The Great Jubilee of 2000 calls on the Order to consolidate its communion with Christ who in His great mercy wanted to enter history by becoming a pilgrim with mortals.
The Order, in perfect harmony with the church, will endeavour in its work to follow the example of Christ, Who has been “anointed to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord”.
For all the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and Malta, the Holy Jubilee Year must be an inducement to conversion, to reconciliation with God and with their brothers, to personal and social renewal, to demonstrating charity in all its forms.
In this new millennium, the Knight must also be prepared to take on a mission. He will be a Knight who, modest in dress, slow to show himself, humble in serving and disinterested in action, must find strength in spirituality to give an example in his life, in his family, in the Order and in the community. He must trust in God’s mercy, in the Communion of Saints and in the Church. The Church which exceptionally offers the possibility of obtaining the Jubilee indulgence in this Holy Year for all those who, with devotion and sincere conversion, fulfil the conditions the Holy Father indicates.
I thus invite all the members of the Order to reconciliation; hoping that, reconciled, they will participate in the Eucharist, renew their profession of faith and pray according to the intentions of the Holy Father. That all will perform gestures of charity and mercy, especially visiting the sick and participating in pilgrimages, sustaining their local churches and following the provisions issued by the Archbishops and Bishops.
May St. John the Baptist and the Holy Virgin of Philerimus guide the steps of the Order’s members in the Jubilee journey, permitting the voice of the spirit to be heard in appeals for charity and thus helping to honour the Great Jubilee of 2000 by transforming it into a hymn of praise and thanks to the Most Holy Trinity.
Fra’ Andrew Bertie
Rome, from the Grand Master’s Palace
25 December 1999
