With the declaration of the Jubilee Year 2025, our Holy Father Pope Francis has given to the Universal Church a theme to reflect on: ‘PILGRIMS OF HOPE’. This theme is powerfully depicted in the Jubilee logo which is officially explained as follows:

The logo shows four stylized figures, representing all of humanity, coming from the corners of the earth. They embrace each other to indicate the solidarity and fraternity which should unite all peoples. The figure at the front is holding onto the Cross. It is not only the sign of the FAITH which this lead figure embraces, but also of HOPE, which can never be abandoned, because we are always in need of hope, especially in our moments of greatest need. There are the rough waves under the figures symbolizing the fact that life’s pilgrimage does not always go smoothly in calm waters.

Often the circumstances of daily life and events in the wider world require a greater call to hope. That’s why we should pay special attention to the lower part of the Cross which has been elongated and turned into the shape of an anchor which is let down into the waves. The anchor is well known as a symbol of hope. In maritime jargon the ‘anchor of hope’ refers to the reserve anchor used by vessels involved in emergency manoeuvres to stabilize the ship during storms. It is worth noting that the image illustrates the pilgrim’s journey not as an individual undertaking, but rather as something communal, marked by an increasing dynamism leading one ever closer to the Cross. The Cross in the logo is by no means static, but it is also dynamic. It bends down towards humanity, not leaving human beings alone, but stretching out to them to offer the certainty of its presence and the security of hope. At the bottom of the logo is the motto: ‘Pilgrims of Hope’.

The Jubilee Year, also called the Holy Year, has been celebrated from 1300 A.D., when it was instituted by Pope Boniface VIII – in the beginning, every hundred years, then, every fifty years, and, since the pontificate of Pope Paul II (i.e., from 1470 A.D.), every twenty-five years.

With its roots in the Old Testament (cf. Leviticus 25:8-13), the Jubilee Year signifies a time of return to the Lord in repentance and wholehearted surrender to the Covenant which God has established with his people. Therefore, it is a time of re-establishing that proper relationship with God, with one another, and with all of creation which the Covenant stands for. This return to the Covenantal relationship is manifested through the forgiveness of debts, return of misappropriated goods and land, and the giving of rest to the fields by keeping them fallow. In other words, it was a call to return to that justice and righteousness , truth, mercy and love which God has always wanted from his people.

In God’s infinite plan, this call to faithfulness to the Covenant has been fulfilled in the New Covenant sealed in the “precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1: 19). St Peter assures us: “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading , kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the in the last time” (1 Peter 1: 3-5).

Thus, in the Christian perspective, the jubilee calls us to fidelity to the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Besides the ordinary jubilee of every twenty-five years, there have also been extraordinary jubilees in the history of the Church, like for instance the Jubilee of Mercy in 2015 declared by Pope Francis.

Every Jubilee year, whether ordinary or extraordinary, is a call to re-focus our hearts on our redemption in Jesus Christ, whereby we have realized that we are but ‘pilgrims’ on this earth and our true home is the eternal kingdom Christ has won for us. Once we are seized of this truth, our life becomes illuminated by the light of eternity and we no longer live according to the law of the flesh, but according to the law of the Holy Spirit in us (cf. Galatians 5). This is what we call holiness of life, a life of true discipleship of our Lord Jesus Christ, a life witness to his Gospel.

Where are we pilgrimaging to and what are we hoping for as ‘Pilgrims of Hope’?

Our Lord’s entire teaching on the ‘kingdom of heaven’ would suffice to confirm our ‘pilgrim’ status on this earth: “For here we have no lasting city, but we are looking for the city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14).

Pilgrims are always moving ahead towards a future goal; they travel light and have less baggage to carry; they don’t build permanent abodes for themselves along the way. What gives meaning to their endurance of hardships and discomforts in their journey is their intense desire to reach the goal, which alone matters.

And what are we hoping for as pilgrims?

In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that “ we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:16).

From the day of our Baptism there is a hope deeply ingrained in us of being glorified with Christ and, on account of which, we do not consider any suffering we have to undergo for Christ as “worth comparting with the glory about to be revealed” (Romans 8:18). Our journey on this earth is like a ‘bondage’ from which we are longing to be set free not only individually but collectively, i.e., the whole of creation is longing to be set free from its “bondage to decay” and to “obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Roman 8:21).

The Church is founded upon and shaped and moulded in this hope of eternal life in Christ which she proclaims “in season and out of season” (cf. 2Timothy 4) to the whole of humanity so that all might one day share in Christ’s eternal glory.

“For in hope we were saved” (Romans 8:24) is what we firmly cling to; so, we wait in patience to be fully conformed to the image of Christ our Saviour.

The Book of Revelation further concretizes our hope when it sets before our eyes the promise of “a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21: 1). In this new heaven and new earth, the “dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:3-4). We proclaim this hope on Easter Vigil when we declare Christ as the Alpha and Omega of the whole of creation, the beginning and the end, the one in whose hands are all times and seasons. We see creation restored to its original goodness and holiness through the death and resurrection of Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

In this new creation the Church has an inalienable role to play as the “holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2). The entire baptismal liturgy of Easter Vigil is to remind us of the role the Church has to play in making “all things new in Christ” (Revelation 21:5).

The Holy Father Pope Francis wishes and prays that the Jubilee Year 2025 will be a time of grace for all people of God, and also of solidarity and love after the terrible pandemic COVID-19.

As ‘pilgrims of hope’ we must fan the flames of hope in one another, strengthen one another and help everyone to look to the future with an open spirit, a trusting heart and far-sighted vision. We have to endeavour to recover a sense of universal fraternity with a special focus on those who are poor and the downtrodden and the refugees. Our pilgrim character and the hope we carry in our hearts also includes the much-needed ecological consciousness and the care of our ‘common home’.

If the Church is to be a sign of unity and instrument of unity and harmonious diversity in the world, she has to first be united in herself as the Body of Christ in its unity and diversity. Therefore, the renewal brought about by Vatican Council II (1962-1965) is of a paramount importance to understand why the Church is a ‘pilgrim of hope’ in this world.

In our Archdiocese of Delhi let us all be united as the synodal Church and participate enthusiastically in all the spiritual moments of the Jubilee Year 2025 in order to be authentic disciples of the Divine Master and witnesses of His Kingdom.