Guidelines Sheet - Pilgrims of Hope (Jan. 27-31, 2025)

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General Theme:
Pilgrims of Hope
 
General Objective:
To live with faith and hope this Jubilee Year
 
Objective of the week:
To know the meaning of the Jubilee Year

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BRIEF EXPLANATION ABOUT THE ORDINARY JUBILEE YEAR 2025​

​We will resume our “guidelines sheet for prayer” with an explanation about the Ordinary Jubilee Year. This week we will develop three parts: 1) What is a Jubilee Year; 2) Some passages for personal prayer and reflection; 3) Meaning of the Jubilee Logo.  

What is the Jubilee Year all about?

We are celebrating during 2025 a Jubilee Year. This Catholic Jubilee, or Holy Year, began on December 24, 2024 and will end on January 6, 2026. The theme of the 2025 Jubilee is “Pilgrims of Hope”. It is a special year of forgiveness, reconciliation and renewal that takes place every 25 years.

On February 11, 2022, Pope Francis wrote a letter to Msgr. Rino Fisichella, the president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, for the Jubilee 2025. Here below is the complete copy of the said letter for us to read slowly and to understand better the meaning and the reasons for the celebration of the Jubilee Year 2025.

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To My Dear Brother
the Most Reverend Rino Fisichella
president of the Pontifical Council
for the Promotion of the New Evangelization

The Jubilee has always been an event of great spiritual, ecclesial, and social significance in the life of the Church. Ever since 1300, when Boniface VIII instituted the first Holy Year – initially celebrated every hundred years, then, following its biblical precedent, every fifty years, and finally every twenty-five years – God’s holy and faithful people has experienced this celebration as a special gift of grace, characterized by the forgiveness of sins and in particular by the indulgence, which is a full expression of the mercy of God. The faithful, frequently at the conclusion of a lengthy pilgrimage, draw from the spiritual treasury of the Church by passing through the Holy Door and venerating the relics of the Apostles Peter and Paul preserved in Roman basilicas. Down the centuries, millions upon millions of pilgrims have journeyed to these sacred places, bearing living witness to the faith professed in every age.

The Great Jubilee of the year 2000 ushered the Church into the third millennium of her history. Saint John Paul II had long awaited and greatly looked forward to that event, in the hope that all Christians, putting behind their historical divisions, could celebrate together the two thousandth anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of humanity. Now, as the first twenty-five years of the new century draw to a close, we are called to enter into a season of preparation that can enable the Christian people to experience the Holy Year in all its pastoral richness. A significant step on this journey was already taken with the celebration of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, which allowed us to appreciate anew all the power and tenderness of the Father’s merciful love, in order to become, in our turn, its witnesses.

In the last two years, not a single country has been unaffected by the sudden outbreak of an epidemic that made us experience first-hand not only the tragedy of dying alone, but also the uncertainty and fleetingness of existence, and in doing so, has changed our very way of life. Together with all our brothers and sisters, we Christians endured those hardships and limitations. Our churches remained closed, as did our schools, factories, offices, shops, and venues for recreation. All of us saw certain freedoms curtailed, while the pandemic generated feelings not only of grief, but also, at times, of doubt, fear and disorientation. The scientific community quickly developed an initial remedy that is gradually permitting us to resume our daily lives. We are fully confident that the epidemic will be overcome and that the world will return to its usual pattern of personal relationships and social life. This will happen more readily to the extent that we can demonstrate effective solidarity, so that our neighbours most in need will not be neglected, and that everyone can have access to scientific breakthroughs and the necessary medicines.

We must fan the flame of hope that has been given us, and help everyone to gain new strength and certainty by looking to the future with an open spirit, a trusting heart and far-sighted vision. The forthcoming Jubilee can contribute greatly to restoring a climate of hope and trust as a prelude to the renewal and rebirth that we so urgently desire; that is why I have chosen as the motto of the Jubilee, Pilgrims of Hope. This will indeed be the case if we are capable of recovering a sense of universal fraternity and refuse to turn a blind eye to the tragedy of rampant poverty that prevents millions of men, women, young people and children from living in a manner worthy of our human dignity. Here I think in particular of the many refugees forced to abandon their native lands. May the voices of the poor be heard throughout this time of preparation for the Jubilee, which is meant to restore access to the fruits of the earth to everyone. As the Bible teaches, “The sabbath of the land shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves and for your hired servant and the sojourner who lives with you; for your cattle also, and for the beasts that are in your land, all its yield shall be for food” (Lev 25:6-7).

The spiritual dimension of the Jubilee, which calls for conversion, should also embrace these fundamental aspects of our life in society as part of a coherent whole. In the realization that all of us are pilgrims on this earth, which the Lord has charged us to till and keep (cf. Gen 2:15), may we never fail, in the course of our sojourn, to contemplate the beauty of creation and care for our common home. It is my hope that the coming Jubilee Year will be celebrated and experienced with this intention too. Growing numbers of men and women, including many young people and children, have come to realize that care for creation is an essential expression of our faith in God and our obedience to his will.

To you, dear Brother, I entrust responsibility for finding suitable ways for the Holy Year to be planned and celebrated with deep faith, lively hope and active charity. The Dicastery charged with promoting the new evangelization can help make this season of grace a significant stimulus to the pastoral outreach of the particular Churches, both Latin and Eastern, which are called in these years to intensify their commitment to synodality. In this regard, our pilgrimage towards the Jubilee will express and confirm the shared journey that the Church is called to make, in order to be ever more fully a sign and instrument of unity in harmonious diversity. It will be important to foster a renewed awareness of the demands of the universal call to responsible participation by enhancing the charisms and ministries that the Holy Spirit never ceases to bestow for the building up of the one Church. The four Constitutions of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, together with the Magisterium of these recent decades, will continue to provide direction and guidance to God’s holy people, so that it can press forward in its mission of bringing the joyful proclamation of the Gospel to everyone.

As is customary, the Bull of Indiction, to be issued in due course, will contain the necessary guidelines for celebrating the Jubilee of 2025. In this time of preparation, I would greatly desire that we devote 2024, the year preceding the Jubilee event, to a great “symphony” of prayer. Prayer, above all else, to renew our desire to be in the presence of the Lord, to listen to him and to adore him. Prayer, moreover, to thank God for the many gifts of his love for us and to praise his work in creation, which summons everyone to respect it and to take concrete and responsible steps to protect it. Prayer as the expression of a single “heart and soul” (cf. Acts 4:32), which then translates into solidarity and the sharing of our daily bread. Prayer that makes it possible for every man and woman in this world to turn to the one God and to reveal to him what lies hidden in the depths of their heart. Prayer as the royal road to holiness, which enables us to be contemplative even in the midst of activity. In a word, may it be an intense year of prayer in which hearts are opened to receive the outpouring of God’s grace and to make the “Our Father,” the prayer Jesus taught us, the life programme of each of his disciples.

I ask the Blessed Virgin Mary to accompany the Church on the journey of preparation for the grace-filled event of the Jubilee, and to you and your co-workers, with gratitude, I cordially send my Blessing.

Rome, Saint John Lateran, 11 February 2022, Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lourdes.

FRANCIS

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What are the main points of this letter from Pope Francis?
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• The Jubilee has always been an event of great spiritual, ecclesial, and social significance in the life of the Church.
• We celebrate it every 25 years
• In the XXI Century we have celebrated The Great Jubilee of the year 2000 under the pontificate of Saint John Paul II in the hope that all Christians could celebrate together the two thousandth anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of humanity.

Under the pontificate of Pope Francis, we have celebrated the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy (2015) and we are actually celebrating another Ordinary Jubilee Year.

• According to Pope Francis, this Jubilee Year 2025 can contribute greatly to restoring a climate of hope and trust that we so urgently desire; that is why he has chosen as the motto of the Jubilee, Pilgrims of Hope.
• In the letter Pope Francis talked about the Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025 which contains the necessary guidelines for celebrating the Jubilee. This Bull was promulgated on May 9, 2024, Solemnity of the Ascension and it is entitled SPES NON CONFUNDIT which means “Hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5).

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Passages for prayer during this week

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know well the plans I have in mind for you—oracle of the Lord—plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope.

Do I trust in God´s plans for my/our future in the circumstances I´m living now?

1 Timothy 1:1
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our savior and of Christ Jesus our hope.

How can I explain to myself and to others that Jesus is my hope?

Romans 5:5
Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us.

Do I acknowledge that the Holy Spirit leads me to hope? How is He doing it?

Psalms 71:5
You are my hope, Lord; my trust, GOD, from my youth.

Can I say with the psalmist that my trust in God is constant?

Romans 8:24
For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees?

We are invited to live out the authentic hope when we don´t clearly see what is going to happen or how it is going to happen. What is my motivation to hope in these moments?

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The meaning of the Jubilee Logo

• The logo shows four stylized figures, representing all of humanity, coming from the four corners of the earth. They embrace each other to indicate the solidarity and fraternity which should unite all peoples. The figure at the front is holding onto the cross. It is not only the sign of the faith which this lead figure embraces, but also of hope, which can never be abandoned, because we are always in need of hope, especially in our moments of greatest need.
• There are the rough waves under the figures, symbolizing the fact that life’s pilgrimage does not always go smoothly in calm waters. Often the circumstances of daily life and events in the wider world require a greater call to hope.
• That’s why we should pay special attention to the lower part of the cross which has been elongated and turned into the shape of an anchor which is let down into the waves. The anchor is well known as a symbol of hope. In maritime jargon the ‘anchor of hope’ refers to the reserve anchor used by vessels involved in emergency manoeuvres to stabilise the ship during storms. It is worth noting that the image illustrates the pilgrim’s journey not as an individual undertaking, but rather as something communal, marked by an increasing dynamism leading one ever closer to the cross.
• The cross in the logo is by no means static, but it is also dynamic. It bends down towards humanity, not leaving human beings alone, but stretching out to them to offer the certainty of its presence and the security of hope.
• At the bottom of the logo is the motto of the 2025 Jubilee Year: Peregrinantes in Spem (Pilgrims in hope), represented in green letters.

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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