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We Are Not The Sum Of Our Weaknesses And Failures, We Are The Sum Of The Father's Love For Us And Our Real Capacity To Become The Image Of His Son Jesus.

-Pope John Paul II

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We Are Not The

Pope John Paul II

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We Are Not The Sum Of Our Weaknesses And Failures, We Are The Sum Of The Father's Love For Us And Our Real Capacity To Become The Image Of His Son Jesus.

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The Only Really Effective Means Of Enabling States To Deal With The Grave Problem Of Poverty Is To Provide Them With The Necessary Resources Through Foreign Financial Aid - Public And Private - Granted Under Reasonable Conditions, Within The Framework Of International Commercial Relations Regulated With Fairness.

The True Christian Can Nurture A Trustful Optimism, Because He Is Certain Of Not Walking Alone. In Sending Us Jesus, The Eternal Son Made Man, God Has Drawn Near To Each Of Us. In Christ He Has Become Our Travelling Companion.

How Beautiful Is The Family That Recites The Rosary Every Evening.

Give Us The Grace - When The Sacredness Of Life Before Birth Is Attacked, To Stand Up And Proclaim That No One Ever Has The Authority To Destroy Unborn Life.

None Are So Poor That They Have Nothing To Give...and None Are So Rich That They Have Nothing To Receive.

How Can Such Episodes Of Such Savage Cruelty Happen? The Heart Of Man Is An Abyss Out Of Which Sometimes Emerge Plots Of Unspeakable Ferocity Capable Of Overturning In An Instant The Tranquil And Productive Life Of A People.

Productive Life

Euthanasia Is A Grave Violation Of The Law Of God, Since It Is The Deliberate And Morally Unacceptable Killing Of A Human Person.

Never Again War! Never Again Hatred And Intolerance!

In The Fulfillment Of Your Duties, Let Your Intentions Be So Pure That You Reject From Your Actions Any Other Motive Than The Glory Of God And The Salvation Of Souls.

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

Each Individual In Fact Has Moral Responsibility For The Acts Which He Personally Performs; No One Can Be Exempted From This Responsibility, And On The Basis Of It Everyone Will Be Judged By God Himself.

The Eucharist Is The Full Realization Of The Worship Which Humanity Owes To God, And It Cannot Be Compared To Any Other Religious Experience.... The Risen Lord ... Calls The Faithful Together To Give Them The Light Of His Word And The Nourishment Of His Body As The Perennial Sacramental Wellspring Of Redemption. The Grace Flowing From This Wellspring Renews Mankind, Life, And History.

Without Wonder, Men And Women Would Lapse Into Deadening Routine And Little By Little Would Become Incapable Of A Life Which Is Genuinely Personal.

It Is Unbecoming For A Cardinal To Ski Badly.

Prayer Joined To Sacrifice Constitutes The Most Powerful Force In Human History.

The Rosary Is My Favorite Prayer.

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Apart From The Mercy Of God, There Is No Other Source Of Hope For Mankind.

From This Moment On, Live The Eucharist Fully; Be Persons For Whom The Holy Mass, Communion, And Eucharistic Adoration Are The Center And Summit Of Their Whole Life.

Man Cannot Live Without Love. He Remains A Being That Is Incomprehensible For Himself, His Life Is Senseless, If Love Is Not Revealed To Him, If He Does Not Encounter Love, If He Does Not Experience It And Make It His Own, If He Does Not Participate Intimately In It.

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Have No Fear Of Moving Into The Unknown. Simply Step Out Fearlessly Knowing That I Am With You, Therefore No Harm Can Befall You; All Is Very, Very Well. Do This In Complete Faith And Confidence.

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It's Better To Cry Than Be Angry, Because Anger Hurts Others While Tears Flow Silently Through The Soul And Cleans The Heart.

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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!

Believers Do Not Surrender. They Can Continue On Their Way To The Truth Because They Are Certain That God Has Created Them "explorers", Whose Mission Is To Leave No Stone Unturned, Though The Temptation To Doubt Is Always There. Leaning On God, They Continue To Reach Out, Always And Everywhere, For All That Is Beautiful, Good, And True.

The Dramatic Threat Of Ecological Breakdown Is Teaching Us The Extent To Which Greed And Selfishness Are Contrary To The Order Of Creation. ...a Given Culture Reveals Its Understanding Of Life Through The Choices It Makes In Production And Consumption... A Great Deal Of Educational And Cultural Work Is Urgently Needed, Including The Education Of Consumers In The Responsible Use Of Their Power Of Choice.

In The Sacrifice Which Jesus Christ Makes Of Himself On The Cross For His Bride, The Church... There Is Entirely Revealed That Plan Which God Has Imprinted On The Humanity Of Man And Woman Since Their Creation.

The Eucharist Is Not Only A Particularly Intense Expression Of The Reality Of The Church's Life, But Also In A Sense Its Fountainhead. The Eucharist Feeds And Forms The Church: 'because There Is One Bread, We Who Are Many Are One Body, For We All Partake Of The One Bread' (1 Cor 10:17, Rsv). Because Of This Vital Link With The Sacrament Of The Body And Blood Of The Lord, The Mystery Of The Church Is Savored, Proclaimed, And Lived Supremely In The Eucharist.

There Is No Evil To Be Faced That Christ Does Not Face With Us. There Is No Enemy That Christ Has Not Already Conquered. There Is No Cross To Bear That Christ Has Not Already Borne For Us, And Does Not Now Bear With Us.

I Sense That The Moment Has Come To Commit All Of The Church's Energies To A New Evangelization... No Believer In Christ, No Institution Of The Church Can Avoid This Supreme Duty: To Proclaim Christ To All Peoples.

Forgiveness Is Above All A Personal Choice, A Decision Of The Heart To Go Against The Natural Instinct To Pay Back Evil With Evil.

The Aesthetic Value Of Creation Cannot Be Overlooked. Our Very Contact With Nature Has A Deep Restorative Power; Contemplation Of Its Magnificence Imparts Peace And Serenity. The Bible Speaks Again And Again Of The Goodness And Beauty Of Creation, Which Is Called To Glorify God.

There Is A Growing Threat To The Environment, To The Vegetation, Animals, Water And Air. Sacred Scripture Hands Us The Image Of Cain Who Rejects His Responsibility: 'am I My Brother's Keeper?' The Bible Shows The Human Person As His Brother's Keeper And The Guardian Of Creation Which Has Been Entrusted To Him.

Bless, O Lord Of The Centuries And The Millennia, The Daily Work By Which Men And Women Provide Bread For Themselves And Their Loved Ones. We Also Offer To Your Fatherly Hands The Toil And Sacrifices Associated With Work, In Union With Your Son Jesus Christ, Who Redeemed Human Work From The Yoke Of Sin And Restored It To Its Original Dignity.

Truth Can Prevail Only In Virtue Of Truth Itself.

Certain Elements Of Today's Ecological Crisis Reveal Its Moral Character. First Among These Is The Indiscriminate Application Of Advances In Science And Technology. Many Recent Discoveries Have Brought Undeniable Benefits To Humanity. Indeed, They Demonstrate The Nobility Of The Human Vocation To Participate Responsibly In God's Creative Action In The World. Unfortunately, It Is Now Clear That The Application Of These Discoveries In The Fields Of Industry And Agriculture Have Produced Harmful Long-term Effects.

Young People Are Threatened... By The Evil Use Of Advertising Techniques That Stimulate The Natural Inclination To Avoid Hard Work By Promising The Immediate Satisfaction Of Every Desire.

The Challenge Is To Make The Church's Yes To Life Concrete And Effective. The Struggle Will Be Long, And It Needs Each One Of You. Place Your Intelligence, Your Talents, Your Enthusiasm, Your Compassion And Your Fortitude At The Service Of Life!

Love Of Christ Does Not Distract Us From Interest In Others, But Rather Invites Us To Responsibility For Them, To The Exclusion Of No One….

The Poor Of The United States And Of The World Are Your Brothers And Sisters In Christ. You Must Never Be Content To Leave Them Just The Crumbs From The Feast. You Must Take Of Your Substance, And Not Just Of Your Abundance, In Order To Help Them. And You Must Treat Them Like Guests At Your Family Table.

The Eucharist Is The Heart Of The Church. Where Eucharistic Life Flourishes, There The Life Of The Church Will Blossom.

The Most Faithful Disciples Of Christ Have Been Builders Of Peace, To The Point Of Forgiving Their Enemies, Sometimes Even To The Point Of Giving Their Lives For Them.

Man Matures Through Work Which Inspires Him To Difficult Good.

Believers Know That The Presence Of Evil Is Always Accompanied By The Presence Of Good, By Grace... Where Evil Grows, There The Hope For Good Also Grows... In The Love That Pours Forth From The Heart Of Christ, We Find Hope For The Future Of The World. Christ Has Redeemed The World: "by His Wounds We Are Healed." (isaiah 53:5)

The Church And The World Have A Great Need Of Eucharistic Worship. Jesus Waits For Us In This Sacrament Of Love. Let Us Be Generous With Our Time In Going To Meet Him In Adoration And In Contemplation That Is Full Of Faith And Ready To Make Reparation For The Great Faults And Crimes Of The World. May Our Adoration Never Cease

The Promotion Of The Culture Of Life Should Be The Highest Priority In Our Societies...if The Right To Life Is Not Defended Decisively As A Condition For All Other Rights Of The Person, All Other References To Human Rights Remain Deceitful And Illusory.

This Is The Wonderful Truth, My Dear Friends: The Word, Which Became Flesh Two Thousand Years Ago, Is Present Today In The Eucharist

Yes, The South-becoming Always Poorer-and The North-becoming Always Richer ...richer, Too In The Resources Of Weapons With Which The Superpowers And Blocs Can Mutually Threaten Each Other. In The Light Of Christ's Words (mt. 25), This Poor South Will Judge The Rich North. And The Poor People And Poor Nations-poor In Different Ways, Not Only Lacking Food, But Also Deprived Of Freedom And Other Human Right-will Judge Those People Who Take These Goods Away From Them, Amassing To Themselves The Imperialist Monopoly And Political Supremacy At The Expense Of Others.

What Does Our Generation Owe To Generations Yet Unborn? ...there Is An Order In The Universe Which Must Be Respected, And... The Human Person, Endowed With The Capability Of Choosing Freely, Has A Grave Responsibility To Preserve This Order For The Well-being Of Future Generations.

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

Chess Holds Deep Wisdoms Of The People. It Is Truly An Image Of Life, The Reflection Of Human Fate That Has Shown Us The Earthly Way Of Suffering In Darkness And Permanent Shortage Of Time. Like In Chess, We Encounter All Kinds Of Traps, Mistakes, Settlements, Sacrifices, Kings, And Queens, Doubled Pawns, And Extraordinary Moves While We Are On The Board Ourselves.

On One Hand The Eternal Attraction Of Man Towards Femininity (cf. Gn. 2:23) Frees In Him-or Perhaps It Should Free-a Gamut Of Spiritual-corporal Desires Of An Especially Personal And "sharing" Nature (cf. Analysis Of The "beginning"), To Which A Proportionate Pyramid Of Values Corresponds. On The Other Hand, "lust" Limits This Gamut, Obscuring The Pyramid Of Values That Marks The Perennial Attraction Of Male And Female.

The Greatest Gift You Can Give Your Child Is Another Sibling.

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

[speaking Of Marriage And Family] In This Entire World There Is Not A More Perfect, More Complete Image Of God, Unity And Community. There Is No Other Human Reality Which Corresponds More, Humanly Speaking, To That Divine Mystery.

From Now On It Is Only Through A Conscious Choice And Through A Deliberate Policy That Humanity Can Survive.

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.

See Everything. Ignore A Lot. Improve A Little.

The Family, As The Fundamental And Essential Educating Community, Is The Privileged Means For Transmitting The Religious And Cultural Values Which Help The Person To Acquire His Or Her Own Identity. Founded On Love And Open To The Gift Of Life, The Family Contains In Itself The Very Future Of Society; Its Most Special Task Is To Contribute Effectively To A Future Of Peace.

Technology That Pollutes Can Also Cleanse, Production That Amasses Can Also Distribute Justly, On Condition That The Ethic Of Respect For Life And Human Dignity, For The Rights Of Today's Generations And Those To Come, Prevails.

Man, Especially In Our Time, Has Without Hesitation Devastated Wooded Plains And Valleys, Polluted Waters, Disfigured The Earth's Habitat, Made The Air Unbreathable, Disturbed The Hydro-geological And Atmospheric Systems, Turned Luxuriant Areas Into Deserts And Undertaken Forms Of Unrestrained Industrialization, Degrading That 'flower Bed'-which Is The Earth, Our Dwelling Place.

Confession Is An Act Of Honesty And Courage - An Act Of Entrusting Ourselves, Beyond Sin, To The Mercy Of A Loving And Forgiving God.

Faced With The Widespread Destruction Of The Environment, People Everywhere Are Coming To Understand That We Cannot Continue To Use The Goods Of The Earth As We Have In The Past ... [a] New Ecological Awareness Is Beginning To Emerge Which Rather Than Being Downplayed, Ought To Be Encouraged To Develop Into Concrete Programs And Initiatives.

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Mireille Mathieu

Julius Charles Hare

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