about personal renewal and deepen one’s role as a missionary disciple.
