Jubilee Year 2025 'Fan the flame of hope' BY CINDY WOODEN Catholic News Service
who died on the Cross more than 2,000 years ago.” “Tiene la firma de Dios”. (It has God’s signature.) He added, “The proof leaves scientists speechless.” His Conversion Dr. Castañon himself did not always believe. “ El Milagro me llevo a la fe”. (The miracle brought me to faith.) Although he was raised Catholic, he left his faith behind for science. He recalled that until his conversion, he had never had a relationship with Jesus. “I was an atheist because I did not know Christ,” he said. He recounted that his mother prayed 25 years for his conversion. He was 44 years old when his mother’s prayers were answered. After studying the Eucharistic miracles, Dr. Castañon’s life changed. He started the International Group for Peace to study Catholic reports of miracles around the world. All his work is privately funded, and he does not charge the Church for his work. On the topic of miracles and their significance in the Church, Dr. Castañon pointed out that over the course of time, God gives us gifts, he gives us evidence. Just as God reveals himself through the stories in the Bible and tells his history, he gives us tangible proof that the Eucha- rist is not merely a symbol. Dr. Castañon referenced one of the earliest reported Eucharistic miracles, from the eighth century in Lanciano, Italy. While celebrating Mass, a priest who had experienced doubts about the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, witnessed the host at the time of consecration transformed into actual flesh, and the wine became blood. “God is a good teacher. He comes to help us with miracles,” Dr. Castañon said. La Vida en Gracia Dr. Castañon noted sadly that people today have lost their way be- cause they have not taken care of their spiritual lives. “It important to live life in a state of grace so that we can give wit- ness to God. “¡Tenemos que dar testimonio vivo!” he said. To do this, he said, “We need to rescue our spiritual lives.” “Reporters ask what the significance of the results is for me,” he said. “My response: ‘Que la palabra de Dios se cumple’.” (That the Word of God is fulfilled.) “Está el Señor presente y vivo. (God is present and alive.),” he said. “The miracle demonstrates that what we believe is true.” 0
T he Jubilee Year 2025 is a significant event in the Catholic Church, marking a year of special spiritual graces and in- dulgences. The concept of a jubilee year is based on the Old Testament, where every 50 years, debts were forgiven, and slaves were freed (Leviticus 25:10-13). Throughout Church his- tory, the frequency of this celebration has varied and is now set to every 25 years. This is an opportunity to invite the faithful to pilgrimage, prayer, and penance. Pope Francis has called for the Jubilee Year 2025 to focus on the theme “Pilgrims of Hope,” encouraging the faithful to renew their commitment to living out the Christian virtues of faith, hope, and charity. “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,” he wrote in his letter announcing the Jubilee year. He said, “The forthcoming Jubilee can contribute greatly to restoring a climate of hope and trust as a prelude to the renewal and rebirth that we so urgently desire; that is why I have chosen as the motto of the Jubilee, Pilgrims of Hope.” Millions of pilgrims are expected to travel to Rome to pass through the Holy Doors of the four major basilicas. These sealed doors are opened by the pope at the beginning of the jubilee. Pilgrims who enter through these doors and go to confession, receive the Eucharist, and pray for the pope's intentions, can re- ceive a plenary indulgence. While the Jubilee 2025 will not include the opening of a Holy Door in the Diocese of Brownsville, Bishop Daniel E. Flores has designated four churches in the Rio Grande Valley (one in each county) as pilgrimage holy sites for the Jubilee Year 2025. The pilgrimage sites are the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Brownsville, the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Val- le-National Shrine in San Juan, Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Raymondville and Immaculate Conception Church in Rio Grande City. A pilgrimage visit to any of these sites can apply to the reception of the Jubilee indulgence. Jubilee indulgence For centuries a feature of holy year celebrations has been the
indulgence, which the Church describes as a remission of the temporal punishment a person is due for their sins. The norms for receiving an indulgence during the Holy Year were signed by Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, the new head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, a Vatican court dealing with matters of conscience and with the granting of indulgences. The basic conditions, he wrote, are that a person is “moved by a spirit of charity,” is “purified through the sacrament of penance and refreshed by Holy Communion” and prays for the pope. Along with a pilgrimage, a work of mercy or an act of penance, a Catholic “will be able to obtain from the treasury of the Church a plenary indulgence, with remission and forgiveness of all their sins, which can be applied in suffrage to the souls in Purgatory.” People who cannot leave their residence – “especially clois- tered nuns and monks, but also the elderly, the sick, prisoners and those who, through their work in hospitals or other care facilities, provide continuous service to the sick” – can spiritu- ally join a pilgrimage and receive the indulgence, according to the norms. Visiting the sick or a prisoner, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked or welcoming a migrant, “in a sense making a pilgrim- age to Christ present in them,” can be another way to receive the indulgence, the cardinal said, adding that an indulgence could be obtained each day from such acts of mercy. “The Jubilee Plenary Indulgence can also be obtained through initiatives that put into practice, in a concrete and gen- erous way, the spirit of penance which is, in a sense, the soul of the Jubilee,” he wrote, highlighting in particular abstaining on Fridays from “futile distractions” like social media or from "su- perfluous consumption” by not eating meat. “Supporting works of a religious or social nature, especially in support of the defense and protection of life in all its phases,” helping a young person in difficulty or a recently-arrived mi- grant or immigrant – anything involving “dedicating a reason- able portion of one's free time to voluntary activities that are of service to the community or to other similar forms of personal commitment” also are paths toward an indulgence, he said. 0
Dr. Ricardo Castañon Gomez, who studies Eucharistic miracles around the world, , presented the evidence of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist to those attending the half-day “Milagro de Amor” Conference at Resurrection Parish in Alamo Oct. 26. (TVC photo/Angelica Corona)
The Valley Catholic staff contributed to this report.
Words connected to the Jubilee
• Jubilee Year : A special year of remission of sins and universal pardon, celebrated every 25 years. • Extraordinary Jubilee: A Jubilee Year • Holy Door: A door in each of the four major basilicas in Rome, opened only during a Jubilee Year, symbolizing the path to salvation. outside the regular 25-year cycle, proclaimed for a special reason.
• Indulgence: The remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins, whose guilt has already been forgiven. • Pilgrimage: A journey to a holy site
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as an act of religious devotion. • Penance: Acts of repentance, confession, and reconciliation initiated by the faithful.
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