Pope Francis says "Every baptized person has received a vocation to proclaim...the evangelizing mission: to announce Jesus!" Full Text

ANGELUS

St. Peter's Square
Sunday, February 2, 2020

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

Today we celebrate the feast of the Presentation of the Lord: when the newborn Jesus was presented to the temple by the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. On this date there is also the Day of consecrated life, which recalls the great treasure in the Church of those who follow the Lord closely by professing the evangelical counsels.

The Gospel (cf. Lk 2: 22-40) tells that, forty days after birth, Jesus' parents brought the Child to Jerusalem to consecrate him to God, as prescribed by Jewish law. And while describing a ritual foreseen by tradition, this episode brings to our attention the example of some characters. They are caught when they experience the encounter with the Lord in the place where He makes himself present and close to man. These are Mary and Joseph, Simeon and Anna, who represent models of acceptance and giving of their life to God. These four were not the same, they were all different, but they all sought God and allowed themselves to be guided by the Lord

The evangelist Luke describes all four of them in a twofold attitude: an attitude of movement and an attitude of amazement.

The first attitude is movement. Mary and Joseph walk towards Jerusalem; for his part, Simeone, moved by the Spirit, goes to the temple, while Anna serves God day and night without stopping. In this way the four protagonists of the Gospel passage show us that Christian life requires dynamism and requires willingness to walk, letting oneself be guided by the Holy Spirit. Immobilism is not suitable for Christian witness and the mission of the Church. The world needs Christians who let themselves be moved, who never tire of walking the streets of life, to bring everyone the consoling word of Jesus. Every baptized person has received a vocation to proclaim - announce something, announce Jesus -, the vocation to the evangelizing mission: to announce Jesus! Parishes and various ecclesial communities are called to encourage the commitment of young people, families and the elderly, so that everyone can have a Christian experience, living the life and mission of the Church as protagonists.

The second attitude with which San Luca presents the four characters of the story is amazement. Mary and Joseph "were amazed at the things they said about him [about Jesus]" (v. 33). Amazement is an explicit reaction also from the old Simeon, who in the Child Jesus sees with his own eyes the salvation wrought by God in favor of his people: that salvation that he had been waiting for for years. And the same is true of Anna, who "also began to praise God" (v. 38) and to go and show people Jesus. This is a chatty saint, she chatted well, chatted about good things, not bad things. She said, announced: a saint who went from one woman to another making them see Jesus. These figures of believers are enveloped in amazement, because they let themselves be captured and involved by the events that happened before their eyes. The ability to be amazed at the things around us promotes religious experience and makes meeting with the Lord fruitful. On the contrary, the inability to amaze us makes us indifferent and widens the distances between the journey of faith and everyday life. Brothers and sisters, always on the move and leaving us open to amazement!

May the Virgin Mary help us to contemplate the gift of God for us every day in Jesus, and to let ourselves be involved by him in the movement of the gift, with joyful amazement, so that our whole life may become a praise to God in the service of our brothers.



After the Angelus

Dear brothers and sisters!

Today the Day for Life is celebrated in Italy, which has the theme "Open the doors to life". I join the Message of Bishops and hope that this Day will be an opportunity to renew the commitment to protect and protect human life from the beginning until its natural end. It is also necessary to combat any form of violation of dignity, even when technology or the economy is at stake, opening the doors to new forms of solidarity fraternity. Today, in the Day of consecrated life, I would like all of us together in the square to pray for the consecrated men and women who do a lot of work and many times in secret. Let's pray together. [Ave Maria] And an applause to consecrated men and women!

I greet all of you, Romans and pilgrims. In particular, students from Badajoz (Spain); the faithful of Cremona, Spoleto, Fano, Palau and Roseto degli Abruzzi. I see there are many Polish pilgrims! And Japanese pilgrims, let's say goodbye!

I wish everyone a good Sunday. And please, don't forget to pray for me. Have a good lunch and goodbye!