“Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you. See, darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds cover the peoples; but upon you the LORD shines, and over you appears his glory” (Is 60:1-2).
On Christmas Eve in Rome, Pope Francis opened the Holy Doors of St. Peter’s Basilica and officially began the Jubilee Year 2025 with the theme “Pilgrims of Hope.”
The virtue of hope is central to our Christian faith. The Catechism teaches that hope is the response to the aspiration for happiness that God places in the heart of every man (CCC 1818). Hope is what sets our lives on a trajectory toward heaven; that perfect union with God, the Creator of the universe and source of all goodness, truth and beauty, that would be impossible for us except by God’s grace, that grace which has been made available to us in abundance through Jesus Christ.
God became one of us, so that we might become like him. This is what we celebrate at Christmas, and this is what we celebrate in a special way on Jubilee Years. God has entered the world as one of us, to be with us, to enter into our human suffering so that we might enter into his divine joy. That is the reason for our hope. Because this Jubilee Year is dedicated to hope, you might say that this whole year should have a Christmas spirit, because the birth of Hope into the world is what Christmas is all about.
Because hope is a virtue that looks forward, that impels us toward a goal, you could say it is like a pilgrimage; a journey toward something greater. And today we celebrate the very first Christian pilgrimage — the journey of the magi to pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews. We know very little about these magi. We know they were Gentiles from the East. We know they were star-gazers, and that something they saw in the sky indicated to them that a great king would be born in Judea. Most importantly, we know that they were motivated enough by this revelation to undertake a lengthy, expensive, and likely dangerous journey. In other words, the significance of what they saw spurred them into action. They were willing to put in effort and even to make sacrifices in response to the hope that the revelation of the star instilled in them. That, my friends, is the essence of pilgrimage. That is the essence of faith. Taking up the Jubilee theme, “Pilgrims of Hope,” I invite each of us here at the beginning of 2025 to reflect on how we respond to the hope that is given to us by Christ.
One way we could respond might be to go on a literal pilgrimage. That’s what the magi did. The magi were not tourists. They did not come to admire the finery of Herod’s palace or see the splendor of the temple. They came to pay homage to the Christ-child. They came to see him with their eyes, to bend the knee before him and give him their gifts. God made himself present in the world and they responded by making themselves present before God. Now you can always make yourself present before God inwardly, in spirit. But pilgrimages attest to the historicity of our faith. The Son of God was born at a particular time and place, and you can go there today, to Bethlehem, to visit a church built over a little cave where a star inset on the floor marks the place where it happened.
The custom of having Jubilee years in the Catholic Church in fact started with a pilgrimage. Plagues were ravishing Europe in the Middle Ages and one of the ways people responded was to travel to the tombs of the Apostles in Rome to seek supplication. Eventually so many people were coming to Rome on pilgrimage that the pope declared the year 1300 to be a Jubilee year of forgiveness.
Jubilees had been celebrated every 50 years in the Jewish calendar as times when debts were forgiven and slaves were set free. But this was the first Jubilee of the Christian era, which came to be celebrated every 25 years as times of forgiveness and mercy, reminders of the hope we have in Jesus Christ. And for over 700 years now, pilgrimages to Rome have remained a central part of Jubilee celebrations. This is why we are planning a parish pilgrimage to Rome this May so that we can participate in the tradition of praying at the tombs of the Apostles — people who were so motivated by their hope in Christ that they went on a journey, not toward Bethlehem, but out into the world to proclaim that hope and even give their lives in witness to that hope.
Of course, not every Christian is able to make a pilgrimage to Bethlehem or to Rome, nor does our faith require us to do so. These journeys are symbolic of a different sort of pilgrimage that we all must make, which is our pilgrimage through this life to the next. Unlike our parish pilgrimage to Rome, you don’t have a choice to go on this trip or not. And it’s not a matter of affording it, because it’s going to cost each of us everything we’ve got!
But you do have the choice to make your life’s journey a pilgrimage by letting it be guided by Christ. If you live your life in this way, as a pilgrimage toward Christ, then your life’s journey will be a pilgrimage of hope. Because of Christ, we have hope that our journey will end not with death but with eternal life. Because of Christ, we have hope that it will end not with sadness but with joy. Because of Christ, we have hope that it will end not in turmoil but in peace.
How long is this pilgrimage? It can be as short as the distance from your front door to church for Mass or confession. But it is also as long and winding as the journey from sin to virtue, from selfishness to self-lessness, from hatred to love, from doubt to faith, from fear to trust, from despair to hope. It is a journey that does not end in this life. It is a journey away from living for ourselves and toward living for others, and we have to keep walking on this path, even when it is difficult — especially when it is difficult, because it’s then, when life gets hard, that we learn to trust in God. Just like with the magi, he shines his light before us to guide us along the way, and we must learn through experience that the promise of his light is more true and trustworthy than the darkness of the world.
We are travelers on a journey, and that means our faith doesn’t end with singing Christmas carols, putting up manger scenes and having good thoughts about Jesus once a year. Hope doesn’t go in the attic with the Christmas decorations at the end of the season. The hope we are given in Christ should drive us forward at all times. We should be willing, like the magi, to upend our lives and do something inconvenient in response to the good news that unto us a Savior is born.
The first reading today from Isaiah tells us what we must do: “Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you. See, darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds cover the peoples; but upon you the LORD shines…”(Is 60:1-2). Raise your eyes and look about. Amidst of the darkness of our world, a new star has arisen. A new light shines. It is the light of Christ. In his gospel, John calls Jesus the true light that enlightens everyone which the darkness cannot overcome. That light shines upon you and me even now. Whatever situation we might find ourselves in today or throughout the coming year, whatever obstacles we may encounter on our pilgrim journey, Jesus shines before us as our north star, a star of constancy and truth, a star of hope that does not disappoint (cf. Rom 5:5). If we follow the light of that star we know that, whatever may come, it will guide us faithfully to that place where we will no longer need hope, because all of our hopes will be realized. It will guide us all the way to heaven. Let us make our way on this journey together as pilgrims of hope.