09 August 2007
The faithful one lifts his eyes to the Lord and waits for a divine reaction, to perceive a gesture of love, a look of benevolence.
- General Audience, 15 June 2005
"Adult" is not a faith that follows the waves in fashion and the latest novelty. Adult and mature is a faith profoundly rooted in friendship with Christ. This friendship opens us to all that is good and gives us the measure to discern between what is true and what is false, between deceit and truth.
- Homily before the Conclave, 18 April 2005
When God disappears, man is not greater; He loses divine dignity, the splendor of God in his face."
- Homily, 16 August 2005
I would like to show them how beautiful it is to be Christian, because the widespread idea which continues to exist is that Christianity is composed of laws and bans which one has to keep and, hence, is something toilsome and burdensome - that one is freer without such a burden. I want to make clear that it is not a burden to be carried by a great love and realization, but it is like having wings. It is wonderful to be a Christian with this knowledge that it gives us a great breadth, a large community. As Christians we are never alone - in the sense that God is always with us, but also in the sense that we are always standing together in a large community, a community for The Way, that we have a project for the future - and in this way a Being which is worth believing in. This is the joy of being a Christian and is the beauty of believing.
- Vatican Radio Interview, 15 August 2005
It [the Christian faith] is a very rich legacy. We need to be worthy of it.
- Visit to the Cathedral of Cologne, 18 August 2005
Even when the believer feels lonely and is surrounded by risks and hostility, his faith must be serene because the Lord is always with us; his power surrounds us and protects us.
- General Audience, 3 August 2005
Faith does not mean accepting a certain number of abstract truths about the mysteries of God, of man, of life and death, of future realities. Faith consists in an intimate relationship with Christ, a relationship based on love of him who loved us first (cf. I John 4:11), even to the total offering of himself.
- Homily, 26 May 2006
A strong faith must endure tests. A living faith must always grow. Our faith in Jesus Christ, to be such, must frequently face others' lack of faith.
- Meeting with the Young People, 27 May 2006
To believe means first to accept as true what our mind cannot fully comprehend. We have to accept what God reveals to us about himself, about ourselves, about everything around us, including the things that are invisible, inexpressible and beyond our imagination. This act of accepting revealed truth broadens the horizon of our knowledge and draws us to the mystery in which our lives are immersed.
- Homily, 28 May 2006
What we believe is important, but even more important is the One in whom we believe.
- Homily, 28 May 2006
Believing means surrendering ourselves to God and entrusting our destiny to him. Believing means entering into a personal relationship with our Creator and Redeemer in the power of the Holy Spirit, and making this relationship the basis of our whole life.
- Homily, 28 May 2006
First, faith is simple. We believe in God - in God, who is the Beginning and the End of human life. We believe in a God who enters into a relationship with us human beings, who is our origin and future. Consequently, faith is, always and inseparably, hope: the certainty that we have a future and will not end up as nothing. And faith is love, since God's love is 'contagious'. A second thing also becomes clear: The creed is not a collection of propositions; it is not a theory. It is anchored in the event of baptism - a genuine encounter between God and man. In the mystery of baptism, God stoops to meet us; he comes close to us and brings us in turn closer to each other.
- Homily, 12 September 2006
- Homily, 12 September 2006
Faith is not meant to instill fear; Rather it is meant - surely - to call us to accountability. We are not mean to waste our lives, misuse them, or spend them selfishly.
- Homily, 12 September 2006
- Homily, 12 September 2006
Learning to sing, in choral singing, is not only an exercise of physical hearing and of the voice; it is also an education in inner hearing, the hearing of the heart, an exercise and an education in living and in peace. Singing, whether in unison, in a choir and in all the choirs together, demands attention to the other, attention to the composer, attention to the conductor, attention to this whole that we call music and culture. Hence, singing in a choir is an education in life, an education in peace, it is "walking together."
- Address at the Conclusion of a Concert, 20 July 2007
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