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In The Month Of October, The Universal Church Highlights Her Missionary Vocation. Guided By The Holy Spirit She Knows She Is Called To Pursue The Work Of Jesus Himself, Proclaiming The Gospel Of The Kingdom Of God Which Is "righteousness And Peace And Joy In The Holy Spirit"

-Pope Benedict XVI

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In The Month Of

Pope Benedict XVI

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In The Month Of October, The Universal Church Highlights Her Missionary Vocation. Guided By The Holy Spirit She Knows She Is Called To Pursue The Work Of Jesus Himself, Proclaiming The Gospel Of The Kingdom Of God Which Is "righteousness And Peace And Joy In The Holy Spirit"

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Humanity Today Is Rightly Concerned About The Ecological Balance Of Tomorrow. It Is Important For Assessments In This Regard To Be Carried Out Prudently, In Dialogue With Experts And People Of Wisdom, Uninhibited By Ideological Pressure To Draw Hasty Conclusions, And Above All With The Aim Of Reaching Agreement On A Model Of Sustainable Development Capable Of Ensuring The Well-being Of All While Respecting Environmental Balances.

The Diligent Reading Of Sacred Scripture Accompanied By Prayer Brings About That Intimate Dialogue In Which The Person Reading Hears God Who Is Speaking, And In Praying, Responds To Him With Trusting Openness Of Heart. If It Is Effectively Promoted, This Practice Will Bring To The Church-i Am Convinced Of It-a New Spiritual Springtime.

The Deepest Poverty Is The Inability Of Joy, The Tediousness Of A Life Considered Absurd And Contradictory. This Poverty Is Widespread Today, In Very Different Forms In The Materially Rich As Well As The Poor Countries. The Inability Of Joy Presupposes And Produces The Inability To Love, Produces Jealousy, Avarice - All Defects That Devastate The Life Of Individuals And Of The World. This Is Why We Are In Need Of A New Evangelization - If The Art Of Living Remains An Unknown, Nothing Else Works... This Art Can Only Be Communicated By [one] Who Has Life - He Who Is The Gospel Personified.

In The Eyes Of The Unrighteous It Appeared That God Did Not Intervene And That His Son Died, But For Believers It Was At That Precise Moment That True Glory Was Manifested And Definitive Salvation Achieved.

Sometimes Men And Women Prefer The Darkness To The Light Because They Are Attached To Their Sins. Nevertheless It Is Only By Opening Oneself To The Light And Only By Sincerely Confessing One's Sins To God That One Finds True Peace And True Joy. It Is Therefore Important To Receive The Sacrament Of Penance Regularly, Especially During Lent, In Order To Receive The Lord's Forgiveness And To Intensify Our Process Of Conversion.

The Cross Reminds Us That There Is No True Love Without Suffering, There Is No Gift Of Life Without Pain.

The Happiness You Have A Right To Enjoy Has A Name And A Face: It Is Jesus Of Nazareth, Hidden In The Eucharist.

The Twelve Apostles Are The Most Evident Sign Of Jesus' Will Regarding The Existence And Mission Of His Church, The Guarantee That Between Christ And The Church There Is No Opposition: Despite The Sins Of The People Who Make Up The Church, They Are Inseparable. Therefore, A Slogan That Was Popular Some Years Back, 'jesus Yes, Church No,' Is Totally Inconceivable With The Intention Of Christ. This Individualistically Chosen Jesus Is An Imaginary Jesus.

Guarantees That

Over The Pope As Expression Of The Binding Claim Of Ecclesiastical Authority, There Stands One's Own Conscience Which Must Be Obeyed Before All Else, Even If Necessary Against The Requirement Of Ecclesiastical Authority.

Men And Women Were Created For Something Great, For Infinity. Nothing Else Will Ever Be Enough.

These Days We Are All Pained By The Disaster Caused By The Hurricane In The United States Of America.

That The Different Christian Confessions, Aware Of The Need For A New Evangelisation In This Period Of Profound Transformations, May Be Committed To Announcing The Good News And Moving Towards The Full Unity Of All Christians In Order To Offer A More Credible Testimony Of The Gospel.

Every Human Being Is Loved By God The Father. No One Need Feel Forgotten, For Every Name Is Written In The Lord's Loving Heart.

Authentic Love Is Obviously Something Good... When We Love, We Become Most Fully Ourselves, Most Fully Human... People Often Think They Are Being Loving When Actually They Are Being Possessive Or Manipulative. People Sometimes Treat Others As Objects To Satisfy Their Own Needs... How Easy It Is To Be Deceived By The Many Voices In Our Society That Advocate A Permissive Approach To Sexuality, Without Regard For Modesty, Self-respect Or The Moral Values That Bring Quality To Human Relationships! This Is Worship Of A False God. Instead Of Bringing Life, It Brings Death.

Do Not Be Afraid Of Seeming Different And Being Criticized For What Might Seem To Be Losing Or Out Of Fashion; Your Peers But Adults Too, Especially Those Who Seem More Distant From The Mindset And Values Of The Gospel, Are Crying Out To See Someone Who Dares To Live According To The Fullness Of Humanity Revealed By Jesus Christ.

That The Jews Are Connected With God In A Special Way And That God Does Not Allow That Bond To Fail Is Entirely Obvious. We Wait For The Instant In Which Israel Will Say Yes To Christ, But We Know That It Has A Special Mission In History Now ... Which Is Significant For The World.

The Ecclesial Communities Which Have Not Preserved The Valid Episcopate And The Genuine And Integral Substance Of The Eucharistic Mystery, Are Not Churches In The Proper Sense; However, Those Who Are Baptized In These Communities Are, By Baptism, Incorporated In Christ And Thus Are In A Certain Communion, Albeit Imperfect, With The Church.

The Celebration Of Lent, In The Context Of The Year Of Faith, Offers Us A Valuable Opportunity To Meditate On The Relationship Between Faith And Charity: Between Believing In God - The God Of Jesus Christ - And Love, Which Is The Fruit Of The Holy Spirit And Which Guides Us On The Path Of Devotion To God And Others.

What Is Capable Of Restoring Enthusiasm And Confidence, What Can Encourage The Human Spirit To Rediscover Its Path, To Raise Its Eyes To The Horizon, To Dream Of A Life Worthy Of Its Vocation - If Not Beauty?

Today The Great Gift Of God's Creation Is Exposed To Serious Dangers And Lifestyles Which Can Degrade It. Environmental Pollution Is Making Particularly Unsustainable The Lives Of The Poor Of The World ... We Must Pledge Ourselves To Take Care Of Creation And To Share Its Resources In Solidarity.

We Are Not Some Casual And Meaningless Product Of Evolution. Each Of Us Is The Result Of A Thought Of God.

God's Love For His People Is So Great That It Turns God Against Himself, His Love Against His Justice.

The Life Of The Community, Both Domestically And Internationally, Clearly Demonstrates That Respect For Rights, And The Guarantees That Follow From Them, Are Measures Of The Common Good That Serve To Evaluate The Relationship Between Justice And Injustice, Development And Poverty, Security And Conflict.

Guarantees That

I Am Consoled By The Fact That The Lord Knows How To Work And How To Act, Even With Insufficient Tools.

When, For Example, In The Name Of Non-discrimination, People Try To Force The Catholic Church To Change Her Position On Homosexuality Or The Ordination Of Women, Then That Means That She Is No Longer Allowed To Live Out Her Own Identity And That, Instead, An Abstract, Negative Religion Is Being Made Into A Tyrannical Standard That Everyone Must Follow. That Is Then Seemingly Freedom — For The Sole Reason That It Is Liberation From The Previous Situation.

All The Saints Of God Are There To Protect Me, To Sustain Me And To Carry Me. And Your Prayers, My Dear Friends, Your Indulgence, Your Love, Your Faith And Your Hope Accompany Me.

The Relationship Between Individuals Or Communities And The Environment Ultimately Stems From Their Relationship With God. When ‘man Turns His Back On The Creator’s Plan, He Provokes A Disorder Which Has Inevitable Repercussions On The Rest Of The Created Order.

Everything In This World Will Pass Away. In Eternity Only Love Will Remain.

To Desire The Common Good And Strive Towards It Is A Requirement Of Justice And Charity.

We Are Building A Dictatorship Of Relativism That Does Not Recognize Anything As Definitive And Whose Ultimate Goal Consists Solely Of One's Own Ego And Desires. We, However, Have A Different Goal: The Son Of God, The True Man. He Is The Measure Of True Humanism. An "adult" Faith Is Not A Faith That Follows The Trends Of Fashion And The Latest Novelty; A Mature Adult Faith Is Deeply Rooted In Friendship With Christ.

Both Strength Of Mind And Body Are Necessary, Strengths Which In The Last Few Months Have Deteriorated In Me To The Extent That I Have Had To Recognize My Incapacity To Adequately Fulfill The Ministry Entrusted To Me.

There May Be A Basis In The Case Of Some Individuals, As Perhaps When A Male Prostitute Uses A Condom, Where This Can Be A First Step In The Direction Of A Moralisation, A First Assumption Of Responsibility...

Lent Stimulates Us To Let The Word Of God Penetrate Our Life And In This Way To Know The Fundamental Truth: Who We Are, Where We Come From, Where We Must Go, What Path We Must Take In Life.

An Authentic Updating Of Sacred Music Can Take Place Only In The Lineage Of The Great Tradition Of The Past, Of Gregorian Chant And Of Sacred Polyphony.

There Is No Other Possibility For Possessing Certitude With Regard To One's Life Apart From Self-abandonmen T, In A Continuous Crescendo, Into The Hands Of A Love That Seems To Grow Constantly Because It Has Its Origin In God.

To Some Extent, This Urge To Break Out Of The Ordinary Is Present In Every Generation. Part Of Being Young Is Desiring Something Beyond Everyday Life And A Secure Job, A Yearning For Something Really Truly Greater. Is This Simply An Empty Dream That Fades Away As We Become Older? No! Men And Women Were Created For Something Great, For Infinity. Nothing Else Will Ever Be Enough.

The Language Of Art Is A 'parabolic' Language, With A Special Openness To The Universal: The 'way Of Beauty' Is A Way Capable Of Leading The Mind And Heart To The Lord, To Elevate Them To The Heights Of God.

The Church Does Not Invent Sins But Recognizes The Will Of God And Has To Declare It. Of Course, The Great Thing.. Is That Upon The Church, Which Has To Declare The Will Of God In Its Full Magnitude, In Its Unconditional Rigor, So That Man Should Know His True Measure, Is Bestowed As A Gift, At The Same Time, The Task Of Forgiving.

Nourishment Is A Factor Which Touches On The Fundamental Right To Life.

Society Today Is Being Fragmented By A Way Of Thinking That Is Inherently Short-sighted Because It Disregards The Full Horizon Of Truth - The Truth About God And About Us. By Its Nature, Relativism Fails To See The Whole Picture. It Ignores The Very Principles That Enable Us To Live And Flourish In Unity, Order And Harmony.

Prayer, As A Means Of Drawing Ever New Strength From Christ, Is Concretely And Urgently Needed.

Humor Is In Fact An Essential Element In The Mirth Of Creation. We Can See How, In Many Matters In Our Lives, God Wants To Prod Us Into Taking Things A Bit More Lightly.

When Human Affairs Are So Ordered That There Is No Recognition Of God, There Is A Belittling Of Man. That Is Why, In The Final Analysis, Worship And Law Cannot Be Completely Separated From Each Other. God Has A Right To A Response From Man, To Man Himself, And Where That Right Of God Totally Disappears, The Order Of Law Among Men Is Dissolved, Because There Is No Cornerstone To Keep The Whole Structure Together.

If We Allow The Love Of Christ To Change Our Heart, Then We Can Change The World. This Is The Secret Of Authentic Happiness.

Vacation Time Offers The Unique Opportunity To Pause Before The Thought-provoking Spectacles Of Nature, A Wonderful "book" Within Reach Of Everyone, Adults And Children. In Contact With Nature, A Person Rediscovers His Correct Dimension, Rediscovers Himself As A Creature, Small But At The Same Time Unique, With A "capacity For God" Because Interiorly He Is Open To The Infinite.

We Do Not Seek A Christ Whom We Have Invented, For Only In The Real Communion Of The Church Do We Encounter The Real Christ.

In The Pierced Heart Of The Crucified, God's Own Heart Is Opened Up - Here We See Who God Is And What He Is Like. Heaven Is No Longer Locked Up. God Has Stepped Out Of His Hiddenness.

[evangelization] Is Not Something Optional, But The Very Vocation Of The People Of God, A Duty That Corresponds To It By The Command Of The Lord Jesus Christ Himself

Perhaps Reluctantly We Come To Acknowledge That There Are Also Scars Which Mark The Surface Of Our Earth: Erosion, Deforestation, The Squandering Of The World’s Mineral And Ocean Resources In Order To Fuel An Insatiable Consumption.

The Eucharistic Sacrifice Of The Body And Blood Of Christ Embraces In Turn The Mystery Of Our Lord's Continuing Passion In The Members Of His Mystical Body, The Church In Every Age.

There Is Nothing More Beautiful Than To Be Surprised By The Gospel, By The Encounter With Christ. There Is Nothing More Beautiful Than To Know Him And To Speak To Others Of Our Friendship With Him.

You Must Know Your Faith With The Same Precision With Which A Specialist In Information Technology Knows The Operating System Of A Computer.

May We Be Enlightened By A Ray Of The Light That Comes From Bethlehem, The Light Of He Who Is 'the Greatest' And Made Himself Small.

In Silence, We Are Better Able To Listen To And Understand Ourselves; Ideas Come To Birth And Acquire Depth; We Understand With Greater Clarity What It Is We Want To Say And What We Expect From Others; And We Choose How To Express Ourselves.

Society As A Whole Must Defend The Conceived Child's Right To Life And The True Good Of The Woman Who Can Never, In Any Circumstances, Find Fulfilment In The Decision To Abort.

People From The World's Richest Countries Should Be Prepared To Accept The Burden Of Debt Reduction For Heavily Indebted Poor Countries, And Should Urge Their Leaders To Fulfill The Pledges Made To Reduce World Poverty, Especially In Africa, By The Year 2015.

Anyone Who Has Discovered Christ Must Lead Others To Him. A Great Joy Cannot Be Kept To Oneself. It Has To Be Passed On.

The Human Person Finds His Perfection "in Seeking And Loving What Is True And Good.

Let Us Put Our Hands Today Again At (god's) Disposition And Pray That He Takes Our Hands To Guide Us. Let His Hand Take Ours So We Won't Sink, But Will Serve Life Which Is Stronger Than Death, And Love Which Is Stronger Than Hatred.

If You Abide In The Love Of Christ, Rooted In The Faith, You Will Encounter, Even Amid Setbacks And Suffering, The Source Of True Happiness And Joy. Faith Does Not Run Counter To Your Highest Ideals; On The Contrary, It Elevates And Perfects Those Ideals. Dear Young People, Do Not Be Satisfied With Anything Less Than Truth And Love, Do Not Be Content With Anything Less Than Christ.

Advent Is The Spiritual Season Of Hope Par Excellence, And In This Season The Whole Church Is Called To Be Hope, For Itself And For The World.

If In My Life I Fail Completely To Heed Others, Solely Out Of A Desire To Be 'devout' And To Perform My 'religious Duties', Then My Relationship With God Will Also Grow Arid. It Becomes Merely 'proper', But Loveless.

It Is Necessary Not Only To Relieve The Gravest Needs But To Go To Their Roots, Proposing Measures That Will Give Social, Political And Economic Structures A More Equitable And Solidaristic Configuration.

Christ Had A Specific Evangelizing Goal In Mind When He Prayed At The Last Supper That All His Disciples 'be One...'the Church's Evangelizing Mission, Therefore, Moves Along The Path Of Ecumenism, The Path Of Unity Of Faith, Of Evangelical Witness And Authentic Fraternity.

Lifting One's Gaze To The Living God, The Guarantor Of Our Freedom And Of Truth, Is A Premise For Arriving At A New Humanity. Nowadays, In A Special Way, The World Needs People Capable Of Proclaiming And Bearing Witness To God Who Is Love, And Consequently The One Light Which In The End, Illumines The Darkness Of The World And Gives Us Strength To Live And Work

How Many People Also In Our Time Are In Search Of God, In Search Of Jesus And Of His Church, In Search Of Divine Mercy, And Are Waiting For A "sign" That Will Touch Their Minds And Their Hearts! Today, As Then, The Evangelist Reminds Us That The Only "sign" Is Jesus Raised On The Cross: Jesus Who Died And Rose Is The Absolutely Sufficient Sign. Through Him We Can Understand The Truth About Life And Obtain Salvation.

I Encourage All Of You To Discover Ever More Fully In The Eucharist, The Sacrament Of Christ's Sacrificial Love, The Inspiration And Strength Needed To Work Ever More Generously For The Spread Of God's Kingdom And The Growth Of The Civilization Of Love.

Their Example Testifies That Baptism Commits Christians To Participating Courageously In The Spreading Of The Kingdom Of God, If Need Be Cooperating With The Sacrifice Of Life Itself... This Martyrdom Of Ordinary Life Constitutes A Particularly Important Witness In The Secularized Society Of Our Time. It Is The Peaceful Battle Of Love Which Every Christian, Like Paul, Must Fight Without Flagging: The Race To Spread The Gospel That Involves Us Until Our Death. May The Virgin Mary, Queen Of Martyrs And Star Of Evangelization, Help Us In Our Daily Witness.

Each One Of Us Needs Time And Space For Recollection, Meditation And Calmness.... Thanks Be To God That This Is So! In Fact, This Need Tells Us That We Are Not Made For Work Alone, But Also To Think, To Reflect Or Even Simply To Follow With Our Minds And Our Hearts A Tale, A Story In Which To Immerse Ourselves, In A Certain Sense To Lose Ourselves To Find Ourselves Subsequently Enriched.

It Is Imperative That The Entire Christian Community In The United States Come To Realize The Grave Threats To The Church's Public Moral Witness Presented By A Militant Atheism Which Finds Increasing Expression In The Political And Cultural Spheres. The Seriousness Of These Threats Needs To Be Clearly Appreciated At Every Level Of Ecclesial Life.

Do Not Be Afraid To Say “yes” To Jesus, To Find Your Joy In Doing His Will...

Selfishness And Fear Are At The Root Of (pro-abortion) Legislation...we In The Church Have A Great Struggle To Defend Life...life Is A Gift Not A Threat.

The Wrath Of God Is A Way Of Saying That I Have Been Living In A Way That Is Contrary To The Love That Is God. Anyone Who Begins To Live And Grow Away From God, Who Lives Away From What Is Good, Is Turning His Life Toward Wrath.

Making The Sign Of The Cross - As We Will Do During The Blessing - Means Saying A Visible And Public "yes" To The One Who Died And Rose For Us, To God Who In The Humility And Weakness Of His Love Is The Almighty, Stronger Than All The Power And Intelligence Of The World.

Children Truly Are The Family's Greatest Treasure And Most Precious Good. Consequently, Everyone Must Be Helped To Become Aware Of The Intrinsic Evil Of The Crime Of Abortion. In Attacking Human Life In Its Very First Stages, It Is Also An Aggression Against Society Itself. Politicians And Legislators, Therefore, As Servants Of The Common Good, Are Duty Bound To Defend The Fundamental Right To Life, The Fruit Of God's Love.

Greatest Treasure

Grant That We May Be One Flock And One Shepherd! Do Not Allow Your Net To Be Torn, Help Us To Be Servants Of Unity!

The New Evangelization ... Begins In The Confessional.

Jesus, The Word Incarnate, Is Always The Center Of Our Announcement, The Point Of Reference For Our Evangelizing Mission And For Its Methodology, Because He Is The Human Face Of God, Who Wishes To Meet All Men And Women So As To Bring Them Into Communion With Him, In His Love.

When Politicians Presume To Do God's Work, They Do Not Become Divine But Diabolical.

Purity Of Heart Is What Enables Us To See.

Wherever Politics Tries To Be Redemptive, It Is Promising Too Much. Where It Wishes To Do The Work Of God, It Becomes Not Divine, But Demonic.

After Having Repeatedly Examined My Conscience Before God, I Have Come To The Certainty That My Strengths, Due To An Advanced Age, Are No Longer Suited To An Adequate Exercise Of The Petrine Ministry.

An Adult Faith Does Not Follow The Waves Of Fashion And The Latest Novelties.

Islam Has A Total Organization Of Life That Is Completely Different From Ours; It Embraces Simply Everything,...there Is A Very Marked Subordination Of Woman To Man; There Is A Very Tightly Knit Criminal Law, Indeed, A Law Regulating All Areas Of Life, That Is Opposed To Our Modern Ideas About Society. One Has To Have A Clear Understanding That It Is Not Simply A Denomination That Can Be Included In The Free Realm Of A Pluralistic Society.

Est Autem Fides Sperandarum Substantia Rerum, Argumentum Non Apparentium. – Faith Is The Hypostasis Of Things Hoped For; The Proof Of Things Not Seen.

For In This World, Marked By Sin, The Gravitational Pull Of Our Lives Is Weighted By The Chains Of The "i" And The "self." These Chains Must Be Broken To Free Us For A New Love That Places Us In Another Gravitational Field Where We Can Enter New Life.

Popular Piety Is One Of Our Strengths Because It Consists Of Prayers Deeply Rooted In People's Hearts. These Prayers Even Move The Hearts Of People Who Are Somewhat Cut Off From The Life Of The Church And Who Have No Special Understanding Of Faith. All That Is Required Is To 'illuminate' These Actions And 'purify' This Tradition So That It May Become Part Of The Life Of The Church Today.

When, As Today, There Is A Market In Human Organs, When Fetuses Are Produced To Make Spare Organs Available, Or To Make Progress In Research And Preventive Medicine, Many Regard The Human Content Of These Practices As Implicit. But The Contempt For Man That Underlies It, When Man Is Used And Abused, Leads -- Like It Or Not -- To A Descent Into Hell.

Used And Abused

If Jesus Has Become Your Hope, Communicate This To Others With Your Joy And Your Spiritual, Apostolic And Social Engagement. Let Christ Dwell Within You, And Having Placed All Your Faith And Trust In Him, Spread This Hope Around You. Make Choices That Demonstrate Your Faith.

In Silence, We Are Better Able To Listen To And Understand Ourselves; Ideas Come To Birth And Acquire Depth... Deeper Reflection Helps Us To Discover The Links Between Events That At First Sight Seem Unconnected... For This To Happen, It Is Necessary To Develop An Appropriate Environment, A Kind Of 'eco-system' That Maintains A Just Equilibrium Between Silence, Words, Images And Sounds.

Dear Young People, Do Not Be Satisfied With Anything Less Than Truth And Love, Do Not Be Content With Anything Less Than Christ

To Suffer With The Other And For Others; To Suffer For The Sake Of Truth And Justice; To Suffer Out Of Love And In Order To Become A Person Who Truly Loves - These Are Fundamental Elements Of Humanity, And To Abandon Them Would Destroy Man Himself.

There Is An Urgent Need For The Emergence Of A New Generation Of Apostles Anchored Firmly In The Word Of Christ, Capable Of Responding To The Challenges Of Our Times And Prepared To Spread The Gospel Far And Wide.

Only From God Does True Revolution Come... The Definitive Way To Change The World.

You Must Know How To Translate The Indications Of The Word Into Daily Witness, Allowing Yourselves To Be Formed By The Word Which, Like Seed Sown In Good Soil, Brings Abundant Fruit. Thus You Will Remain Docile To The Spirit And Grow In Union With God, You Will Cultivate Fraternal Communion Among Yourselves And Be Ready To Serve Your Brethren Generously, Especially Those Most In Need.

The Abuse Of Faith Has To Be Resisted Precisely.

The Fundamental Task Of The Evangelization Of Culture Is The Challenge To Make God Visible In The Human Face Of Jesus.

Jesus Christ Does Not Teach Us A Spirituality “of Closed Eyes”, But One Of “alertness”, One Which Entails An Absolute Duty To Take Notice Of The Needs Of Others And Of Situations Involving Those Whom The Gospel Tells Us Are Our Neighbours. The Gaze Of Jesus, What “his Eyes” Teach Us, Leads To Human Closeness, Solidarity, Giving Time, Sharing Our Gifts And Even Our Material Goods.

Receiving The Eucharist Means Adoring Him Whom We Receive. Only In This Way Do We Become One With Him, And Are Given, As It Were, A Foretaste Of The Beauty Of The Heavenly Liturgy. The Act Of Adoration Outside Mass Prolongs And Intensifies All That Takes Place During The Liturgical Celebration Itself.

With The Synod Assembly, Therefore, I Heartily Recommend To The Church's Pastors And To The People Of God The Practice Of Eucharistic Adoration, Both Individually And In Community

It Is Theologically And Anthropologically Important For Woman To Be At The Center Of Christianity. Through Mary, And The Other Holy Women, The Feminine Element Stands At The Heart Of The Christian Religion.

Dear Young People, The Happiness You Are Seeking, The Happiness You Have A Right To Enjoy Has A Name And A Face: It Is Jesus Of Nazareth, Hidden In The Eucharist. Only He Gives The Fullness Of Life To Humanity! With Mary, Say Your Own "yes" To God, For He Wishes To Give Himself To You.

Fullness Of Life

The Catholic Community Must Offer Support To Those Women Who May Find It Difficult To Accept A Child, Above All When They Are Isolated From Their Family And Friends. Likewise, The Community Should Be Open To Welcome Back All Who Repent Of Having Participated In The Grave Sin Of Abortion, And Should Guide Them With Pastoral Charity To Accept The Grace Of Forgiveness, The Need For Penance, And The Joy Of Entering Once More Into The New Life Of Christ.

The World Needs More Than Just Itself. Amid The Dreariness, People Do Not Need A Distraction That Will In The End Become Dreary Itself; They Are Asking For Mystery, Even If They Do Not Realize This Themselves. They Need The Sign Of The Wholly Other, The Living Word Of God, Entering Into This Our Age In Unadulterated Trustworthiness And Dynamism.

Wherever Applause Breaks Out In The Liturgy Because Of Some Human Achievement, It Is A Sure Sign That The Essence Of Liturgy Has Totally Disappeared And Been Replaced By A Kind Of Religious Entertainment. Such Attraction Fades Quickly - It Cannot Compete In The Market Of Leisure Pursuits, Incorporating As It Increasingly Does Various Forms Of Religious Titillation.

The Ways Of The Lord Are Not Easy, But We Were Not Created For An Easy Life, But For Great Things, For Goodness.

Not All Moral Issues Have The Same Moral Weight As Abortion And Euthanasia. There May Be Legitimate Diversity Of Opinion Even Among Catholics About Waging War And Applying The Death Penalty, But Not... With Regard To Abortion And Euthanasia.

From Earliest Times, Water Has Always Been Acknowledged As A Primary Human Good And An Indispensable Natural Resource. Around The Great Rivers Of The World, Like The Mississippi, Great Cultures Have Developed, While Over The Course Of The Centuries The Prosperity Of Countless Societies Has Been Linked To These Waterways. Today, However, The Great Fluvial Systems Of Every Continent Are Exposed To Serious Threats, Often As A Result Of Man's Activity And Decisions.

Forgiveness Is Not Substitute For Justice.

Liberty Isn't Liberalism, Arbitrariness, But It's Connected; It's Conditioned By The Great Values Of Love And Solidarity And In General By The Good.

Believers Are Increasingly Aware That, Unless The Good News Is Made Known Also In The Digital World, It May Be Absent In The Experience Of Many People For Whom This Existential Space Is Important.

Let Us Allow Ourselves To Be 'infected' By St. Joseph's Silence! We Need It Greatly, In A World That Is Often Too Noisy, That Does Not Favor Meditation Or Listening To The Voice Of God.

God's Love Does Not Distinguish Between The Infant In The Mother's Womb Or The Child Or The Youth Or The Adult Or The Older Person. In Each One God Sees His Image And Likeness. Human Life Is A Manifestation Of God And His Glory.

Anyone Who Knows He Is Loved Is In Turn Prompted To Love. It Is The Lord Himself, Who Loved Us First, Who Asks Us To Place At The Center Of Our Lives Love For Him And For The People He Has Loved. It Is Especially Adolescents And Young People, Who Feel Within Them The Pressing Call To Love, Who Need To Be Freed From The Widespread Prejudice That Christianity, With Its Commandments And Prohibitions, Sets Too Many Obstacles In The Path Of The Joy Of Love And, In Particular Prevents People From Fully Enjoying The Happiness That Men And Women Find In Their Love For One Another.

To The Extent That We Nourish Ourselves On Christ And Are In Love With Him, We Feel Within Us The Incentive To Bring Others To Him: Indeed, We Cannot Keep The Joy Of The Faith To Ourselves; We Must Pass It On.

Too Often, Attention Is Diverted From The Needs Of Populations, Insufficient Emphasis Is Placed On Work In The Fields, And The Goods Of The Earth Are Not Given Adequate Protection. As A Result, Economic Imbalance Is Produced, And The Inalienable Rights And Dignity Of Every Human Person Are Ignored.

Mission Is A Duty About Which One Must Say 'woe To Me If I Do Not Evangelize' (1 Corinthians 9:16)...redemption And Mission Are Acts Of Love [because] Those Who Proclaim The Gospel Participate In The Charity Of Christ.

The Horizon Of Love Is Truly Boundless: It Is The Whole World!

The State Which Would Provide Everything, Absorbing Everything Into Itself, Would Ultimately Become A Mere Bureaucracy Incapable Of Guaranteeing The Very Thing Which The Suffering Person—every Person—needs: Namely, Loving Personal Concern. We Do Not Need A State Which Regulates And Controls Everything, But A State Which, In Accordance With The Principle Of Subsidiarity, Generously Acknowledges And Supports Initiatives Arising From The Different Social Forces And Combines Spontaneity With Closeness To Those In Need. The Church Is One Of Those Living Forces.

Dancing Is Not A Form Of Expression For The Christian Liturgy.

Everyone Should Educate Themselves In More Wise And Responsible Consumption; Promote Personal Responsibility, Along With The Social Dimension Of Rural Activities, Which Are Based On Perennial Values, Such As Hospitality, Solidarity, And The Sharing Of The Toil Of Labor.

I, Retired In Prayer, Will Always Be With You, And Together We Will Move Ahead With The Lord In Certainty. The Lord Is Victorious.

God Does Not Have A Fixed Plan That He Must Carry Out; On The Contrary, He Has Many Different Ways Of Finding Man And Even Of Turning His Wrong Ways Into Right Ways...the Feast Of Christ The King Is Therefore Not A Feast Of Those Who Are Subjugated, But A Feast Of Those Who Know That They Are In The Hands Of The One Who Writes Straight On Crooked Lines.

At The Time Of Galileo The Church Remained Much More Reasonable Than Galileo Himself. The Process Against Galileo Was Reasonable And Just.

I Thank Missio, (pontifical Mission Societies), The Primary Instruments For Cooperation In The Universal Church's Universal Mission In The World. Through Their Action, The Proclamation Of The Gospel Bears Witness To Christ And Is Lived Out In Service Of Our Neighbour Through Justice For The Poorest, Education In Isolated Villages, Medical Care In Remote Areas, Freedom From Poverty, The Reintegration Of The Marginalised, Support For The Development Of Peoples, The Breaking Down Of Ethnic Divisions And Respect For Life In All Its Stages.

Guilt Must Not Be Allowed To Fester In The Silence Of The Soul, Poisoning It From Within. It Needs To Be Confessed. Through Confession We Bring It Into The Light, We Place It Within Christ's Purifying Love. In Confession, The Lord Washes Our Soiled Feet Over And Over Again And Prepares Us For Table Fellowship With Him.

The World Promises You Comfort, But You Were Not Made For Comfort. You Were Made For Greatness.

Each Of You Has A Personal Vocation Which He Has Given You For Your Own Joy And Sanctity. When A Person Is Conquered By The Fire Of His Gaze, No Sacrifice Seems Too Great To Follow Him And Give Him The Best Of Ourselves. This Is What The Saints Have Always Done, Spreading The Light Of The Lord ... And Transforming The World Into A Welcoming Home For Everyone.

In The Current Economic Situation, The Temptation For The More Dynamic Economies Is That Of Chasing After Advantageous Alliances That, Nevertheless, Can Have Harmful Effects For Poorer States, Prolonging Situations Of Extreme Mass Poverty Of Men And Women And Using Up The Earth's Natural Resources, Entrusted To Man By God The Creator-as Genesis Says-that He Might Cultivate And Protect It.

Do Not Be Afraid Of Christ. He Takes Nothing Away And He Gives You Everything.

If We Take The Lord's Hand And Let Ourselves Be Guided By Him, The Path We Take Will Be Right And Good.

Apostolic And Missionary Fruitfulness Is Not Principally Due To Programmes And Pastoral Methods That Are Cleverly Drawn Up And "efficient", But Is The Result Of The Community's Constant Prayer (cf. "evangelii Nuntiandi," 75). Moreover, For The Mission To Be Effective, Communities Must Be United, That Is, They Must Be "of One Heart And Soul" (cf. Acts 4:32), And They Must Be Ready To Witness To The Love And Joy That The Holy Spirit Instils In The Hearts Of The Faithful (cf. Acts 4:32).

Indeed, Truth Draws Strength From Itself And Not From The Number Of Votes In Its Favour.

I'm Not A Man Who Constantly Thinks Up Jokes. But I Think It's Very Important To Be Able To See The Funny Side Of Life And Its Joyful Dimension And Not To Take Everything Too Tragically. I'd Also Say It's Necessary For My Ministry. A Writer Once Said That Angels Can Fly Because They Don't Take Themselves Too Seriously. Maybe We Could Also Fly A Bit If We Didn't Think We Were So Important.

We Can Learn From Him That Suffering And The Gift Of Himself Is An Essential Gift We Need In Our Time.

Faith In The Resurrection Of Jesus Says That There Is A Future For Every Human Being; The Cry For Unending Life Which Is A Part Of The Person Is Indeed Answered... God Exists: That Is The Real Message Of Easter. Anyone Who Even Begins To Grasp What This Means Also Knows What It Means To Be Redeemed.

Love Alone Makes Us Happy, Because We Live In Relation, And We Live To Love And To Be Loved.

In The Face Of Horror ... There Is No Other Answer Than The Cross Of Christ: Love That Descends To The Abyss Of Evil.

Every Human Life Is Precious In God's Sight And No Effort Should Be Spared In The Attempt To Promote Throughout The World A Genuine Respect For The Inalienable Rights And Dignity Of Individuals And Peoples Everywhere.

The Faith Does Not Mean An Alienation From Any Culture For Any People Because All Cultures Await Christ And Are Not Destroyed By The Lord. In Fact, They Reach Their Maturity.

The Environment Is God's Gift To Everyone, And In Our Use Of It We Have A Responsibility Towards The Poor, Towards Future Generations, And Towards Humanity As A Whole.

Poverty Is A Plague Against Which Humanity Must Fight Without Cease.

The Answer To Our Cry Which God Gave In Jesus Infinitely Transcends Our Expectations, Achieving A Solidarity Which Cannot Be Human Alone, But Divine. Only The God Who Is Love, And The Love Which Is God, Could Choose To Save Us In This Way, Which Is Certainly The Lengthiest Way, Yet The Way Which Respects The Truth About Him And About Us: The Way Of Reconciliation, Dialogue And Cooperation.

While Conscious Of The Challenges You Face, I Encourage You To Follow Faithfully In The Footsteps Of Your Founders, And To Stir Into Flame The Charisms And Apostolic Zeal Which You Have Inherited From Them, Confident That Christ Will Continue To Work With You And To Confirm Your Preaching With Signs Of His Presence And Power.

To Be Sure, It Was Not Easter Sunday But Holy Saturday, But, The More I Reflect On It, The More This Seems To Be Fitting For The Nature Of Our Human Life: We Are Still Awaiting Easter; We Are Not Yet Standing In The Full Light But Walking Toward It Full Of Trust.

May All Our Contemporaries Stand Beside Their Brothers And Sisters In Humanity. Each One Of You Is Called By Christ And Must Be A Missionary Of The Good News In Word And In Active Charity.

Prudence Does Not Mean Failing To Accept Responsibilities And Postponing Decisions; It Means Being Committed To Making Joint Decisions After Pondering Responsibly The Road To Be Taken, Decisions Aimed At Strengthening That Covenant Between Human Beings And The Environment, Which Should Mirror The Creative Love Of God, From Whom We Came And Towards Whom We Are Journeying.

I Have A Mustard Seed; And I Am Not Afraid To Use It.

The Need To Proclaim Christ Boldly And Courageously Is A Continuing Priority For The Church; Indeed It Is A Solemn Duty Laid Upon Her By Christ Who Enjoined The Apostles To 'go Out To The Whole World, Proclaim The Good News To All Creation.'

Today, The Need To Avoid Confusing Marriage With Other Types Of Unions Based On Weak Love Is Especially Urgent. It Is Only The Rock Of Total, Irrevocable Love Between A Man And A Woman That Can Serve As The Foundation On Which To Build A Society That Will Become A Home For All Mankind.

It Is Important Always To Know That The First Word, The True Initiative, The True Activity Comes From God And Only By Inserting Ourselves Into The Divine Initiative, Only Begging For This Divine Initiative, Shall We Too Be Able To Become - With Him And In Him - Evangelizers.

Help Each Other To Live And To Grow In The Christian Faith So As To Be Valiant Witnesses Of The Lord. Be United, But Not Closed. Be Humble, But Not Fearful. Be Simple, But Not Naive. Be Thoughtful, But Not Complicated. Enter Into Dialogue With Others, But Be Yourselves.

Truth Is Not Determined By A Majority Vote.

The Jesus Who Makes Everything Okay For Everyone Is A Phantom, A Dream, Not A Real Figure.

Each Generation, As It Seeks To Advance The Common Good, Must Ask Anew: 'what Are The Requirements That Governments May Reasonably Impose Upon Citizens, And How Far Do They Extend? By Appeal To What Authority Can Moral Dilemmas Be Resolved?'

We Ask The Blessed Virgin For The Gift Of Conversion For All Christians, So That They May Announce And Give A Faithful And Coherent Witness To The Perennial Evangelical Message, Which Indicates To Humanity The Path To An Authentic Peace.

A Dictatorship Of Relativism Is Being Built That Recognizes Nothing As Definite, And Which Leaves As The Ultimate Measure Only One's Ego And Desires ... Having A Clear Faith, According To The Credo Of The Church, Is Often Labeled As Fundamentalism. Yet Relativism, That Is, Letting Oneself Being Carried 'here And There By Any Wind Of Doctrine,' Appears As The Sole Attitude Good Enough For Modern Times.

Deeply Saddened By The News Of The Terrorist Attacks In Central London, The Holy Father Offers His Fervent Prayers For The Victims And For All Those Who Mourn.

The Christian Faith Can Never Be Separated From The Soil Of Sacred Events, From The Choice Made By God, Who Wanted To Speak To Us, To Become Man, To Die And Rise Again, In A Particular Place And At A Particular Time.

I Believe That In A Certain Way This Is Proof Of The Truth Of Christianity: Heart And Reason Encounter One Another, Beauty And Truth Converge, And The More That We Ourselves Succeed In Living In The Beauty Of Truth, The More That Faith Will Be Able To Return To Being Creative In Our Time Too, And To Express Itself In A Convincing Form Of Art.

It Is When We Attempt To Avoid Suffering By Withdrawing From Anything That Might Involve Hurt, When We Try To Spare Ourselves The Effort And Pain Of Pursuing Truth, Love, And Goodness, That We Drift Into A Life Of Emptiness, In Which There May Be Almost No Pain, But The Dark Sensation Of Meaninglessness And Abandonment Is All The Greater.

It Was Easy To Know The Doctrine. It's Much Harder To Help A Billion People Live It.

The Blessing Hands Of Christ Are Like A Roof That Protects Us. But At The Same Time, They Are A Gesture Of Opening Up, Tearing The World Open So That Heaven My Enter In, May Become "present" Within It.

Indeed, Beauty Is One Of Mankind's Greatest Needs; It Is The Root From Which The Branches Of Our Peace And The Fruits Of Our Hope Come Forth. Beauty Also Reveals God Because, Like Him, A Work Of Beauty Is Pure Gratuity; It Calls Us To Freedom And Draws Us Away From Selfishness.

An Authentically Eucharistic Church Is A Missionary Church... Truly, Nothing Is More Beautiful Than To Know Christ And To Make Him Known To Others.

The Closer A Person Is To God, The Closer He Is To People.

Silence 'is So Lacking In This World Which Is Often Too Noisy, Which Is Not Favorable To Recollection And Listening To The Voice Of God. In This Time Of Preparation For Christmas, Let Us Cultivate Interior Recollection So As To Receive And Keep Jesus In Our Lives.'

If We Let Christ Into Our Lives, We Lose Nothing, Nothing, Absolutely Nothing Of What Makes Life Free, Beautiful, And Great. No! Only In This Friendship Are The Doors Of Life Opened Wide. Only In This Friendship Is The Great Potential Of Human Existence Truly Revealed.

A Catholic Would Be Guilty Of Formal Cooperation In Evil, And So Unworthy To Present Himself For Holy Communion, If He Were To Deliberately Vote For A Candidate Precisely Because Of The Candidate's Permissive Stand On Abortion And/or Euthanasia.

The Fundamental Human Right, The Presupposition Of Every Other Right, Is The Right To Life Itself. This Is True Of Life From The Moment Of Conception Until Its Natural End. Abortion, Consequently, Cannot Be A Human Right – It Is The Very Opposite. It Is “a Deep Wound In Society”.

The Highest Things, The Things That Really Matter, We Cannot Achieve On Our Own; We Have To Accept Them As Gifts And Enter In To The Dynamic Of The Gift, So To Speak.

The Primary Contribution That The Church Offers To The Development Of Mankind And Peoples Does Not Consist Merely In Material Means Or Technical Solutions. Rather, It Involves The Proclamation Of The Truth Of Christ.

Rock... Is The Expression Of Elemental Passions... In The Ecstasy Of Having All Their Defenses Torn Down, The Participants Sink, As It Were, Beneath The Elemental Force Of The Universe.

God No Longer Simply Stands Before Us As The One Who Is Totally Other. He Is Within Us, And We Are In Him. His Dynamic Enters Into Us And Then Seeks To Spread Outward To Others Until It Fills The World, So That His Love Can Truly Become The Dominant Measure Of The World.

I Say To You Dear Young People: Do Not Be Afraid Of Christ! He Takes Nothing Away, And He Gives You Verything. When We Give Ourselves To Him, We Receive A Hundredfold In Return. Yes, Open, Open Wide The Doors To Christ And You Will Find True Life.

Today, I, Too, Wish To Reaffirm That I Intend To Continue On The Path Toward Improved Relations And Friendship With The Jewish People, Following The Decisive Lead Given By John Paul Ii.

God Is Our Father And Loves Us, Even When His Silence Remains Incomprehensible.

To Me, Its Seems Necessary To Rediscover - And The Energy To Do So Exists - That Even The Political And Economic Spheres Need Moral Responsibility, A Responsibility That Is Born In Man's Heart And, In The End, Has To Do With The Presence Or Absence Of God.

In The Eucharist, The Son Of God Comes To Meet Us And Desires To Become One With Us; Eucharistic Adoration Is Simply The Natural Consequence Of The Eucharistic Celebration, Which Is Itself The Church's Supreme Act Of Adoration.

Without Fear We Must Set Sail On The Digital Sea.

We Can Not Communicate With The Lord If We Do Not Communicate With Each Other. If We Want To Present Ourselves To Him, We Must Take A Step Towards Meeting One Another. To Do This We Must Learn The Great Lesson Of Forgiveness: We Must Not Let The Gnawings Of Resentment Work In Our Soul But Must Open Our Hearts To The Magnanimity Of Listening To Others, Open Our Hearts To Understanding Them, Eventually To Accepting Their Apologies, To Generously Offering Our Own.

Listening To Others

The Sharing Of Goods And Resources, From Which Authentic Development Proceeds, Is Not Guaranteed By Merely Technical Progress And Relationships Of Utility, But By The Potential Of Love That Overcomes Evil With Good.

Can Man, The Finite And Sinful One, Cooperate With God, The Infinite And Holy One? Yes, He Can, Precisely Because God Himself Has Become Man, Become Body, And Here (in The Liturgy), Again And Again, He Comes Through His Body To Us Who Live In The Body.

Although The Constellations In Which I Have Found Myself - And Naturally Also The Periods Of Life And Their Different Influences - Have Led To Changes And Development In The Accents Of My Thought, My Basic Impulse, Precisely During The Council, Was Always To Free Up The Authentic Kernel Of The Faith From Encrustations And To Give This Kernel Strength And Dynamism. This Impulse Is The Constant Of My Life ... What's Important To Me Is That I Have Never Deviated From This Constant, Which From My Childhood Has Molded My Life, And That I Have Remained True To It As The Basic Direction Of My Life.

The Cardinals Have Elected Me, A Simple And Humble Labourer In The Vineyard Of The Lord. The Fact That The Lord Knows How To Work And To Act Even With Inadequate Instruments Comforts Me, And Above All I Entrust Myself To Your Prayers.

We Live Our Lives By Philosophies, Amid Worldly Affairs And Occupations That Totally Absorb Us And Are A Great Distance From The Manger. In All Kinds Of Ways, God Has To Prod Us And Reach Out To Us Again And Again, So That We Can Manage To Escape From The Muddle Of Our Thoughts And Activities And Discover The Way That Leads To Him. But A Path Exists For All Of Us. The Lord Provides Everyone With Tailor-made Signals.

Let Us Seek In Particular To Communicate The Deepest Joy, That Of Knowing God In Christ.

The More Ardent The Love For The Eucharist In The Hearts Of The Christian People, The More Clearly Will They Recognize The Goal Of All Mission: To Bring Christ To Others. Not Just A Theory Or A Way Of Life Inspired By Christ, But The Gift Of His Very Person. Anyone Who Has Not Shared The Truth Of Love With His Brothers And Sisters Has Not Yet Given Enough.

In This Regard, I Reiterate That The Prohibition Against Torture Cannot Be Contravened Under Any Circumstances.

The Capacity To Accept Suffering For The Sake Of Goodness, Truth And Justice Is An Essential Criterion Of Humanity, Because If My Own Well-being And Safety Are Ultimately More Important Than Truth And Justice, Then The Power Of The Stronger Prevails, Then Violence And Untruth Reigns Supreme.

Advent, This Powerful Liturgical Season That We Are Beginning, Invites Us To Pause In Silence To Understand A Presence. It Is An Invitation To Understand That The Individual Events Of The Day Are Hints That God Is Giving Us, Signs Of The Attention He Has For Each One Of Us.

The Essence Of Christianity...is An Ever-new Encounter With... The God Who Speaks To Us, Who Approaches Us And Who Befriends Us!

The Only Really Effective Apologia For Christianity Comes Down To Two Arguments, Namely, The Saints The Church Has Produced, And The Art Which Has Grown In Her Womb.

The Human Being Of All Times Prays Because He Cannot Fail To Wonder About The Meaning Of His Life, Which Remains Obscure And Discomforting Of It Is Not Put In Relations To The Mystery Of God And If His Plan For The World.

Again And Again It Astonishes Us That God Makes Himself A Child So That We May Love Him, So That We May Dare To Love Him, And As A Child Trustingly Lets Himself Be Taken Into Our Arms. It Is As If God Were Saying: I Know That My Glory Frightens You, And That You Are Trying To Assert Yourself In The Face Of My Grandeur. So Now I Am Coming To You As A Child, So That You Can Accept Me And Love Me.

Reason Always Stands In Need Of Being Purified By Faith

The Unbreakable Bond Between Love Of God And Love Of Neighbor Is Emphasized. One Is So Closely Connected To The Other That To Say That We Love God Becomes A Lie If We Are Closed To Our Neighbor Or Hate Him Altogether. Saint John's Words Should Rather Be Interpreted To Mean That Love Of Neighbor Is A Path That Leads To The Encounter With God, And That Closing Our Eyes To Our Neighbor Also Blinds Us To God.

It Is Rational To Believe, As It Is Our Very Existence That Is At Stake.

Before His Gaze All Falsehood Melts Away. This Encounter With Him, As It Burns Us, Transforms And Frees Us, Allowing Us To Become Truly Ourselves... His Gaze, The Touch Of His Heart Heals Us Through An Undeniably Painful Transformation "as Through Fire". But It Is A Blessed Pain, In Which The Holy Power Of His Love Sears Through Us Like A Flame, Enabling Us To Become Totally Ourselves And Thus Totally Of God.

Dialogue Is The Fundamental Unfolding Of A Gift Of Oneself To Another.

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