On Preparation for the Jubilee of the Year 2000

An apostolic letter to the bishops, clergy and lay faithful 'on preparation for the Jubilee of the Year 2000', dated 10 November 1994. It opens with the Incarnation, 'Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today', and the meaning of time in Christianity, then traces the custom of jubilees from the Old Testament to the Church's holy years. It presents the Second Vatican Council and the events of his own pontificate, including the continental synods he had planned for Africa, America, Asia, Oceania and Europe, as a preparation for the Great Jubilee. It calls the Church to an examination of conscience at the end of the millennium, including repentance for the sins of Christians, such as violence in the service of truth and divisions among Christians, and to remember the martyrs of the twentieth century. The second half sets out the plan of preparation: an initial phase, then three years of immediate preparation devoted in turn to Jesus Christ (1997), the Holy Spirit (1998) and God the Father (1999), culminating in the celebration of the year 2000.