Juntos en el camino: Palabras semanales del Arzobispo Hebda
I was delighted that so many of you joined me on the weekend of Holy Family Sunday for the Archdiocesan opening of the 2025 Jubilee Year. Pope Francis had already inaugurated the year on Christmas Eve, opening the holy door at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and another at the largest prison in Rome, and directed that every diocesan bishop in the world be in his cathedral (and co-cathedral) the weekend December 29 to open the year locally and encourage his faithful to embrace this year of extraordinary grace. The celebrations in our Cathedral and Basilica (which is technically a co-cathedral) were both grand.
While the notion of a jubilee can be traced back to biblical times, official Jubilee Years have only been part of the life of the Catholic Church since the first was declared by Pope Boniface VIII in 1300. Now they are ordinarily held ever 25 years. Given that I was working in Rome in 2000, I remember the last jubilee quite vividly. It seemed like every day there were celebrations outside my office window. I’ll never forget the throngs of young people that came to Rome that jubilee year for World Youth Day, but I think that my favorite celebrations were the jubilees for pizzaiolos (pizza makers) and for those involved in the production of prosciutto.
My memories, however, of the 1975 jubilee are somewhat more vague. While the decorations in our family home were pretty minimalist, I do remember my parents making an exception and hanging in our living room a remembrance of the 1975 jubilee that had been brought back by my barber and his wife who had traveled to Rome for that occasion and had managed to pass through the holy doors of all four major basilicas. My parents described it as a “spiritual grand slam” and I always felt that we were blessed to be living so close to saints.
Given that jubilee years ordinarily occur only once every 25 years, it should be no surprise that this year’s celebration is already getting great buzz. In these first few weeks, more than 500,000 faithful have already passed through the holy door at St. Peter and myriads of pilgrims are expected to follow in their footsteps throughout the jubilee year. Passing through the door is not only a way for pilgrims to gain an indulgence, but also a visible sign that they are committing themselves to following Christ, the One who said, “Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture” (John 10:9).
Pope Francis has called this year’s experience to be a Jubilee of Hope. In the papal bull that formally declared this Jubilee Year, Pope Francis underlined St. Paul’s comforting words to the Romans: “Hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5). The Holy Father went on to explain that “hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring” (Spes non confundit, 1). Later in that same document, Pope Francis emphasized that hope in things to come “enables us to press forward in life.” I encourage you to ready the Pope’s inspiring words.
Hope is a distinctively Christian gift. Fr. Wilfrid Stinissen describes this well in his book, Eternity in the Midst of Time: “Christian hope is a divine blend of ‘already’ and ‘not yet’” (p. 54). The “already” is Christ’s one sacrifice for our salvation; the “not yet” is our future – how “strong in faith we look for the ‘blessed hope and the glorious coming of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ’” (Lumen Gentium, 48).
While a pilgrimage to Rome is certainly a powerful way to participate, Pope Francis has also identified other ways to participate as well. We can receive a jubilee year indulgence, for example, by making a local pilgrimage to our Basilica or Cathedral, and spending some time in prayer there, especially before the special crosses that will be in the sanctuaries of those two Churches throughout this Jubilee Year. Alternatively, Pope Francis has indicated that we can also gain a jubilee indulgence by engaging with that intention in a work of mercy or act of penance, as “during the Holy Year, we are called to be tangible signs of hope for those of our brothers and sisters who experience hardships of any kind” (Spes non confundit, 10). He mentioned in particular outreach to immigrants and to those who are elderly or young or imprisoned. We have so many opportunities for those works of mercy right here in our Archdiocese, especially as we consider ways to support those in need in our communities or even those who have been so negatively impacted by the deadly fires in California.
In all of the above instances, the usual conditions for plenary indulgences apply: We need to turn away from sin and make a good sacramental confession, receive Holy Communion and offer a prayer for the intention of the Holy Father (an Our Father and a Hail Mary are traditional).
My prayer is that this Jubilee Year will be a time for all of us to reflect upon and share the reason for our hope (1 Pt 3:15). In particular, my hope for you is echoed in the Jubilee Prayer that Pope Francis composed: “May the grace of the Jubilee reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope, a yearning for the treasures of heaven.”
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