YEAR OF JUBILEE
“The Sabbath rest of God is the acknowledgment that God and God’s people in the world are not commodities to be dispatched for endless production and so dispatched, as we used to say, as “hands” in the service of a command economy. Rather they are subjects situated in an economy of neighborliness. All of that is implicit in the reality and exhibit of divine rest.” – Walter Brueggemann
Similarly, every seven years, a sabbatical year was set aside for Israel, a complete rest for the land (cf. Lev 25:1-4), when sowing was forbidden and one reaped only what was necessary to live on and to feed one’s household (cf. Lev 25:4-6). Finally, after seven weeks of years, which is to say forty-nine years, the Jubilee was celebrated as a year of general forgiveness and “liberty throughout the land for all its inhabitants” (cf. Lev 25:10). (Pope Francis, LS #71)
“This shall be a year of rest for the land. In this fiftieth year, your year of Jubilee, you shall neither sow nor reap the after-growth, nor gather the grapes from the uncultivated vines, because this Jubilee year shall be holy for you, and you shall eat what the field yields of itself without cultivation. ” (Leviticus 25:5b, 11-12, Christian Community Bible)
REFLECTION: The year of Jubilee is an experience of a deserving rest and a time of restoration of the whole creation. Indeed, our environment and the whole of creation deserve rest, to pause a while and renew everything in creation. Resting implies minimizing our tendency of being destructive of nature and all of God’s creation. God created the earth and all that are in it for us to live. But we also have to take care of all His creations. We must not abuse or over use nature. During this year of Jubilee, God has given us another chance to make things right out of our wrong doings. We have done too much damage that His creations cannot bear anymore. God is giving us a chance to transform not only ourselves but also our nature and the rest of the environment. We should take care of creation, starting with ourselves. We cannot make a change in the world if we do not learn first, the authentic way of caring and loving ourselves.
Key Statement: The year of Jubilee is an experience of a deserving rest and a time of restoration of the whole creation.
Personal Challenge: I need an ample time and a proper venue to rest.
PRAYER
God of order and balance, we thank You for the year of Jubilee. Thank You for reminding us that all in creation deserve rest. Through this moment of rest, may we humble ourselves to accept our limitations. Empower us to renew and heal our devastated environment and mend the brokenness of the land where we live in. May we experience wholeness through Your healing presence. Amen.
ROMANO M. BULATAO is a Professor at Saint Louis University (SLU), Baguio City. He completed his AB Philosophy in 1990 at the Saint Anthony Mary Claret College (SAMCC), Quezon City; MA Religious Studies in 2003, and MA Philosophy in 2014, both in SLU; Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Theology, Major in Missiology, at the Institute for Consecrated Life in Asia (ICLA) – SAMCC in 2021. Mr. Bulatao served as the Department Head of Religion at SLU (2006-2009); and President of the Kapatirang Claretiano Inc. – Pangasinan Chapter (KCI-PC), since 2011. He is the author of the book entitled Touching Thoughts A-Z published in 2009; translator of the Novena to Saint Anthony Mary Claret (from Pangasinan language to English) published in 2015; and the Novena kay San Antonio Maria Claret (from Pangasinan language to Filipino) published in 2020 by the Claretian Publications. ((romanobulatao@yahoo.com)
