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Prayer Gives Us Strength For Great Ideals, For Keeping Up Our Faith, Charity, Purity, Generosity; Prayer Gives Us Strength To Rise Up From Indifference And Guilt, If We Have Had The Misfortune To Give In To Temptation And Weakness. Prayer Gives Us Light By Which To See And To Judge From God's Perspective And From Eternity. That Is Why You Must Not Give Up On Praying!

-Pope John Paul II

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Prayer Gives Us Strength

Pope John Paul II

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Prayer Gives Us Strength For Great Ideals, For Keeping Up Our Faith, Charity, Purity, Generosity; Prayer Gives Us Strength To Rise Up From Indifference And Guilt, If We Have Had The Misfortune To Give In To Temptation And Weakness. Prayer Gives Us Light By Which To See And To Judge From God's Perspective And From Eternity. That Is Why You Must Not Give Up On Praying!

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On My Knees, I Beg Of You To Turn Away From The Paths Of Violence And To Return To The Path Of Peace. Those Who Resort To Violence Always Claim That Only Violence Brings About Change. You Must Know There Is A Political, Peaceful Way To Justice.

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A Man Shows Himself A True Disciple Of Christ By Carrying The Cross In His Turn Every Day In The Activity That He Is Called To Perform.

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The Earth Will Not Continue To Offer Its Harvest, Except With Faithful Stewardship. We Cannot Say We Love The Land And Then Take Steps To Destroy It For Use By Future Generations.

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Those In Society Who Are In Charge Of Schools Must Never Forget That The Parents Have Been Appointed By God Himself As The First And Principal Educators Of Their Children And That Their Right Is Completely Inalienable.

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An Effective Proclamation Of The Gospel In Contemporary Western Society Will Need To Confront Directly The Widespread Spirit Of Agnosticism And Relativism Which Has Cast Doubt On Reason's Ability To Know The Truth, Which Alone Satisfies The Human Heart's Restless Quest For Meaning.

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One Cannot Use With Impunity The Different Categories Of Beings-animals, Plants, The Natural Elements-simply As One Wishes, According To Economic Needs. One Must Take Into Account The Nature Of Each Being And Its Mutual Connection In An Ordered System, Which Is The Cosmos.

Each Man, In His Suffering, Can Also Become A Sharer In The Redemptive Suffering Of Christ.

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Theory Of Evolution

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Do Not Forget That True Love Sets No Conditions; It Does Not Calculate Or Complain, But Simply Loves.

God Of Our Fathers, You Chose Abraham And His Descendants To Bring Your Name To The Nations: We Are Deeply Saddened By The Behaviour Of Those Who In The Course Of History Have Caused These Children Of Yours To Suffer, And Asking Your Forgiveness We Wish To Commit Ourselves To Genuine Brotherhood With The People Of The Covenant.

May The Death Penalty, An Unworthy Punishment Still Used In Some Countries, Be Abolished Throughout The World.

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Born And Nurtured When The Human Being First Asked Questions About The Reason For Things And Their Purpose, Philosophy Shows In Different Modes And Forms That The Desire For Truth Is Part Of Human Nature Itself.

The Church Must Breathe With Her Two Lungs!

Humanity Should Question Itself, Once More, About The Absurd And Always Unfair Phenomenon Of War.

The Ultimate Test Of Your Greatness Is The Way You Treat Every Human Being.

Commending The Victims To Almighty God's Mercy, I Implore His Strength Upon All Involved In Rescue Efforts And In Caring For The Survivors.

Abortion, Euthanasia, Human Cloning, For Example, Risk Reducing The Human Person To A Mere Object: Life And Death To Order, As It Were!

Faith And Reason Are Like Two Wings Of The Human Spirit By Which Is Soars To The Truth.

In Christ And Through Christ Man Has Acquired Full Awareness Of His Dignity.

Euthanasia And Assisted Suicide Are Never Acceptable Acts Of Mercy. They Always Gravely Exploit The Suffering And Desperate, Extinguishing Life In The Name Of The 'quality Of Life' Itself.

We Must Open Our Eyes To Admire God Who Hides And At The Same Time Reveals Himself In Things And Introduces Us Into The Realms Of Mystery... We Must Be Pure And Simple Like Children, Capable Of Admiring, Being Astonished, Of Marveling, And Being Enchanted By The Divine Gestures Of Love And Closeness We Witness.

You Must Be Strong, Dear Brothers And Sisters. You Must Be Strong With The Strength That Comes From Faith.

A Nation That Kills Its Own Children Has No Future.

In A World Where The Name Of God Is Sometimes Associated With Vengeance And Even A Duty Of Hatred And Violence, This Message Is Both Timely And Significant.

The Gospel Must Not Be Kept Hidden Because Of Fear Or Indifference. It Was Never Meant To Be Hidden Away In Private. It Has To Be Put On A Stand So That People May See Its Light And Give Praise To Our Heavenly Father.

Motherhood Involves A Special Communion With The Mystery Of Life, As It Develops In The Mother's Womb. The Mother Is Filled With Wonder At This Mystery Of Life, And 'understands' With Unique Intuition What Is Happening Inside Her. In The Light Of The 'beginning', The Mother Accepts And Loves As A Person The Child She Is Carrying In Her Womb. This Unique Contact With The New Human Being Developing Within Her Gives Rise To An Attitude Towards Human Beings - Not Only Towards Her Own Child, But Every Human Being - Which Profoundly Marks The Woman's Personality.

True Freedom Is Not Advanced In The Permissive Society, Which Confuses Freedom With License To Do Anything Whatever And Which In The Name Of Freedom Proclaims A Kind Of General Amorality. It Is A Caricature Of Freedom To Claim That People Are Free To Organize Their Lives With No Reference To Moral Values, And To Say That Society Does Not Have To Ensure The Protection And Advancement Of Ethical Values. Such An Attitude Is Destructive Of Freedom And Peace.

This Is Why Moral Uneasiness Is Destined To Become Even More Acute. It Is Obvious That A Fundamental Defect, Or Rather A Series Of Defects, Indeed A Defective Machinery Is At The Root Of Contemporary Economics And Materialistic Civilization, Which Does Not Allow The Human Family To Break Free From Such Radically Unjust Situations.

Economic Inequality

Much Of The Violence That Humanity Suffers In Our Times Is Rooted Inmisunderstanding As Well As In The Rejection Of The Values And Identityof Foreign Cultures. Tourism Improves Relationships Between Individualsand Peoples; When They Are Cordial, Respectful, And Based On Solidarity Theyconstitute, As It Were, An Open Door To Peace And Harmonious Coexistence

From Mary We Learn To Surrender To God's Will In All Things. From Mary We Learn To Trust Even When All Hope Seems Gone. From Mary We Learn To Love Christ Her Son And The Son Of God!

The Body In Its Masculinity And Femininity Has Been Called "from The Beginning" To Become The Manifestation Of The Spirit. The Body, In Fact, And Only The Body, Is Capable Of Making Visible What Is Invisible: The Spiritual And The Divine.

Beneath The Sacred Host, Christ Is Contained, The Redeemer Of The World

In The Mass And In Eucharistic Adoration We Meet The Merciful Love Of God That Passes Through The Heart Of Jesus Christ.

Every Act Of Reverence, Every Genuflection That You Make Before The Blessed Sacrament Is Important Because It Is An Act Of Faith In Christ, And Act Of Love For Christ. And Every Sign Of The Cross And Gesture Of Respect Made Each Time You Pass A Church Is Also An Act Of Faith.

There Is No Peace Without Justice, And No Justice Without Forgiveness.

The Animals Possess A Soul And Men Must Love And Feel Solidarity With Our Smaller Brethren. All Animals Are Fruit Of The Creative Action Of The Holy Spirit And Merit Respect And They Are As Near To God As Men Are.

Holiness Is Not Reserved For A Small Number Of Exceptional Persons. It Is For Everyone. It Is The Lord Who Brings Us To Holiness When We Are Willing To Collaborate In The Salvation Of The World For The Glory Of God, Despite Our Sin And Our Sometimes Rebellious Temperament.

Human Progress Planned As Alternatives (to God's Plan) Introduce In Justice, Evil And Violence Rising Against The Divine Plan Of Justice And Salvation. And Despite Transitory And Apparent Successes, They Are Reduced To Simple Machinations Destined To Dissolution And Failure.

Confidently Open Your Most Intimate Aspirations To The Love Of Christ Who Waits For You In The Eucharist. You Will Receive The Answer To All Your Worries And You Will See With Joy That The Consistency Of Your Life Which He Asks Of You Is The Door To Fulfill The Noblest Dreams Of Your Youth.

Faith Leads Us Beyond Ourselves. It Leads Us Directly To God.

When Our Whole Life Is One Faith, Hope, Love, Prayer And Silence, A Consecrated Life Always Bound Up In The Eucharist, Then The 'urge' Towards God Springs.

Catholic Education Aims Not Only To Communicate Facts But Also To Transmit A Coherent, Comprehensive Vision Of Life, In The Conviction That The Truths Contained In That Vision Liberate Students In The Most Profound Meaning Of Human Freedom.

Solidarity Is Not A Feeling Of Vague Compassion Or Shallow Distress At The Misfortunes Of So Many People, Both Near And Far. On The Contrary, It Is A Firm And Persevering Determination To Commit Oneself To The Common Good; That Is To Say To The Good Of All And Of Each Individual, Because We Are All Really Responsible For All

This Is No Time To Be Ashamed Of The Gospel. It Is The Time To Preach It From The Rooftops.

Dear Young People, Let Yourselves Be Taken Over By The Light Of Christ, And Spread That Light Wherever You Are.

The Essential Commitment And, Above All, The Visible Grace And Source Of Supernatural Strength For The Church As The People Of God Is To Persevere And Advance Constantly In Eucharistic Life And Eucharistic Piety And To Develop Spiritually In The Climate Of The Eucharist.

Stupidity Is Also A Gift Of God, But One Mustn't Misuse It.

We Can Pray Perfectly When We Are Out In The Mountains Or On A Lake And We Feel At One With Nature. Nature Speaks For Us Or Rather Speaks To Us. We Pray Perfectly.

Every Mass Is A Memorial Of That One Sacrifice And That Passover Which Restored Life To The World. Every Mass Puts Us Into Intimate Communion With Her, The Mother, Whose Sacrifice 'becomes Present' Just As The Sacrifice Of Her Son 'becomes Present' At The Words Of Consecration..... At The Root Of The Eucharist Is The Virginal And Maternal Life Of Mary

Love The Family! Defend And Promote It As The Basic Cell Of Human Society; Nurture It As The Prime Sanctuary Of Life. Give Great Care To The Preparation Of Engaged Couples And Be Close To Young Married Couples, So That They Will Be For Their Children And The Whole Community An Eloquent Testimony Of God's Love.

The Church Has A Special Duty To Safeguard And Strengthen The Sacredness Of The Eucharist. In Our Pluralistic And Often Deliberately Secularized Society, The Living Faith Of The Christian Community - A Faith Always Aware Of Its Rights Vis-a-vis Those Who Do Not Share The Faith - Ensures Respect For This Sacredness

The Way Jesus Shows You Is Not Easy. Rather, It Is Like A Path Winding Up A Mountain. Do Not Lose Heart! The Steeper The Road, The Faster It Rises Towards Ever Wider Horizons.

To Believe In Jesus Is To Accept What He Says, Even When It Runs Contrary To What Others Are Saying. It Means Rejecting The Lure Of Sin, However Attractive It May Be, In Order To Set Out On The Difficult Path Of The Gospel Virtues.

The Drama Of Aids Threatens Not Just Some Nations Or Societies, But The Whole Of Humanity. It Knows No Frontiers Of Geography, Race, Age Or Social Condition(calling) For A Supreme Effort Of International Cooperation On The Part Of Government, The World Medical And Scientific Community And All Those Who Exercise Influence In Developing A Sense Of More Responsibility In Society.

Motherhood Implies From The Beginning A Special Openness To The New Person: And This Is Precisely The Woman's 'part'. In This Openness, In Conceiving And Giving Birth To A Child, The Woman 'discovers Herself Through A Sincere Gift Of Self'.

All Of Us Experience The Sad Effects Of Blind Submission To Consumerism. In The First Place It Represents Crass Materialism. At The Same Time It Represents A Radical Dissatisfaction Because One Quickly Learns That The More One Possesses, The More One Wants, While Deeper Aspirations Remain Unsatisfied And Perhaps Even Stifled.

See Everything. Ignore A Lot. Improve A Little.

Prayer Gives Us Light By Which To See And To Judge From God's Perspective And From Eternity. That Is Why You Must Not Give Up On Praying!

[on His 83rd Birthday] Physical Condition Or Advancing Of Age Are Not Obstacles To A Perfect Life. God Does Not Look At External Things But At The Soul.

The Best, The Surest And The Most Effective Way Of Establishing Peace On The Face Of The Earth Is Through The Great Power Of Perpetual Adoration Of The Blessed Sacrament.

May Mary, Who In The Freedom Of Her 'fiat' And Her Presence At The Foot Of The Cross, Offered To The World, Jesus, The Liberator, Help Us To Find Him In The Sacrament Of The Altar

When Sunday Loses Its Fundamental Meaning And Becomes Subordinate To A Secular Concept Of Weekend Dominated By Such Things As Entertainment And Sport, People Stay Locked Within A Horizon So Narrow That They Can No Longer See The Heavens.

Freedom Exists For The Sake Of Love.

Love And Responsibility

Allow The Light And The Healing Presence Of Christ To Shine Brightly Through Your Lives. In That Way, All Those Who Come In Contact With You Will Discover The Loving Kindness Of God.

Following Christ, The Church Seeks The Truth, Which Is Not Always The Same As The Majority Opinion.

Christians Will Want To Be In The Vanguard In Favoring Ways Of Life That Decisively Break With The Exhausting And Joyless Frenzy Of Consumerism.

Do Not Be Afraid. Open Wide The Doors To Christ.

It Is More Necessary Than Ever To Intensify Liturgical Life ... By Means Of An Appropriate Formation ... Of All The Faithful.

While It Is True That The Taking Of Life Not Yet Born Or In It's Final Stages Is Sometimes Marked By A Mistaken Sense Of Altruism And Human Compassion It Cannot Be Denied That Such A Culture Of Death, Taken As A Whole, Betrays A Completely Individualistic Concept Of Freedom, Which Ends Up By Becoming The Freedom Of "the Strong" Against The Weak Who Have No Choice But To Submit.

All Human Activity Takes Place Within A Culture And Interacts With Culture.

The Church Imposes Nothing; She Only Proposes, She Proposes Like A Lover To The Beloved.

Our Very Contract With Nature Has A Deep Restorative Power; Contemplation Of Its Magnificence Imparts Peace And Serenity.

The Inviolability Of The Person Which Is A Reflection Of The Absolute Inviolability Of God, Finds Its Primary And Fundamental Expression In The Inviolability Of Human Life. Above All, The Common Outcry, Which Is Justly Made On Behalf Of Human Rights-for Example, The Right To Health, To Home, To Work, To Family, To Culture- Is False And Illusory If The Right To Life, The Most Basic And Fundamental Right And The Condition For All Other Personal Rights, Is Not Defended With Maximum Determination.

Beauty Is A Key To The Mystery And A Call To Transcendence. It Is An Invitation To Savor Life And To Dream Of The Future. That Is Why The Beauty Of Created Things Can Never Fully Satisfy. It Stirs That Hidden Nostalgia For God Which A Lover Of Beauty Like Saint Augustine Could Express In Incomparable Terms: 'late Have I Loved You, Beauty So Old And So New: Late Have I Loved You!'.

The World Looks To The Priest, Because It Looks To Jesus! No One Can See Christ; But Everyone Sees The Priest, And Through Him They Wish To Catch A Glimpse Of The Lord! Immense Is The Grandeur Of The Lord! Immense Is The Grandeur And Dignity Of The Priest!

Christ Is The Sacrament Of The Invisible God - A Sacrament That Indicates Presence. God Is With Us.

We Christians Joyfully Recognize The Religious Values We Have In Common With Islam. I Would Like To Repeat What I Said To Young Muslims Some Years Ago In Casablanca: 'we Believe In The Same God, The One God, The Living God, The God Who Created The World And Brings His Creatures To Their Perfection.

The Film Industry Has Become A Universal Medium Exercising A Profound Influence On The Development Of People's Attitudes And Choices, And Possessing A Remarkable Ability To Influence Public Opinion And Culture Across All Social And Political Frontiers.

Man Matures Through Work Which Inspires Him To Difficult Good.

You Are Priests, Not Social Or Political Leaders. Let Us Not Be Under The Illusion That We Are Serving The Gospel Through An Exaggerated Interest In The Wide Field Of Temporal Problems.

...be Holy Men And Women! Do Not Forget That The Fruits Of The Apostolate Depend On The Depth Of The Spiritual Life, On The Intensity Of Prayer, Of Continual Formation And Sincere Adhesion To The Directives Of The Church.

Radical Changes In World Politics Leave America With A Heightened Responsibility To Be, For The World, An Example Of A Genuinely Free, Democratic, Just And Humane Society.

We Began By Imagining That We Are Giving To The; We End By Realizing That They Have Enriched Us.

Modern Society Will Find No Solution To The Ecological Problem Unless It Takes A Serious Look At Its Lifestyle.

Darkness Can Only Be Scattered By Light, Hatred Can Only Be Conquered By Love.

Today, The Scale And Horror Of Modern Warfare - Whether Nuclear Or Not - Makes It Totally Unacceptable As A Means Of Settling Differences Between Nations. War Should Belong To The Tragic Past, To History; It Should Find No Place On Humanity's Agenda For The Future.

Sensitivity To The Immense Needs Of Humanity Brings With It A Spontaneous Rejection Of The Arms Race, Which Is Incompatible With The All Out Struggle Against Hunger, Sickness, Under-development And Illiteracy.

Is Not Jesus Pointing To Children Even As Models For Grownups?

There Are People And Nations, Mother, That I Would Like To Say To You By Name. I Entrust Them To You In Silence, I Entrust Them To You In The Way That You Know Best.

A Process Of Genocide Is Being Carried Out Before The Eyes Of The World.

Pervading Nationalism Imposes Its Dominion On Man Today In Many Different Forms And With An Aggressiveness That Spares No One. The Challenge That Is Already With Us Is The Temptation To Accept As True Freedom What In Reality Is Only A New Form Of Slavery.

You Made Us For Yourself, Lord, And Our Heart Is Restless Until It Rests In You. In This Creative Restlessness Beats And Pulsates What Is Most Deeply Human - The Search For Truth, The Insatiable Need For The Good, Hunger For Freedom, Nostalgia For The Beautiful, And The Voice Of Conscience.

Consequently, Theories Of Evolution Which, In Accordance With The Philosophies Inspiring Them, Consider The Mind As Emerging From The Forces Of Living Matter, Or As A Mere Epiphenomenon Of This Matter, Are Incompatible With The Truth About Man. Nor Are They Able To Ground The Dignity Of The Person.

Theory Of Evolution

The Cross Means There Is No Shipwreck Without Hope; There Is No Dark Without Dawn; Nor Storm Without Haven.

May The Culture Of Life And Love Render Vain The Logic Of Death.

Today, For The First Time In History, A Bishop Of Rome Sets Foot On English Soil. This Fair Land, Once A Distant Outpost Of The Pagan World, Has Become, Through The Preaching Of The Gospel, A Beloved And Gifted Portion Of Christ's Vineyard.

Let Me Go To The House Of The Father.

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