The “2025 Jubilee Year: Pilgrims of Hope,” declared by Pope Francis, is a rare opportunity for special graces. Father Michael Ruminski, the Archdiocese of Hartyford’s director of Divine Worship, attempted to demystify the “Jubilee of Hope” during a recent Theology on Tap event hosted by St. Bridget of Sweden Parish in Cheshire.
He answered three basic questions: What is a jubilee? What is the Jubilee of Hope? And how can we celebrate it well?
According to Father Ruminski, the term “jubilee” can be traced back to the Latin term meaning “to sound a trumpet.” Its roots go back to Mosaic law in the Old Testament, when it was a special year of rest and forgiveness every 50 years.
In Old Testament times, the jubilee involved the forgiveness of debts, the release of indentured servants and the return of ancestral inheritance. “It was supposed to be a kind of resetting of societal obligations in which you begin again,” Father Ruminski explains.
The jubilee was introduced into Catholic Church life by Pope Boniface VIII in 1300. By 1500, jubilees were celebrated every 25 years. The Christian jubilee put greater emphasis on spiritual reconciliation: freedom from sin, forgiveness, and peace. Pilgrimages and plenary indulgences were added.
The current Jubilee of Hope designated by Pope Francis is focused on the virtue of hope and its importance in the modern world.
Pope Francis has identified people in need of prayers or visits, Father Ruminski notes, because they have lost hope: young families afraid to bring children into the world, young people fixated on drugs or technology, the forgotten elderly and the sick, migrants and refugees fleeing dangerous places, and forgotten prisoners.
Hope is essential, Father Ruminski says, in facing the challenges of the world and in proclaiming the message of Christ. “Hope is the virtue given to us by God to direct our expectations for the future,” he says. “Without hope, we have no ability to face the future with confidence.”
Instead of ruminating on our challenges, he suggests we “look at the world with the supernatural eyes of faith.”
“As St. Paul says, ‘hope does not disappoint,’” Father Ruminski reminds us. Rather than let the problems of the moment “dominate us,” we should “proclaim something of power to the world around us.”
“It’s the light of Christ, through his victory on the cross, that should direct the way we interact with each other,” he explains, “for us to be able to live right, to be able to forgive well and to be able to proclaim Christ crucified and risen. And so we have to have hope in order to do that.”
Other practical steps for celebrating the Jubilee of Hope include making pilgrimages to one or more designated cathedrals or basilicas: St. Peter’s Basilica and the major basilicas in Rome or, closer to home, the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford and the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Waterbury.
While there, pilgrims are encouraged to engage in the sacraments and acts of prayer: attend a Mass, go to confession, pray in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament or pray the rosary or the stations of the cross.
Conditions for receiving a plenary indulgence include confession, praying for the pope’s intentions, receiving Holy Communion and being detached from sin.
For more information on how to make a pilgrimage and on plenary indulgences, click here.
By Shelley Wolf
Catholic Transcript