Last week, we reflected in this space on the beginning of the Jubilee Year 2025. Pope Francis celebrated the opening of that Jubilee year for the world-wide Church on Christmas Eve at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Following the directives of the Holy Father, I celebrated the opening for the Diocese of Rockford at the Cathedral of St. Peter Parish on Dec. 29.
As noted last week, it is the practice of the Catholic Church that a special gift of grace be associated with jubilee years in the form of a plenary indulgence. That involves the possibility of the complete forgiveness of all temporal punishment associated with our sins. In that case, we become like the good thief who heard Jesus, next to him on the cross, say “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Lk 23:43).
However, plenary indulgences are not restricted to jubilee years. The Church has established the conditions so that various practices can be undertaken at any time with the intent of seeking that total and perfect union with Christ which is the preparation for entering into His heavenly kingdom. Thus, under the authority and mercy of Jesus which has been entrusted to His Church, the fullness of forgiveness and healing from sin is possible.
More widely, a jubilee year seeks to remind us of the need to work constantly to deepen our faith, both in terms of belief and the practice of charity and sacrifice that flows from that belief. It is, properly understood, a call to imitate Jesus more closely in our lives.
For that reason, the Church commends to us, in an intense way, a Jubilee call to fulfill the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. We are encouraged to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, heal the sick, visit the imprisoned, and bury the dead. And Pope Francis also urges us this year to fulfill the spiritual works of mercy. That is, to counsel the doubtful, instruct the ignorant, admonish sinners, comfort the afflicted, forgive offences, bear patiently those who do us ill, and pray for the living and the dead.
This Jubilee has been designated by the Holy Father as a time dedicated to strengthening our hope. How badly the world needs that call to hope which is not earthly and superficial. It is the hope that gives eternal purpose to our lives and our sufferings.
It is the hope that was so central to the just-concluded Christmas season. That hope flows from the fact that God so loves us that He sent His Son to come among us and forgive our sins.
In this regard, Pope Francis has given a special list of signs of hope that he urges us to discover in a special way during this year. They include the hope that is based in a desire for peace and for the end to war. He mentions also the hope for the future that will foster a desire to share and transmit the gift of life. Specifically, the Holy Father mentions a renewed desire for couples to marry and to have children, and so reverse what he calls an “alarming decline in the birthrate” in many countries.
Pope Francis also urges our acts of charity that foster hope for those who are imprisoned, for the sick, for the young, for migrants, for the elderly and for grandparents. (cf. Spes non Confundit, 9-14).
Ultimately, our hope is to be with Christ and with all the saints in heaven for life eternal. The Jubilee Year of Hope is an occasion to break out of any life of mere spiritual routine so that we might seek that goal with greater intensity and love.
