The invitation to hope, which the Jubilee calls for, seems audacious when considering a world like ours, steeped in numerous challenging situations. However, it is precisely that hope – a gift from God – that imbues our life journey with meaning and inspires us to dream beyond our limited realities.
Various conflicts and wars are raging throughout the world, economic turmoil and the cost of living are becoming unbearable for millions of people worldwide, constant chemical and biological threats to human life can bring the entire world to its knees.
The earth is becoming increasingly vulnerable to climate change due to various factors, which are affecting all species, including ourselves. We face a pending threat of life on the planet being extinguished by either a natural disaster or a meteor strike.
But in the midst of all this, in the midst of our daily struggle, we are called by Pope Francis to rejoice and celebrate a year of Jubilee. The theme, “Pilgrims of Hope,” goes completely against the grain of the times in which we live.
Jubilees, in Jewish tradition, take place every 50 years and mark a year of remission of sins, freedom for slaves and prisoners, and forgiveness of debts. In the Catholic Church, these Jubilees are usually celebrated every 25 years.
It is a joyful time when the whole community looks forward with great expectation and anticipation to a sacred event of freedom. It is a common celebration with all, young and old, rich and poor. No one is excluded from the benefits of the Jubilee. We are all invited this year.
A pilgrimage, like a Jubilee, is an open invitation to all. It is a journey taken with other pilgrims or alone, and it is a conscious decision to discover the truth of who you are about the purpose of the journey. Jesus welcomed all to listen to him, to be healed, to walk with him, and to eat with him. The only beings Jesus ever asked to leave his presence were the devil and the demoniac. He longs to be your companion as you walk – you are not alone!
Your travel bag should contain only the essentials, such as a willingness to walk long distances, sleep in strange places, meet people, and visit holy sites along the way. It requires us to walk boldly, trusting the God of hope to provide what we need at every moment and every step of the way.
To be a pilgrim of hope is to actively seek, to long, to thirst for what is good and what is God. It is a perseverance that always favors the positive expectation of the fulfilment of what God has said. It is part of living one’s faith. Without hope, there is no spark or fuel in the vehicle of faith. In the end, after everything has been taken away, destroyed and removed, what remains is faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13).
One often finds markers on a pilgrim route, shrines or places to pause and reflect, which remind us of the journey which has passed, the journey ahead or even of the final destination of the pilgrimage. These are reminders to keep moving forward and to keep trusting in God during the process of the journey, as is indicated in Romans 15:13: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
These are beacons of hope amidst the sweat and the fatigue of the walk of faith. Even during this journey, we need hope to spur us on until we reach the apex, the promise of Heaven.
There is more to life than whatever is wrong with it. There will always be something imperfect or flawed happening around us or even to us, because we live in a fallen world. “But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:31). (Jill Williams)
