Since last December, the Roman Catholic Church has been celebrating the Jubilee Year 2025, Pilgrims of Hope. This is a year-long celebration of living in fraternity and helping those in need. Remember, “Jubilees ordinarily take place every twenty-five years. A Jubilee is a special time encouraging renewed holiness through acts of forgiveness, reconciliation, mercy, and pilgrimage. This year’s Jubilee theme is ‘Pilgrims of Hope’. The faithful can obtain the Jubilee indulgence.
Many of us have heard about indulgences. But, what is an indulgence? “An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints” (CCC 1471). In other words, an indulgence is a gift from God. This gift helps us in our spiritual life to be closer to God. Although, we go to the sacrament of reconciliation to confess our sins and God gives us His love and mercy, when we die, we will need to be for a “period of time” (I write this in quotes, because we do not understand the measure of time after death), in purgatory. God is, through the Church, giving to us this wonderful gift that aids us to go to heaven faster. It is necessary to be completely clean before going to heaven. Purgatory will help us to be pure before seeing God face to face.
Pope Francis says that the Jubilee should transform us, so our hearts get bigger and more generous to help other people who are hungry for the love of God. This Jubilee is a great opportunity to be closer to God.
Let us pray,
The 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.
~Pope Francis
Remember, The parish that we dream is the parish that I help to build.
God bless you, and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!
Fr. Jorge Ramirez
