What is a Jubilee?

A Jubilee is a special year of grace and conversion, involving prayer, pilgrimage and sacramental repentance, held every 25 years, or during other years as called for by the Pope. Through a series of concrete rituals, acts and commitments, the goal of a Jubilee year is to inspire and encourage holiness of life among the faithful and therefore to strengthen the Church’s witness to God’s loving mercy in and for the world.

The word “jubilee” is derived from the Hebrew word jobel, which means “ram’s horn”; since it was precisely that horn which was used as a trumpet, whose sound indicated to everybody the beginning of the jubilee year. The book of Leviticus, in the code of holiness, is the source which tells us of the significance of the jubilee year, a year of liberation “par excellence,” which is at the end of seven weeks of years, the fiftieth year.

Message from Most Rev. Tim Harris

Bishop of Townsville

Dear Friends

The Diocese of Townsville will be celebrating this Year of Hope in the spirit of its meaning. I have asked our Priests as respective leaders in their parishes and places of ministry, to be Prophets of Hope in what they do and say especially in 2025.

As Pope Francis has said: ‘We must fan the flame of hope’ and share it with the world as we look to the future.

The first sign of hope should be the desire for peace in our world and in ourselves. This hope is not a secular one but anchored to Christ who is our only hope.

MOST REV TIMOTHY J HARRIS
Bishop of Townsville

Jubilee 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.