The Meanings of Jubilee

            On Saturday September 24 at Evening Prayer Sr. Christa and I celebrated our Golden Jubilee. The following is a selection from the talk I gave about the many meanings of Jubilee:

Jubilee is a multi-layered word and concept, and I’ve been trying to get my head around its meanings for the past year.

What are we doing when we celebrate a jubilee? There is the anniversary aspect of jubilee. We celebrate the passage of time since we began something. In this case, since Christa and I made first profession-- five decades ago.

What makes an anniversary a jubilee? In religious communities, a jubilee has come to mean a public celebration of a passage of time in a relationship, e.g, religious life, marriage, ordination.

Jubilee is not a term found in the 6th century Rule of St. Benedict.I n the rule monks only get credit for persevering in the monastery until death.

Jubilee, however, has a deeper meaning than an anniversary. In our reading this evening Isaiah (chapter 61) talks about what will happen in a “year of the Lord’s favor,” in a year of Jubilee. Isaiah is referring to the Hebrew Jubilee Year celebrated at the end of 7 cycles of 7 years (every fifty years). The word jubilee comes from the Hebrew word jovel which means “a trumpet blast of liberty” or from the Latin verb jubilio meaning “shout for joy.”

Originally the Hebrew Jubilee year was concerned with land, property, property rights and coming back to the land or family of your origin. According to Leviticus 25, slaves and prisoners would also be freed, debts would be forgiven, and the mercies of God would be celebrated by all. It was a celebration rooted in tribal culture, grounded deeply in idea of the Sabbath-keeping—the seventh day is holy and should be lived in a special way-- and a call from God to be more inclusive. Isaiah 61 takes the tribal celebration and extends it to a time of relief to all who were suffering in any way.

Isaiah reminds us:

“To bring good news to the oppressed,

to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners;

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,

to comfort all who mourn;

to build up the ancient ruins,

to raise up the former devastations;

to repair ruined cities and the devastations of many generations.”

When Jesus preached in the synagogue of his home town at Nazareth, he quoted this passage from Isaiah, and at the end of it he says, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Thus Jesus announced himself as the man of jubilee and brought the concept of jubilee into the New Covenant. And because Jesus is the new embodiment of jubilee, The members of his church are called to be the embodiment of jubilee as well. We are all jubilee people too.

The Church itself first celebrated a year of jubilee in 1300 when the medieval world was wracked by wars and the plague. Pilgrims had begun to come to Rome spontaneously, and Pope Boniface VIII was moved to declare that those who made the journey to Rome (came back to the land of their origin) and confessed their sins would be forgiven and given special blessings.

Boniface had intended that a Jubilee year be celebrated every hundred years. Subsequent Popes thought it might be celebrated every 33 years representing Christ’s life on earth and the average span of human life in those days. at present there is no designated number of years between Jubilee years. The Pope can declare a jubilee year when he feels the times require one.

We are blessed that Pope Francis has proclaimed this year as Jubilee year of Mercy, reminding us of God’s mercy toward us and how to extend mercy to others.

What does of all this say about today’s celebration? In this Benedictine community we get to celebrate a jubilee year every year. Every year one of us celebrates a significant amount of time in monastic profession. In community we are called to be jubilee people every year. In the community of the Church, all Christians are called through baptism to be jubilee people as well.

Jubilee calls us to forgive debts, to ask for forgiveness and be formed

       by forgiveness given to us.

Jubilee calls us to offer liberty and freedom to those

       bound by any chains of oppression or addiction.

Jubilee calls us to give thanks always and everywhere to God.

Jubilee calls us to remember and rely on the mercies of God.

Jubilee calls us to extend mercy to others.

Jubilee calls us to shout for joy through our talents and skills.

Jubilee calla us to be kind.

My own jubilee prayer comes from the hymn, O God Beyond All Praising.

    “O God beyond all praising , we worship you today

   And sing the love amazing that songs cannot repay.

   For we can only wonder at every gift you send.

   At blessings without number and mercies without end.

   We lift our hearts before you and wait upon your word.

   We honor and adore you, our great and mighty Lord.”

Sr. Deborah Harmeling, OSB