January 26, 2025 - Pastor Message
February 23, 2025JUBILEE 2025
JUBILEE 2025
HOLY DOORS
“Jesus said, ‘Amen, amen I say to you: I am the gate of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; he who enters through me will be saved and will go in and go out and find pasture. A thief does not come except to steal and destroy and kill; I came that they may have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:7-10).
One of the key symbols of a jubilee year in the Church is the Holy Door. Christians throughout the world make pilgrimages to pass through the Holy Doors and visit the churches designated for that purpose, thus fulfilling one of the conditions for receiving the jubilee indulgence I discussed in an earlier column. But what is a Holy Door, and what does it have to do with the jubilee?
A Holy Door symbolizes multiple aspects of the jubilee. First and most importantly, it symbolizes Jesus Christ, who in the passage from the Gospel of John above calls himself “the gate” through whom we find salvation and life. This is the primary theme of a jubilee year, God’s saving mercy in Jesus, and by passing through a Holy Door, we renew our commitment to leave our old life behind and be renewed by Christ. Holy Doors also grant us access to church buildings, sacred places dedicated to God for divine worship, which symbolize the sheepfold of Christ where we are fed by the grace of God’s Word and sacraments, especially Christ’s own Body and Blood in the Eucharist. Christ is not only the gate but the “Good Shepherd” who lays down his life for his sheep (John 10:14-15), the very sacrifice we offer in the Eucharist. As a symbol of the sheepfold of Christ, churches also symbolize the communion we share with one another through him as members of “one flock with one shepherd” (John 10:16). By entering the designated churches through a Holy Door, we renew not only our commitment to Christ but to the communion we share with one another, putting aside our sins and divisions and being reconciled with God and one another through Christ.
Holy Doors have been a central part of jubilee years since as far back as 1423, when Pope Martin V opened the first Holy Door at the cathedral of Rome, St. John Lateran. Today, there are four Holy Doors for each jubilee year at the four major basilicas in Rome: St. Peter’s, St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major, and St. Paul’s Outside the Walls. Pope Francis has also designated a fifth Holy Door for Jubilee 2025 at Rebibbia prison in Rome to enable those incarcerated there to participate in the jubilee as well. In the United States, sacred sites designated for pilgrimage during the jubilee, with the indulgence attached, include the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC, as well as several other shrines listed at https://www.catholicshrines.org/jubileeofhope. Finally, in our own diocese, Bishop Persico has designated St. Peter Cathedral here in Erie and St. Leo Magnus church in Ridgeway as sacred pilgrimage sites for the jubilee. Consider making a visit to one of these sites and passing through a Holy Door as part of your jubilee celebration and be renewed in your communion with God and his people through the gate of mercy, Jesus Christ.
Fr. Marc Stockton
-
Current News