Bishop Solis opens Jubilee Year in Utah

Friday, Jan. 10, 2025

SALT LAKE CITY — On Dec. 29, the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, hundreds of faithful gathered in the courtyard of the Cathedral of the Madeleine as Bishop Oscar A. Solis celebrated the Rite of the Opening of the Jubilee Year.

The tradition of a Jubilee Year goes back to Old Testament times. The Book of Leviticus decreed that one would be held every 50 years; it was a time when the Jews were to “proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants,” return property, and neither sow nor reap. In earlier times the Catholic Church also celebrated a Jubilee every 50 years; in more modern times it has been called every 25 years.

Pope Francis has declared the Jubilee Year 2025 an “event of great spiritual, ecclesial, and social significance in the life of the Church.”

In a 2022 letter that announced the Jubilee 2025, Pope Francis wrote, “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. 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. ...”

The Holy Father inaugurated the Jubilee Year on Dec. 24 by opening the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica. On Dec. 29, the Holy Door at the Papal Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome was opened, “a celebration marking the beginning of the jubilee year in all dioceses” in the world, according to vaticannews.va.

In the Diocese of Salt Lake City at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, two celebrations were held, one preceding the 11 a.m. Mass in English, the other before the 3 p.m. Mass in Spanish. Bishop Solis presided at the events and Father John Evans, vicar general, was among the concelebrants. Both ceremonies began with a procession that started in the cathedral courtyard. The ministers were vested in white, symbolizing joy. 

Following the introductory prayers, the bishop addressed those gathered, saying in part, “In fellowship with the universal Church, as we celebrate the love of the Father that reveals itself in the flesh of the Word made man and in the sign of the Cross, anchor of salvation, we solemnly open the Jubilee Year for the Church of Salt Lake City. This rite is for us the prelude to a rich experience of grace and mercy; we are ready always to respond to whoever asks the reason for the hope that is in us, especially in this time of war and disorder.”

The bishop then asked Christ to “be our companion on the journey in this year of grace and consolation,” and prayed that the Holy Spirit, “who today begins this work both in us and with us, brings it to completion in the day of Christ Jesus.”

After the deacon proclaimed the Gospel Jn 14:1-7, a lector read selected paragraphs from the Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee Year that addressed hope, ending with, “By his perennial presence in the life of the pilgrim Church, the Holy Spirit illumines all believers with the light of hope. He keeps that light burning, like an ever-burning lamp, to sustain and invigorate our lives. Christian hope does not deceive or disappoint because it is grounded in the certainty that nothing and no one may ever separate us from God’s love.”

At the end of the reading, participants processed from the courtyard and around to the front entrance of the cathedral. They were led by an altar server carrying a thurifer with smoking incense, a cross embedded with a relic of the True Cross, other altar servers carrying candles, the choir, the deacon with the Gospel Book, Bishop Solis and other ministers, and members of the congregation. 

The Litany of the Saints was sung during the procession.

The procession stopped at the front of the door of the cathedral. Bishop Solis took the cross, raised it, and invited the people to venerate it, saying, “Hail, Cross of Christ, our only hope.”

The people responded, “You are our hope; we will never be confounded.” 

They then entered the cathedral. At the baptismal font inside, Bishop Solis blessed the water, then passed through the nave of the cathedral, sprinkling the congregation with holy water. The Jubilee cross was placed in the side altar on the east side, where it will remain for the entire Jubilee Year so that people may venerate it.

Bishop Solis concentrated much of his homily on the Holy Family, saying that the feast reflects “the importance of the family in our faith and society among the changes and challenges it faces these days.”

Although Mary and Joseph may appear to be perfect, they “had their share of their troubles, like regular families encounter,” he said. For example, Joseph worked as a carpenter to provide for his family, they feared for their safety as King Herod tried to kill Jesus, they experienced being refugees in their flight to Egypt and, as the Gospel reading told, they worried as they lost Jesus for three days before finding him in the temple.

“So they were not exempt from all of the normal problems and difficulties that families experience,” the bishop said. “However, despite all of those challenges, they were in total peace, complete harmony and in perfect love because of their faith in God. It became the source for them of their strength, courage, perseverance and hope. So the Holy Family – Mary, Joseph and Jesus – teach us to put God as the cornerstone of the family and our very own priority in life.”

Although in today’s society many families are being torn apart and have lost God in their lives, there is hope, Bishop Solis said. “Today, in this Mass, we join Pope Francis and the Catholic Church all over the world in opening the Jubilee Year 2025. The Holy Father explains that the Jubilee is a time of grace, of prayer and renewal of our faith in God. The concepts of hope, mercy and forgiveness are the heart of this holy year that leads us to conversion, not condemnation, and to bring about reconciliation and peace in the midst of polarization and division in our family and society. So our Holy Father calls us to be pilgrims of hope, to journey as one church. Our hope is founded on God’s love and mercy. St. John wrote, ‘Think of the love that the Father has lavished upon us by letting us be called children of God,’ and this is who we are: children of God; we are brothers and sisters, one family in God. On this feast of the Holy Family, as we open the year of hope, Jubilee 2025, let us all place our families under the loving embrace and protection of the eternal family of the Father, of the Son and the Holy Spirit. May Jesus, Mary and Joseph bless and protect our families now and forever. Amen.”       

Among those who attended the celebrations of the opening of the Jubilee Year was Maribel Santana, a Cathedral of the Madeleine parishioner, who had tears in her eyes after Bishop Solis blessed the congregation with holy water. “I hope that with this Jubilee of Hope God will protect us from all the evils of this world, and will give us strength to keep on going,” she said.