ON PRIESTLY JUBILEE CELEBRATION

Emeasoba Gabriel Uchechimezie (Rev. Fr)

The human race has always felt the need of a priesthood: of men, that is, who have the official charge to be mediators between God and humanity, men who should consecrate themselves entirely to this mediation, as to the very purpose of their lives, men set aside to offer to God public prayers and sacrifices in the name of human society. For human society as such is bound to offer to God public and social worship.

It was with these gracious words that Pope Pius XI, in his encyclical letter, Catholici Sacerdotii captured the cumulative relevance and raison detre of the priesthood for all societies of the human race. So much have priests been valued to the extent that both cultural anthropologists and sociologists across the centuries have never failed to remark the presence in all societies of a form of cultic priesthood through which function the natural human desire for auto-transcendence which connects men and women to the supernatural is met. Whether they are found in African Traditional Religion or in oriental religions, priests are absolutely placed symbolically between the human and divine world as go betweens and touchstones of mysterious realities and exchange. They contribute to the spiritual maintenance and regeneration of the human society, and in most places, even provide the basic substrate even for its social development. But notice that there is an essential difference between the priesthood that has been part and parcel of human culture even from pristine societies (including the Levitic priesthood of old Israel) and the caste of priesthood instituted by Christ on that night He was to be betrayed at the last supper. Before that historic and sacramental action by Christ, priests were merely mediators between man and God, and at best, go betweens that stood at the juncture of humanity and divinity. They performed sacrifices to God on behalf of men and women of their time and related to their people the will of the Unkown, Unheard and the Unseen deity. But with Christ, the nature of the priesthood was to change permanently. They were no longer just to become mediators and doors to the sacred, somewhat sitting outside the very divine realties they communed with; the ministerial priesthood of Christ left in the Catholic Church was to be such that would be intimately configured to God in Christ in such a way that the priest himself will signify what he symbolizes and as well symbolize what he signifies. It was a miracle that mere mortal man, beginning with the twelve apostles, could become another Christ - alter Christus capitis. Not even the angels in all their magnificence and purity could enjoy such glorious and mysterious invitation, elevation and privilege.

Hence, from one generation to the next and across the centuries, the Catholic priest at mass proclaims those sacred words of consecration on simple bread and wine and they become so potent as to repeat the mystery of the incarnation on the Eucharistic table. At the confessional, he raises his hands and the guilt of mortal infirmity and sin with its attendant condemnation and death is resolved and absolved. At baptism, through his words and actions, he, by another divine unction and authority, reverts a deserved existing divine decree whose effect had taken its toll on creation right from the timeless ages. In simple words, he changes the destiny of created humanity. In his very being, the Catholic priest recovers the lost route to heaven and goes as far as opening the gates of heaven for numerous sons and daughters of God, revealing a permanent sign of the reign of God on earth and the presence of Christ in the Church for the salvation of the world. It is understandable therefore why the ordination of the Catholic priest produces enormous joy for the world, the Church and, indeed for Christians. For Catholic Christians, this joy is not and can never be exhausted on the days of their ordinations. Every serious Catholic faithful at the sight of a Catholic priest repeats the words of the kinsmen of Jesus after witnessing his numerous miracles finally God has visited his people. In his priestly identity, the Catholic priest continues in the world the work of restoration which was begun in Christ. In the priest, an era of grace and favour is once again declared for Gods people. Let it be said that the presence of the Catholic priest causes the faithful to jubilate and be blessed; it summarily inaugurates a jubilee for their faith and growth. When God allows a priest to serve him in his vineyard for twenty five or fifty years, it is unimaginable what moment of grace it is for the health of the Church and the restoration of Christians to beatitude and ultimately to God. Hence priestly silver jubilee is deferent from every other type of jubilee. It is the jubilee of jubilees because in one singular celebration, jubilee arrives at a jubilee. WHAT IS JUBILEE? But what best understanding can we carve out for the appreciation of the term jubilee within the Catholic Church and tradition? The preface to the apostolic letter issued by Pope John Paul II for the preparation for the jubilee of the year 2000 on November 10 1994 Tertio Millennio Adveniente gives a necessary summary to the Churchs idea and historical development of jubilee in the Roman Catholic tradition. In that document the Pope elaborately teaches that In the Roman Catholic tradition, a Holy Year, or Jubilee is a great religious event. It is a year of forgiveness of sins and also the punishment due to sin, it is a year of reconciliation between adversaries, of conversion and receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and consequently of solidarity, hope, justice, commitment to serve God with joy and in peace with our

brothers and sisters. A Jubilee year is above all the year of Christ, who brings life and grace to humanity. The origin of the Christian Jubilee goes back to Bible times. The Law of Moses prescribed a special year for the Jewish people: "You shall hallow the fiftieth year and proclaim the liberty throughout the land, to all its inhabitants; it shall be a jubilee for you when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his family. This fiftieth year is to be a jubilee year for you: you will not sow, you will not harvest the un-gathered corn, you will not gather the untrimmed vine. The jubilee is to be a holy thing to you, you will eat what comes from the fields."(The Book of Leviticus 25, 10-14) The trumpet with which this particular year was announced was a goat's horn called Yobel in Hebrew, and the origin of the word jubilee. The celebration of this year also included the restitution of land to the original owners, the remission of debts, the liberation of slaves and the land was left fallow. In the New Testament, Jesus presents himself as the One who brings the old Jubilee to completion, because he has come to "preach the year of the Lord's favour" (Isaiah 61: 1-2). The Jubilee is called Holy Year, not only because its begins, is marked, and ends with solemn holy acts, but also because its purpose is to encourage holiness of life. It was actually convoked to strengthen faith, encourage works of charity and brotherly communion within the Church and in society and to call Christians to be more sincere and coherent in their faith in Christ, the only Saviour. A Jubilee can be "ordinary" if it falls after the set period of years, and "extraordinary" when it is proclaimed for some outstanding event. There have been twenty-five "ordinary" Holy Years so far: the Year 2000 will be the 26th. The custom of calling "extraordinary" Jubilees began in the 16th century and they can vary in length from a few days to a year. There have been two extraordinary jubilees in this century: 1933 proclaimed by Pope Pius XI to mark the 1900th anniversary of Redemption and 1983 proclaimed by Pope John Paul II to mark 1950 years since the Redemption carried out by Christ through his Death and Resurrection in the year 33. In 1987 Pope John Paul II also proclaimed a Marian year. THE HISTORY OF JUBILEE IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH Pope John Paul II did not stop with the delineation of the meaning of jubilee in the Church; he went further into history to capture how the celebration of jubilee developed in the Church. According to him, The first ordinary Jubilee was proclaimed in 1300 by Pope Boniface VII a member of the noble Caetani family, with a Bull, "Antiquorum Habet Fida Relatio". Throughout Christendom (the known world

at that time) there was great suffering, caused by wars and diseases such as the plague and all kinds of ills: among the people there was a great desire to return to a more holy way of living. So with great faith the Christians determined to travel (on foot) to Rome, to pray at the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul and to receive the Pope's blessing, in order to obtain the grace and strength to carry on. They came in their thousands at Christmas in 1299. Due to their great number the Pope, having enquired and learned the reason for their coming, full of admiration for their faith proclaimed a "year of forgiveness of all sins". A similar year would be held in future, every hundred years. Outstanding names are recorded among the pilgrims of that first Jubilee: Dante, Cima Bue, Giotto, Carlo de Valois brother of the King of France, with his wife Catherine, Dante Alighiere who writes of the event in his "Divine Comedy" in Canto XXXI of Paradise. While the Apostolic See was transferred to Avignon in France (1305-1377) there were many requests for the second Jubilee to be held earlier, in 1350 instead of 1400. Clement VI gave his consent and set a period of fifty years between jubilees. Besides visiting the Basilicas built over the tombs of Peter and Paul, the pilgrims were also required to visit to Saint John Lateran, the city's Cathedral, being the first Church of the Bishop of Rome who is the Pope. Later, Pope Urban VI decided to reduce the period to thirty three years in memory of the earthly life of Jesus. When Pope Urban died, however, the new Pope, Boniface IX opened the Holy Door on Christmas Eve 1390, but since the numbers of pilgrims were so great he called a second Holy Year at Christmas 1400. In 1425, and not in 1433, as it had been formerly set, Pope Martin V proclaimed the Holy Year 1425 with two novelties: a special commemorative Jubilee Medal and the opening of a Holy Door in the Cathedral of Saint John in the Lateran. Nicholas V called the 1450 Holy Year and in 1470 Pope Paul II issued a Bull to fix the Jubilee for every twenty-five years. The next Holy Year 1475 was proclaimed by Sixtus IV. And for the occasion the Pope wished to adorn Rome with more works of art: he ordered the building of the Sistine Chapel and the Ponte Sisto or Sixtus Bridge over the River Tiber (both named after him). Several renowned artists were working in Rome at that time: Verroccio, Signiorelli, Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, Perugino, Pinturicchio, Melozzo da Forli. In 1500 Pope Alexander VI announced that the Doors in the four major basilicas would be opened contemporaneously, and that he himself would open the Holy Door of Saint Peter's. The ninth Jubilee was solemnly opened on December 24th 1524 by Pope Clement VII, at a time when there were already symptoms of the great crises which would soon tear the Church apart, with the Protestant Reform. The 1550 Jubilee was proclaimed by Paul II, but it was Pope Julius III who actually opened it. The remarkable afflux of pilgrims caused no few difficulties in the city and Saint Philip

Neri was among those who came to their help with his Holy Trinity Confraternity. It is recorded that in 1575, in the time of Pope Gregory XIII, as many as 300,000 people came to Rome from all over Europe. The next Holy Years were proclaimed by Clement VIII, (1600) Urban VIII (1650), Clement X (1675). Innocent X, who opened the Jubilee of the year 1700, is remembered especially for establishing one of Rome's most renowned charitable institutions, the Hospice St Michele a Ripa. Gradually other similar institutions were opened to offer shelter and assistance to pilgrims, as in the year 1725, the Holy Year called by Benedict XIII. A famous preacher during the Jubilee 1750, proclaimed by Benedict XIV, was Saint Leonardo da Porto Maurizio, the apostle of the Via Crucis, who set up 14 stations of the Cross inside the ruins of the Colosseum. Clement XIV announced the Jubilee of the Year 1775 but he died three months before Christmas and the Holy Door was opened by the new Pope, Pius VI. The difficult situation in which the Church found herself during the hegemonic rule of Napoleon prevented Pius VII from proclaiming the Jubilee of 1800. More than a half a million pilgrims made the journey to Rome for the Jubilee of 1825. As St Paul's Basilica was under new construction, having been destroyed by fire two years earlier, Pope Leo XII substituted the visit to St Paul's outside the walls with Santa Maria in Trastevere Basilica. Twenty five years later, the Holy Year could not be held because of the unsettled situation in the Roman Republic and temporary exile of Pius IX. However, this Pope did proclaim the Holy Year 1875, although there was no ceremony of the opening of the Door due to Rome's occupation by the troops of King Vittorio Emmanuele. It was Pope Leo XIII who called the 22nd Christian Jubilee which opened the 20th century of the Christian era, characterised by six beatifications and two canonizations, (Saint Jean Baptist de La Salle and Saint Rita da Cascia). In the Holy Year 1925, Pius XI wished to direct the attention of the faithful to the prodigious work of the missions. To gain the indulgence, the people were asked to pray (according to the intention of the Pope) for peace among peoples. In 1950, a few years after World War II, Pius XII called the Holy Year with the following indications: the sanctification of souls through prayer and penance and unfailing faith in Christ and the Church; action for peace and protection of the Holy Places; defence of the Church against constant attacks by her enemies; prayers for the gift of faith for those in error, and for unbelievers; the promotion of social justice and assistance of the poor and needy. It was during this year that the Pope defined the Assumption into Heaven of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, as a dogma of the Catholic faith. (November 1st, 1950). The last ordinary Jubilee was called in 1975 by Pope Paul VI with two main themes for reflection and action: Renewal and Reconciliation.

ON PRIESTLY JUBILEE From the foregoing, it becomes evident that primarily, even right from ancient Israel, jubilee celebration is a spiritual event. Unfortunately, in our times, priestly jubilee celebrations in most places have lost this spiritual bent. It is left on the shores of the social and merriment to the exclusion of the core agenda. But this is only but regrettable. Priestly jubilee celebration is an event that is supposed to bring the celebrants back both to themselves, the internal stirrings of their vocations and to God in thanksgiving and utter renewal. For those who have been called the sacred ministry of priesthood, every priestly jubilee should be a serious moment of reconsecration to God and recommitment to the pursuit of holiness and to the evangelical counsels. After twenty five or fifty years of ministry in the Lords vineyard, the priest who celebrates the ordinary jubilee year of his ordination is like coming to the altar anew, presenting himself to God afresh and chanting with the Psalmist take and sanctify, O God. The underlying psychological mode for such a celebration is derived from the God-angle. Indeed, evaluating ones ministry from the divine prism should be the major ingredient that produces joy in the life of the celebrant, the Christian faithful and the universal Church. For a priest celebrant, at such moments, such questions as these cannot be overlooked: why did God choose me from all men? What has He called me to do in this ministry? Have I been faithful to the details of this call? Have I dispensed love in my ministry? Have I set other agenda for myself along the years? Have I built the kingdom of man instead of the kingdom of God? Have I allowed myself to be seduced by wealth, work, wine, relationships, power, and ambition? Have I proceeded with the work of God leaving the God of work? Have I maintained a strong relationship with the author and finisher of my vocation? Do I still value the Sacraments? These are necessary jubilee questions which will help the priest jubilarian develop a better spiritual attitude for his future ministry. In the first place, at ones priestly jubilee, one is consumed by the feeling of joy and thanksgiving. The reason for this is not farfetched. The priesthood is a free gift from God which no human being truly deserves. The joy relished at this moment is not the joy of achievement but rather the joy of salvation. In the years gone, the priest should realize that he had achieved nothing by his own power from the first day; that he is what he is by the grace of God. It is not the time to count ones numerous achievements but it can be a time to count the many blessings of God, who alone, as in the jubilee of ancient Israel, grants increase to the produce from the fields during harvest. The jubilee year is an opportunity for the priest to thank God for reviving the fortunes of Jacob in his life and ministry. This form of thanksgiving follows the path of anamnesis. Looking back, the priest discovers how God has continued to give men

and women life through his words, works and overall ministry. This anamnesis reveals to the priest how much God can use mortality for the ennobling of divine realties. Standing before the magnificence of the divine providence, the priest at the jubilee year cannot but pushed to thanksgiving. This joy and thanksgiving has both a vertical and horizontal dimension. While the priest goes to God in thanksgiving worship, he finds time to celebrate with Gods people, sharing with them what the Lord had done for him. By such celebrations, the people of God joyfully participate in a new way in the blessing God has preserved for the Church in the mystery of the priesthood. But priestly jubilees are not just meant for thanksgiving and celebration; they are unique moments for repentance, renewal, conversion and forgiveness. Pope John Paul II harped seriously on this point in the apostolic letter for the preparation of the jubilee year 2000, just quoted above. A priest cannot afford to remain the same even after the celebration of a jubilee. The jubilee year is a year of favour and a special year of mercy when God opens the door of grace to His reneged son. No wonder in the Church, the faithful receive general pardon for sins and indulgences during the jubilee year. After ones priestly jubilee, one should develop a new spiritual attitude because to celebrate a jubilee is like the return of the prodigal son to the fathers house, for the unfaithful priest. How can a priest not be pushed to repentance in such a year when Gods doors are thrown ajar? At jubilee years, God causes the priest to examine his conscience and discover ways he has wandered off from the rich bounties of the divine love. The priest at this time should initiate an ascent, helped by God, to the mountain of the Most High. Internally renewed by the spirit, the priest jubilarian should be strengthened and reinvigorated for ministry in the coming years. This year of the jubilee gives the priest a new focus and vision. His eyes are set on God and the service of Him in His Church. He regrets every act of disobedience to God and the Church in this light and then sets to destroy every structure of sin and every acquaintance that leads him to rebel against his master. That is why personal retreats, confessions, and resolutions are very serious ingredients of every priestly jubilee celebration. In fact, in the tradition of jubilee celebrations, the Church has imbibed the culture of allowing the faithful visit holy sites for pilgrimage in order to lift their spirit up again in their journey to Christian perfection. Priests (if time allows) need to prepare for their jubilee celebration by taking time to leave their comfort zones for a moment and go into a place of solitude for prayer and reflection. This can do a lot in bringing newness to the future life of the priest jubilarian. But it is not enough to reconcile with God. The priest who celebrates his jubilee should also reconcile with his fellow men. In the course of the priests work, he may

have been hurt by many people and he may have also hurt many others. Jubilee celebrations are a time of saying I am sorry, and of seeking out those members of Christs faithful who have been scared away and scandalized by the priests impatience, rash authority, imprudence, high handedness, quick temper and maltreatment to bring them back to the sheepfold once more. It is a time of healing of past hurtful relationships with the lay faithful, but in a special way with fellow priests. Priests at jubilee moments should forgive bishops and fellow priests who have hurt them in their pastoral ministry and reconcile with any of them with whom a set of scores remain unresolved. If there is any time to encourage brotherly living and communion in the Church and in the priesthood, it is within the jubilee year. Such fraternal spirit and communion should be shared with Gods people and should reflect in the priests solicitude to the people and his solidarity to those in need, the poor and the oppressed. Hence, the jubilee year calls the priest not only to look up; it calls him as well to look down and see many dejected people who need to be given life for the present and for eternity. The priestly jubilee year is a time for growth in holiness and faith. The priest jubilarian must not fail to recognise that without holiness, the work of the priest risks being perfunctory, empty and banal. Without faith, the priest cannot reveal the face of God to Gods people. The irony is that with the threat of routine over the years in performing the rituals and saying the same thing for twenty five or fifty years, there is the danger that the priest may no longer be sure of his belief in the very mysterious realties he handles and preserves. The mass may just have become so ordinary and so, the other sacraments. The jubilee year is a time to make a renewed act of faith. Such a celebrant should spare time to ask himself: but do I still believe? Do I still love him as when I first began? Christ was not wrong afterall when He posed similar questions to Peter years after He called him to be the leader of the apostolic college Peter, Son of Jonah, do you love me (John 21)? With such an act of faith, the priest would easily discover why some things have actually gone wrong in his ministry. It is a time to ask God to increase his faith and seek the help of God and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of all the saints in the pursuit of holiness. Pope John Paul II called the jubilee year the year of Christ. It is a year when the priest seeks to be more configured to Christ in His life, humility, service, sacrifice, love, purity, righteousness and example. CONCLUSION Living a day in the Catholic priesthood is indeed a great mysterious privilege for the priest himself, for the people of God and for the universal church. When God allows the priest to serve him for twenty five or fifty years, it is a gracious show of the abundance of Gods love and election for the salvation of the priest and the world.

Priestly jubilee celebrations (be it silver or golden) are therefore serious gracemarks in the life of priests which priests must never play with or joke away with pomp and pageantry. It is an opportunity for priestly renewal and the blessing of Gods people. May God through the celebration of priestly jubilees grant His priests enough graces to remain faithful and to continue seeking holiness in a world that is going radically secular, materialistic and agnostic.