What is a Holy Door and where can I find one?

When I grew up in Southern California, the doors to my home were always holy to me. We were a large Catholic family, and we moved around according to our economic reality. So, we lived in a lot of houses. The doors to those houses were the passage from the world outside, where there was still a lot of mystery, to a safe and usually happy place where I could be with the people I loved most.

During the Jubilee Year of Mercy in 2015-2016, Pope Francis had extended the jubilee’s Holy Door tradition, which had previously been limited to the Vatican basilicas, to all the bishops, so that they might in turn welcome pilgrims through the Holy Doors of their cathedral church and thus receive the special blessings and indulgences of the Holy Year.        

This holy passage symbolizes Jesus, who is the Way for all humanity to follow, like the gate for the sheep, so that we might receive and experience salvation.

During this Holy Year of Hope, Pope Francis has designated only the Holy Doors at the Vatican and in Rome as well as those of a Roman prison, almost to signify our common need for liberation from sin as we, together, enter a pilgrimage of hope.

The U.S. bishops have designated the Basilica of National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington as the place to receive special jubilee indulgences. And individual bishops have likewise also designated jubilee pilgrimage sites where we can more readily receive jubilee indulgences

Where can you find these holy sites of pilgrimage in your own diocese? Here are a few links to help plan your own pilgrimage:

— USCCB website for the Jubilee Year of Hope: www.usccb.org/jubilee2025

— National shrines and pilgrimage sites in the U.S: www.catholicshrines.org/jubileeofhope

— Or, check your own diocesan website (archbalt.org) or office of evangelization.

It is good to seek safety and serenity, especially in the difficult times such as we live in. Hope is not always easily pursued. It in fact sometimes calls for grit and determination. But as the great St. Paul assures us, it never disappoints. And so, it is good to be on a pilgrimage of some kind during these special days.

Even if one cannot physically make a pilgrimage to the sacred places that the church sets aside, every Catholic can experience the indulgence of God’s grace by entering the holy doors of one’s own parish “home” and being intentional about receiving the sacraments.

Enter the journey of hope, and allow Jesus to show you the way to the Father. Open the doors of your heart and allow Father’s mercy to enter in. It is the Jubilee Year of Hope.

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