14.
What needs to be emphasized, however, is
what Isaiah expresses in the words "to proclaim the year of the Lord's
favour". For the Church, the Jubilee is precisely this "year of
the Lord's favour", a year of the remission of sins and of the punishments
due to them, a year of reconciliation between disputing parties, a year of
manifold conversions and of sacramental and extra-sacramental penance. The
tradition of jubilee years involves the granting of indulgences on a
larger scale than at other times. Together with Jubilees recalling the mystery
of the Incarnation, at intervals of a hundred, fifty and twenty-five years,
there are also Jubilees which commemorate the event of the Redemption: the
Cross of Christ, his death on Golgotha and the Resurrection. On these
occasions, the Church proclaims "a year of the Lord's favour", and
she tries to ensure that all the faithful can benefit from this grace. That
is why Jubilees are celebrated not only "in Urbe" but also
"extra Urbem": traditionally the latter took place the year after
the celebration "in Urbe".
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