The Jubilee Year of 2025 is celebrated universally in our Catholic Church, and is a year of renewal, reflection, and grace that commemorates the 2025th anniversary of the Incarnation of Jesus.
This is a sacred time that happens every 25 years and this Jubilee was launched when Pope Francis symbolically opened the holy door at St. Peter’s on Christmas Eve . He named the theme for this Jubilee Year “Pilgrims of Hope.” As Pilgrims, we are on the move, and yet at the same time, we are anchored in Christ.
The Christian symbol for hope is the anchor, which represents the stability and security that we have in our Savior. We all experience terrific storms and troubled waters in our lives, but if we are grounded in Christ, He will calm the winds and waves for us. Jesus always wants us to depend on Him, and this Jubilee Year offers us special graces to build our relationship with Our Lord.
We can take advantage of the opportunities for making a pilgrimage, visiting specific churches, practicing works of mercy, or fasting during this holy year to gain a plenary indulgence. A plenary indulgence removes the temporal punishment (Purgatory time) for sins that have already been forgiven. The requirements for this gift include detachment from sin, sacramental Confession, reception of Holy Eucharist, and prayers for the Holy Father.
Most of us won’t be going to Rome this year, but we are given the blessing to be pilgrims without passports as our Bishop has named local churches and holy sites to prayerfully visit during this Jubilee Year of Hope. To obtain the Jubilee Year Indulgence, these places include: the Cathedral of St. Catharine of Siena in Allentown, the National Centre for Padre Pio in Barto, the National Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe at Immaculate Conception Church in Allentown, and the Shrine of St. Therese of Lisieux in Nesquehoning.
Our Diocese will also be making a pilgrimage to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Oct. 7. Look for further information in future editions of the AD Times or email Father Allen Hoffa, our Diocesan Pilgrimage Coordinator, at ahoffa@allentowndiocese.org.
For fellow devotees of inspirational future saint Carlo Acutis, you will be happy to know that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has designated the Blessed Carlo Acutis Shrine and Center for Eucharistic Miracles, housed at the Malvern Retreat House, as an official Jubilee Year pilgrimage destination. Pope Francis announced that Blessed Carlo will be canonized as a Saint on April 27 in Assisi during the Jubilee Year.
For those who might be unable to travel or make a pilgrimage, the plenary indulgence is also available through practicing works of mercy and fasting. We can all perform works of mercy, even if it’s a generous gift to the poor and needy.
As a reminder, the Corporal Works of Mercy are: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the imprisoned, and bury the dead.
The Spiritual Works of Mercy are: convert sinners, instruct the ignorant, advise the doubtful, comfort the sorrowful, bear wrongs patiently, forgive injuries, and pray for the living and the dead.
Fasting, as the Vatican suggests, should be refraining at least one day a week from “futile distractions” such as social media, television, video games, and certain phone apps. Again, all of us can engage in this spiritual exercise.
If you look at your life a year from now and say that the Jubilee Year was a waste, then you haven’t poured your heart into these opportunities to grow in holiness. Nothing changes if nothing changes!
By Father Thomas Bortz, pastor of St. Ignatius Loyola, Sinking Spring.
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