The official opening of the Jubilee Year of Hope is fast approaching, and with it, a holy reminder to, in the words of the Psalmist, “hope in the Lord! Hold firm, take heart and hope in the Lord!” (Ps 27:14).
Pope Francis has spoken and written at length in recent months on the Jubilee Year and the theological virtue of hope, pointing to the wise words of St. Paul to the Romans as he reminds faithful around the world that “hope does not disappoint” (Rm 5:5).
Amid great challenges to hope in the world, the Jubilee Year will stand as a call to deepen the virtue which enflames within the heart a desire for “the Kingdom of Heaven and eternal life as our happiness” (CCC 1817). With eyes fixed on the things that are above (cf. Col 3:2), we will be able to see the world with a biblical, God-centered worldview, because hope “keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity” (CCC 1818).
Preparations for the Jubilee Year are underway around the globe ahead of the official opening at St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 24, as the Church readies herself for thousands of “Pilgrims of Hope” planning to visit holy sites in Rome and around the world.
“On Christmas Eve this year, the Church will begin a Jubilee Year of Hope. Jubilee years are times of incredible grace to reconcile our lives to God and start fresh, no matter our circumstances,” Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila wrote in his recent column. “As you follow Jesus, I encourage you to lift a prayer to God during the Jubilee Year and ask him to show you his great love and to fill you with hope so that, abiding in relationship with the Holy Trinity, your hope in Jesus will grow, your trust will increase, and you will be able to surrender your life to his plan. I also invite you to pray in reparation for your sins, the sins of the Church and the sins of all those living in the Archdiocese of Denver.”
Locally, in the Archdiocese of Denver, hope-filled arrangements are also being made to usher in the Jubilee Year.
On Sunday, Dec. 29, Bishop Jorge Rodríguez will preside on the local opening of the Jubilee Year with Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.
Additionally, for “pilgrims of hope” across Northern Colorado to engage the Jubilee, Archbishop Aquila established nine pilgrimage sites throughout the archdiocese in a decree dated Dec. 13.
Joining the Cathedral as a pilgrimage site are St. Stephen Church in Glenwood Springs; Holy Name Church in Steamboat Springs; Our Lady of Peace Church in Silverthorne; St. John the Evangelist Church in Loveland; St. Francis of Assisi in Longmont; St. Helena in Fort Morgan; St. Anthony in Sterling; and the Mother Cabrini Shrine in Golden.
Throughout the Jubilee Year of Hope, which opens in Denver on Dec. 29 and ends on Dec. 24, 2025, the faithful may obtain a plenary indulgence “by visiting the Cathedral or other church or sacred place designated by the local Ordinary” (Decree on the Granting of Indulgence during the Ordinary Jubilee Year 2025).
According to the Vatican’s decree, local pilgrims of hope may receive the plenary indulgence under the normal conditions and when they travel to one of the established pilgrimage sites “in a spirit of pilgrimage” during the Jubilee Year and participate in:
A Mass;
A Liturgy of the Word;
One of the major hours of the Liturgy of the Hours (Office of Readings, Morning Prayer, or Evening Prayer);
Stations of the Cross;
The Marian Rosary;
The recitation of the Akathist hymn;
Or penitential celebration, which ends with individual confessions.
They may also obtain the indulgence under the normal conditions “by piously visiting these sites as well and engaging in a suitable period of Eucharistic Adoration and meditation, concluding with the Our Father, a Profession of Faith and invocations of Mary, the Mother of God,” the decree states.
As the Jubilee Year begins and pilgrims hit the road throughout the archdiocese, Archbishop Aquila said, “Jesus invites us to renew our hope and inspire others to hope in him. He is the one answer to our pain in this broken and divided world. He longs for you to reach out to him. During this Jubilee Year of Hope, may we run to encounter Christ in hope as he comes to our pilgrimage sites, to our communities, and to each of our hearts. He was born for us; may we receive him with open hearts and open arms.”
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