The  Jubilee Year of Hope “is not just a year on the calendar; it is a call to action. And the Cross is not just a historical event frozen into more than two millennia of Christian existence; it is a present reality.” With these striking words, the Auxiliary Bishop of Cape Town set the tone during his homily at the Jubilee Mass on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, celebrated on 14 September 2025.

In his homily under the theme “The Cross and the Jubilee: A Meeting Place of Mercy and Freedom,” Bishop Sylvester David explained that the Jubilee Year, proclaimed by Pope Francis as a “Jubilee of Hope,” is not merely symbolic but deeply transformative.

Drawing from the Old Testament roots in Leviticus 25, he reminded the faithful that Jubilee was about release from debt, freedom for slaves, and the restoration of land. “It was a radical reminder that everything belongs to God, and that God’s people must live in mercy, justice, and solidarity,” he said.

For the member of the congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI), the Cross is at the very centre of this renewal. “To human eyes, the Cross was a place of utter defeat, a tool of Roman torture and shame. Yet Jesus, through his patient endurance and absolute trust in God, transformed it into the tree of life, the gate of victory, and the throne of mercy,” said Bishop David OMI. Citing St Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, he emphasized that “God’s power is most perfectly revealed not in domination, but in sacrifice; not in force, but in forgiveness.”

Applying this to South Africa’s present reality, Bishop David OMI noted that “In a city like ours, where so many still carry crosses of poverty, violence, inequality, and racial division, the message of the Cross is this: God is not far from our suffering. He has entered into it and embraced it. He will transform it.”

He acknowledged the many forms of pain carried within families and communities: addiction, abortion, abuse, loneliness, and systemic injustice. To all these wounds, he insisted, “the Cross says: There is hope. There is healing. There is freedom. Here in the Archdiocese of Cape Town, the Cross stands over Table Mountain, not just as a symbol, but as a living invitation.”

That invitation, he explained, is a call to become “a Church of the Poor, where no one is excluded; a Church of Reconciliation, where race and history no longer divide; a Church of Mercy, where confession is a doorway, not a judgment; and a Church of Witness, lifting high the Cross not in pride, but in love.”

In one of the homily’s most striking images, Bishop David OMI reflected on the serpents that plagued Israel in the wilderness, drawing a parallel to today’s struggles. “The serpents that sting us are not out in the desert sands – they are inside of us: our guilt, our self-pity, our complexes, our jealousies, our self-absorption and our selfishness,” he said. “God’s answer is the same as the answer he gave to the wilderness generation: take what is causing you pain, hold it up and look at it, and you will be healed.”

As the Jubilee unfolded, the celebration also welcomed special guests from near and far, among them Fr. Tom Thomas Pattasseril IC, Prefect Apostolic of the Falklands and surrounding islands, including St Helena and Tristan da Cunha. His presence highlighted the universality of the Church, gathered at the foot of the Cross in hope and faith.

Bishop David OMI urged the faithful not to turn away from the Cross. “Let us look upon His wounds… and find healing. Let us look upon His mercy… and offer forgiveness to those who have wounded us. Let us look upon His poverty… and open our hands to give generously, because he is still with the poor and the dispossessed.”

He concluded with a rallying call: “This is the Cross that Cape Town needs. This is the Cross the world is waiting for. As we go forth from this Jubilee Mass, let us be a people marked by the Cross; not ashamed of it, not afraid of it; but exalted by it. For in the Cross, death has been defeated, in the Cross, hope has been restored, and through the Cross, we have become a Jubilee people; free, forgiven, and sent to heal the world.”