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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. They Saw Where He Lived And Began To Know Him. They Would Not Have To Be Heralds Of An Idea, But Witnesses Of A Person. Before Being Sent To Evangelize, They Would Have To "be" With Jesus (cf. Mark 3:14), Establishing A Personal Relationship With Him. With This Foundation, Evangelization Is No More Than A Proclamation Of What Has Been Experienced And An Invitation To Enter Into The Mystery Of Communion With Christ (cf. 1 John 13).

-Pope Benedict XVI

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Thus, The Apostles' Adventure

Pope Benedict XVI

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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. They Saw Where He Lived And Began To Know Him. They Would Not Have To Be Heralds Of An Idea, But Witnesses Of A Person. Before Being Sent To Evangelize, They Would Have To "be" With Jesus (cf. Mark 3:14), Establishing A Personal Relationship With Him. With This Foundation, Evangelization Is No More Than A Proclamation Of What Has Been Experienced And An Invitation To Enter Into The Mystery Of Communion With Christ (cf. 1 John 13).

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Fullness Of Life

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Consecrated Life Means Going To The Very Root Of The Love Of Jesus Christ With An Undivided Heart And Putting Nothing Ahead Of This Love.

But Palm Sunday Tells Us That ... It Is The Cross That Is The True Tree Of Life.

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.

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

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.

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

I Urge You To Continue Your Fraternal Cooperation With One Another In The Spirit Of The Community Of Christ's Disciples, United In Your Love For Him And In The Gospel That You Proclaim.

You Have Before You The Task Of Seeking New Ways To Announce Christ In Situations Of Rapid And Often Profound Transformation, And Of Emphasizing The Missionary Character Of All Pastoral Activity.

The Church Needs Your Faith, Your Idealism And Your Generosity, So That She Can Always Be Young In The Spirit.

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.

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.

The Main Task For Us All Is That Of A New Evangelization Aimed At Helping Younger Generations To Rediscover The True Face Of God, Who Is Love. To You Young People, Who Are In Search Of A Firm Hope, I Address The Very Words That Saint Paul Wrote To The Persecuted Christians In Rome At That Time: "may The God Of Hope Fill You With All Joy And Peace In Believing, So That You May Abound In Hope By The Power Of The Holy Spirit" (rom 15:13).

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.

...the Baptized In Their Sense Of Mission, Through Prayer, The Witness Of Life And Christian Commitment In All Its Forms, So That All The Faithful May Become Missionaries In The Places Where They Live And That Vocations Will Come Forth To Proclaim The Gospel To Men Who Do Not Yet Know It.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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!

I Too Hope In This Short Reign To Be A Man Of Peace.

The "door Of Faith" (acts 14:27) Is Always Open For Us, Ushering Us Into The Life Of Communion With God And Offering Entry Into His Church. It Is Possible To Cross That Threshold When The Word Of God Is Proclaimed And The Heart Allows Itself To Be Shaped By Transforming Grace. To Enter Through That Door Is To Set Out On A Journey That Lasts A Lifetime.

Can We Disregard The Growing Phenomenon Of "environmental Refugees", People Who Are Forced By The Degradation Of Their Natural Habitat To Forsake It - And Often Their Possessions As Well - In Order To Face The Dangers And Uncertainties Of Forced Displacement? Can We Remain Impassive In The Face Of Actual And Potential Conflicts Involving Access To Natural Resources? All These Are Issues With A Profound Impact On The Exercise Of Human Rights, Such As The Right To Life, Food, Health And Development.

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.

When, In Adoration, We Look At The Consecrated Host, The Sign Of Creation Speaks To Us. And So, We Encounter The Greatness Of His Gift; But We Also Encounter The Passion, The Cross Of Jesus And His Resurrection. Through This Gaze Of Adoration, He Draws Us Toward Himself, Within His Mystery, Through Which He Wants To Transform Us As He Transformed The Host.

The Promotion Of Human Rights Remains The Most Effective Strategy For Eliminating Inequalities Between Countries And Social Groups, And For Increasing Security.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Christianity Is Not A New Philosophy Or New Morality. We Are Christians Only If We Encounter Christ... Only In This Personal Relationship With Christ, Only In This Encounter With The Risen One Do We Really Become Christians... Therefore, Let Us Pray To The Lord To Enlighten Us, So That, In Our World, He Will Grant Us The Encounter With His Presence, And Thus Give Us A Lively Faith, An Open Heart, And Great Charity For All, Capable Of Renewing The World.

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.

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.

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

Personal Responsibility

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

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.

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.

The New Evangelization ... Begins In The Confessional.

God Is Alive. He Has Created Every One Of Us, And He Knows Us All. He Is So Great That He Has Time For The Little Things In Our Lives: “every Hair Of Your Head Is Numbered”. God Is Alive, And Makes Sense To Become A Priest: The World Needs Priests, Pastors, Today, Tomorrow And Always, Until The End Of Time.

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.

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.

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

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.

Eternity Is Not An Unending Succession Of Days In The Calendar, But Something More Like The Supreme Moment Of Satisfaction, In Which Totality Embraces Us And We Embrace Totality.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Love In Truth-caritas In Veritate-is A Great Challenge For The Church In A World That Is Becoming Progressively And Pervasively Globalized. The Risk For Our Time Is That The De Facto Interdependence Of People And Nations Is Not Matched By Ethical Interaction Of Consciences And Minds That Would Give Rise To Truly Human Development. Only In Charity, Illumined By The Light Of Reason And Faith, Is It Possible To Pursue Development Goals That Possess A More Humane And Humanizing Value.

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.

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.

I Am Simply A Pilgrim Beginning The Last Leg Of His Pilgrimage On This Earth.

Global Interconnectedness Has Led To The Emergence Of A New Political Power, That Of Consumers And Their Associations. It Is Good For People To Realize That Purchasing Is Always A Moral - And Not Simply Economic - Act.

Our World Has Grown Weary Of Greed, Exploitation And Division, Of The Tedium Of False Idols And Piecemeal Responses, And The Pain Of False Promises.

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.

Our Faith Is Well Founded; But It Is Necessary That This Faith Become Part Of Our Lives. A Great Effort Must Therefore Be Made In Order For All Christians To Transform Themselves Into 'witnesses,' Ready And Able To Shoulder The Commitment Of Testifying - Always And To Everyone - To The Hope That Animates Them.

Non-african Missionaries, Responding Generously To The Lord's Call With Ardent Apostolic Zeal, Came To Share The Joy Of Revelation. Following In Their Footsteps, Africans Are Today Missionaries On Other Continents.

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 Atheist Believes] A World Marked By So Much Injustice, Innocent Suffering, And Cynicism Of Power Cannot Be The Work Of A Good God.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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