Photo: St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican

In the year 2000, I was in Rome, the Eternal City, standing in a long line of young people, loud with song, waiting to walk through the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica. It was the Great Jubilee, marking the threshold of a new millennium and we were filled with joy, expectation and perhaps a touch of trepidation for the turning of such a momentous time. My faith gave me assurance, that whatever lay ahead, my future would track to a steady course if I committed my life to God.

Twenty-four years later, the Church is preparing for another Holy Year, the Jubilee of 2025, which the Holy Father has named the Year of Hope. A Jubilee Year is a “year of the Lord’s favour” (Isaiah 61:1-2), when slaves are emancipated, lands restored to their original owners, and debts forgiven (Leviticus 25:10). Since Pope Boniface VII proclaimed the first jubilee in 1300, the Church has adopted the practice of celebrating jubilees or holy years as times of repentance,special blessings, prayer and pilgrimage.

A sacred journey allows one to open oneself to the Jubilee graces where God shows up in surprising ways. Pope Francis said that jubilee pilgrims “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”. To seeking pilgrims is available “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”.

Immersing oneself in a retreat in the medieval town of Assisi in the spirit of St Francis, walking in the footsteps of St Paul in Greece and Turkey, praying at the holy shrine of Lourdes and bathing in its healing waters, or standing before the miraculous Shroud of Turin, rarely displayed – these will be some of the features of a Jubilee pilgrimage. Even closer to home the Great South Land of the Holy Spirit has pilgrimage offerings for the Jubilee – The Forgiveness Cross at Memory Mountain or the Footsteps of St Mary MacKillop.

Harvest Journeys offers customised pilgrimages to parishes, Catholic organisations, and faith communities for spiritual renewal and life-changing encounters. 

Selina Hasham is chief executive officer of Harvest Journeys

This article was first published in the July edition of The Catholic Leader.