8 Ways to Grow in Faith in the Jubilee Year

Some people may think that the Jubilee Year 2025 offers spiritual rewards only to those who can go on pilgrimage to Rome or the Holy Land. Sarah-Leah Pimentel says that spiritual fruits can also be gained at home, and offers 8 tips on how to do so.

The last ordinary Jubilee Year, in 2000, was more than half a lifetime ago for me. I had just started university. I travelled overseas for the first time. I had the wonderful opportunity to be part of the Jubilee celebrations by attending World Youth Day, which in that year took place in Rome.

I remember how transformative it was for me as a young adult. I lived that Jubilee Year intensely and it was decisive in helping me make the Catholic faith my own, and not just something passed down by my family.

Now, 25 years later, I’m in a different phase of life. There are bills to pay, people who need me, and a range of responsibilities that keep me from jumping on a plane to Rome as a “Pilgrim of Hope” — as is the case for many of us. How can we live this Jubilee Year in the life of the Church without leaving our country? Here are eight ideas that may inspire you.

1. Add the Jubilee logo to your socials

When groups go on pilgrimage, they may get branded shirts or other items that help individual members find each other in a crowd. It may also be a way of identifying with the theme of a pilgrimage and feeling that you’re a part of it.

How about changing the profile picture on your social media platforms and adding the Jubilee logo in its place? If every Catholic did that, you might be surprised by the number of friends and acquaintances you didn’t even know were Catholic!

Find the logo and information about it at https://t.ly/RMlf-

2. Pray the Jubilee prayer

Millions of Catholics around the world will be praying the Jubilee prayer this year, for the Jubilee graces of faith, charity, and hope. Prayer brings about inner transformation, which is another of the Jubilee graces.

Pray the Jubilee prayer on your own, in your prayer or bible study group. Pray with the parish youth, or at the start of sodality meetings. If your parish is not praying the Jubilee prayer before or after Mass, suggest doing so to your parish priest or liturgy team. When we pray together, our faith can move mountains!

Find the Jubilee Prayer at https://t.ly/Md2mp

3. Pray for the Jubilee pilgrims

We can pray for those who will be going on pilgrimage this year, that they may travel safely, and that, as they pass through the Holy Doors of the basilicas in Rome, their hearts shall be open doors for God’s will in their lives.

You might know of friends and family who are going on pilgrimage. Many parishes and dioceses may also organise pilgrimages, and The Southern Cross is offering a pilgrimage to Rome, Medjugorje and the shrine of Padre Pio in October (see page 35).

Write drown your own prayer intentions and ask the pilgrims to carry them into all the holy places.

You can also pray for the intentions of specific Jubilee gatherings happening in Rome throughout 2025. For example, the Jubilee of Youth takes place from July 28 to August 3. The Jubilee of Catechists will be held from September 26-28, and the Jubilee of Migrants on October 4-5.

The Southern Cross magazine will include articles to mark each of the many special Jubilees (as you might have seen on the preceding three pages, which mark the Jubilee for Social Communications).

Find a full calendar of Jubilee events taking place in Rome at https://t.ly/GzekN

4. Discover our Jubilee tradition

Did you know that Dante, who wrote the famous Divine Comedy, refers to the Jubilee Year called by Pope Boniface VIII in 1300? Over the past 725 years, the Church has held a Jubilee at 25- or 50-year intervals.

Jubilees are meant to be a time of spiritual renewal. They draw on the ancient Hebrew tradition to allow the ground to lie fallow once every 50 years so that it could recover. Properties were restored to their original owners, debts were forgiven, slaves were freed. The jubilee was a time to reset (Leviticus 25:8–13).

As we reset ourselves, why not spend this year reading about our rich history of Jubilees and the focus of each of them?

5. Go on retreat

Cost might be the only reason you can’t go on pilgrimage to Rome or the Holy Land. Fortunately, we have beautiful prayerful spaces in South Africa that aid our spiritual renewal. You could join a group going to Ngome in KwaZulu-Natal, or make a tour of the shrines of Mariannhill. If you haven’t had a chance to visit the Mary, Mother of Mercy Shrine in the archdiocese of Johannesburg, why not make a day’s retreat during a weekend away to the Magaliesberg? Go north and visit the shrine of Bl Benedict Daswa in Tzaneen diocese. And each diocese is called to designate one or more sites as places of local Jubilee pilgrimages, which you may visit.

If you’re looking for something quieter, consider a personal retreat. Retreat centres and institutions throughout South Africa organise a range of directed retreats. Explore the various retreat options available in your diocese.

6. Read about hope

The emphasis of this Jubilee year is on hope, something that is in short supply in our world today. We are called to be People of Hope. For this, we need to increase our own hope. There is excellent Catholic literature that delves into this theme.

Among my favourites are Joyce Rupp’s Constant Hope: Reflections and Meditations to Strengthen the Spirit and Henri Nouwen’s Turning my Mourning into Dancing: Finding Hope in Hard Times. What is your favourite Christian literature about hope? Share it with others!

7. Revitalise your prayer routine

When I was younger, I often used imaginative prayer — placing myself into the Gospel stories and listening to what the Holy Spirit might be telling me. I haven’t done this in years. Now the Liturgy of the Hours is my go-to prayer.

A Jubilee Year is an opportunity to allow the Holy Spirit to break through the mundane and lead us to new life in Christ. Try journalling or using Gregorian chant during your prayer time. How about the ancient practice of Lectio Divina or making a Spiritual Daily Order?

8. Partake in the sacraments regularly

Pilgrims to Rome receive plenary indulgences by walking through the Holy Doors, making a good confession and receiving the Eucharist (see page 12). This is part of our spiritual renewal, a reminder to enter more deeply into the sacramental life of the Church. By receiving the sacraments regularly, we become increasingly filled with God’s life-transforming grace.

Are you a lukewarm Catholic? This Jubilee Year, you could commit to attending Sunday Mass every week. If you are a regular churchgoer, how about committing to daily Mass during the Jubilee Year? Perhaps you are called to become an extraordinary minister of the Eucharist or take Communion to the sick.

It’s also a good time to receive the sacrament of reconciliation, especially if you haven’t been to confession in a while. If you never got around to receiving the sacrament of confirmation, join your parish’s RCIA programme to complete your sacraments of initiation. If you are experiencing physical or mental anguish, ask for the sacrament of healing.

There are, of course, many other ways of making the Jubilee Year 2025 a special time of spiritual renewal and growth. May your Jubilee be filled with blessings and spiritual regeneration!

Sarah-Leah Pimentel is a media practitioner and a RCIA facilitator currently based in Cape Town.

Published in the January2025 issue of The Southern Cross magazine