Pilgrims of Hope 2025
Archbishop Richard Henning formally initiated the Jubilee Year of 2025 in the Archdiocese of Boston with an opening Mass celebrated in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Dec. 29, the Feast of the Holy Family. The year, titled “Pilgrims of Hope,” was announced by Pope Francis in 2022. Pope Francis formally began the Jubilee Year in Rome on Dec. 24 when he opened the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica. The opening Mass in Boston started a year of prayer and spiritual renewal throughout the archdiocese, including Masses, confessions, adoration, and special events at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and 10 pilgrimage churches. (The Pilot)
The Holy Father Pope Francis desires the Jubilee Year to be a “moment of genuine, personal encounter with the Lord Jesus, the ‘door’ (cf. Jn 10:7-9)” (Spes Non Confundit, 1). We want to reach those at the margins of society (prisoners, elderly, sick, poor) and those at the margins of our parishes (those who do not know Jesus).
We want to foster a thirst for Jesus and curiosity around him so they may accept the invitation to encounter him at our parishes and pilgrimage sites. For our parishioners, we hope this Jubilee Year will foster determination to be a sign of hope for others and engender more excellent knowledge of God’s mercy, for they are “co-responsible for ensuring that manifold signs of hope bear witness to God’s presence in the world (SNC, 17).
What is a Jubilee?
A jubilee year is a time for forgiveness and renewal in our relationship with God. In the Bible, the year was marked by the remittance of debt and property and the healing of relationships (between people, nations, and even the relationship between humans and creation) (cf. Leviticus 25:8-55). The first Christian Jubilee was declared in 1300 by Pope Boniface VIII and occurs every 25 years. In 2015, Pope Francis declared an extraordinary Jubilee Year, the Year of Mercy.
What to Do for a Pilgrimage
As individuals, Pope Francis encourages all of us during this Jubilee Year to encounter the Lord’s mercy and then go forth and be a sign of hope to others. We can do this in several different ways, by
- Get involved in service to others
- Going on pilgrimage, either locally or to Rome
- Crossing the threshold of the Holy Door
- Seeking Reconciliation
- Taking time for prayer
- Participating in mass
- Making a profession of faith
- Obtaining an indulgence
- Get involved in ecumenical and interfaith opportunities
Pilgrimage Sites in the Archdiocese of Boston
- Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Boston
- Most Holy Redeemer, East Boston
- St. Clément’s Eucharistic Shrine, Boston
- Holy Rosary Shrine, Lawrence
- St. Joseph the Worker Shrine Lowell
- St. John Paul II Shrine of Divine Mercy, Salem,
- Blessed Andrew Phe-Yet (St. Clement Church) Medford
- Our Lady of Fatima Shrine Holliston
- Immaculate Conception Marlboro
- St. Paul’s Church, Hingham
- St. Patrick’s, Brockton.
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
