In 2008 the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Apparitions. The celebration of this anniversary will continue throughout an entire year: December 8, 2007 – December 8, 2008. This anniversary will take the form of a Jubilee.
The term “jubilee” comes from the Hebrew word “jobel” and the Latin “jubilaeus.” “Jobel” meant a ram, and then a ram’s horn. In Jewish worship the “jobel” is the trumpet used every fifty years to herald the opening of a special year, during which the people are called to convert, to come back to God, and to put an end to any social disorder. In the Bible “jubilaeus” is the Latin translation of “jobel”. The term emphasizes the aspect of joy and collective thanksgiving.
In Lourdes, every 50 years since the time of the Apparitions, we celebrate in a special way the anniversary of the meeting between Our Lady and Bernadette Soubirous. These anniversaries take the form of a Jubilee: the 1908 Jubilee, the 1958 Jubilee. In addition, Lourdes has always placed a lot of importance on the Jubilees celebrated by the whole Church: the Jubilee of the Redemption in 1933, the Jubilee of the Incarnation in 2000.
The spirit of the Jubilee
Throughout her life Bernadette Soubirous served others. It is within this spirit of service to others that Monsignor Jacques Perrier, the Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes, wishes to set the 2008 Jubilee.
"How can Lourdes be of use to the Church of today and of the future?"
Among the missions of the Church there are 12 to which Lourdes is able to contribute.
- The mission of the Church with volunteer workers, for the service of others
- The mission of the Church in relation to Mary
- The mission of the Church in relation to young people
- The mission of the Church in relation to Christian Unity
- The mission of the Church in relation to the call for conversion
- The mission of the Church in relation to sick people
- The mission of the Church in relation to people with disabilities
- The mission of the Church in relation to the nations
- The mission of the Church in relation to peace
- The mission of the Church nourished by the Eucharist
- The mission of the Church in relation to interfaith dialogue
- The mission of the Church in relation to the marginalized
- to give thanks for graces received.
- to become aware of the mission of Lourdes at the beginning of the 3rd millennium.
- to open even wider the gates of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.
The original document can be found at www.lourdes2008.com
