The Jubilee Year that names us “Pilgrims of Hope” will soon reach its halfway point. In this time, we have witnessed a good number of Catholics who have visited our church – a designated pilgrimage church – in order to receive a plenary indulgence. One of the conditions, and a very fundamental one to gain an indulgence, is to go to Sacramental Confession some time before and be in the state of grace. The great news is that many visitors and parishioners have gone to Confession in recent months.
In addition to individual pilgrims, some traveling from out of state, groups from neighboring parishes are visiting our church. On Mother’s Day during the Holy Hour at 3 pm, over 100 people from the Vietnamese parish Queenship of Mary in Glen Ellyn, along with their pastor Fr. Tri Tran, came to our church to receive a plenary indulgence. Last Saturday, May 24, over 60 catechists and their families walked over 8 miles from St. Mary Church in West Chicago. Fr. Andrew Buchanan from St. Mary’s presided at the Jubilee Mass for these pilgrims. The pilgrimage was organized by Sister Nori and Sister Ingrid who also led the liturgical music during the Mass. I was happy to join Fr. Jose Hernandez in serving the pilgrims in the confessional. I also explained to them the meaning of the Jubilee Year logo and invited them to walk through the replica of St. Peter’s Basilica Holy Doors in an act of penitence and trust in God. Many wrote their names in the special commemorative book that will be kept in our church. I jokingly but truthfully pointed out that we will keep this book in our church for a long time, in fact, to the end of the world! Pilgrims also bought special Jubilee candles that support the people starving in Gaza. The Pilgrimage ended with a picnic held in our Forest Preserve Park. I am very grateful to the sisters, priests and all pilgrims who undertook that Saturday journey to be witnesses of hope.
This is not the end of the list of groups visiting our church in the Jubilee Year. On June 13, another group of over 300 children, youth, and their parents from Divine Mercy Church in Lombard will attend our church for Mass and prayer at the conclusion of their Bible camp.
Brothers and Sisters, the Jubilee Year is an extraordinary opportunity for us members of Corpus Christi Church to go deeper in our faith. This requires a sincere sacramental confession, meditation on the Gospel, prayer, clinging to the teaching of the Church, testing everything; retaining what is good and refraining from every kind of evil (1 Thes 5:22-23). We do not need to pilgrimize far distances. Here, in our church, our loving Father awaits us. His graces are at the stretch of our hand.
Fr. Mark Jurzyk
