On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, and so opened the Jubilee Year of 2025. At 9am this morning he opened the Holy Door at another great basilica of Rome, St John Lateran. On the 1st of January, he will open the door at St Mary Major and on 5th January that at St Paul’s outside the Walls, and so open the Holy Doors of all 4 principal churches, the main pilgrim destinations, of Rome. Thus, the churches of our Lady, of St John, of St Peter and of St Paul stand open to welcome us. Rome is bracing itself for some 30 to 32 million pilgrims this coming year. The open door is one symbol of what a jubilee year is: it’s a reminder that the roadblocks, the security gates between us and God are no longer there, the traffic is flowing. Through Christ in the Holy Spirit we have access to the Father. The door of God’s heart is open to us. It’s an invitation to take this road or, if we already do, to do so with more focus, more clarity, with more of a spring in our step. And with more people, more companions…
What the Holy Father has been beginning in Rome, begins today in the different dioceses of the Catholic world, all 3,000 or so of them. And so today here, in the diocese of Aberdeen, as the diocese of Aberdeen, we begin our Holy Year. It will continue until this same feast of the Holy Family next year, 28th December 2025, and in Rome until 6th January, 2026.
For us, the symbol is not a door, but a pilgrimage and a Cross. So, what is a Jubilee Year? it’s a time to see our life as a journey towards God, as a pilgrimage, a pilgrimage we make with our eyes set on the Cross, drawing on the love of Christ for us. Here’s an interesting thing about the word “pilgrim”. It comes from the Latin word peregrinus. But in ancient times that word referred backwards. It meant someone who has come from elsewhere, a foreigner, a stranger. But when Christianity came and the later European languages developed, the meaning changed: a peregrinus became a “pilgrim” as we understand it, someone not so much from somewhere as going to somewhere, on a journey to meet God in a holy place, someone who now has a goal and a purpose in life. This is the difference Christ makes! So, what’s a Jubilee year? A time to recover a focus, to review and reorientate our lives, to respond to the onward, upward, forward call of God.
We talk of wayfarers and seafarers. We are God-farers.
Jubilee Years have been held since the year 1300 – at first every century, then every 50 years, now every 25. So, each generation has a chance to benefit from the grace of a Jubilee Year. And the older root is Jewish. Jubilee Years are first mentioned in the Old Testament and were prescribed for every 50 years. They were a time of the release of slaves, the remission of debts, of return to one’s ancestral lands. They were an opportunity for Israel to give herself back to the Lord. So again, in a Christian context, what is a Jubilee Year? Well, here’s another cluster: mercy, forgiveness, reconciliation, remission, indulgence. It’s an opportunity for us to find ourselves once more in the arms of the Father, fully forgiven, fully renewed.
Above all, we and our families are being called to hope. “Pilgrims of hope” is the tag for this year and hope is its theme. Hope, grace-filled hope, is the expectation of good things from God. Its ground is his goodness: He’s on our side. He has sent his Son to us and raised him from the dead. He has sent us his Holy Spirit. He has poured out all He is and all He has. So, we can be sure that, with that, He will give us everything else as well. He doesn’t give us a snake if we ask for a fish or a scorpion if we put our hand for an egg. And this life-giving goodness of God embraces all our hopes, hopes for ourselves and for others, our great hopes and our small daily hopes, our hopes for eternity and for our life here and now. All of these are in the kindly hands of the Father. He implanted the desire for happiness that all of us have, and he will see it fulfilled: in his way, at his time, and beyond our expectations. We have only to trust and be patient and go his way, not ours. Hope is an anchor, says Scripture, that secures us to God. This hope doesn’t disappoint, says St Paul (Rom 5:5). It won’t deceive us or embarrass us or end up making fools of us. It won’t, he says, because “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. “The certainty of divine love is the guarantee of Christian hope” (J.A. Fitzmyer).
Brothers and Sisters, our jubilee year begins. And here’s a last thought. This year is not just about having hope, but about giving hope. You may remember the Year of Mercy, 2015-2016. We decided that year to put on a monthly sit-down meal for the homeless. It has become weekly now. That initiative has lasted. It offers the homeless some hope… We can try to give people hope – in our families, at work, among friends; by simple conversations, gentle encouragement, discreet corrections, small kindnesses, a listening ear, by promising to pray. This is how we evangelise now. This is loving our neighbour. What will our parishes do this year? What can each of us do? Let’s not leave door-opening to the Holy Father. Let’s do it ourselves. That will be our jubilee!
St Mary’s Cathedral, Aberdeen, 29 December 2024
