Chapter One - meeting with Christ, legacy of the Jubilee Year - involves a look back. Jon Paul II reads the events of the year past once again, both to assess and, as he says, to 'raise an anthem of praise' and to understand the messages that have come to us through the Spirit in this year of grace. He recalls certain events such as the opening of the year in the Basilica of St. Paul, the Holy Land pilgrimage he made, the many meetings with many categories of people. He reserves special mention for young people and the impression given through their Jubilee, and takes occasion to call for a more daring pastoral engagement on their behalf. But beyond these external events, the Pope sees the Jubilee as an event of grace, giving mankind hope, directing mankind towards conversion.

Chapter Two - a face to be contemplated - has a strong contemplative inspiration. Before looking at the future in immediate operational terms, the Pope invites the Church not to forgo the contemplation of the mystery of Christ, but on the contrary to deepen it with eyes fixed on his face. Indeed, we risk that which was announced by Jesus himself to Martha of Bethany ("You worry about too many things " Lk 10,41): by launching into full pastoral activity, but forgetting contemplation, which is the true source. The Church must draw continuously from this contemplation. From here on to the end of the Letter the Pope re-reads the mystery of Christ in its fundamental dimensions. It is not so much a doctrinal treaty, but rather a way of making Peter's confession at Caesarea Philippi resound once more - " You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God " (MT 16, 16)

The two chapters which follow deal the with Jubilee Year programs. The third - To set out again with Christ - starts with the call to the local Churches, inviting them to continue and look further into their pastoral programming, according to needs of the various contexts. The Letter does not try to set out a pastoral plan for all the Church, but limit s itself to indicating some priorities and urgent matters. The chapter insists on the need for directing Christian pastoral activity towards a solid faith experience which gives rise to holiness, as traced out in chapter 5 of Lumen Gentium ("the universal call to holiness"). . Hence the need to rediscover prayer at a depth to which the Christian experience of God is able to lead us, on the basis of the rich pastoral and mystical patrimony that two thousand years of history have given us. Personal prayer, but especially Community prayer, starting from the liturgical prayer, " source and summit " of the Church's life. The Pope especially invites us to rediscover Sunday, each week's Passover, such that Eucharist becomes the heart of it all. Then he invites us again to strongly propose the sacrament of Reconciliation. This Sacrament, well presented and maintained during the Jubilee Year, has shown itself able to overcome the crisis with which it seemed irremediably afflicted in the last decades. Lastly, the Pope points out the primacy of listening to the Word of God, which is the heart of everything; he then logically reminds us of the duty of proclamation: The " new evangelization " - a call so often repeated these last years - remains, after the Jubilee, more urgent than ever.

The final chapter - Witnesses of love - continues the programming and planning theme, under the aspect of communion, charity, witness in the world. Communion (koinonia), rediscovered by Vatican Council II as a central category for grasping the very mystery of the Church, is proposed by the Pope starting from its spiritual aspect, and then in the real requirements that flow from it. In the Church there are well defined areas and instruments of communion. They must be maintained and encouraged. On this subject, the Letter refers to the multiple institutions (Synods, episcopal conferences, priests senates and pastoral councils) present in the universal Church and the particular Churches, underlining however that they would become mere instruments without heart if one did not maintain a " spirituality of communion ", i.e. the capacity to perceive communion as a gift from above and at the same time as the source of fraternal relationships, through the recognition of mutual gifts. Among the tasks which cannot be overlooked is that of ecumenism, to live always more, with all our brothers in the faith, the fullness which the Church enjoys already mysteriously in Christ. Fraternal charity is a great pastoral challenge. The Pope points out the multiple challenges before the Church, asking that they be tackled with a renewed imagination and generosity, the expression of the concrete love of God in the situations of most various suffering and need. Here we will find the signs of charity which the Pope wishes to see remain as the fruit and memory of the jubilee year. Once the 'accounts have been balanced' so to speak, Rome will present something which will be a symbol of the flowering of charity that the universal Church must continue to deal with in the new millennium. The last item is that of courageous witness that Christians have to offer in all the sectors of social and cultural life, especially where the gospel presence of the leaven is particularly urgent: questions concerning the family and the safeguarding of life, with problems arising from ecological disaster as also problems stemming from private ethical reference. Among witness not to be neglected, is that of interreligious dialogue, according to the light of conciliar directives. Without renouncing our duty of Christian proclamation, dialogue still remains a significant hot line for the growth of all in the search for truth and the promotion of peace.

The Letter concludes as it began, by evoking the invitation made by Jesus with Peter in the miraculous fishing episode:  -" Duc in altum!" Put out into the deep. The Holy Door is closed, but the " living door ", Jesus Christ, whom it symbolizes, remains more than ever open. It is not to the dull daily newspaper that the Church turns after all this jubilee enthusiasm . On the contrary, a new apostolic 'dash' awaits it, animated by confidence in the presence of Christ and in the strength of the Spirit.

But of course, the Letter itself is worth reading, apart from this summary.  It will be available, in about 6 hours time, by clicking this link  The file you are looking for is LETO1ING.DOC You will also see a French version there (LETO1FRA.DOC) if that takes your fancy.