THE CHURCH'S SYNOD AND JUBILEE YEAR CELEBRATIONS AS PILGRIMAGES: A REFLECTION THROUGH THE WISDOM OF ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS

Abstract

The salvation of souls remains the goal of the Church's mission. Jesus remains the only Way to this salvation. The Cross is His instrument; repentance is His message. The Church, which by the mystical union is His Bride, continues to proclaim this in every generation given our earthly pilgrimage in view of seeing the Face of the Father eternally. Therefore, it is valid in perpetuity. It employs different ways of making this message permeate into the hearts of humans, among which are the Synod and Jubilee, two pathways of the same Pilgrimage to Heaven. It is a way that all the Saints, that is, all those in Heaven, have passed. Nothing that deviates, thus, from the Way of the Cross is authentic, and if it is inauthentic, then it is anti-Cross, and because it is anti-Cross, it is equally anti-Christ because Christ and His Cross are inseparable. This work demonstrates how the teaching of one of the Saints, John of the Cross, on Purgation and Celebration counters the Prosperity Gospel, which is anti-Christ. It calls us to return to the authentic Gospel message that the Synod and Jubilee invite us to.