{"id":25754,"date":"2025-10-08T17:12:31","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T00:12:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/?p=25754"},"modified":"2025-10-08T19:44:05","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T02:44:05","slug":"pilgrims-of-hope-walking-with-the-martyr-saints-in-a-double-jubilee-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/2025\/10\/08\/pilgrims-of-hope-walking-with-the-martyr-saints-in-a-double-jubilee-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilgrims of Hope: Walking with the Martyr Saints in a Double Jubilee Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

(ANS \u2013 Hong Kong)<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 2025 is a year filled with sacred significance. The Universal Church will celebrate a solemn occasion \u2013 the Ordinary Jubilee, commemorating the 2,025th anniversary of the birth of our Saviour. For this Jubilee, Pope Francis chose the profound theme, \u201cPilgrims of Hope.\u201d At the same time, for us, Chinese Catholics, 2025 holds another special grace: in this year, we celebrate the Silver Jubilee of the canonization of the 120 Martyr Saints of China (2000-2025).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The convergence of these two jubilees in the same year is no mere coincidence, but rather a gentle and powerful invitation from heaven. It invites us to deeply meditate on the supernatural virtue of \u201cHope\u201d and to find, in the lives of our ancestors in faith \u2013 the Martyr Saints of China \u2013 a model for living out that hope. They are the most supreme and brilliant reflection of \u201cPilgrims of Hope.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Jubilee: A Pilgrimage of Hope<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the tradition of the Church, a Jubilee is a \u201cHoly Year\u201d held periodically, a time of extraordinary grace, forgiveness, and reconciliation granted by God. The word \u201cpilgrim\u201d paints a vivid picture: a group of people leaving their comfortable homes, embarking on a journey toward a sacred destination. Every one of us Christians, from the moment of our baptism, has already set out on this pilgrimage, walking the road back to our Father’s heavenly home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This road is not always smooth. Our world is often plagued by the shadows of war, social division, personal illness, and inner turmoil. In such times, \u201chope\u201d becomes exceptionally precious. However, the \u201cHope\u201d that the Church proclaims is not the secular sense of optimistic conjecture, a mere \u201cI wish it were so,\u201d nor is it an empty psychological comfort. It is a \u201csupernatural virtue\u201d personally infused into our souls by God. The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in article 387, provides us with a clear definition: \u201cHope is the theological virtue by which we desire and await from God eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit to merit it and to persevere to the end of our earthly life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, \u201cPilgrims of Hope\u201d are people who, with a firm longing for eternal life, trusting in the promises of Christ, and accompanied by the Holy Spirit, walk the journey of life. Whether in favorable or adverse times, their gaze is always fixed on their eternal homeland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Martyr Saints of China: The Ultimate Witnesses of Hope<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On October 1, the Feast Day of St. Teresa of Lisieux, patron saint of the Missions, at the height of the Great Jubilee of the Millennium, Pope St. John Paul II canonized 120 Chinese Martyrs, an invaluable gift from God to the Chinese Church. These 120 saints include bishops, priests, religious sisters, catechists, and laypeople \u2013 men and women, old and young, spanning from the beginning of the Ching dynasty to the 19th year of the Republic of China (1930) and in 10 different provinces in China. Our Salesian missionaries, Bishop Luigi Versiglia and Fr. Callisto Caravario, who on their pastoral visit died for the protection of 3 young girls from the pirates at the Lai Tau Tsui, Shiu Chow, Kwangtung Province in 1930, were among the 120 canonized blessed martyrs. Their stories are the most vivid and complete interpretation of the definition of \u201cHope\u201d found in the Compendium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why were they able to face severe torture, humiliation, and even death without fear? Because their desire for \u201ceternal life\u201d far surpassed their attachment to this earthly life. Why did they remain steadfast when faced with the temptation to renounce their faith to save their lives? Because they \u201ctrusted in Christ’s promises,\u201d deeply believing that after a brief period of suffering would come eternal glory with the Lord. Where did their strength come from? It came precisely from \u201cthe help of the grace of the Holy Spirit,\u201d which enabled them to live out supernatural courage at the limits of human endurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word \u201cmartyr\u201d originally means \u201cwitness.\u201d With their own blood, they bore the most eloquent witness to Christ’s resurrection and the promise of eternal life. Their life’s journey was a condensed and intense pilgrimage, whose destination was not an earthly temple, but the heavenly Jerusalem. Therefore, as we celebrate this Jubilee, revisiting their deeds helps us understand what it truly means to be a \u201cPilgrim of Hope.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion: Living as Pilgrims of Hope in the Present<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The double Jubilee of 2025 invites each of us to reflect: Is my life a journey toward our heavenly home? In my daily life, in the challenges of family, work, and society, do I hold a \u201cdesire and awaiting\u201d for eternal life? Do I truly \u201ctrust in Christ’s promises,\u201d believing that He is in control even when I see no way out? Do I frequently \u201crely on the help of the Holy Spirit,\u201d drawing strength through prayer and the sacraments?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We may not be called to shed our blood in \u201cred martyrdom\u201d as the saints did, but we experience \u201cwhite martyrdom\u201d every day \u2013 making sacrifices to uphold our faith amidst secular values, and enduring misunderstanding and rejection for the sake of love and truth. On this pilgrimage, the Martyr Saints of China are our best guides and companions. Let us pray for their intercession and imitate their example, so that with steadfast hope, we may walk well the pilgrimage of our generation, and at the journey’s end, gather with them and all the saints in heaven to share in eternal joy.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(ANS \u2013 Hong Kong)\u00a0\u2013 2025 is a year filled with sacred significance. The Universal Church will celebrate a solemn occasion \u2013 the Ordinary Jubilee, commemorating the 2,025th anniversary of the birth of our Saviour. For this Jubilee, Pope Francis chose the profound theme, \u201cPilgrims of Hope.\u201d At the same time, for us, Chinese Catholics, 2025 holds another special grace: in this year, we celebrate the … Continuar leyendo Pilgrims of Hope: Walking with the Martyr Saints in a Double Jubilee Year<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":10336596,"featured_media":25796,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[775865498,516714022],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-salesian-holiness","category-salesian-world-news"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p59ePG-6Ho","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/salesianbulletin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/img_4003-e1759979087337.jpg?fit=700%2C652&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10336596"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25754"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25865,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25754\/revisions\/25865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}