The Church has chosen Advent to mark the beginning of its new year, as it represents the time in its history when Christ as not known to us. With His birth, which we joyously celebrate on Christmas, our faith was founded.
This year, the season will be even more special: 2025 is a Jubilee Year. A jubilee year is traditionally proclaimed by the Church every 25 years. It is a particular year set aside to encourage the faithful to embark on pilgrimages, to repent of their sins and forgive others their sins, and to renew a focus on the spiritual life.
In the Hebrew tradition, as recorded in Leviticus, a jubilee was celebrated every 50 years with the freeing of slaves and the forgiveness of debts. Pope Boniface instituted the first jubilee in 1300, and since then, the Church has designated each new jubilee as a special year of grace and forgiveness, offering the faithful an opportunity to obtain a plenary indulgence.
The theme of the 2025 jubilee is “Pilgrims of Hope.” The jubilee begins on December 24 with the official Opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, and runs to January 6, 2026, the Feast Day of the Epiphany, with the Closing of the Holy Door.
Even if you cannot make a pilgrimage to the Holy Sites during the jubilee year, now is the perfect time to re-evaluate and rekindle your relationship with God. But no matter how good our intentions, God seems to get replaced by the myriad distractions of our busy, 21st century lives.
God wants to have a relationship with us. Still, it’s hard to know how to begin if prayer does not come naturally. Here are some ideas:
Examine your schedule.
Try to find pockets of availability for prayer. Chances are you have more “un-booked” time that you think.
Start small.
Begin with short periods of reflection of meditation, even if only for a few minutes a day.
Be spontaneous.
Pray throughout the day. Check-in with God during your commutes, exercise regimen, household chores or while you’re waiting in the check-out lane of the grocery store.
Embrace silence.
We live in a noisy environment, to the point where silence can be deafening, even a bit threatening. Start by eliminating “background noise.” Turn off the radio in the car or the TV in the evening and “listen” to the universal message.
Express gratitude.
Simply stop at various points throughout the day to take stock of our blessings and utter a simple “Thank you” or “You are so good to me.”