13 Things to do in Honor Of Mary During the Jubilee Year 2025.

If you are wondering how to journey with Mary to encounter Jesus during the jubilee Year, here is a suggested list. It is worth stating that Pope Francis in the Jubilee document, Spes Non Confundit, delineates things to be done throughout the year, kind of the agenda for the year. The Jubilee Year has as central theme: Hope and we are all invited to  become “Pilgrims of Hope.” 

Following our recommendation to spend the year journeying with Mary, the Mother of God, it is apropos to suggest possible areas of engagement. The jubilee which began last Tuesday December 24th 2024 launched by Pope Francis himself at the Vatican with the symbolic opening of the door of St. Peter's Basilica, runs through January 6th, 2026. And so this last week of December 2024 is a crucial moment. The jubilee therefore spans thirteen months so to speak. It is with this in mind that we thought 13 ways of journeying with Mary could be rewarding.

If you are wondering why only 13 things, it is worth stating that the number is not arbitrarily chosen. Arguably, the number 13 has been “blacklisted” in popular culture especially when it falls on a Friday as a token of ill-omen. However, for Catholics, Our Lady, appeared to the three children at Fatima, on the 13th of every month from May through October, 1917. The Fatima experience “sanctified” the 13th so to speak and in line with that this is my suggested list. 

1) Pray a Marian Novena every month. There are over thirty Novenas to the Blessed Mother from which we have randomly selected 13 and distributed over 13 months to coincide with the Jubilee calendar from December 24th 2024 to December 2025. Spend nine days with Mary every month in special prayers. Inspired by the Pentecost experience with Mary and the Apostles waiting for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, it would be very enriching sitting at Mary's feet in prayers especially through the many hallowed places she has appeared to over the years. 

2) Pray the Rosary daily: This is undoubtedly the most popular Marian prayer. During the months of February, May and October also known as Marian months we are encouraged to pray the rosary daily. There has been a laudable initiative launched by Ascension Press over the years to Read the Bible in One Year, The Catechism in One Year and now the Rosary in A Year set to launch on January 1, 2025. You can sign up for this enriching experience on the following link: 
https://ascensionpress.com/pages/riy-signup

3) Heed Mary's command to the servers at the wedding in Cana: Do whatever He tells you. (Jn 2:5). The particular area here is with respect to our  sacramental life. What is your sacramental life like? Do you receive Holy Communion? How often do you receive the Sacrament of “CPR” - Confession, Penance and Reconciliation? Is your marriage sacramentalized? Improve on your sacramental life in 2025. Participate in the Eucharist regularly and as Pope Francis says in SNC, n 23: Let us not neglect Confession but rediscover the beauty of this sacrament of healing and joy, the beauty of God's forgiveness of our sins. Pope Francis emphasizes the importance of this sacrament especially during this jubilee Year. 

4) The Holy Year coincides with the Eucharistic Revival that has been going on in the United States of America since 2022 with the high point being the National Eucharistic Congress last July. In this third year of the revival which is dedicated to Mission and encouraging all to Become a Eucharistic Missionaries, it is worthwhile to dedicate time and energy to this. And like Pope Francis said to the organizers: ,” 2008).

“It is my hope, then, that the Eucharistic Congress will inspire Catholics throughout the country to discover anew the sense of wonder and awe at the Lord’s great gift of himself and to spend time with him in the celebration of the Holy Mass and in personal prayer and adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. I believe that we have lost the sense of adoration in our day. We must rediscover the sense of adoration in silence. It is a form of prayer that we have lost.

Mary teaches us this silence and we can learn from her how to silently worship and adore the Eucharistic Jesus. Check out Eucharistic Revival - https://www.eucharisticrevival.org/year-of-mission

5) Create a sacred space in honor of Mary with a favorite Marian image with candles and flowers. Get a statue, a picture of the Blessed mother, and have a priest place it and may it be a privileged place of prayer for you daily. Preferably have an image of Mary and Jesus such as the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mary carrying Jesus, Mary showing Jesus to the world etc. 

6) “Pilgrimage is of course a fundamental element of every jubilee event. Setting out on a journey is traditionally associated with our human quest for meaning. A pilgrimage on foot is a great aid for rediscovering the value of silence, effort and simplicity of life” (SNC 5). During this jubilee Year, Rome is a privileged center of pilgrimage. If you cannot go to Rome, make a pilgrimage to one of the approved pilgrimage sites and even Marian apparition sites. If you cannot make it to any of these, there are great Marian shrines everywhere. In Washington D.C. for example there is the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception with over fifty chapels dedicated to Our Lady. Make a pilgrimage to any. 

7) Celebrate the principal Marian feasts with pomp:
January 1st - Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, 

March 25th- The Annunciation, 

August 15th - The Assumption

 December 8th - Immaculate Conception. 

8) Become a pilgrim of Hope like Mary by bringing Christ to the “Elizabeths” so to speak. In Spes Non Confundit, Pope Francis notes that during this Holy Year, “we are called to be tangible signs of hope for those our brothers and sisters who experience hardships of any kind”. These include prisoners(n.10), the sick (n.11), the young (n.12) migrants (n.13) the elderly and the old (n.14) and the poor. (n.15). 

9) Pope Francis invites us all to “Return to Scripture,” in the Holy Year realizing it speaks to us in these words: May we who have taken refuge in him be strongly encouraged to seize the hope  set before us.” The theme of the jubilee Year is drawn from St Paul's Letter to the Romans 5:5 from which the document gets its name: Hope does not disappoint. This Pauline letter is quoted eight times through the entire document. It could be useful learning the ancient practice of Lectio Divina. Mary shows us how to contemplate the Word of God and her Magnificat is eloquent proof of her familiarity with Sacred Scriptures. During this year, read Sacred Scriptures from the heart of Mary and also from the heart of the Church. 

10) Read some of the popular writings on Mary like the Secrets of the Rosary. The priest leading the Praying the Rosary in a Year has recommended five books to read about Mary namely: 
- True Devotion to Mary by St Louis de Montfort
- The World's First Love by Archbishop Fulton Sheen 
- Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary by Brent Pitre
-:Hail Holy Queen by Dr Scott Hahn
- The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander.

 Learn something new about Mary  every   month by meditating on the Litany of Loreto. What do those titles mean and how are they crucial to our faith? Sanctify the daily hours through learning and mastering the Marian Prayers: The Angelus and Regina Caeli, the Magnificat, Salve Regina, the Memorare and We fly to the Patronage. 

11) Become a Marian missionary - Talk to others about Mary and invite them to learn about her and journey with her to help them encounter Christ. We have friends and relations who do not understand Mary and her role. Some of us do not also understand Mary and so we find it difficult to explain to others. During this Holy Year, let us seek to understand Mary and to give an account of our Marian commitment to others. 

12) Cultivate the virtue of Hope and the gift of patience. Hope is the theme of the jubilee Year and we cannot give what we do not have. To be pilgrims of Hope we must be people of hope. And as we read in SNC n.24, “Hope finds it's supreme witness in the Mother of God. In the Blessed Virgin, we see that hope is not naive optimism but a gift of grace amid the realities of life.” Mary, the Mother of Hope can guide us. 

13) Be consecrated or if already consecrated Reconsecrate yourself to Mary. 

This is not an exhaustive list and is not a checklist where you do one and check it off. Remember you are on a journey with Mary to Christ. Every month we shall reflect on one of these and build up progressively on this. Let's start with the Novenas. At the end of this jubilee we shall evaluate how far these helped us to encounter Christ and be a pilgrim people of hope. It is important to note that this list is not in order of importance and so it is not a ranked list. A lot of these could be done simultaneously.