A New Jubilee Hymn

In this Jubilee Year of Hope, an ordinary 25-year jubilee, we are called to reflect on the great virtue of hope.

1. SPES NON CONFUNDIT. "Hope does not disappoint" (Rom 5:5). In the spirit of hope, the Apostle Paul addressed these words of encouragement to the Christian community of Rome. Hope is also the central message of the coming Jubilee that, in accordance with an ancient tradition, the Pope proclaims every twenty-five years. My thoughts turn to all those pilgrims of hope who will travel to Rome in order to experience the Holy Year and to all those others who, though unable to visit the City of the Apostles Peter and Paul, will celebrate it in their local Churches. For everyone, may the Jubilee be a moment of genuine, personal encounter with the Lord Jesus, the "door" (cf. Jn 10:7.9) of our salvation, whom the Church is charged to proclaim always, everywhere and to all as "our hope" (1 Tim 1:1).

Everyone knows what it is to hope. In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring. Even so, uncertainty about the future may at times give rise to conflicting feelings, ranging from confident trust to apprehensiveness, from serenity to anxiety, from firm conviction to hesitation and doubt. Often we come across people who are discouraged, pessimistic and cynical about the future, as if nothing could possibly bring them happiness. For all of us, may the Jubilee be an opportunity to be renewed in hope. God's word helps us find reasons for that hope. Taking it as our guide, let us return to the message that the Apostle Paul wished to communicate to the Christians of Rome. [Pope Francis, Spes non confundit 2024 #1-2]

Kathleen Pluth, a noted CNP author whose hymn texts appear regularly in Magnificat magazine, offers us a timely gift in this her original hymn text, written for the Jubilee Year of Hope. She is the author of our Hymns for the Liturgical Year, a collection of 27 original hymn texts for seasons and feasts throughout the year.

At the author's suggestion and with her kind permission, CanticaNOVA Publications offers this new hymn text for the Jubillee Year, which you may use free of charge in your parish, particularly during this Year of Hope. We ask that you include the author's name and the copyright notice on any copies you make for choir or congregation.

The meter of the hymn is Long Meter: 8.8.8.8. Some tunes with this meter:

• Conditor alme siderum — Creator of the Stars of Night
• Duke Street — Jesus Shall Reign
• Eisenach — The God Whom Earth and Sea and Sky
• Erhalt uns Herr — Again We Keep This Solemn Fast
• Jesu dulcis memoria — O Radiant Light
• O Waly Waly — The Gift of Love
• Tallis' Canon — All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night
• Truro — Lift Up Your Heads
• Wareham — O Jesu, Joy of Loving Hearts
• Winchester New — On Jordan's Bank

For Freedom Christ Has Set Us Free

by Kathleen Pluth

1. For freedom Christ has set us free,
   So in this Year of Jubilee
   Let everyone repent of sin
   And let new life in us begin.
    
2. Forgiving mercy is the start
   Of all God works within the heart,
   And saintly glory never ends
   For God has called us to be friends.
    
3. Unmeasured are they brought to birth,
   The Spirit's gifts upon the earth.
   In God no good thing is constrained:
   He reigns, in Whom all is contained.
    
4. And like an every-freshening tide
   His Presence floods the countryside,
   And what He touches He makes fair
   And fills with graces, rich and rare.
    
5. The joys and hopes of all our race
   Find rest before the throne of grace.
   His Kingdom come, His will be done,
   And in Him may He make us one.
    
6. All glory to the Trinity,
   Who in this Year of Jubilee
   Invites us all through Christ, the Door,
   To bless and thank Him evermore.

Copyright © 2025 by Kathleen Pluth