- Homily, 22 May 2008
04 June 2008
Adoring the Body of Christ, means believing that there, in that piece of Bread, Christ is really there, and gives true sense to life, to the immense universe as to the smallest creature, to the whole of human history as to the most brief existence. Adoration is prayer that prolongs the celebration and Eucharistic communion and in which the soul continues to be nourished: it is nourished with love, truth, peace; it is nourished with hope, because the One before whom we prostrate ourselves does not judge us, does not crush us but liberates and transforms us.
Kneeling before the Eucharist is a profession of freedom: those who bow to Jesus cannot and must not prostrate themselves before any earthly authority, however powerful. We Christians kneel only before God or before the Most Blessed Sacrament because we know and believe that the one true God is present in it, the God who created the world and so loved it that he gave his Only Begotten Son (cf. Jn 3: 16).
- Homily, 22 May 2008
Each one can find his own way if he encounters the One who is the Word and the Bread of Life and lets himself be guided by his friendly presence. Without the God-with-us, the God who is close, how can we stand up to the pilgrimage through life, either on our own or as society and the family of peoples? The Eucharist is the Sacrament of the God who does not leave us alone on the journey but stays at our side and shows us the way. Indeed, it is not enough to move onwards, one must also see where one is going! "Progress" does not suffice, if there are no criteria as reference points.
- Homily, 22 May 2008
The Corpus Christi procession teaches us that the Eucharist seeks to free us from every kind of despondency and discouragement, wants to raise us, so that we can set out on the journey with the strength God gives us through Jesus Christ.
- Homily, 22 May 2008
The Eucharist is a public devotion that has nothing esoteric or exclusive about it.
- Homily, 22 May 2008
The Eucharist is a school of charity and solidarity. The one who is nourished on the Bread of Christ cannot remain indifferent before the one who, even in our day, is deprived of daily bread.
- Angelus Address, 25 May 2008
Be united but not closed. Be humble but not fearful. Be simple but non ingenuous. Be thoughtful but not complicated. Enter into dialogue with all, but be yourselves.
- Address to Youth, 18 May 2008
[T]he truer a friend of Jesus we are, the better able we are to open our hearts to others so that they too may become truly young and have a great future before them.
- Address to Youth, 18 May 2008
To find love with Christ, to truly find him as the companion of our lives, we must first of all be acquainted with him.
- Address to Youth, 18 May 2008
The life of the soul is the encounter with him, the actual Face of God; it is silent, persevering prayer, it is sacramental life, it is the Gospel meditated upon, it is spiritual guidance, it is cordial membership in the Church, in your Ecclesial Communities.
- Address to Youth, 18 May 2008
It is the spiritual life that I am asking you to cultivate, dear friends.
- Address to Youth, 18 May 2008
Being young implies being good and generous and once again true goodness is Jesus himself, that Jesus whom you know or whom your heart is seeking: he is the Friend who never betrays, faithful to the point of giving his life on the Cross. Surrender to his love!
- Address to Youth, 18 May 2008
But we must all remain young in heart! It is beautiful to be young and today everyone wants to be young, to stay young, and they disguise themselves as young, even if the time of youth has passed, visibly passed. And I wonder - I have thought about it - why is it beautiful to be young? What is the reason for the dream of eternal youth? It seems to me that there are two crucial elements: youth still has the whole future before it. Everything is in the future, a time of hope. The future is full of promises. To be sincere, we must say that for many people the future is also dark, full of threats.
- Address to Youth, 18 May 2008
Dear young people, dare to dedicate your life to courageous choices, not alone of course, but with the Lord!
- Homily, 17 May 2008
Following Christ always requires the courage to go against the tide. However, it is worth it: this is the way to real personal fulfilment and hence to true happiness.
- Homily, 17 May 2008
Every person is known and loved, wanted and guided by him [the Lord].
- Address to the Italian Pro-Life Movement, 12 May 2008
Not only has permitting recourse to the termination of pregnancy not solved the problems that afflict many women and a fair number of families, but it has also made another wound in our society, unfortunately, already burdened by deep suffering.
- Address to the Italian Pro-Life Movement, 12 May 2008
What was true yesterday is true also today.
- Address to the International Congress Celebrating Humanae Vitae, 10 May 2008
If faith is alive, Christian culture can never become "obsolete" but on the contrary will remain alive and present. And if faith is alive, today too we can respond to the imperative that is ceaselessly repeated in the Psalms: "O Sing to the Lord a new song" (Ps 98[97]: 1).
- General Audience, 21 May 2008
Culture, the whole of our great Christian culture, is born from this contact of the heart with the Truth who is Love. Nor, if faith stays alive, will this cultural inheritance die; rather, it will remain alive and present.
- General Audience, 21 May 2008
Faith is love and therefore creates poetry and music. Faith is joy, therefore it creates beauty.
- General Audience, 21 May 2008
Democracy and the rule of law are not nurtured by materialism, individualism and moral relativism but by integrity and mutual confidence, especially when sustained by committed and selfless leaders who are willing to offer their service to their fellow citizens for the building up of the common good.
- Addess to the New Ambassador of Uganda to the Holy See, 29 May 2008
No nation today is free from the influence of globalization with its benefits and its challenges. This phenomenon facilitates trade opportunities, access to information and the communication of values. Unfortunately, it can also promote superficial lifestyles and attitudes that undermine healthy customs based on moral truth and virtue.
- Addess to the New Ambassador of Uganda to the Holy See, 29 May 2008
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