The entrance of the Cross through the door of the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth marks the start of the Jubilee in the Holy Land.

On Sunday 29 December, the feast-day of the Holy Family, following the indications of the Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee “Spes non confundit”, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, like all the bishops in the world, opened the Holy Year for the diocese of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which in addition to Israel and the Palestinian Territories, also includes Jordan and Cyprus.

At his side there were the Maronite archbishop of Haifa and the Holy Land, Moussa Hage, and the Greek Catholic (Melkite) archbishop of Acre, Haifa, Nazareth and Galilee, Yousef Matta. This is a way of emphasizing the unity between the various Catholic rites which live in the Holy Land.

Indulgence and conversion

The start of the celebration took place in the lower part of the Basilica. After the entrance, the Patriarch, with all the bishops and major superiors of the Holy Land and the concelebrants – about 150 priests in all – went to the Grotto of the Annunciation.

After a brief moment of personal prayer, some passages of the Bull “Spes non confundit” were read and the Patriarch addressed to all those present some words on the meaning of the jubilee indulgence: “The Holy Year is the favorable time to put ourselves before God. Before him, we discover we are sinners and need forgiveness. During the Jubilee, we have the privilege of obtaining from God  complete forgiveness for our sins, but indulgence is not something we obtain buying it, but which we obtain with conversion.”

The Jubilee Cross

This was followed by the aspersion of those present with holy water, the sign of the baptism.  The priests in a procession, to the singing of the hymn of the Jubilee, went up to the  upper part of the Basilica, for the second part of the celebration. The Jubilee Cross – a work by the iconographer Maria Ruiz, which will be present in all the Jubilee sites in the Holy Land – was placed next to the altar.

At the end of the celebration, a reproduction of the Jubilee Cross was given to all the members of the Assembly of the Catholic ordinaries in the Holy Land, as well as to the bishops, the Custos of the Holy Land and the other major superiors present.

A Jubilee for the Holy Land

In his homily, the Patriarch emphasized how the virtue of hope, at the centre of the Jubilee Year, needs faith and patience to be lived to the full. “The certainty that nothing will separate us from God’s love, and the security that we draw from his faithfulness are the foundation of our hope.”

The reality of the Holy land, which has been plunged in war for 15 months, suggested the reflection  of the Jubilee as a time of renewal and liberation. “We are all prisoners of this war. We are imprisoned, trapped in our fears, which do not allow us any courage, no trusting view and therefore no hope in others and in the future. We really need a jubilee year so that God can cancel our debts, so that he can lift the unbearable burden of our sins and fears from our shoulders and hearts, so that he can bring light back into our eyes, For this is the meaning of the indulgence we can obtain this year: to receive forgiveness from God so that He may reopen our hearts again to trust and hope, so that He may forget our sin completely and allow us to resume our journey to heaven with a new spirit.”