The Opening of the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica, which will take place on Christmas Eve, 2024, signifies the official commencement of the Jubilee Year: Pilgrims of Hope. It will be first of four Holy Doors in Rome that will be opened during the Jubilee Year.
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.
TEACHING
From Incarnationis Mysterium, the Bull of Indiction of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 (Pope John Paul II):
“8. [The Holy Door] evokes the passage from sin to grace which every Christian is called to accomplish. Jesus said: “I am the door” (Jn 10:7), in order to make it clear that no one can come to the Father except through him. This designation which Jesus applies to himself testifies to the fact that he alone is the Saviour sent by the Father. There is only one way that opens wide the entrance into the life of communion with God: this is Jesus, the one and absolute way to salvation. To him alone can the words of the Psalmist be applied in full truth: “This is the door of the Lord where the just may enter” (Ps 118:20).
“To focus upon the door is to recall the responsibility of every believer to cross its threshold. To pass through that door means to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord; it is to strengthen faith in him in order to live the new life which he has given us. It is a decision which presumes freedom to choose and also the courage to leave something behind, in the knowledge that what is gained is divine life (cf. Mt 13:44-46).”
TESTIMONY
“I was not prepared to feel anything going through the Holy Door, other than the awe that St Peter’s generates in tourist and pilgrim alike. But, as I’m sure many people have found before me, my inner journey reflected the other journey of pilgrimage. The short walk down towards the Vatican, thinking and reflecting on mercy, on the connection with my fellow pilgrims and my family brought me into the right place spiritually to embrace the loving mercy of God in my life.
“I did not find strength going through the Holy Door. I found humility, at my ignorance and arrogance of the Way of Mercy and the blessings that come from Holy Doors. It brought me to acknowledgment of my sins and the ever present mercy of Christ willing to forgive me. I understood that I was very small going through that door, I was a sinner but I was still called into the hugeness of the mercy of God. Then I realised that recognising this truth is the real strength.”
– Martha Behan (From the Diocese of Westminster)
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
For all pilgrims to Rome during the Jubilee Year, that by passing through the Holy Doors they may be reminded of their own journey from sin to grace.
We pray to the Lord.
That the Jubilee Year will help us strengthen our hope in God; and that through our witness, this hope will spread to all those who seek it.
We pray to the Lord.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Incarnationis Mysterium, the Bull of Indiction of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 (Pope John Paul II).
Spes non Confundit, the Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025 (Pope Francis).
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