satisfaction than to see his children grow up, developing and flourishing. The   
   first reading that we have just heard points to this. The great city of   
   Nineveh,   
   was self-destructing as a result of oppression and dishonour, violence and   
   injustice. The grand capital's days were numbered because the violence within   
   it   
   could not continue. Then the Lord appeared and stirred Jonah's heart: the   
   Father   
   called and sent forth His messenger. Jonah was summoned to receive a mission.   
   'Go', he is told, because in 'forty days Nineveh shall be overthrown'. Go and   
   help them to understand that by the way they treat each other, ordering and   
   organising themselves, they are only creating death and destruction, suffering   
   and oppression. Make them see this is no way to live, neither for the king nor   
   his subjects, nor for farm fields nor for the cattle. Go and tell them that   
   they   
   have become used to this degrading way of life and have lost their sensitivity   
   to pain. Go and tell them that injustice has infected their way of seeing the   
   world. 'Therefore, go Jonah!'. God sent him to testify to what was happening,   
   He   
   sent him to wake up a people intoxicated with themselves".   
    "In this text we find ourselves before the mystery of divine mercy. Mercy,   
   which always rejects wickedness, takes the human person in great earnest. Mercy   
   always appeals to the goodness of each person, even though it may be dormant   
   and   
   numbed. Far from bringing destruction, as we so often desire or want to bring   
   about ourselves, mercy seeks to transform each situation from within. Herein   
   lies the mystery of divine mercy. It seeks and invites us to conversion, it   
   invites us to repentance; it invites us to see the damage being done at every   
   level. Mercy always pierces evil in order to transform it. It is the mystery of   
   God our Father: He sends his Son who pierced into what was evil, He made   
   himself   
   sin in order to transform evil. This is his mercy".   
    "The king listened to Jonah, the inhabitants of the city responded and penance   
   was decreed. God's mercy has entered the heart, revealing and showing wherein   
   our certainty and hope lie: there is always the possibility of change, we still   
   have time to transform what is destroying us as a people, what is demeaning our   
   humanity. Mercy encourages us to look to the present, and to trust what is   
   healthy and good beating in every heart. God's mercy is our shield and our   
   strength".   
    Jonah helped them to see and to become aware. "Following this, his call found   
   men and women capable of repenting, and capable of weeping. To weep over   
   injustice, to cry over corruption, to cry over oppression. These are tears that   
   lead to transformation, that soften the heart; they are the tears that purify   
   our gaze and enable us to see the cycle of sin into which very often we have   
   sunk. They are tears that can sensitise our gaze and our attitude, which are   
   hardened and dormant in the face of another's suffering. They are the tears   
   that   
   can break us, capable of opening us to conversion. This is what happened to   
   Peter after having denied Jesus; he cried and those tears opened his heart".   
    "This word echoes forcefully today among us; this word is the voice crying out   
   in the wilderness, inviting us to conversion. In this Year of Mercy, with you   
   here, I beg for God's mercy; with you I wish to plead for the gift of tears,   
   the   
   gift of conversion. Here in Ciudad Juárez, as in other border areas, there are   
   thousands of immigrants from Central America and other countries, not   
   forgetting   
   the many Mexicans who also seek to pass over 'to the other side'. Each step, a   
   journey laden with grave injustices: the enslaved, the imprisoned and extorted;   
   so many of these brothers and sisters of ours are the consequence of a trade in   
   human trafficking, the trafficking of persons".   
    "We cannot deny the humanitarian crisis which in recent years has meant   
   migration for thousands of people, whether by train or highway or on foot,   
   crossing hundreds of kilometres through mountains, deserts and inhospitable   
   zones. The human tragedy that is forced migration is a global phenomenon today.   
   This crisis which can be measured in numbers and statistics, we want instead to   
   measure with names, stories, families. They are the brothers and sisters of   
   those expelled by poverty and violence, by drug trafficking and criminal   
   organizations. Being faced with so many legal vacuums, they get caught up in a   
   web that ensnares and always destroys the poorest. Not only do they suffer   
   poverty but they must also endure all these forms of violence. Injustice is   
   radicalised in the young; they are "cannon fodder", persecuted and threatened   
   when they try to flee the spiral of violence and the hell of drugs. And what   
   can   
   we say about the many women whose lives have been unjustly robbed?"   
    "Let us together ask our God for the gift of conversion, the gift of tears,   
   let   
   us ask him to give us open hearts like the Ninevites, open to His call heard in   
   the suffering faces of countless men and women. No more death! No more   
   exploitation! There is always time to change, always a way out and always an   
   opportunity, there is always the time to implore the mercy of God. Just as in   
   Jonas' time, so too today may we commit ourselves to conversion; may we be   
   signs   
   lighting the way and announcing salvation. I know of the work of countless   
   civil   
   organisations working to support the rights of migrants. I know too of the   
   committed work of so many men and women religious, priests and lay people in   
   accompanying migrants and in defending life. They are on the front lines, often   
   risking their own lives. By their very lives they are prophets of mercy; they   
   are the beating heart and the accompanying feet of the Church that opens her   
   arms and sustains".   
    "This time for conversion, this time for salvation, is the time for mercy. And   
   so, let us say together in response to the suffering on so many faces: in your   
   compassion and mercy, Lord, have pity on us ... cleanse us from our sins and   
   create in us a pure heart, a new spirit".   
    "And now I also want to greet from here all our beloved brothers and sisters   
   who are joining us simultaneously from the other side of the frontier,   
   especially those who are gathered in the Stadium of the University of El Paso,   
   known as The Sun Bowl. ... Thanks to technology, we can pray, sing and   
   celebrate   
   together that merciful love which God gives us, and which no frontier can   
   prevent us from sharing. Thank you, brothers and sisters of El Paso, for making   
   us feel one single family and one same Christian community".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The Pope leaves Mexico: many lights proclaim hope in the Mexican people   
    Vatican City, 17 February 2016 (VIS) - Pope Francis took leave of Mexico   
   today,   
   thanking God for granting him his visit to a country "that always surprises,   
   for   
   Mexico is a surprise!". He departed from the airport of Ciudad Juarez at 7 p.m.   
   local time (3 a.m. in Rome) today, 18 February, and is expected to arrive in   
   Rome at 3.15 p.m.   
    The Holy Father again gave thanks to all those who made his pilgrimage   
   possible, including the state and local authorities and "all those anonymous   
   helpers who quietly gave of their very best to make these days a great family   
   celebration".   
    "I have felt welcomed and warmly received by the love, the celebration, the   
   hope of this great Mexican family: thank you for having opened the doors of   
   your   
   lives to me, the doors of your nation", he added, then reciting the words of   
   Octavio Paz in his poem "Hermandad":   
    "I am a man: I only last a brief while, and the night is vast.   
    But I look up: the stars are writing.   
    Without grasping I understand: I am also the writing   
    and in this very instant someone is spelling me out".   
    "Taking up these beautiful words, I dare to suggest that the one who spells us   
   out and marks out the road for us is the mysterious but real presence of God in   
   the real flesh of all people, especially the poorest and most needy of Mexico",   
   the Pontiff commented. "The night can seem vast and very dark, but in these   
   days   
   I have been able to observe that in this people there are many lights who   
   proclaim hope; I have been able to see in many of their testimonies, in their   
   faces, the presence of God who carries on walking in this land, guiding you,   
   sustaining hope; many men and women, with their everyday efforts, make it   
   possible for this Mexican society not to be left in darkness. Many men and   
   women   
   lining the streets as I went by, lifted up their children, showing them to me:   
   they are the future of Mexico, let us look after them, let us love them. These   
   children are tomorrow's prophets, they are the sign of a new dawn. And I assure   
   you that on some occasions, as I passed by, I felt I wanted to cry on seeing so   
   much hope among people who suffer so much".   
    "May Mary, Mother of Guadalupe, continue to visit you, continue to walk on   
   your   
   lands - Mexico which cannot be understood without her - may she continue   
   helping   
   you to be missionaries and witnesses of mercy and reconciliation", he   
   concluded.   
   "Once again, thank you very much for this warm, so very warm, Mexican   
   hospitality".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
   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.   
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   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)