At a Mass on Jan. 1, 2025 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle marking the opening of the Jubilee Year, Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory prayed that people would find hope in Christ and be guided by that hope.
“I wish all of you a happy new and holy year filled with hope,” the cardinal said in his closing remarks, later adding, “As we journey as pilgrims of hope, may Christ who is our hope guide all of us throughout this holy year.”
Pope Francis on Christmas Eve had opened the holy door of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, launching a “Jubilee of Hope” for the holy year 2025, which runs through Jan. 6, 2026 and has as its theme “Pilgrims of Hope.”
The New Year’s Day Mass at Washington’s Catholic cathedral also marked the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. Before the Mass, the cathedral’s organist played “Ave Maria,” and then a special Jubilee Hymn was sung as the Mass started. Cardinal Gregory stood at the back of the church and offered a prayer, asking God to “bless the start of our pilgrim journey.” The cardinal prayed that God would help heal people’s broken hearts, help free people from sin and hatred and find the joy of the Holy Spirit, “so that they may walk with renewed hope toward their longed-for destiny, Christ your Son and our Savior.”
During that opening prayer service, a cathedral lector, Val Dolcini, read an excerpt from Spes Non Confundit, (“Hope Does Not Disappoint”) the papal bull announcing the Holy Year: “May the Jubilee be a moment of genuine, personal encounter with the Lord Jesus, the ‘door’ of our salvation, whom the Church is charged to proclaim always, everywhere and to all as ‘our hope.’ 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…”
The concelebrants at the Mass included Washington Auxiliary Bishops Roy Campbell Jr., Juan Esposito and Evelio Menjivar; and Msgr. W. Ronald Jameson, the cathedral’s rector.
In his homily, Cardinal Gregory noted that, “Because it is the first day of the New Year, it offers us a spirit of new beginnings and renewed hope, especially as we begin this Jubilee Year of Hope.”
The cardinal pointed out that the day also marked the end of the eight-day octave of Christmas.
“The Christmas gift of the Prince of Peace is an event far too wonderful to be satisfied with a simple celebration on Christmas Day itself,” he said.
Cardinal Gregory said the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God is the Catholic Church’s “official celebration of Mother’s Day… We pause on this day to remember Mary, the mother of God, Jesus’s own mother, and the mother of our Church.”
The Catholic Church also commemorates the World Day of Peace on Jan. 1. Noting the need for peace in areas plagued by war and violence throughout the world, the cardinal said, “This morning, our hearts join the hearts of the people in New Orleans who have suffered another act of incredible violence.” Early on New Year’s Day in New Orleans, a man drove a truck into a crowd, killing at least 15 people and injuring 35 others in what may have been a terrorist attack.
Washington’s archbishop added that the conclusion of the holiday season offers a time for “fervent hope and prayer that the mother of the Prince of Peace will bless our world, bless our Church, bless our communities, our neighborhoods and our own special loved ones with peace.” Concluding his homily, the cardinal said, “Today we start this year of hope, and my hope for you is that this entire year would be filled with peace.”
In remarks after Communion, the cathedral’s rector, Msgr. Jameson, thanked people for joining the Mass opening the Jubilee Year in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.
“We are called to be pilgrims of hope to everyone around us, even in the most difficult and challenging situations, and we know that Jesus will sustain us,” Msgr. Jameson said.
Before the end of the Mass, Cardinal Gregory acknowledged pilgrims in the front rows of the cathedral who represented Jubilee Churches in the archdiocese, where the faithful can make pilgrimages during the holy year and gain an indulgence. (Information on the granting of indulgences during the Jubilee Year can be found at the end of this article.)
The following are the Jubilee Churches within The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington:
- Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington D.C.
- Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, Washington D.C.
- Holy Comforter - Saint Cyprian Catholic Church, Washington D.C.
- Shrine of Saint Jude the Apostle, Rockville, Maryland
- Saint John Neumann Catholic Church, Gaithersburg, Maryland
- Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Bowie, Maryland
- Saint Bernard of Clairvaux Catholic Church, Riverdale, Maryland
- Saint Anthony Catholic Church, North Beach, Maryland
- Sacred Heart Catholic Church, La Plata, Maryland
- Saint Aloysius Catholic Church, Leonardtown, Maryland
- Saint John Paul II National Shrine, Washington D.C.
- University of Maryland Catholic Student Center, College Park, Maryland
One of the prayer intentions offered at the Mass was that the Jubilee Churches in the archdiocese may become beacons of hope.
The pilgrims from Jubilee Churches attending the Jan. 1 Mass at St. Matthew’s Cathedral included Jim Hoffman and Catherine Stewart from St. Aloysius Parish in Leonardtown. Hoffman – a retired engineer who worked at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River – noted that was his first time in the cathedral. He said attending the Mass opening the Jubilee Year that was also honored the Blessed Mother was “absolutely an incredible way to start the year.”
Hoffman, a member of the Knights of Columbus, said he hoped the holy year would inspire people to engage in “extra spiritual and corporal works of mercy.”
Stewart – a retired human resources specialist for the federal government who now works as a substitute teacher at a middle school – volunteers with the St. Vincent de Paul Society at her Southern Maryland parish. She hopes the Jubilee Year spurs people to help those in need, and also to “pray, pray, pray. We need peace in the world,” she said.
Rachel Mroz and Luz Gaytan from the Catholic Student Center at the University of Maryland in College Park were also among the Jubilee Church representatives at the cathedral’s New Year’s Day Mass. The students there are popularly known as “Catholic Terps,” a nickname drawn from the Maryland Terrapins’ sports teams.
Mroz – a junior from St. Mary’s County majoring in information science – said that as a Catholic Terp, she hoped that “the Catholic Student Center can be a sign of hope. It’s filled with so many young people who are alive and on fire with Christ, and they desire to share that same hope with the world, especially with the campus around them.”
Gaytan – a sophomore from Prince George’s County majoring in accounting at the University of Maryland – said, “This year is a chance to help others see the beauty in Christ, and share their testimony with other people.”
The Indulgence of the Jubilee Year
Text adapted from: Decree on the Granting of the Indulgence During The Ordinary Jubilee Year 2025 Called by His Holiness Pope Francis By The Apostolic Penitentiary
All the faithful, who are truly repentant and free from any affection for sin who are moved by a spirit of charity and who, during the Holy Year, purified through the sacrament of Penance and refreshed by Holy Communion, pray for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff, 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 in the following ways:
The faithful, pilgrims of hope, will be able to obtain the Jubilee Indulgence granted by the Holy Father if they undertake a pious pilgrimage: to any sacred Jubilee site: by devoutly participating in Holy Mass, a celebration of the Word of God; the Liturgy of the Hours; the Via Crucis; the Marian Rosary; the recitation of the Akathist hymn; a penitential celebration, which ends with the individual confessions of the penitents, as established in the Rite of Penance (form II);
Likewise, the faithful can obtain the Jubilee Indulgence if, individually or in a group, they devoutly visit any Jubilee site and there, for a suitable period of time, engage in Eucharistic adoration and meditation, concluding with the Our Father, the Profession of Faith in any legitimate form, and invocations to Mary, the Mother of God, so that in this Holy Year everyone “will come to know the closeness of Mary, the most affectionate of mothers, who never abandons her children.”
The faithful who are truly repentant of sin but who cannot participate in the various solemn celebrations, pilgrimages and pious visits for serious reasons, can obtain the Jubilee Indulgence, under the same conditions if, united in spirit with the faithful taking part in person, they recite the Our Father, the Profession of Faith in any approved form, and other prayers in conformity with the objectives of the Holy Year, in their homes or wherever they are confined offering up their sufferings or the hardships of their lives.
Link to livestream of Jan. 1 Mass for the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God and the Opening of the Jubilee Year 2025 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C.:
