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Material Possessions, In Themselves, Are Good. We Would Not Survive For Long Without Money, Clothing And Shelter. We Must Eat In Order To Stay Alive. Yet If We Are Greedy, If We Refuse To Share What We Have With The Hungry And The Poor, Then We Make Our Possessions Into A False God. How Many Voices In Our Materialist Society Tell Us That Happiness Is To Be Found By Acquiring As Many Possessions And Luxuries As We Can! But This Is To Make Possessions Into A False God. Instead Of Bringing Life, They Bring Death.

-Pope Benedict XVI

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Material Possessions, In Themselves,

Pope Benedict XVI

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Material Possessions, In Themselves, Are Good. We Would Not Survive For Long Without Money, Clothing And Shelter. We Must Eat In Order To Stay Alive. Yet If We Are Greedy, If We Refuse To Share What We Have With The Hungry And The Poor, Then We Make Our Possessions Into A False God. How Many Voices In Our Materialist Society Tell Us That Happiness Is To Be Found By Acquiring As Many Possessions And Luxuries As We Can! But This Is To Make Possessions Into A False God. Instead Of Bringing Life, They Bring Death.

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The Great Tasks Facing The Ecclesial Community In The Modern World - And Among The Many I Particularly Stress Evangelization And Ecumenism - Are Centered On The Word Of God And, At The Same Time, Draw Therefrom Their Justification And Support.

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

Grace, Lavished Upon Us By God And Communicated Through The Mystery Of The Incarnate Word, Is An Absolutely Free Gift With Which Nature Is Healed, Strengthened And Assisted In Pursuing The Innate Desire For Happiness In The Heart Of Every Man And Of Every Woman.

Human Pride And Egoism Always Create Divisions, Build Walls Of Indifference, Hate And Violence. The Holy Spirit, On The Other Hand, Makes Hearts Capable Of Understanding The Languages Of All, As He Re-establishes The Bridge Of Authentic Communication Between Earth And Heaven.

Without Fear We Must Set Sail On The Digital Sea.

It Is Important Always To Remember That Virtual Contact Cannot And Must Not Take The Place Of Direct Human Contact With People At Every Level Of Our Lives.

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

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.

For More Than 160 Years, Through The Initiative Of The French Bishop Charles De Forbin Janson, The Childhood Of Jesus Has Become The Icon For The Commitment Of Christian Children Who Help The Church In Her Task Of Evangelization By Prayer, Sacrifice And Gestures Of Solidarity....thousands Of Children Meet The Needs Of Other Children, Driven By The Love That The Son Of God, Become A Child, Brought To The Earth. I Say Thanks To These Little Ones And I Pray That They Will Always Be Missionaries.

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

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.

How Can It Be That The Most Wonderous And Sacred Human Space - The Womb - Has Become A Place Of Unutterable Violence?

Our Knowledge Of Jesus Is In Need Above All Of A Living Experience: Another Person's Testimony Is Certainly Important, As In General The Whole Of Our Christian Life Begins With The Proclamation That Comes To Us From One Or Several Witnesses. But We Ourselves Must Be Personally Involved In An Intimate And Profound Relationship With Jesus.

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

Today We Have To Learn All Over Again That Love For The Sinner And Love For The Person Who Has Been Harmed Are Correctly Balanced If I Punish The Sinner In The Form That Is Possible And Appropriate. In This Respect There Was In The Past A Change Of Mentality, In Which The Law And The Need For Punishment Were Obscured. Ultimately This Also Narrowed The Concept Of Law, Which In Fact Is Not Only Just Being Nice Or Courteous, But Is Found In The Truth. And Another Component Of The Truth Is That I Must Punish The One Who Has Sinned Against Real Love

If You Follow The Will Of God, You Know That In Spite Of All The Terrible Things That Happen To You, You Will Never Lose A Final Refuge. You Know That The Foundation Of The World Is Love, So That Even When No Human Being Can Or Will Help You, You May Go On, Trusting In The One That Loves You.

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.

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.

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.

One Of The Most Serious [challenges] Is Increased Military Spending And The Cost Of Maintaining And Developing Nuclear Arsenals. Enormous Resources Are Being Consumed For These Purposes, When They Could Be Spent On The Development Of Peoples, Especially Those Who Are Poorest. For This Reason I Firmly Hope That, During The Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty Review Conference To Be Held This May In New York, Concrete Decisions Will Be Made Towards Progressive Disarmament, With A View To Freeing Our Planet From Nuclear Arms

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.

God Seeks Us Where We Are, Not So That We Stay There, But So That We May Come To Be Where He Is, So That We May Get Beyond Ourselves.

Christian Inspirational

Forgiveness Does Not Replace Justice.

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

Music, Great Music, Distends The Spirit, Arouses Profound Emotions And Almost Naturally Invites Us To Raise Our Minds And Hearts To God In All Situations Of Human Existence, The Joyful And The Sad. Music Can Become Prayer.

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

Every State Has The Primary Duty To Protect Its Own Population From Grave And Sustained Violations Of Human Rights, As Well As From The Consequences Of Humanitarian Crises, Whether Natural Or Man-made.

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.

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.

We Cannot But Recognize That, In Practical Terms, Defending Human Life Has Become More Difficult Today, Because A Mentality Has Been Created That Progressively Devalues Human Life And Entrusts It To The Judgement Of Individuals. A Consequence Deriving Therefrom Is Lessened Respect For The Human Person, A Value That Lies At The Foundation Of Any Form Of Civil Coexistence, Over And Above The Faith A Person May Profess.

The Fact That The Church Is Convinced Of Not Having The Right To Confer Priestly Ordination On Women, Is Now Considered By Some As Irreconcilable With The European Constitution.

It Is Deplorable That Homosexual Persons Have Been And Are The Object Of Violent Malice In Speech Or In Action. Such Treatment Deserves Condemnation From The Church's Pastors Wherever It Occurs. ... The Intrinsic Dignity Of Each Person Must Always Be Respected In Work, In Action And In Law.

Joy Is The True Gift Of Christmas.

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.

The Examination Of Conscience Has An Important Educational Value. It Teaches Us To Look Sincerely At Our Own Lives, To Compare Them With The Truth Of The Gospel And To Evaluate Them With Parameters That Are Not Only Human But Drawn From Divine Revelation. Comparison With The Commandments, With The Beatitudes, And Above All With The Precept To Love, Represents The First Great 'school Of Penance

If Only Everyone Could Experience The Joy Of Being Christian, Being Loved By God Who Gave His Son For Us!

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 Holy Spirit Gives Us Joy. And He Is Joy. Joy Is The Gift In Which All The Other Gifts Are Included. It Is The Expression Of Happiness, Of Being In Harmony With Ourselves, That Which Can Only Come From Being In Harmony With God And With His Creation. It Belongs To The Nature Of Joy To Be Radiant; It Must Communicate Itself. The Missionary Spirit Of The Church Is None Other Than The Impulse To Communicate The Joy Which Has Been Given.

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

Holiness Never Goes Out Of Fashion.

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

A New Generation Of Christians Is Being Called To Help Build A World In Which God's Gift Of Life Is Welcomed, Respected And Cherished-not Rejected, Feared As A Threat And Destroyed. A New Age In Which Love Is Not Greedy Or Self-seeking, But Pure, Faithful And Genuinely Free, Open To Others, Respectful Of Their Dignity, Seeking Their Good, Radiating Joy And Beauty. A New Age In Which Hope Liberates Us From The Shallowness, Apathy And Self-absorption That Deaden Our Souls And Poison Our Relationships.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

In An Ever More Open World, Building Peace Through Dialogue Is No Longer A Choice But A Necessity!

The Church Is Missionary By Nature And Her Principal Task Is Evangelization, Which Aims To Proclaim And To Witness To Christ And To Promote His Gospel Of Peace And Love In Every Environment And Culture.

The "name" Of The Most Holy Trinity Is In A Certain Way Impressed Upon Everything That Exists, Because Everything That Exists, Down To The Least Particle, Is A Being In Relation, And Thus God-relation Shines Forth, Ultimately Creative Love Shines Forth. All Comes From Love, Tends Toward Love, And Is Moved By Love, Naturally, According To Different Grades Of Consciousness And Freedom... The Strongest Proof That We Are Made In The Image Of The Trinity Is This: Only Love Makes Us Happy, Because We Live In Relation, And We Live To Love And Be Loved.

We Were Looking For A 'good Shepherd,' And Instead We Got A German Shepherd.

How Much Filth There Is In The Church, Even Among Those Who, In The Priesthood, Should Belong Entirely To Him. How Much Pride, How Much Self-sufficiency.

Music Has No Borders, No Race Or Color, No Limits Of Country, No Ethnicity. Music Makes The People Come Together. Dance It,dance All.

The Proclamation Of The Gospel Remains The Primary Service That The Church Owes To Humanity, To Offer The Salvation Of Christ To The Man Of Our Time, Who Is In Many Ways Humiliated And Oppressed, And To Orientate In A Christian Way Cultural, Social, And Ethical Transformations That Are Unfolding In The World.

In The Desert We Rediscover The Value Of What Is Essential For Living; Thus In Today's World There Are Innumerable Signs, Often Expressed Implicitly Or Negatively, Of The Thirst For God, For The Ultimate Meaning Of Life. And In The Desert People Of Faith Are Needed Who, By The Example Of Their Own Lives, Point Out The Way To The Promised Land And Keep Hope Alive.

Judas Is Neither A Master Of Evil Nor The Figure Of A Demoniacal Power Of Darkness But Rather A Sycophant Who Bows Before The Anonymous Power Of Changing Moods And Current Fashions. But It Is Precisely This Anonymous Power That Crucified Jesus, For It Was Anonymous Voices That Cried 'away With Him! Crucify Him!'

Love Looks To The Eternal. Love Is Indeed "ecstasy," Not In The Sense Of A Moment Of Intoxication, But Rather As A Journey, An On-going Exodus Out Of The Closed Inward-looking Self Toward Its Liberation Through Self-giving... Toward Authentic Self-discovery And Indeed The Discovery Of God.

By Itself, The Question Of The Liturgy's Essence And The Standards Of The Reform Has Brought Us Back To The Question Of Music And Its Position In The Liturgy. And As A Matter Of Fact One Cannot Speak About Worship At All Without Also Speaking Of The Music Of Worship.

Truth Is Not Determined By A Majority Vote.

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.

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