The Calling of the Apostles St. James and St. John
PILGRIMS OF HOPE
Pope Francis chose these three words to describe the theme of the 2025 Jubilee year and the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council.
The Council chose similes, metaphors, and images to describe the Church. Chapter VII of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church speaks of the Church as a Pilgrim Church.
Pilgrims set out on a journey, perhaps a quest. Pilgrims are people with a goal. Pilgrims desire an end that brings some completeness, fulfillment, perfection.
Prior to the Council, the image of the Church was as a static institution. The Church was complete, nothing was lacking, nothing needed to be discovered or added. The 1917 Code of Canon Law describes the Church as “a perfect society.”
A Pilgrim Church is a church called to change and grow. The fulfillment sought by the Church is tied to its willingness to change and to be renewed in its mission of bringing the Good News of God’s mercy and compassion to a secular world that sees no need for God.
A Pilgrim Church is on the road. It has a goal and mission. It is not yet complete. It is called to grow and mature. Saint John Newman writes, “To grow is to change, and to have changed often is to have grown perfect.”
All of this is tied to Synodality—the process by which we listen to each other with open minds and willing hearts, knowing that the Spirit has something yet to reveal.
To prepare for the Jubilee Year, let us listen to each other with the ear of the heart.
Father Stephen Adrian
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