Lenten Pastoral Letter
3 March 2025
“…to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” (Luke 4:19)
1. At the synagogue in Nazareth our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed: “The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me. He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captives and
new sight to the blind: to free the oppressed and to announce the Lord’s year of favour.” (Luke 4: 18-
19). Scripture scholars are agreed that the Year of the Lord’s favour referred to the jubilee. That our
Lord identified his person, life, and ministry with the Jubilee year, call us to a deeper reflection. This
year we have even more reasons to do so, for our Lenten season will be lived in the context of the
Jubilee Year 2025, whose theme is “Pilgrims of Hope.”
2. In our Lenten reflections this year we propose that we revisit the jubilee spirituality and see how it
can enrich the Lenten spirituality. In the Church, ordinary jubilees are celebrated every twenty-five
years. The noble idea of celebrating jubilees has its roots in Judaism and in our blessed Lord’s
understanding of the ‘Year of the Lord’s favour.’
3. In Judaism jubilees were celebrated every fifty years. We read in Leviticus 25: 8ff that there was a
rich spirituality that accompanied the celebration of a jubilee. The institution of which spoke to the
Israelite nation of its self-understanding, the place of God in the lives of the people and the place of
all created things. On the fiftieth year, that is the jubilee year, certain actions were to be taken.
Property that had been leased, bought, or taken because its owner failed to pay a debt, was returned
to its rightful owner. Slaves who were in bondage were released and once again they experienced
freedom. Debts were forgiven, the land was left fallow and the whole year was rendered a time for
celebration. The impacts were reparation, reconciliation, restoration, and rest.
4. There is a sense in which Jesus’ presence, ministry, passion, death, and resurrection can be
understood as the realisation of the jubilee year. Indeed, as our Blessed Lord proclaimed in the
synagogue at Nazareth his ministry ushered in a time for celebration whereby the poor heard the Good
News; captives were set free, the blind regained their sight, and the oppressed were liberated. Joy was
palpable and an experienced reality. Once again, a people that had become accustomed “to a distant
and absent God,” experienced God’s presence through the loving compassionate ministry of Jesus.
5. As an institution the jubilee was key to the lives of the people. It had social, religious, economic, and
political benefits. It prevented greed, for there was a limit to what one could own. It dealt away with
generational slavery enabling indentured people to return home. It provided economic guidelines and
ensured stability. We are told the sale of the land and slaves was determined by the closeness of the
jubilee. The jubilee guaranteed harmony and peace and fostered hope. Theologically, the jubilee
represented God’s mercy and providence. It proclaimed God’s sovereignty, for it underlined the fact
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that the land belongs to God, and people are stewards of God’s land. The celebration of the Jubilee,
highlighted God’s place as the provider of people’s needs and therefore called people to trust in him.
What was important was that the liberty it proclaimed was for all the inhabitants of the land.
6. Key to the celebration of any jubilee is the restoration of the people’s dignity, correcting the wrongs
of the society and an opportunity to re-orientate ourselves. In this the jubilee spirituality is not
divorced from Lenten spirituality. For what is Lent if it is not about renewal of our baptismal
commitment, restoration, being right with God, one another, and creation? The Holy Father Pope
Francis in his Lenten message in 2024 urged us, “to be in touch with our reality.” We are likely to benefit
from the Lenten and Jubilee celebrations this year if we are cognisant of the environment in which we
are called to pray, fast, and give alms, that is, to live our Lent.
7. It is a time to have our identity restored by a break with sin and experience a reset of freedom by
God’ forgiveness. This choice affects us as individuals, as a community and as a nation.
8. As a Church we welcome and congratulate the nation for the abolition of the Death Penalty Act.
That was a step in the right direction indicating we care about human life and dignity. We uphold the
sovereignty of God, and we will never usurp God’s power to decree the span of one’s life.
9. There are many areas where we can benefit from a reset and where restoration is needed and where
a jubilee experience is needed. Our nation, like most developing countries, is burdened under the yoke
of the sovereign debt. Sadly, international monetary institutions have crafted their policies such that
the interest on lending rates for developing countries are so high. This keeps developing nations in
bondage, fans poverty and holds them in perpetual slavery. We call for a reform of these unjust
practices as they speak against development and the hopes of many nations. Developing nations
deserve reprieve. Echoing Pope John Paul II’s plea, we “appeal to all those involved, especially the most
powerful nations, not to let this opportunity of the Jubilee Year pass, without taking a decisive step
towards definitively resolving the debt crisis.” (Message of the Holy Father to the Group “Jubilee 2000
Debt Campaign” 23 September 1999).
10. We are all worried about the situation in the country. Politically, instead of focusing on bread-and-
butter issues we are caught up in distractions such as the ‘Third term’ conversations. Something that
has brought with it divisions and unnecessary diversions from the things that do matter. Economically,
we are not faring well. Businesses are closing and many people are losing their jobs. The few who are
still lucky to be working are burdened under the regime of taxes. Corruption is rampant and seems to
be out of control. At the rate which it is taking place, cutting through various sectors, the nation is
doomed. One wonders why the corrupt seem uncensured and even rewarded whilst haemorrhaging
the nation.
11. It must be said that in our society there is an ever-widening gap between the poor and the rich.
Few individuals seem to be benefiting from the wealth of the nation. We would like to remind our
people that, “Poverty in the world today is not simply a misfortune, bad luck or inevitable – the result
of laziness or ignorance or a lack of development. Poverty in the world today is the direct result of
political and economic policies of governments, political parties, and big business.” (Albert Nolan,
Hope in an Age of Despair, Orbis Books, Maryknoll 2009, 39). That poverty is not accidental, but a
result of particular choices and systems, calls for our introspection as a nation.
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12. In the spirit of the Jubilee Year and Lent we call for a metanoia. A term that is often translated as
repentance or conversion, but one that is broader than that, for it means a change of mind, a change
of heart, a change of one’s ways and one’s behaviour. In the scriptures, God’s demand for change is
always a demand for justice (cf. Isaiah 1: 16-17. The metanoia that can benefit us as a nation is one
that begins with and goes beyond individual change to societal change that brings true freedom and
shared national progress.
13. St John Paul II used to speak of the social structures of sin, referring to institutions that perpetuate
human suffering and injustice. We would like to propose during this Jubilee year and Lent that we
evaluate our institutions vis-à-vis their contributions to the ‘cultures that promote the common good.’
14. As we celebrate the Jubilee Year and this year’s Lenten season we pray that we may indeed be
pilgrims of hope. May the living out of our jubilee spirituality be an active pilgrimage leading us to a
time of renewal, restoration and indeed a time of hope for all who long for the year of the Lord’s favour.
Wishing you a blessed Lenten season lived in the spirit of the Jubilee Year 2025.
Prayer:
Lord, may this Lenten season, in the grace of the Jubilee Year,
renew our hearts, strengthen our faith, fill us with hope,
and lead us ever deeper into your mercy and joy.
Amen.
+Rt. Rev. Paul Horan, O. Carm., Bishop of Mutare Diocese, ZCBC President.
+Mt. Rev. R.C. Ndlovu, Archbishop of Harare Archdiocese, ZCBC Vice President.
+Rt. Rev. Raphael M.M. Ncube, Bishop of Hwange Diocese, ZCBC Secretary and Treasurer.
+Mt. Rev. Alex Thomas S.V.D., Archbishop of Bulawayo Archdiocese.
+Rt. Rev. Rudolf Nyandoro, Bishop of Gweru.
+Rt. Rev. Raymond Mupandasekwa, C.Ss.R., Bishop of Masvingo Diocese and Administrator of
Chinhoyi Diocese.
+Rt. Rev. Eusebius J. Nyathi, Bishop of Gokwe Diocese.
