Photo by Christopher Sardegna on Unsplash
Here you can download suggestions for daily quiet moments for Lent and the Easter octave of 2025:
Listen to or read the New Year's pastoral letter of Bishop Tomáš Holub for the second year of the diocesan synod on the theme of the diocese's motto for 2025: "I am the way" (John 14:6):
Pastoral letter of Bishop Tomáš for the II. stage of the diocesan synod
In Pilsen on January 1, 2025
Ref. No. 3265 / 2024
Dear brothers and sisters,
I address you as is customary at the beginning of the new year, and I pray individually for each of you, your families, and parishes for an abundance of peace and God's protection for the entire year of 2025.
For the entire Catholic Church, it is a jubilee year, and Pope Francis encourages us all: "The upcoming jubilee can significantly contribute to the renewal of an atmosphere of hope and trust as a prelude to the renewal and rebirth that we so urgently desire; therefore, I have chosen as the motto of the jubilee: Pilgrims of hope. We will truly succeed in this if we can restore a sense of universal brotherhood and refuse to close our eyes to the misfortune of rampant poverty, which prevents millions of men, women, young people, and children from living in a way worthy of our human dignity." (Letter from Pope Francis on the Jubilee 2025; see also VIDEO from the inauguration of the jubilee year in the Pilsen Cathedral)
For us here in the Pilsen diocese, it is already the second year of synodal discernment, through which the good God wants to lead us to be witnesses of Him in this restless world and to live in peace and joy from our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Delegates from almost all parishes, representatives of priests, deacons, schools, Charity, youth, religious, and communities from our diocese overwhelmingly confirmed last autumn at the first joint synodal meeting a document that was created based on the opinions of synodal groups and submitted questionnaires from the entire diocese. Its text attempts to capture the common view of the reality in which we live in our parishes and throughout the diocese. We will now rely on this in seeking the path we should take forward. I am very pleased with how this first synodal document was created, I recommend it to all of you to read, and I see it as a common starting point for our further journey. (The document is available HERE.)
We are now asking together, which direction to take? How to find the right path?
The goal is quite clear – the Kingdom of God. But what path leads in the reality of today's world to the Kingdom of God? The basic answer is provided by Scripture, which I have chosen as the diocesan motto for this year: "I am the way" (John 14:6).
It is Jesus' answer to Apostle Thomas's question "Where should we go when we don't know the way?"
Thomas asks this—perhaps seemingly foolish question—at a moment when he, along with the other apostles, eagerly listens to Jesus' words about the known road to the home that is prepared with the Heavenly Father for all of Jesus' disciples. However, Thomas's question is not foolish at all; on the contrary, it is an honest question, longing for a concrete answer that can be applied in the effort to live out faith in the clear conditions of daily life.
Jesus' answer – at least as preserved by the evangelist John – only moves the disciples a little in their understanding of how to follow Him.
"I am the way."
Jesus emphasizes that only in Him – in His presence, through Him and with His help – can the way to the Kingdom of God be found. Therefore, finding the way is not the result of self-assured human planning, but rather a gift from God Himself, whom one strives to know and to be as close to as possible. And this in the power of the Spirit, whom Jesus promises to His disciples as the Helper and Inspirer shortly thereafter.
But this is, dear sisters and brothers, already a much more concrete answer. An answer that has a crucial significance for further seeking the way forward in our diocese.
If we want to seek the way forward according to God's guidance during the celebration of the diocesan synod, then it is essential that we place Christ at the center. We must encounter Him individually and as a whole community and continually invite Him into our lives.
It is necessary for us to discover the concrete paths leading to this encounter in the power of God's Spirit, the Spirit of counsel, whom we will invoke and invite into the innermost corners of our souls and the whole of our community. Only He can lead us in the right direction. Only He is the guarantee that we will not lose our way, that we will not be misled by our fear of a changing world or deceived by the praises or doubts of those around us. Only He can protect us from division and internal tensions arising from our differing views.
I would therefore like to invite each of you, every single one of you who hear (or will read) these words, to contribute to the common search for the way forward in our diocese. And that is by inviting Christ into your life in a moment of silence as soon as possible, and asking the Holy Spirit to lead you in the coming year.
If we are close to Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit as individuals in the richness we create, which is both a treasure and a challenge for our common journey, then we will also be close to our Lord as a whole. When we as a diocese enter the new year this way, we will take an important step toward the Kingdom of God. And thus a very needed step in our common synodal journey. Within it, I will meet with synodal delegates for a common prayer and synodal search on January 18.
My request is that you do not stop inviting Jesus Christ and invoking the Holy Spirit merely as a New Year's one-time resolution, but that this form of fervent prayer accompanies you throughout the coming year as often as possible.
Thank you for that. It is the best and actually the only right way to seek the common path in the power of the Spirit for the entire community of sisters and brothers in our Pilsen diocese.
Dear sisters and brothers, I wish and pray for everyone to have God's closeness in 2025, and I look forward to a common journey to the Kingdom of God.
I bless you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Yours, Bishop Tomáš
Photo by Christopher Sardegna on Unsplash
