“Since you alone are holy, all nations shall come and worship in your presence. Your mighty deeds are clearly seen.” - Revelation 15:4
GARY - An estimated 33 million visitors and pilgrims came to the Vatican in Rome to celebrate the Jubilee Year, officials said at a news conference at the Vatican on Jan. 5.
A day earlier, on Jan. 4, the Diocese of Gary marked the closing of the Jubilee Year locally on the Epiphany of the Lord, with worshippers from throughout the diocese gathering at the Cathedral of the Holy Angels for Sunday Mass, an afternoon of Eucharistic adoration and Solemn Vespers.
“As we close the year of jubilee, we are grateful for the gift of hope – God gave us a Christ,” said presider Father Michael Surufka, O.F.M., cathedral rector, in welcoming more than 100 faithful to Mass.
In his homily, Father Surufka reminded the congregation that Jesus “is not here just for us, but for the whole world, or as Pope Francis liked to say: ‘Everybody, everybody, everybody.’
“The promise of salvation,” noted Father Surufka, “is given to all nations. Christianity is the first religion in the world that didn’t require you to live in a particular nation, have a particular culture or speak a particular language. When God said ‘all nations,’ he meant all nations.
“There are people in this church right now that speak at least three (different) languages, and live a few blocks away, a few miles away, or many miles away. (Yet) at this time, right now, in the world, this Mass is being celebrated in 100 nations, this same Mass.”
While blessing baskets filled with house blessing kits available to worshippers to start the new year, Father Surufka invited them to “bless your own home,” to signify that “Your house is a place where Christ is welcome.”
Father Surufka said that Pope Francis, in opening the Jubilee Year of 2025, “asked us to contemplate hope.
“God already holds the future in his hands … and we trust his vision. God has given us the hope so we can be certain as we move into the future that God is already there.”
In his remarks during the Solemn Vespers service, which included the regular prayer of all clergy and religious every evening in Latin Gregorian chant, Byzantine chant and English hymnody, Father Surufka repeated his message of hope, saying “God already holds our future in his hands.”
Pointing to one-month-old Kiara Kresich, sleeping peacefully in her mother’s arms in a nearby pew, Father Surufka said, “God knows the future of this little child, and of those who are elderly and wonder what is in store for them as they find it difficult to get around. We cannot see it.”
Referring to the words of St. Paul in scripture, Father Surufka said, “Paul says, ‘We don’t hope for what we have already seen, because we already have it. We hope for things we cannot see.’”
Among those embracing hope at the Solemn Vespers was Rose Sutton, of Hammond, a parishioner at St. Joseph the Worker in Gary, who said she was seeking “spiritual reconnection” following the recent death of her mother.
“I hope for reunifying everyone in this time of divisiveness,” she said. “In my heart, I carry everyone who has fallen away (from the Catholic Church), and hope they will come back.”
Another St. Joseph the Worker parishioner, Charlene Gyurko, of Gary, felt the “importance of the jubilee year,” seeing it as the beginning “of an ongoing effort for Catholics to unite.”
Richard and Susan Fowler, of Highland, attended Solemn Vespers with their adult daughter, Brittany Fowler, “because of the blessings and being present with the Lord,” said Susan Fowler. “Jesus is with us.”
Parishioners at Our Lady of Grace, in Highland, and St. Joseph the Worker, the family said they celebrated the jubilee year by volunteering with the Missionaries of Charity, in Gary.
“We are giving thanks for a blessed year and hoping the blessings will continue into this new year,” added Richard Fowler.
Michael Dumas, of Gary, grew up attending St. Monica, but now calls the Cathedral of the Holy Angels his home parish. “This is a great way to start your year,” he said of attending the Jan. 4 Mass and Solemn Vespers, “by focusing on the Lord and being present with God.”
Pope Leo XIV closed the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica on Jan. 6, at the Vatican, marking the official end of the Jubilee Year. While the next Holy Year would normally not be held for 25 years in 2050, one is expected to be declared for the 2000th anniversary of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in 2033.
Caption: Maria Sanchez (left) and Beatrice Chavez, both from Lake Station, place incense crystals on one of several plates set out at the foot of the altar during Solemn Vespers on Jan. 4 at the Cathedral of the Holy Angels in Gary. Worshippers were invited to incense the monstrance holding the Holy Eucharist as the Diocese of Gary officially closed the Jubilee Year of 2025, as Pope Leo XIV did at the Vatican earlier in the week. (Marlene A. Zloza photo)
