From Nov. 24-29, as many rested from an action-packed semester during Thanksgiving break, a number of UD students travelled to Rome in order to celebrate the official ending of the Jubilee year and the beginning of Advent. Joining fellow pilgrims from around the world, these Crusaders got to join Pope Leo XIV after returning from his visit to Turkey and Lebanon to bring the jubilee to an end and begin a new liturgical year.
While the world celebrates the new year on January 1, the Church officially begins a new liturgical year on the first Sunday of Advent, paradoxically marked by readings and devotions associated with the end of time and Christ’s second coming. The first sunday of advent in 2025 was on December 1.
This liturgical year, the church transitions from the year C cycle in the lectionary for the year A cycle.The readings at Mass will be slightly different, and those who pray the Liturgy of the Hours will switch from volume IV of the breviary to volume I.
Freshman theology major Nathalie Nolin, attended the closing of the liturgical year in Rome. Nolin said that she received a spiritual reawakening from her time in the eternal city. “My favorite part,” said Nolin, “was that I got to climb up and kneel on the holy steps that Jesus walked to Pontius Pilate when he was condemned; that was super beautiful.”
Nolin continued, “I feel like that [experience] connects with the whole jubilee year for hope, because it’s painful climbing up the steps, but once you get to the top, you’re standing, you’re free and you’re surrounded by all this art. And so, in suffering, there’s still hope.”
Nolin explained that she was moved in particular by the multitude of different nationalities present in Rome at the close of the Jubilee year.“Being surrounded by different people of different nationalities was something that changed me a lot, [and] realizing that the Church is so much greater and bigger than what I normally see […] I think that gives hope because sometimes I think ‘Oh no…[the Church] is small and there’s all these problems.’ But it’s so much bigger and the Church can actually do incredible things, and seeing all these people that still believe it was pretty cool.”
While fondly reminiscing about seeing the pope during the papal audience and the blessing of the babies, Nolin strongly recommended travel and pilgrimages to grow in faith and closer to family and friends. Said Nolin, “I would say travel as much as you can, because you know the saying, ‘you only live once.’ This is where all the saints walked, and you should, if you have an opportunity, seize the opportunity and go.”