On the evening of February 2, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord and World Day for Consecrated Life, Pope Francis celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.

“Let us open our eyes: the Spirit is inviting us amid our crises, decreasing numbers, and diminishing forces, to renew our lives and our communities,” he preached. Warning against the “temptation to go backwards, for security, for fear, to preserve the faith, to preserve the founding charism,” he said that “neither Simeon nor Anna was rigid. They were free and had the joy of feasting.”