VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 024   
   DATE 03-02-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - Francis: consecrated persons must guide people to Jesus, and let themselves   
   be guided by Him   
   - Recognition of the martyrdom of Archbishop Oscar Romero, the friars Michal   
   Tomaszek and Zbigniew Strazalkowski, and Fr. Alessandro Dordi   
   - 8 February: First International Day of Prayer against Human Trafficking   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Francis: consecrated persons must guide people to Jesus, and let themselves   
   be guided by Him   
    Vatican City, 3 February 2015 (VIS) - The Feast of the Presentation of Jesus   
   in the Temple, 2 February, is the Day for Consecrated Life and yesterday   
   afternoon, as is customary on this occasion, the Holy Father presided at Holy   
   Mass in the Vatican Basilica with the members of the Institutes of Consecrated   
   Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life. The ceremony began with the blessing   
   of the veils and the procession, and continued with the Eucharistic   
   celebration, during which the Pope gave a homily emphasising the   
   characteristics of consecrated life.   
    "Before our eyes we can picture Mother Mary as she walks, carrying the Baby   
   Jesus in her arms", he began. "She brings him to the Temple; she presents him   
   to the people; she brings him to meet his people. The arms of Mother Mary are   
   like the 'ladder' on which the Son of God comes down to us, the ladder of   
   God's condescension. This is what we heard in the first reading, from the   
   Letter to the Hebrews: Christ became 'like His brothers and sisters in every   
   respect, so that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest'. This is the   
   twofold path taken by Jesus: He descended, He became like us, in order then to   
   ascend with us to the Father, making us like Himself. In our heart we can   
   contemplate this double movement by imagining the Gospel scene of Mary who   
   enters the Temple holding the Child in her arms. The Mother walks, yet it is   
   the Child who goes before her. She carries him, yet He is leading her along   
   the path of the God who comes to us so that we might go to Him. Jesus walked   
   the same path as we do, and shows us the new way, the 'new and living way'   
   which is He Himself. For us, consecrated men and women, this is the one way   
   which, concretely and without alternatives, we must continue to tread with joy   
   and perseverance".   
    Francis continued, "Fully five times the Gospel speaks to us of Mary and   
   Joseph's obedience to the 'law of the Lord'. Jesus came not to do His own   
   will, but the will of the Father. This way - He tells us - was His 'food'. In   
   the same way, all those who follow Jesus must set out on the path of   
   obedience, imitating as it were the Lord's 'condescension' by humbling   
   themselves and making their own the will of the Father, even to self-emptying   
   and abasement. For a religious, to advance on the path of obedience means to   
   abase oneself in service, that is, to take the same path as Jesus, who 'did   
   not deem equality with God a thing to be grasped'. By emptying himself he made   
   himself a servant in order to serve".   
    For consecrated persons, this path "takes the form of the rule, marked by the   
   charism of the founder. For all of us, the essential rule remains the Gospel,   
   yet the Holy Spirit, in His infinite creativity, also gives it expression in   
   the various rules of the consecrated life which are born of the sequela   
   Christi, and thus from this journey of abasing oneself by serving. Through   
   this 'law' which is the rule, consecrated persons are able to attain wisdom,   
   not something abstract, but a work and gift of the Holy Spirit. An evident   
   sign of such wisdom is joy. The evangelical happiness of a religious is the   
   fruit of self-abasement in union with Christ".   
    In the account of Jesus' Presentation in the Temple, wisdom is represented by   
   two elderly persons, Simeon and Anna: "persons docile to the Holy Spirit, led   
   by Him, inspired by Him", emphasised the Holy Father. "The Lord granted them   
   wisdom as the fruit of a long journey along the path of obedience to His law,   
   an obedience which likewise humbles and abases, but which also lifts up and   
   protects hope, making them creative, for they are filled with the Holy Spirit.   
   ... Mary, the young mother, and Simeon, the kindly old man, hold the Child in   
   their arms, yet it is the Child himself who guides them both".   
    The Pontiff noted that, on this occasion, it is the elderly, rather than the   
   young, who are creative: "the young, like Mary and Joseph, follow the law of   
   the Lord, the path of obedience. The elderly, like Simeon and Anna, see in the   
   Child the fulfilment of the Law and the promises of God. And they are able to   
   celebrate: they are creative in joy and wisdom. And the Lord turns obedience   
   into wisdom by the working of His Holy Spirit". However, "at times God can   
   grant the gift of wisdom to a young person, but always as the fruit of   
   obedience and docility to the Spirit. This obedience and docility is not   
   something theoretical; it too is subject to the economy of the incarnation of   
   the Word: docility and obedience to a founder, docility and obedience to a   
   specific rule, docility and obedience to one's superior, docility and   
   obedience to the Church. It is always docility and obedience in the concrete".   
    In persevering along along the path of obedience, "personal and communal   
   wisdom matures, and thus it also becomes possible to adapt rules to the times;   
   indeed, true 'renovation' is the fruit of wisdom forged in docility and   
   obedience. The strengthening and renewal of consecrated life are the result of   
   great love for the rule, and also the ability to look to and heed the elders   
   of one's congregation. In this way, the 'deposit', the charism of each   
   religious family, is preserved by obedience and by wisdom, working together.   
   By means of this journey, we are preserved from living our consecration   
   "lightly", in an disembodied manner, as if it were some sort of gnosis which   
   would ultimately reduce religious life to caricature, a caricature in which   
   there is following without renunciation, prayer without encounter, fraternal   
   life without communion, obedience without trust, and charity without   
   transcendence.   
    "Today we too, like Mary and Simeon, want to take Jesus into our arms, to   
   bring Him to his people", the Pope concluded. "Surely we will be able to do so   
   if we enter into the mystery in which Jesus Himself is our guide. Let us bring   
   others to Jesus, but let us also allow ourselves to be led by Him. This is   
   what we should be: guides who themselves are guided".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Recognition of the martyrdom of Archbishop Oscar Romero, the friars Michal   
   Tomaszek and Zbigniew Strazalkowski, and Fr. Alessandro Dordi   
    Vatican City, 3 February 2015 (VIS) - Today the Holy Father Francis received   
   in a private audience Cardinal Angelo Amato, S.D.B., prefect of the   
   Congregation for the Causes of Saints, during which he authorised the   
   Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:   
    MARTYRDOM   
    - Servant of God Oscar Arnulfo Romero Galdamez (El Salvador, 1917-1980),   
   archbishop of San Salvador, El Salvador, killed in hatred of the faith on 24   
   March 1980.   
    - Servants of God Michal Tomaszek (Poland, 1960) and Zbigniew Strazalkowski   
   (Poland, 1958), professed priests of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, and   
   Alessandro Dordi, Italian diocesan priest, killed in hatred of the faith in   
   Peru on 9 and 25 August 1991.   
    HEROIC VIRTUES   
    - Servant of God Giovanni Bacile, Italian priest (1880-1941).   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    8 February: First International Day of Prayer against Human Trafficking   
    Vatican City, 3 February 2015 (VIS) - This morning a press conference was   
   held in the Holy See Press Office to present the first International Day of   
   Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking. The Day will be held on 8   
   February, the feast day of Sudanese slave St. Josephine Bakhita who, after   
   being freed, became a Canossian Sister and was canonised in 2000, and will be   
   entitled: "A light against human trafficking". The Day is promoted by the   
   Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples,   
   the Pontifical Council "Justice and Peace" and the International Union of   
   Superiors General (UISG).   
    The conference was attended by Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, prefect of the   
   Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of   
   Apostolic Life; Cardinal Antonio Maria Veglio, president of the Pontifical   
   Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples; and Cardinal   
   Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council "Justice and   
   Peace". The other speakers were Sister Carmen Sammut, MSOLA, president of the   
   International Union of Superiors General; Sister Gabriella Bottani, SMC,   
   coordinator of Talitha Kum (the International Network of Consecrated Life   
   against Trafficking in Persons); Sister Valeria Gandini, SMC; and Sister   
   Imelda Poole IBVM, coordinator of the European Talitha Kum network.   
    Cardinal Turkson, speaking in English, reiterated that "millions of people   
   today - children, women and men of all ages - are deprived of freedom and are   
   forced to live in conditions akin to slavery. For those who cry out - usually   
   in silence - for liberation, St Josephine Bakhita is an exemplary witness of   
   hope. We, victims and advocates alike, could do no better than be inspired by   
   her life and entrust our efforts to her intercession".   
    He continued, "the Holy Father invites us all to recognise that we are facing   
   a global phenomenon which exceeds the competence of any one community or   
   country. In order to eliminate it, we need a mobilisation comparable in size   
   to that of the phenomenon itself". The prelate explained that the   
   International Day against Human Trafficking constitutes "a mobilisation of   
   awareness and prayer on a global scale. Our awareness must expand and extend   
   to the very depths of this evil and its farthest reaches ... from awareness to   
   prayer ... from prayer to solidarity ... and from solidarity to concerted   
   action, until slavery and trafficking are no more".   
    On the occasion of this first day of prayer and reflection, all dioceses,   
   parishes, associations, families and individuals are invited to reflect and   
   pray in order to cast light on this crime, as indicated by the theme of the   
   initiative. In addition, prayer vigils will be held in different countries,   
   culminating in the Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square on 8 February.   
    On the day, the faithful are invited to recite the following prayer:   
    "O God, when we hear of children and adults deceived and taken to unknown   
   places for   
    purposes of sexual exploitation, forced labour, and   
    organ ‘harvesting', our hearts are saddened and   
    our spirits angry that their dignity and rights are   
    ignored through threats, lies, and force.   
    We cry out against the evil practice of this modern   
    slavery, and pray with St. Bakhita for it to end.   
    Give us wisdom and courage to reach out and   
    stand with those whose bodies, hearts and spirits   
    have been so wounded, so that together we may   
    make real your promises to fill these sisters and   
    brothers with a love that is tender and good.   
    Send the exploiters away empty-handed to be   
    converted from this wickedness, and help us all to   
    claim the freedom that is your gift to your   
    children. Amen".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
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