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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.

-Pope Benedict XVI

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To Suffer With The

Pope Benedict XVI

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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.

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

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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.

Grant That We May Be One Flock And One Shepherd.

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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.

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

Joy Is The True Gift Of Christmas.

[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.

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

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 Abuse Of Faith Has To Be Resisted Precisely.

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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.

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

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

In Jesus Christ, God Took On A Human Face And Became Our Friend And Brother.

The Aim Of All Christian Education, Moreover, Is To Train The Believer In An Adult Faith That Can Make Him A "new Creation", Capable Of Bearing Witness In His Surroundings To The Christian Hope That Inspires Him.

Look At The Face Of The Other... Discover That He Has A Soul, A History And A Life, That He Is A Person And That God Loves This Person.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

At The Judgment, In Response To Our Questions, The Lord Will Show Us His Wounds, And We Will Understand. In The Meantime, However, He Simply Expects Us To Stand By Him And To Believe What These Wounds Tell Us, Even Though We Cannot Work Right Through The Logic Of This World.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Do Not Be Fooled By Those Who See You As Just Another Consumer In A Market Of Undifferentiated Possibilities, Where Choice Itself Becomes The Good, Novelty Usurps Beauty, And Subjective Experience Displaces Truth.

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.

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.

Love Is The Very Process Of Passing Over, Of Transformation, Of Stepping Outside The Limitations Of Fallen Humanity - In Which We Are All Separated From One Another And Ultimately Impenetrable To One Another - Into An Infinite Otherness.

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

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

To 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.

With The Rosary, We Allow Ourselves To Be Guided By Mary, Model Of Faith, In Meditating On The Mysteries Of Christ, And Day After Day We Are Helped To Assimilate The Gospel, So That It Shapes All Our Lives.

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.

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

Being Missionaries Means Loving God With All One's Heart, Even To The Point, If Necessary, Of Dying For Him... Being Missionaries Means Stooping Down To The Needs Of All, Like The Good Samaritan, Especially Those Of The Poorest And Most Destitute People.

Thank You From The Heart To All Those Who In Various Ways Are Near Me Or Follow Me Spiritually With Affection And Prayers From Afar. To Each One Of You, I Ask You To Continue To Support Me By Praying To God To Let Me Be His Gentle And Firm Pastor Of His Church.

Dear Friends, May No Adversity Paralyze You. Be Afraid Neither Of The World, Nor Of The Future, Nor Of Your Weakness. The Lord Has Allowed You To Live In This Moment Of History So That, By Your Faith, His Name Will Continue To Resound Throughout The World.

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

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.

Dear Young People, Let Me Now Ask You A Question. What Will You Leave To The Next Generation? Are You Building Your Lives On Firm Foundations, Building Something That Will Endure?

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

Sometimes We Are Looked Upon As People Who Speak Only Of Prohibitions. Nothing Could Be Further From The Truth!

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

Sometimes We Are Looked Upon As People Who Speak Only Of Prohibitions. Nothing Could Be Further From The Truth! Authentic Christian Discipleship Is Marked By A Sense Of Wonder. We Stand Before The God We Know And Love As A Friend, The Vastness Of His Creation, And The Beauty Of Our Christian Faith.

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

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.

It Is A Symbol Evoking A Reality That Touches The Depths Of The Person ... The Light Of Goodness That Vanquishes Evil, Of Love That Overcomes Hatred, Of Life That Defeats Death.

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.

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 First Priority Will Consist In Restoring A Sense Of The Acceptance Of Life As A Gift From God. According To Both Sacred Scripture And The Wisest Traditions Of Your Continent, The Arrival Of A Child Is Always A Gift, A Blessing From God. Today It Is High Time To Place Greater Emphasis On This: Every Human Being, Every Tiny Human Person, However Weak, Is Created 'in The Image And Likeness Of God' (gen 1:27)

The Real 'action' In The Liturgy In Which We Are All Supposed To Participate Is The Action Of God Himself. This Is What Is New And Distinctive About The Christian Liturgy: God Himself Acts And Does What Is Essential.

Young People In Particular, I Appeal To You: Bear Witness To Your Faith Through The Digital World.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Standards Of Conduct Appropriate To Civil Society Or The Workings Of A Democracy Cannot Be Purely And Simply Applied To The Church.

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

Guarantees That

I Thank You, Dear Brothers, For Preaching The Love Of Christ And Exhorting Your People To Tolerance, Respect And Love Of Their Brothers And Sisters And Of All Persons. In This Way You Exercise The Prophetic Ministry That The Lord Has Entrusted To The Church, And In Particular To The Successors Of The Apostles (cf. Pastores Gregis, 26).

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

Enough With The Slaughters. Enough With The Violence. Enough With The Hatred In Iraq!

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.

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

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.

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