Background Image

...

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.

-Pope Benedict XVI

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

The Eucharistic Sacrifice Of

Pope Benedict XVI

...

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.

Views: 59392

Topic

More From Pope Benedict XVI

Can We Remain Indifferent Before The Problems Associated With Such Realities As Climate Change?

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.

Believing Is Nothing Other Than, In The Darkness Of The World, Touching The Hand Of God, And In This Way, In Silence, Hearing The Word, Seeing Love.

Our First Experience Of God Is So Important, We Either Experience Him As The Police Guard That Wants To Punish Or As Creative Love That Awaits.

Do You Want To Know Yourself Better? Then Discover Silence.

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.

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.

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.

A World Filled With Temptations Needs Priests Who Are Totally Dedicated To Their Mission. Accordingly, They Are Asked In A Very Special Way To Open Themselves Fully To Serving Others As Christ Did By Embracing The Gift Of Celibacy.

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.

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.

Knowing Is Not Simply A Material Act, Since The Object That Is Known Always Conceals Something Beyond The Empirical Datum. All Our Knowledge, Even The Most Simple, Is Always A Minor Miracle, Since It Can Never Be Fully Explained By The Material Instruments That We Apply To It. In Every Truth There Is Something More Than We Would Have Expected, In The Love That We Receive There Is Always An Element That Surprises Us.

We Are Still Awaiting Easter; We Are Not Yet Standing In The Full Light But Walking Toward It Full Of Trust.

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 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.

The Cross Is The Approbation Of Our Existence, Not In Words, But In An Act So Completely Radical That It Caused God To Become Flesh And Pierced This Flesh To The Quick; That, To God, It Was Worth The Death Of His Incarnate Son.

One Of The Promising Indications Of A Renewal In The Church's Missionary Consciousness In Recent Decades, Has Been The Growing Desire Of Many Lay Men And Women [...] To Cooperate Generously In The 'missio Ad Gentes.' As Vatican Council Ii Stressed, The Work Of Evangelization Is A Fundamental Duty Incumbent Upon The Whole People Of God.

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.

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.

Purity Of Heart Is What Enables Us To See.

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 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.

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

We Must Trust In The Mighty Power Of God's Mercy. We Are All Sinners, But His Grace Transforms Us And Makes Us New.

Hope Is Practiced Through The Virtue Of Patience, Which Continues To Do Good Even In The Face Of Apparent Failure, And Through The Virtue Of Humility, Which Accepts God's Mystery And Trusts Him Even At Times Of Darkness.

You Have Suffered Grievously And I Am Truly Sorry. I Know That Nothing Can Undo The Wrong You Have Endured. Your Trust Has Been Betrayed And Your Dignity Has Been Violated.

Each Of Us Is The Result Of A Thought Of God. Each Of Us Is Willed. Each Of Us Is Loved. Each Of Us Is Necessary.

Without Fear We Must Set Sail On The Digital Sea.

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

Jesus’ Example Of Fidelity To Prayer Challenges Us To Examine The Time And Effort We Devote To Our Own Prayer. While Prayer Is A Gift Of God, It Is Also An Art Learned Through Constant Practice. Jesus Teaches Us To Pray Constantly, But Also To Bear Witness Before Others Of The Beauty Of Prayer, Self-surrender And Complete Openness To God.

Too Often [the Church] Is Weighted Down And Burdened With The Sins And Failings Of Her Children; Too Often She Appears Disfigured And Discouraged.

Those Who Allow Themselves To Be Led By The Spirit Understand That Placing Oneself At The Service Of The Gospel Is Not An Optional Extra, Because They Are Aware Of The Urgency Of Transmitting This Good News To Others...i Assure You That The Spirit Of Jesus Today Is Inviting You Young People To Be Bearers Of The Good News Of Jesus To Your Contemporaries.

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

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.

I Believe That The Most Important Thing...is To Revive In The Whole Church That Positive Tension, That Yearning To Announce Christ Again To Contemporary Man.

Because The Truth Of God Is Love, Conversion To God Is Conversion To Love.

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.

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.

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.

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

The Ecological Crisis Shows The Urgency Of A Solidarity Which Embraces Time And Space... A Greater Sense Of Intergenerational Solidarity Is Urgently Needed. Future Generations Cannot Be Saddled With The Cost Of Our Use Of Common Environmental Resources.

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

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.

Prayer Itself, Born In Catholic Families, Nurtured By Programs Of Christian Formation, Strengthened By The Grace Of The Sacraments, Is The First Means By Which We Come To Know The Lord’s Will For Our Lives. To The Extent That We Teach Young People To Pray, And To Pray Well, We Will Be Cooperating With God’s Call. Programs, Plans And Projects Have Their Place; But The Discernment Of A Vocation Is Above All The Fruit Of An Intimate Dialogue Between The Lord And His Disciples. Young People, If They Know How To Pray, Can Be Trusted To Know What To Do With God’s Call.

That The Entire People Of God, To Whom Christ Entrusted The Mandate To Go And Preach The Gospel To Every Creature, May Eagerly Assume Their Own Missionary Responsibility And Consider It The Highest Service They Can Offer Humanity.

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.

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).

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.

No Law Made By Man Can Overturn That Of The Creator Without Dramatically Affecting Society In Its Very Foundation.

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

Purgatory Basically Means That God Can Put The Pieces Back Together Again. That He Can Cleanse Us In Such A Way That We Are Able To Be With Him And Can Stand There In The Fullness Of Life. Purgatory Strips Off From One Person What Is Unbearable And From Another The Inability To Bear Certain Things, So That In Each Of Them A Pure Heart Is Revealed, And We Can See That We All Belong Together In One Enormous Symphony Of Being.

Fullness Of Life

During The Season Of Lent Which Begins Today, We Renew Our Commitment To The Path Of Conversion, Making More Room For God In Our Lives.

Forgiveness Does Not Replace Justice.

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.

My Dear Friends, God’s Creation Is One And It Is Good. The Concerns For Nonviolence, Sustainable Development, Justice And Peace, And Care For Our Environment Are Of Vital Importance For Humanity. They Cannot, However, Be Understood Apart From A Profound Reflection On The Innate Dignity Of Every Human Life From Conception To Natural Death: A Dignity Conferred By God Himself And Thus Inviolable.

Although The Particular Inclination Of The Homosexual Person Is Not A Sin, It Is More Or Less Strong Tendency Ordered To An Intrinsic Moral Evil, And Thus The Inclination Itself Must Be Seen As An Objective Disorder.

Ultimately, In The Battle Against Lies And Violence, Truth And Love Have No Other Weapon Than The Witness Of Suffering.

Mary's Greatness Consists In The Fact That She Wants To Magnify God, Not Herself.

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

We Will Never Forget That Blessing. It Was The Most Pained And Moving Blessing, Which Left Us With The Extreme Testimony Of His Will To Complete His Ministry Until The End.

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.

Praying Actualizes And Deepens Our Communion With God. Our Prayer Can And Should Arise Above All From Our Heart, From Our Needs, Our Hopes, Our Joys, Our Sufferings, From Our Shame Over Sin, And From Our Gratitude From The Good. It Can And Should Be A Wholly Personal Prayer.

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.

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.

The Freedom To Kill Is Not A True Freedom, But A Tyranny That Reduces Human Beings To Slavery.

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.

Preservation Of The Environment, Promotion Of Sustainable Development And Particular Attention To Climate Change Are Matters Of Grave Concern For The Entire Human Family.

Many Of Our Brothers And Sisters Are 'baptized, But Insufficiently Evangelized.' In A Number Of Cases, Nations Once Rich In Faith And In Vocations Are Losing Their Identity Under The Influence Of A Secularized Culture. The Need For A New Evangelization, So Deeply Felt By My Venerable Predecessor, Must Be Valiantly Reaffirmed, In The Certainty That God's Word Is Effective.

God Is Always Faithful To His Promises, But He Often Surprises Us In The Way He Fulfills Them.

Dear Brothers And Sisters, After The Great Pope John Paul Ii, The Cardinals Have Elected Me - A Simple, Humble Worker In The Vineyard Of The Lord.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Catechism Was Not Written To Please You. It Will Not Make Life Easy For You, Because It Demands Of You A New Life.

Celibacy Is Not A Matter Of Compulsion. Someone Is Accepted As A Priest Only When He Does It Of His Own Accord.

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.

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

God Is Not Solitude, But Perfect Communion. For This Reason The Human Person, The Image Of God, Realizes Himself Or Herself In Love, Which Is A Sincere Gift Of Self.

The Extermination Of Millions Of Unborn Children, In The Name Of The Fight Against Poverty, Actually Constitutes The Destruction Of The Poorest Of All Human Beings.

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.

Both Need Each Other: The Agnostic Cannot Be Content To Not Know, But Must Be In Search Of The Great Truth Of Faith; The Catholic Cannot Be Content To Have Faith, But Must Be In Search Of God All The Time, And In The Dialogue With Others, A Catholic Can Learn More About God In A Deeper Fashion.

For Me, It's A Great Joy To Be Together With Priests: In The End, The Bishop Of Rome Is The Bishop And Brother Of All Priests. His Mandate Is To Confirm The Brothers In The Faith.

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.

The Catholic Church Is Not Dead, It Is Not Even Tired!

Reason Always Stands In Need Of Being Purified By Faith

I Am Convinced That Music Really Is The Universal Language Of Beauty Which Can Bring Together All People Of Good Will On Earth

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

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

Rock Music Is A Vehicle Of Anti-religion

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.

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.

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.

Rediscover The Joy Of Believing.

Saint Paul Asks His Disciple Timothy To "aim At Faith" (2 Tim 2:22) With The Same Constancy As When He Was A Boy (cf. 2 Tim 3:15). This Invitation Is Directed To Each Of Us, That None Of Us Grow Lazy In The Faith. It Is The Lifelong Companion That Makes It Possible To Perceive, Ever Anew, The Marvels That God Works For Us.

A United Humanity Will Be Able To Confront The Many Troubling Problems Of The Present Time: From The Menace Of Terrorism To The Humiliating Poverty In Which Millions Of Human Beings Live, From The Proliferation Of Weapons To The Pandemics And The Environmental Destruction Which Threatens The Future Of Our Planet.

A Good School Provides A Rounded Education For The Whole Person. And A Good Catholic School, Over And Above This, Should Help All Its Students To Become Saints.

The Jesus Of The Gospels Is Surely Not Convenient For Us.

Grant That We May Be One Flock And One Shepherd.

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.

Advent's Intention Is To Awaken The Most Profound And Basic Emotional Memory Within Us, Namely, The Memory Of The God Who Became A Child. This Is A Healing Memory; It Brings Hope. The Purpose Of The Church's Year Is Continually To Rehearse Her Great History Of Memories, To Awaken The Heart's Memory So That It Can Discern The Star Of Hope.

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.

Our Christian Conviction Is That Christ Is Also The Messiah Of Israel. Certainly It Is In The Hands Of God How And When The Unification Of Jews And Christians Into The People Of God Will Take Place.

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

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.

The Story Of Mary Of Magdalene Reminds Us All Of A Fundamental Truth...a Disciple Of Christ Is One Who, In The Experience Of Human Weakness, Has Had The Humility To Ask For His Help, Has Been Healed By Him And Has Set Out Following Closely After Him, Becoming A Witness Of The Power Of His Merciful Love That Is Stronger Than Sin And Death.

Make Sure That Every Person, Of Whatever Background, Can Find In You A Welcoming Heart.

This World In Which We Live Needs Beauty In Order Not To Sink Into Despair. Beauty, Like Truth, Brings Joy To The Human Heart, And Is That Precious Fruit Which Resists The Erosion Of Time, Which Unites Generations And Enables Them To Be One In Admiration. And All This Through The Work Of Your Hands . . . Remember That You Are The Custodians Of Beauty In The World.

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.

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.

Joy Is The True Gift Of Christmas, And We Can Communicate This Joy Simply: With A Smile, A Kind Gesture, A Little Help, Forgiveness. And The Joy We Give Will Certainly Come Back To Us.

Today Christmas Has Become A Commercial Celebration, Whose Bright Lights Hide The Mystery Of God’s Humility, Which In Turn Calls Us To Humility And Simplicity. Let Us Ask The Lord To Help Us See Through The Superficial Glitter Of This Season, And To Discover Behind It The Child In The Stable In Bethlehem, So As To Find True Joy And True Light.

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

We Celebrate [easter] Because Now, Thanks To The Risen Lord, It Is Definitively Established That Reason Is Stronger Than Unreason, Truth Stronger Than Lies, Love Stronger Than Death.

The Church Is Not An Association That Wishes To Promote A Certain Cause. It Is Not About A Cause. It Is About The Person Of Jesus Christ.

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.

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.

It Is The Beautiful Task Of Advent To Awaken In All Of Us Memories Of Goodness And Thus To Open Doors Of Hope.

The Missionary Experience Is Part Of Christian Formation And It Is Important For Adolescents And Young People To Be Able To Live It Personally.

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.

Richard Dawkins's The Selfish Gene Is A Classic Example Of Science Fiction.

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.

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

Monsters, Among Other Brutes, Are The Ones Without Guilt Feelings. Perhaps Hitler Did Not Have Any, Or Himmler, Or Stalin. Maybe Mafia Bosses Do Not Have Any Guilt Feelings Either, Or Maybe Their Remains Are Just Well Hidden In The Cellar. Even Aborted Guilt Feelings...all Men Need Guilt Feelings.

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.

God Loves Us; We Need Only To Summon Up The Humility To Allow Ourselves To Be Loved.

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.

Dear Brothers And Sisters...the Lord Is Calling Me To "climb The Mountain", To Devote Myself Even More To Prayer And Meditation. But This Does Not Mean Abandoning The Church, Indeed, If God Is Asking Me To Do This, It Is So I Can Continue To Serve The Church With The Same Dedication And The Same Love With Which I Have Done Thus Far, But In A Way That Is Better Suited To My Age And My Strength

Listen To The Voice Of The Earth.

God Loves Us Despite Our Shortcomings And Sins, And His Love Gives Meaning To Our Lives And To The Life Of The World.

A Theologian Who Does Not Love Art, Poetry, Music And Nature Can Be Dangerous. Blindness And Deafness Toward The Beautiful Are Not Incidental; They Necessarily Are Reflected In His Theology.

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.

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.

We Cannot Keep To Ourselves The Words Of Eternal Life Given To Us In Our Encounter With Jesus Christ: They Are Meant For Everyone, For Every Man And Woman. ... It Is Our Responsibility To Pass On What, By God's Grace, We Ourselves Have Received.

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.

This Clash Is An Absurdity Because On One Hand There Is Much Scientific Proof In Favor Of Evolution, Which Appears As A Reality That We Must See And Which Enriches Our Understanding Of Life And Being As Such.

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.

Concern For The Fate Of The Great Rivers Of The Earth Must Lead Us To Reflect Soberly On The Model Of Development Which Our Society Is Pursuing. A Purely Economic And Technological Understanding Of Progress, To The Extent That It Fails To Acknowledge Its Intrinsic Limitations And To Take Into Consideration The Integral Good Of Humanity, Will Inevitably Provoke Negative Consequences For Individuals, Peoples And Creation Itself.

Evil Draws Its Power From Indecision And Concern For What Other People Think.

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.

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.

Continue To Walk In The Faith And, Faithful To The Mandate That Has Been Entrusted To You, Go Out With Solicitude And Joy Toward All Creatures And Pass On To Them The Gifts Of Salvation...let Yourselves Be Guided By The Holy Spirit To Be The Leaven Of New Life, Salt Of The Earth And Light Of The World.

Peace, However, Is Not Merely A Gift To Be Received: It Is Also A Task To Be Undertaken. In Order To Be True Peacemakers, We Must Educate Ourselves In Compassion, Solidarity, Working Together, Fraternity, In Being Active Within The Community And Concerned To Raise Awareness About National And International Issues And The Importance Of Seeking Adequate Mechanisms For The Redistribution Of Wealth, The Promotion Of Growth, Cooperation For Development And Conflict Resolution. 'blessed Are The Peacemakers, For They Shall Be Called Sons Of God', As Jesus Says In The Sermon On The Mount

The Experience Of [the African] Bishops Is That Evangelization Itself Should Be Foremost, That The God Of Jesus Christ Must Be Known, Believed In And Loved, And That Hearts Must Be Converted If Progress Is To Be Made On Social Issues And Reconciliation Is To Begin, And If - For Example - Aids Is To Be Combated By Realistically Facing Its Deeper Causes And The Sick Are To Be Given The Loving Care They Need. Social Issues And The Gospel Are Inseparable.

The Destruction Of The Environment, Its Improper Or Selfish Use, And The Violent Hoarding Of The Earth's Resources Cause Grievances, Conflicts And Wars, Precisely Because They Are The Consequences Of An Inhumane Concept Of Development.

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

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. It Is This Friendship That Opens Us Up To All That Is Good And Gives Us A Criterion By Which To Distinguish The True From The False, And Deceit From Truth.

The Church Must Never Be Satisfied With The Ranks Of Those Whom She Has Reached At A Certain Point Or Say That Others Are Fine As They Are: Muslims, Hindus And So Forth. The Church Can Never Retreat Comfortably To Within The Limits Of Her Own Environment. She Is Charged With Universal Solicitude; She Must Be Concerned With And For One And All... We Must... As The Lord Says - Go Out Ever Anew 'to The Highways And Hedges' (luke 14:23), To Deliver God's Invitation To His Banquet Also To Those Who Have So Far Heard Nothing Or Have Not Been Stirred Within.

While We Too Always Seek Other Signs, Other Wonders, We Do Not Realize That He Is The Real Sign, God Made Flesh; He Is The Greatest Miracle Of The Universe: All The Love Of God Hidden In A Human Heart, In A Human Face.

Meaning That Is Self-made Is In The Last Analysis No Meaning. Meaning, That Is, The Ground On Which Our Existence As A Totality Can Stand And Live, Cannot Be Made But Only Received.

To Me, It Really Seems Visible Today That Ethics Is Not Something Exterior To The Economy, Which, As Technical Matter, Could Function On Its Own; Rather, Ethics Is An Interior Principle Of The Economy Itself, Which Cannot Function If It Does Not Take Account Of The Human Values Of Solidarity And Reciprocal Responsibility.

Respecting The Environment Does Not Mean Considering Material Or Animal Nature More Important Than Man. Rather, It Means Not Selfishly Considering Nature To Be At The Complete Disposal Of Our Own Interests, For Future Generations Also Have The Right To Reap Its Benefits And To Exhibit Towards Nature The Same Responsible Freedom That We Claim For Ourselves. Nor Must We Overlook The Poor, Who Are Excluded In Many Cases From The Goods Of Creation Destined For All.

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

The Evangelization Of The Person And Of Human Communities Depends Totally On This Encounter With Jesus Christ.

Adoration Outside Holy Mass Prolongs And Intensifies What Has Taken Place In The Liturgical Celebration And Makes A True And Profound Reception Of Christ Possible. I . . . Warmly Recommend, To Pastors And To All The Faithful, The Practice Of Eucharistic Adoration

Art Means: Revealing God In Everything That Exists.

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.

Holiness Never Goes Out Of Fashion.

I Leave From Where The Apostle Arrived.

From The Point Of View Of The Christian Faith, Man Comes In The Profoundest Sense To Himself Not Through What He Does But Through What He Accepts. He Must Wait For The Gift Of Love, And Love Can Only Be Received As A Gift... One Must Wait For It, Let It Be Given To One. And One Cannot Become Wholly Man In Any Other Way Than By Being Loved, By Letting Oneself Be Loved... If He Declines To Let Himself Be Presented With The Gift, Then He Destroys Himself.

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.

Which Direction Do We Take? The One Prompted By The Passions Or The One Indicated By The Star Which Shines In Your Conscience? The Magi Heard The Answer: "in Bethlehem Of Judea; For So It Is Written By The Prophet" (mt 2: 5), And, Enlightened By These Words, They Chose To Press Forward To The Very End.

Thus, The Apostles' Adventure Began As A Gathering Of Persons Who Open To One Another Reciprocally. A Direct Knowledge Of The Teacher Began For The Disciples.

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.

The Earth Is Indeed A Precious Gift Of The Creator Who, In Designing Its Intrinsic Order, Has Given Us Bearings That Guide Us As Stewards Of His Creation. Precisely From Within This Framework, The Church Considers Matters Concerning The Environment And Its Protection Intimately Linked To The Theme Of Integral Human Development.

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

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"

[non-catholic Christians Are] In A Gravely Deficient Situation In Comparison With Those Who, In The [roman Catholic] Church, Have The Fullness Of The Means Of Salvation.

Preservation Of The Environment, Promotion Of Sustainable Development And Particular Attention To Climate Change Are Matters Of Grave Concern For The Entire Human Family. No Nation Or Business Sector Can Ignore The Ethical Implications Present In All Economic And Social Development. With Increasing Clarity Scientific Research Demonstrates That The Impact Of Human Actions In Any One Place Or Region Can Have Worldwide Effects.

Friends, Do Not Be Afraid Of Silence Or Stillness. Listen To God. Adore Him In The Eucharist.

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.

Freedom Is Not Only A Gift, But A Summons To Personal Responsibility.

Personal Responsibility

The Gospel Is Not Merely A Communication Of Things That Can Be Known - It Is One That Makes Things Happen And Is Life-changing. The Dark Door Of Time, Of The Future, Has Been Thrown Open. The One Who Has Hope Lives Differently; The One Who Hopes Has Been Granted The Gift Of A New 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.

Art Is Elemental. Reason Alone As It's Expressed In The Sciences Can't Be Man's Complete Answer To Reality, And It Can't Express Everything That Man Can, Wants To, And Has To Express. I Think God Built This Into Man. Art Along With Science Is The Highest Gift God Has Given Him.

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

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.

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.

Each Of Us Has A Mission . . . Each Of Us Is Called To Change The World, To Work For A Culture Of Life, A Culture Forged By Love And Respect For The Dignity Of Each Human Person.

God Came Into The World To Reawaken The Thirst For Great Things In Us.

The Truth Comes To Rule, Not Through Violence, But Rather Through Its Own Power; [this Is The Central Theme Of John's Gospel:] When Brought Before Pilate, Jesus Professes That He Himself Is The Truth And The Witness To The Truth. He Does Not Defend The Truth With Legions But Rather Makes It Visible Through His Passion And Thereby Also Implements It.

The Proclamation And Witness Of The Gospel Are The First Service That Christians Can Offer Every Person And The Whole Human Race, As They Are Called To Communicate To All The Love Of God, Who Manifested Himself Fully In The Only Redeemer Of The World, Jesus Christ.

Only If There Is Love, If Hearts Are Opened, Can One Person Truly Know The Other.

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.'

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.

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

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?'

Joy Is The True Gift Of Christmas.

In A World Wounded By Conflicts, Where Violence Is Justified In God's Name, It's Important To Repeat That Religion Can Never Become A Vehicle Of Hatred, It Can Never Be Used In God's Name To Justify Violence.

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.

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

Since Politics Fundamentally Should Be A Moral Enterprise, The Church In This Sense Has Something To Say About Politics.

In The World In Which We Live, It Is Almost A Necessity To Be Able To Regain One's Strength Of Body And Spirit, Especially For Those Who Live In The City, Where The Conditions Of Life, Often Feverish, Leave Little Room For Silence, Reflection And Relaxed Contact With Nature.

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.

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.

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

What A Treasure Is Hidden In Two Small Words: 'thank You!'

Before It's Too Late, We Need To Make Courageous Choices That Will Recreate A Strong Alliance Between Man And Earth. We Need A Decisive 'yes' To Care For Creation And A Strong Commitment To Reverse Those Trends That Risk Making The Situation Of Decay Irreversible.

Trending Author

Category