ourselves to be Christians in the workplace, in the family, at university, in   
   college. ... Faith wants to be on the streets, like Jesus. ... Where did Jesus   
   spend   
   most of his time? On the street, preaching the Gospel, bearing witness. ... Our   
   faith demands that we too go forth, that we do not keep Jesus confined to   
   ourselves without letting Him out, as Jesus goes out with us, so if we do not   
   go   
   forth, neither does He. ... Renewing the faith means going out into the   
   streets,   
   not being afraid of conflict, seeking solutions to family, school, social and   
   economic problems. Faith has to be my inspiration for my commitment to my   
   people, and it has its risks and its dangers. I would like to end with some of   
   our Mother's words; through me, she is saying to you, 'Do not be afraid of   
   going   
   forth, do not be afraid, my child, I am here and I am your Mother".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Francis closes the Year of Consecrated Life   
    Vatican City, 3 February 2016 (VIS) - Yesterday, the feast of the Presentation   
   of Jesus in the Temple and the Day of Consecrated Life, Pope Francis presided   
   at   
   the Holy Mass for the Jubilee of Consecrated Life, held in the Vatican Basilica   
   at 5.30 p.m. Members of the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of   
   Apostolic Life concelebrated with the Holy Father.   
    During the rite, which opened with the blessing of the candles and the   
   procession, the Pope pronounced a homily, extensive extracts of which are   
   published below. He emphasised that gratitude, for the gift of the Holy Spirit   
   that always inspires the Church through different charisms is the word that   
   best   
   summarises the Year of Consecrated Life.   
    "Before our eyes there is a simple, humble and great fact: Jesus was taken by   
   Mary and Joseph to the temple of Jerusalem. He is a child like any other ...   
   but   
   He is unique: He is the only begotten Son Who came for all of us. This Child   
   brought us God's mercy and tenderness. Jesus is the face of the Father's mercy.   
   This is the icon that the Gospel offers us at the end of the Year of   
   Consecrated   
   Life, a year lived with great enthusiasm. Like a river, it now flows into the   
   sea of mercy, in this immense mystery of love that we are experiencing with the   
   extraordinary Jubilee".   
    "Today's feast, especially in the East, is called the feast of encounter.   
   Indeed, in the Gospel there are several encounters. In the temple, Jesus comes   
   towards us and we come towards Him. We contemplate the encounter with the   
   elderly Simeon, who represents the faithful hope of Israel and the exultation   
   of   
   the heart for the fulfilment of the ancient promises. We also admire the   
   encounter with the elderly prophetess Anna. Simeon and Anna are hope and   
   prophecy; Jesus is newness and completion. He presents Himself to us as God's   
   perennial surprise. In this Child, born for all, the past, made up of memory   
   and   
   promise, and the future, full of hope, are brought together".   
    "We can see here the beginning of consecrated life. Consecrated men and women   
   are called, first of all, to be men and women of encounter. Vocation, indeed,   
   is   
   not the result of a project of our own ... but rather the grace of the Lord Who   
   reaches out to us, through a life-changing encounter. Those who encounter Jesus   
   cannot stay the same as they were before. Those who live this encounter become   
   witnesses and make encounter possible for others too; and they become promoters   
   of the culture of encounter, avoiding the self-referentiality that causes us to   
   become self-centred".   
    "Jesus, to come towards us, did not hesitate to share in our human condition.   
   ...   
   He did not save us 'from outside', He did not stay out of our drama, but   
   instead   
   chose to share our life. Consecrated men and women are called to be a concrete   
   sign of this closeness to God, this sharing in the condition of frailty and sin   
   and the wounds of man in our time".   
    "The Gospel also tells us that 'the child's father and mother marvelled at   
   what   
   was said about Him'. Joseph and Mary wondered at this encounter full of light   
   and hope for all peoples. And we too, as Christians and as consecrated persons,   
   are guardians of wonder. A wonder that always asks to be renewed; woe to those   
   who settle into habit in spiritual life; woe to those whose charisms are   
   crystallised in abstract doctrine. The charisms of the founders, as I have said   
   many times, must not be sealed up in bottles - they are not museum pieces. Our   
   founders were moved by the Holy Spirit, and were not afraid of getting their   
   hands dirty in everyday life, getting involved in the problems of the people   
   and   
   reaching out courageously to the geographical and existential peripheries".   
    "Finally, from today's feast we learn to live with gratitude for the encounter   
   with Jesus and for the gift of the vocation to consecrated life. Giving thanks:   
   the Eucharist. How beautiful it is when we encounter the happy face of   
   consecrated persons, perhaps of advanced age like Simeon or Anna, content and   
   full of gratitude for their vocation. This is a word that can summarise all   
   that   
   we have lived during this Year of Consecrated Life: gratitude for the gift of   
   the Holy Spirit, that always inspires the Church through the various charisms".   
    Following Mass in the Basilica, the Pope went out into St. Peter's Square to   
   greet the many consecrated men and women who had not been able to enter the   
   Vatican Basilica. He addressed the following words to them:   
    "Thank you for ending here, all together, this Year of Consecrated Life. And   
   keep going! Each one of us has a place, a job to do in the Church. Please, do   
   not forget your first vocation, your first call. Remember this. And with that   
   love with which you were called, today the Lord continues to call to you. Do   
   not   
   let that beauty, that wonder of the first call, diminish. Keep working. ...   
   There   
   is always something to do. The main thing is to pray. The centre of consecrated   
   life is prayer. And so we age, but we age like good wine!".   
    "Let me say something to you. I like it when I find elderly men and women   
   religious, with shining eyes, because the fire of spiritual life is alight in   
   them. That flame has not been extinguished. ... Continue to work and to look to   
   tomorrow with hope, always asking the Lord to send us new vocations, so that   
   our   
   work of consecrated may keep going ahead. And memory: do not forget the first   
   call! Work, day by day, and then the hope to go ahead and to sow. May the   
   others   
   who follow us receive the legacy we leave to them".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Presentation to the Pope of the book on the Papal fleet in the Dardanelles,   
   1657   
    Vatican City, 3 February 2016 (VIS) - This morning, at the conclusion of the   
   General Audience, Rinaldo Marmara presented to Pope Francis a copy of his book   
   "La Squadra Pontificia ai Dardanelli 1657 / Ilk Canakkale Zafer? 1657". This   
   volume is an Italian and Turkish transliteration of a manuscript from the Chigi   
   collection of the Vatican Apostolic Library that is an account of the papal   
   fleet that participated in the Second Battle of the Dardanelles in 1657. During   
   a presentation of the book last evening, the author stated that his objective   
   was to make important archival material from the Vatican Archives and Vatican   
   Library accessible to Turkish historians and researchers. The book,   
   notwithstanding the painful memories of history, illustrates the importance of   
   scholarly research and opening up archives to historical investigation in the   
   service of truth and building bridges of cooperation and mutual understanding.   
    In light of this, the repeated commitment of Turkey to make its archives   
   available to historians and researchers of interested parties in order to   
   arrive   
   jointly at a better understanding of historical events and the pain and   
   suffering endured by all parties, regardless of their religious or ethnic   
   identity, caught up in war and conflict, including the tragic events of 1915,   
   is   
   noted and appreciated. The painful events of history should not be forgotten;   
   instead they require careful examination and reflection so that they may lead   
   to   
   the healing and purification of memory so necessary for reconciliation and   
   forgiveness for individuals and peoples, as St. John Paul II affirmed.   
    The memory of the suffering and pain of both the distant and the more recent   
   past, as in the case of the assassination of Taha Car?m, Ambassador of Turkey   
   to   
   the Holy See, in June 1977, at the hands of a terrorist group, urges us also to   
   acknowledge the suffering of the present and to condemn all acts of violence   
   and   
   terrorism, which continue to cause victims today.   
    Particularly heinous and offensive is violence and terrorism committed in the   
   name of God or religion. As His Holiness Pope Francis stated during his visit   
   to   
   the Central African Republic: "Christians and Muslims are brothers and sisters.   
   ... Together, we must say no to hatred, no to revenge and no to violence,   
   particularly that violence which is perpetrated in the name of a religion or of   
   God himself". May these words inspire all people of goodwill to remember and   
   affirm their brotherhood, solidarity, compassion and shared humanity and to   
   reiterate their common stand against all violence.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
   For more information and to search for documents refer to the site:   
   www.visnews.org and www.vatican.va   
      
   Copyright (VIS):  the news contained in the services of the Vatican   
   Information Service may be reproduced wholly or partially by quoting   
   the source:  V. I. S. - Vatican Information Service.   
   http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/vis/vis_en.html   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)