Jubilee Year of Hope

Pope Francis has decided that 2025 will be a year of Jubilee, something that happens every 25 years. 

The theme is 'Pilgrims of Hope', and it is a year of hope for a world suffering the impacts of war, the ongoing effects of COVID-19 pandemic, and a climate crisis. 

On Christmas Eve, the Holy Father opened the first and most important Holy Door at St Peter's Basilica to begin the Jubilee Year of Hope.

We at St Mary Immaculate will become Pilgrims of Hope throughout 2025. 

To mark the beginning of this special Jubilee Year of Hope, we had a day of celebration!

The whole school took part in seven different activities throughout the day. 

We created our own version of the Jubilee Year of Hope Logo.

Every child contributed to create a large version from rolled up tissue paper.

We learnt the Act of Hope prayer. 

O my God,

relying on Your almighty power and infinite mercy and promises,

I hope to obtain pardon of my sins,

the help of Your grace and life everlasting,

through the merits of Jesus Christ, 

my Lord and Redeemer. 

Amen

We looked at the Jubilee Year of Hope Icon, and discussed the symbolism of the icon. We decided to add ourselves to this image. 

The icon reminds us that we are all equal and important to Jesus.

At St Mary Immaculate, we always listen to and try to follow his teachings. 

We spent time in mindfulness, rest and relaxation.

We used a Prayer Labyrinth to help us breathe peacefully whilst we prayed and listened to hymns whilst we spent time in our own reflections. 

We learnt OneLife Music's 'Give Us Hope, O Lord' song. 

We love singing this special song that Dan & Emily have written especially for the Jubilee Year of Hope.

We sing this at the end of every Celebration Assembly. 

We went on our very own pilgrimage to the Prayer Garden. 

It was a tough journey, and we had to travel through many obstacles but we got there in the end.

Along the journey we carried a tealight candle in our hands, and lit them when we arrived. We all joined in saying the special prayer for the Jubilee and placed our candles around the statue of Mary. 

We have created our own Jubilee Time Capsule.

Every child created a keyring saying, "I pray that you have HOPE".

We will bury the Time Capsule and leave instructions for it to be opened in 25 years!