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A Jubilee is a fiftieth anniversary, a special year that is celebrated with exultation in the Church. It is a joyful celebration with early origins in Sacred History.

Seven is a holy number that means wholeness. God created the earth in seven days, the seventh day was his day of rest. The seventh day of the week or the Sabatth was a day of sanctification for the Israelites.

Every seventh year was also a year of sanctification. Seven years seven times called for a year of celebration which was called the Jubilee.

A celebration every fifty years was part of the Levitical law which was meant to bring a time of justice, peace and forgiveness.

It is important to note that in the biblical calendar Christ came to the world in the fourth millennium, there have been two millenniums of Christianity so the seventh millennium is a time of Grace and sanctification.

The Jubilee is celebrated every twenty five years by decree of Pope Clement VI.

The Jubilee in the Bible

When the Israelites were given the Levitical law, the Jubilee came as a time to proclaim remission of sins by the sound of the trumpet. It was a big celebration of peace, forgiveness of debts, freedom to slaves and great joy in the land. It was a time of listening to the Spirit of God moving with Justice in the hearts of men bringing forgiveness.

A proclamation was needed by the sound of the trumpet to emphasize the importance of the event, to make it known to everyone with joy would that God demands justice in the land, sharing of resources and that He forgives sins.

The Jubilee was a time of the Grace of God touching the hearts of those who listened to His Word.

God insisted then that we should keep his precepts and his judgments, that we should fulfil them: so that we could dwell in the land without any fear, and with confidence in his bounty. (Lev 25:18-19)

Leviticus 25:8-19 8 Thou shalt also number to thee seven weeks of years, that is to say, seven times seven, which together make forty-nine years:

9 And thou shalt sound the trumpet in the seventh month, the tenth day of the month, in the time of the expiation in all your land.

10 And thou shalt sanctify the fiftieth year, and shalt proclaim remission to all the inhabitants of thy land: for it is the year of jubilee. Every man shall return to his possession, and every one shall go back to his former family:

11 Because it is the jubilee and the fiftieth year. You shall not sow, nor reap the things that grow in the field of their own accord, neither shall you gather the first fruits of the vines,

12 Because of the sanctification of the jubilee: but as they grow you shall presently eat them.

13 In the year of the jubilee all shall return to their possessions.

14 When thou shalt sell any thing to thy neighbour, or shalt buy of him; grieve not thy brother: but thou shalt buy of him according to the number of years from the jubilee.

15 And he shall sell to thee according to the computation of the fruits.

16 The more years remain after the jubilee, the more shall the price increase: and the less time is counted, so much the less shall the purchase cost. For he shall sell to thee the time of the fruits.

17 Do not afflict your countrymen, but let every one fear his God: because I am the Lord your God.

18 Do my precepts, and keep my judgments, and fulfil them: that you may dwell in the land without any fear,

19 And the ground may yield you its fruits, of which you may eat your fill, fearing no mall's invasion.

Jubilee 2000
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