The E-catechism: October 1999
	The Jubilee Archives	Pilgrimages

		Each month the team working on this catechism presents you with two texts, and we hope that with your help and cooperation they will improve. Any suggestions you may have would be most welcome, as would ideas on subject matter. We look forward to hearing from you. The Jubilee The ancient Jewish tradition stated that every 50 years, debts will be canceled and slaves made free. No way to exploit the poor or to wrong the foreigner: time was for social justice and every body should recover his rights. The society was trying to start from scratch for a new departure: an utopia which was needed by the people. The year of the Jubilee was the announcement of a year of liberation. The left out people were the first to benefit of it. Without them the Jubilee would not have any sense. It will be a feast for every body if it is a feast for all who are excluded. The young prophet of Nazareth will pick up the practice of the Jubilee in a more radical way. He is "sent to announce the Good News to the poor, that the captives will be released, that the blind will recover their sight, that the oppressed people will be made free and a year of thanks to the Lord will be proclaimed"(Luke 4, 18-19) Jesus will not merely speak but will act. He will not be satisfied by meeting the poor, he will become himself poor by letting himself be put to death. What an act of subversion! Then the poor will stand up full of hope. A new world is possible. What do we do today about the Jubilee? Is it an opportunity to show some signs of liberation and reconciliation ? Who takes advantage of it? How the Church (Churches) will do in front of the scandalous injustice in the world? The Jubilee cannot be limited to its spiritual component, it must do something for the social justice. Important and necessary costly celebrations, great numbers of pilgrimages, that will not make the Jubilee a "good news" for those who are excluded. If the Church feels primarily concerned about itself and the organization of exceptional meetings, then it confiscates the Jubilee for its own benefit. Jesus said "he who is preoccupied by his own life will lose in the end" This statement applies also to the Church. If the Jubilee is celebrated only between people of "good standing", what will be left from the subversion brought by Jesus?
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		Pilgrimages Carrying their backpack, many men and women, of every age, are seen on the roads of the formerly great pilgrimages such as Saint James of Compostel. Experience of religious faith or simply a need to relax? Breaking-up with every day life, coming back to nature, finding a new meaning to their own life or a new direction to take? It is like that a great Christian tradition is renewed with its root in the Jewish people, walking in the desert toward the promise land. " My father was a nomad Aramaic" it is said in Deuteronomy about Abraham. Saint Peter in his First Letter, urged Christians to live on this earth as a passenger. Pilgrimage helps to be aware that life is a course to be pursued toward better physical, psychological, moral and spiritual achievements. It is true for people as well as for society. The Church (Churches) stagnates and even breaks up if it is not constantly involved, under the breath of the Holy Spirit, in the great tasks of justice and love. In time past, cathedrals were built on high ground to direct the pilgrims during their long journey, in the image of Jerusalem, above all the Holy city for Jews, Arabs and Christians. On the road, one takes only what is necessary. Walking is possible only if we get rid of what is useless. Pilgrimages are going up towards the highest of spirituality and faith. Today pilgrims are not all "believers" but all search to free themselves, to give more meaning to their life, they try hard to be themselves and to deal with the every day things . Going alone or by two or three, pilgrims meet together on the road or at the stopping place. They stimulate or help themselves towards their personal progress, it brings the walkers together. The welcome at the resting place for the night allows to make new acquaintances like through the different stages in one's own life and this gives you strength for new comings. Walking, going up, meeting others, all this contributes to give a meaning and a vivid strength to the daily life of the pilgrims. Several times, a couple had gone with staff in hand, without money, they said: " going away, not knowing where to stay, when we will eat..... that concerns all the fundamental securities of life. Meeting its own weaknesses, to accept them, to be confident with the others for our basic needs, all this allowed us to discover new and surprising aspects of exchanges and thinking. Living permanently in voluntary conditions of insecurity has helped us to accept those we did not look for. We discovered that uncertainty was the source of creativity, of solidarity, of liberty, of life, It is in the moments of greater confidence, in spite of the precarious conditions in which we were, that our spiritual experience has been the more intense. We have seen a strong analogy with what is written in the Bible, to a point that we believe we have experienced some thing of God".
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		Archives E-catechism September 99, Rehabilitate politics, Hope E-catechism July 99, Charity, Miracles E-catechism June 99, Suicide, The ministers in the Church E-catechism May 99, Meeting the agnostic and atheistic world, The mystery of evil E-catechism April 99, The initiation rites, But what is Faith? E-catechism March 99, The sacrament of marriage, Eternal life E-catechism February 99, Sacraments, Time of Lent E-catechism January 99, Eutahanasia, Citizenship E-catechism Dec. 98, Christmass, Racism E-catechism November 98 E-catechism October 98 E-catechism September 98 E-catechism August 98 E-catechism July 98 E-catechism June 98 E-catechism May 98 E-catechism April 98 E-catechism March 98 E-catechism February 98 E-catechism January 98
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