By Father Samuel Morehead
Rector of the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception
An encounter with the mercy of God always engenders fresh hope. This is the basic premise of the Church's celebration of a jubilee year. In the year 2025, the universal Catholic Church celebrates a jubilee year in which all the faithful are invited and so made pilgrims of hope.
Jubilee years have their precedence in the Old Testament. Even as God led his chosen people through the wilderness after the long period of slavery in Egypt and the subsequent liberation wrought through Moses, the Lord instituted the practice of a special year of rejoicing and forgiveness once every 50 years. A jubilee was meant to be a special year of grace owing to the favors of the Lord. Because God had been so good to his people, his people were to extend that mercy and kindness to others. Debts were to be forgiven. Prisoners were to be set free. Contractual relationships were to be renewed. Mercy was to mark all things.
The Church historically picked up the practice of the jubilee year beginning in the high Middle Ages. Beginning in 1300, jubilees have been celebrated at different intervals: 50 years, 33 years, and 25 years, as is currently observed. From the ravages of war and disease, from political unrest and disunity in the Church, from the experience of our own sins and those of others, popes throughout the ages have discerned that the Christian faithful need a special opportunity to encounter God's mercy, not only to receive it for themselves but also to extend it anew to others. Thus, the Jubilee Year is at once salutary and evangelical.
From the earliest years, the Church's jubilees have been marked by pilgrimage, an ancient practice of prayer in motion, where one goes to find the God who was already come to find us in Christ, emblematic of the Christian journey towards Heaven. While the Church has also had the beautiful practice of pilgrimages to the Holy Land, Compostela, Marian shrines and more since her earliest days, the pilgrimage to Rome becomes the special feature of the jubilee year. Whether in the year 1300 or 2025, pilgrims are invited to the Eternal City to visit the tombs of the apostles, whose blood hallowed a pagan city for the cause of Christ. Pilgrims are invited to venerate the relics of Christ's birth and Passion that have found their way to Rome over many centuries. Pilgrims are invited to pray with the Successor of St. Peter, who, as Pope, is the Bishop of Rome. Be it the 14th century or the 21st century, pilgrims are then offered a special jubilee plenary indulgence for making the pilgrimage and visiting the sacred sites in Rome. This year, the Vatican estimates that over 30 million pilgrims will travel to the Eternal City.
While the pilgrimage of hope might take many persons to Rome this year, the Vatican is also aware that not everyone can make such a journey. Continuing earlier practices, the Holy Father has extended the offer of a jubilee indulgence to all cathedrals and basilicas throughout the world, some special shrines and other churches identified by local bishops. In this Archdiocese, our own Cathedral Basilica and a number of other churches are playing host to local pilgrims. One can receive the same plenary indulgence by visiting these local holy sites every day of this year under all of the normal conditions of receiving a plenary indulgence. I, for one, as Rector of the Cathedral Basilica, invite you!
Whether we can travel to Rome or just to the heart of Denver, we, too, are invited to be pilgrims of hope this year. We are called to encounter the mercy of God, who makes all things new and gives us the gift of hope. Then, as we become persons of mercy, we enable others to encounter the Lord and his abiding hope through us.
