By Kiply Lukan Yaworski, Catholic Saskatoon News

Prayers for the launch of Jubilee 2025 were offered in dioceses across the world on the Feast of the Holy Family, including in Saskatoon, where Bishop Mark Hagemoen inaugurated the year-long spiritual pilgrimage during celebration of the Eucharist Dec. 28 at Holy Spirit Parish in Saskatoon.

In a gathering at the entrance of the church at the start of Mass, Bishop Hagemoen proclaimed: “In fellowship with the universal Church, as we celebrate the love of the Father that reveals itself in the flesh of the Word made man and in the sign of the cross, anchor of salvation, we solemnly open the Jubilee Year for the Church of the diocese of Saskatoon.”

The bishop continued: “This rite is for us the prelude to a rich experience of grace and mercy; we are ready always to respond to whoever asks the reason for the hope that is in us, especially in this time of war and disorder. May Christ, our peace and our hope, be our companion on the journey in this year of grace and consolation. May the Holy Spirit, who today begins this work both in us and with us, bring it to completion in the day of Christ Jesus.”

The proclamation was followed by scripture and prayers, reading of excerpts from the Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee Year, veneration of the processional cross, the blessing of holy water at the baptismal font, and a procession into the sanctuary for the beginning of Mass, including the singing of the official Jubilee 2025 hymn.

The rite was also celebrated at both the Cathedral of the Holy Family and St. Paul Co-Cathedral on Sunday, Dec. 29, led respectively by the cathedral rectors, Fr. Gerard Cooper and Fr. Stefano Penna.

Homily

In his homily at Holy Spirit Church, Bishop Mark Hagemoen described how a Jubilee Year is traditionally celebrated every 25 years by the Church, and reflected on Pope Francis’ declaration of the theme “Pilgrims of Hope.”

The Holy Father is extremely concerned about obstacles to hope in our time, Hagemoen noted. “Not just obstacles that are theoretical – real obstacles. There are too many wars in the world… the majority of people on the planet Earth are dealing with some sort of significant conflict, or major inadequacy to their thriving as human beings.”

The bishop quoted Pope Francis’ call to the faithful to be Pilgrims of Hope: “We must fan the flame of hope that has been given us and help everyone to gain new strength and certainty by looking to the future with an open spirit, a trusting heart and far-sighted vision.”

The Holy Father also said with the opening of one of the Holy Doors in Rome: “Each of us is called to enter into the mystery of God’s great grace. This is a time when the door of hope has opened wide on the world. This is a time when God says to each one: ‘There is hope – to you and for you.'”

Hagemoen continued, quoting Pope Francis: “The Jubilee Year should be a time of every individual, and all peoples and all nations to become together as Pilgrims of Hope, to silence the sounds of arms , and overcome divisions.”

This is a hope firmly grounded in our Saviour Jesus Christ and our faith, stressed Hagemeon, and is not a “pipe dream.”

“This is the One who gives His life absolutely, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, when He did not have to — because every human person is dearly loved and He goes all the way in dealing with any obstacle that comes between us and God. Indeed the genius of our Catholic Christian faith finds its source and summit in Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world.”

The Feast of the Holy Family is an “amazing time to celebrate the Jubilee Year,” the bishop added.  “Let us be thankful for our families, the first place where we learn about out humanity.”

Pilgrimage

In practical terms, the Jubilee Year goes for the whole year, and will include opportunities for spiritual growth and nourishment. “In the diocese of Saskatoon I am pleased to announce that we have a special time of pilgrimage, of opportunity to visit holy places, and to reflect on acting like the Lord, putting on Christ in our love and service to others, through the works of mercy and penance.”

Highlights include pilgrimages — “every one of us is on a pilgrimage journey,” noted Hagemoen, regardless of our ability to physically travel.

However, this will be a year with a particular focus on making pilgrimage visits to local sacred sites within the boundaries of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon, which include the diocesan cathedrals and St. Peter’s Abbey at Muenster.

“We are also very blessed within the diocese of Saskatoon to actually have historical pilgrimage sites… the schedules will be known in the coming moths,” he said, listing the annual pilgrimages to the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Shrine west of Humboldt, to Holy Rosary Shrine at Reward, to Our Lady of Sorrows Shrine and Sts. Peter and Paul Church at Blumenfeld, to St. Anthony Church at Grosswerder, and to the eparchial shrines of Our Lady of Sorrows near Cudworth, and the Millennium Pro-Life Cross near Aberdeen. In addition, there are other annual pilgrimages to nearby sacred sites in the diocese of Prince Albert including the shrine at St. Laurent, and in the archdiocese of Regina, including the shrine at Rama.

Works of mercy and penance

“I conclude (by) reflecting on the works of mercy and penance,” Hagemoen said. “These are exercises and disciplines that come from the Church’s teaching, about how we are called to imitate the Lord in the little things: feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, burying the dead, giving counsel to those who are doubtful or anxious, comfort to the afflicted, visiting those who are dealing with incarceration, or who are very limited in their movement, clothing the naked, praying for th living and the dead, bearing patiently with those who do us ill. I am sure on that list there are some that jump to mind right away!”

He also noted the special teaching on the availability of the mercy of Indulgence, sharing the words of Pope Francis about this spiritual teaching from the Jubilee of Mercy in 2015.

“Pope Francis underlined how the Indulgence acquired ‘an even more important meaning’ in that context, since God’s mercy becomes the indulgence on the part of the Father who, through the Bride of Christ, his Church, reaches and blesses sinners and frees them from every residue left by sin. Similarly, Pope Francis now declares that the gift of indulgences as a way of discovering the unlimited nature of God’s mercy,” said Hagemoen.

He continued, quoting Pope Francis: “Not by chance, for the ancients, the terms ‘mercy’ and ‘indulgence’
were interchangeable, as expressions of the fullness of God’s forgiveness, which knows no bounds.” The Holy Father concludes:  “The Indulgence, therefore, is a Jubilee grace.”

“So our exercises of visiting holy sites, the works of mercy, and also taking advantage of opportunities for penance… is an opportunity to experience and receive the Jubilee grace of God’s mercy,” said Hagemoen, thanking the rectors of the cathedral and pastors at all parishes in the diocese for participating in the launch of the Jubilee Year.

Video of opening rite and bishop’s homily:

Photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Jubilee Prayer

Father in heaven, may the faith you have given us in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother,
and the flame of charity enkindled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,
reawaken in us the blessed hope for the coming of your Kingdom.

May your grace transform us into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel.

May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos
in the sure expectation of a new heaven and a new earth,
when, with the powers of Evil vanquished, your glory will shine eternally.

May the grace of the Jubilee reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope,
a yearning for the treasures of heaven.

May that same grace spread the joy and peace of our Redeemer
throughout the earth.

To you our God, eternally blessed, be glory and praise for ever.

Amen

 

-30-

Kiply Lukan Yaworski is the communications coordinator for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon – rcdos.ca

Diocesan Communications and Catholic Saskatoon News are supported by gifts to the Bishop’s Annual Appeal: dscf.ca/baa.