The Jubilee Year 2025 is already on, and we are already on journey to encounter our loving God. The theme is Pilgrims of Hope, this means that all of us are called to celebrate the year as people embarking on a journey. This journey is a spiritual journey and not just an adventure trip. The journey is purposeful, that is, there are clear goal and purpose for the journey and this journey of faith is ultimately geared toward ensuring we reach our ultimate destination, which is eternal bliss with God.

The word pilgrimage comes from two Latin expressions, the first is “per ager,” which means "across the fields," or perhaps from “per eger” meaning “border crossing”: Both possible origins point to the distinctive aspect of undertaking a journey. Hence going on a pilgrimage means that we experience a change of location and an interior change. If we are on a pilgrimage to our heavenly homeland, then it is important that we prepare adequately for the journey.

In this jubilee Year, everyone must prepare well, otherwise the journey will not bear the desired fruits. This preparation must include our motives for the journey, the destination and what we hope to accomplish. As a spiritual journey, we want to move closer to God, so we must put aside whatever will weigh us down so that we can travel swiftly. This interior disposition is necessary. In this sense, the Jubilee pilgrimage begins before the start of the journey itself: The starting point is the decision to set out.

While pilgrimages are occasional, our life on earth is one long pilgrimage and Christians must see themselves as pilgrims, just like Abraham whom the Bible described as a person on a journey: “Go forth from your land, your relatives, and from your father’s house” (Genesis 12:1). With these words, Abraham begins his adventure, which ends in the Promised Land, where he is remembered as a “wandering Aramean” (Deuteronomy 26:5).

Jesus’ ministry can also be seen as a journey, from Galilee to the Holy City of Jerusalem … “As the time drew near when Jesus would be taken up to heaven, he made up his mind and set out on his way to Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:51). Christ himself calls His disciples to walk this road, and even today Christians are those who follow Him and set out after Him. We are indeed pilgrims on earth and this world is not our home, we are only passing by.

Pilgrims must be well focused and not allow distractions on the road to derail them. As much as possible, they are to follow predetermined route, which is what our faith tells us too. Pilgrims must learn as they travel. Life offers plenty opportunities to learn from, from the experience itself, from the route, and from Nature. I still cannot forget the journey I made some twenty years ago to Glendalough, a place in Ireland. It was peaceful, cool, and beautiful, I considered it a slice of heaven. No wonder, Pope Francis in the Bull of indiction asserts that “Contemplation of creation is also part of the journey and helps us to realize that care for creation and “is an essential expression of our faith in God and our obedience to his will” (Pope Francis, Letter for the Jubilee 2025).

Pilgrimage also offers us the opportunity to learn from our co-travelers, and they do have lots to teach us. Their experiences strengthen us, their struggles and victories inspire us not to give up. It is therefore not surprising that pilgrimages often lead to conversion, a transformation of one’s life to conform it to the holiness of God.

A pilgrimage schedule is likely to include moments of prayer, sacred rites, and liturgies, these are opportunities to come in contact with the divine, to encounter God who is always seeking us out. Such experiences and encounter cannot leave us the way we were at the start of the journey. We should be transformed and become new creation, such that we can say “I have been crucified with Christ and yet I am alive, it is no longer I, but Christ living in me.” (Gal 2:19-20)

This end story must be desired by all of us and if we submit to God, it is achievable, it is possible. This is what hope entails. Like Ernest Hemingway once said, “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” What are you doing on your own journey through life?  A good pilgrimage does not come to an end. Even when we have returned to our home, the journey plays on in our mind over and over again, enriching us and challenging us to be better.

Ultimately then, the journey teaches us a lot about our destination. We are headed to heaven, so let’s make this journey memorable. Even when we wander, we can still wonder and encounter the sublime and the God we earnestly seek. May your pilgrimage of life not be in vain and may God be there at end to welcome you home.