Pope Francis has declared this year 2025 to be a Jubilee Year, with the theme of “Pilgrims of Hope”. Finding its roots in the Bible, a Jubilee Year marks a time for us to re-establish our relationship with God, with each other, and with all creation. This year, we should be called to restore “a climate of hope and trust” as we seek “the renewal and rebirth that we so urgently desire” as a pilgrim people, God’s chosen bearing the Spirit’s fire of hope within us.
One of the marks of a Jubilee Year is pilgrimage. In our Diocese, the St. James Cathedral, Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe, and the Basilica of Saint Paul have been designated as a Jubilee pilgrimage site. One can obtain an indulgence, or remission of temporal punishments for sin through Christ’s merit, through a physical or spiritual pilgrimage anytime during this year.
Jubilee Prayer
Father in heaven, may the faith you
have given us in your son, Jesus Christ,
our brother, and the flame of charity
enkindled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,
reawaken in us the blessed hope for the
coming of your Kingdom.
May your grace transform us into tireless
cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel.
May those seeds transform from within
both humanity and the whole cosmos in
the sure expectation of a new heaven
and a new earth, when, with the powers
of Evil vanquished, your glory will shine
eternally.
May the grace of the Jubilee reawaken
in us, Pilgrims of Hope, a yearning for
the treasures of heaven. May that same
grace spread the joy and peace of our
Redeemer throughout the earth. To you
our God, eternally blessed, be glory and
praise for ever. Amen.