This Christmas Eve, December 24, his holiness Pope Francis in Saint Peter’s Basilica, Rome, will open what is called the Jubilee year. Prior to the first Mass of Christmas, the pope will open the Holy Door to commence the Jubilee Year 2025. The Jubilee celebrates new life in Christ, which is symbolized by passing through the Holy Door. At the conclusion of the Jubilee year, that door is sealed until the next Jubilee. Every 25 years, the Church observes a Jubilee year in honor of the Birth of the Lord. This tradition began during the pontificate of Pope Boniface VIII in the year 1,300 AD.
A recent Jubilee year took place in the year 2000 to begin the third millennium. Following Jubilee 2025, the next Jubilee year will take place in the year 2050. There are other occasions when the holy father can call for a Jubilee year. It would not surprise me if the year 2033 will be declared a Jubilee to honor the 2,000 years from the Death of the Lord on the Cross. The word jubilee comes from a Hebrew word “yobel,” which translates as goat. In the Old Testament, jubilees were announced with the sound that emerged when a goat’s horn was blown into.
The theme selected for this Jubilee year is “Pilgrims of Hope.” May 2025 be a year of hope for all. The title “pilgrims” reminds us that we are on a journey through this life-to-life eternal. As we pass through life, Christians are called to do so with hope.
In the Bull of Indiction announcing the Jubilee year, Pope Francis wrote: “Everyone knows what it is to hope. In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite not knowing what the future may bring. Even so, uncertainty about the future may at times give rise to conflicting feelings, ranging from confident trust to hesitation and doubt. Often, we come across people who are discouraged, pessimistic and cynical about the future, as if nothing could possibly bring them happiness. For all of us, may the Jubilee be an opportunity to be renewed in hope.” May this message of Pope Francis resonate with you and encourage you to live with hope, especially when your life becomes difficult.
The logo for Holy Year 2025 shows four united embracing figures representing the four corners of the earth. At the front is the Cross of Jesus Christ. The sign of faith and the source of hope. Under the four figures are waves to reflect the rough situations that, at times, happen to us and to the world. Below the Cross is an anchor. A reversed cross. The anchor is a symbol of hope. Hope steadies us when life throws punches at us.
I suggest the motto of the Carthusians, a religious order founded by Saint Bruno, “stat crux dum volvitur orbis” may help us understand the hope that is found in the Cross of the Lord. I freely translate “stat crux dum volvitur orbis”: the Cross stands steady as the world goes topsy-turvy. When your experience in life is rocky and turbulent, when the world situation is dangerous, look to the Cross of the Lord and be steadied by the hope it offers.
Information about how the Jubilee year will be observed in our Diocese will be forthcoming. The Jubilee 2025 is a gift to deepen our relationship with God and with people. It is a time to renew our faith. Pope Francis prays that this Jubilee year be “marked by the hope that does not fade, our hope in God. May it help us to recover the confident trust that we require, in the Church and in society, in our interpersonal relationships and in international relations, and in our task of promoting the dignity of all persons and respect for God’s gift of creation.” (Bull of Indiction #25)
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