"Take care of the land, sea, and especially your sisters and brothers. You must take care of the church," said Archbishop Mosese Tui as the Catholics opened the Jubilee of Hope in Mulivau on Sunday.

The Archdiocese of Samoa-Apia celebrated the 'Jubilee of Hope' with a parade from the Parliament House at Mulinuu to the Catholic Cathedral at Mulivai. It attracted hundreds of Catholic faithful from all over Samoa. 

Despite the rain, hundreds marched and paraded.

"The reason why the church does these jubilees, like the 100 years, 50 years, and 25 years is to encourage the faithful to take care of the land, sea, and especially your fellow sisters and brothers. You must take care of the church. Fast forward to this year, what do we need to do? We sit down and we look at ourselves and ask, "Where am I? What am I?" and then prepare for your meeting with God," Fr Mosese said.

"Prepare your land, family, ocean, and everything created by God. But on top of it all, is creating great relationships between you and others. That is the goal of the year of the Jubilee. But take a look at what's happening, look at our masses, do you know how beautiful our mass is? The majority of us, after the homily and prayers of the faithful fall asleep. Your homework for this year is to read the words of the mass."

He also reminded the Catholic faithful to challenge themselves to forgive their enemies and reach out to those who need help.

"The Gospel of today says that our work should bear fruit. Why did we endure the sun, rain, and sweat over this, it is to celebrate the Jubilee.  What is the year of Jubilee? To feel God's love for us. In the second reading that we heard today, the death and victory of Christ, we are all blessed with it. Christ did not conquer the cross for himself but for you and me."

He shared with those present that when Jesus conquered the cross, he secured their visa, passports, carry-ons, suitcases and everything needed for their journey. However, he said the problem that the Catholics face is they don't know how great they are. 

His Grace's message to the Catholic faithful was to always listen to the words of the mass, and have seminars with their parish priest and deacons. He said parish priests should challenge their parishioners about the importance of the mass. They must also encourage families to have family evenings. 

"That's one of the things lost in our church - family evenings. When I was young, no matter where I was playing, or with a girl, once the bell rang for family evenings, I ran home. And what now? Leave some food for those training" but that's not important."

He reminded parents that they must ensure their children are all accounted for at home in the evening. He said drugs such as meth were on the rise in Samoa affecting youth. He said the government and the police cannot handle it but parents can.