- General Audience, 1 October 2008
07 November 2008
Christian freedom is never identified with libertinage or with the will to do as one pleases; it is actuated in conformity to Christ and hence in authentic service to the brethren and above all to the neediest.
- General Audience, 1 October 2008
In this is where it appears that the Bible is a book of a people and for a people; an inheritance, a testament handed over to readers so that they can put into practice in their own lives the history of salvation witnessed in the text. There is therefore a reciprocal relationship of vital belonging between the people and the Book: the Bible remains a living Book with the people which is its subject which reads it; the people cannot exist without the Book, because it is in it that they find their reason for living, their vocation and their identity. This mutual belonging between people and Holy Scripture is celebrated in every liturgical ceremony, which, thanks to the Holy Spirit, listens to Christ since it is He who speaks when the Scripture is read in the Church and welcomes the Covenant that God renews with his people.
- Homily, 27 October 2008
[A]nyone who believes they have understood the Scriptures, or at least a part of them, without undertaking to build, by means of their intelligence, the twofold love of God and neighbor, demonstrates that in reality they are still a long way from having grasped its deeper meaning.
- Homily, 27 October 2008
God is not only the object of love, commitment, will and feelings, but also the intellect, which should not be excluded from this. Our thinking must conform to God's thinking.
- Homily, 27 October 2008
If it is true that the Bible is also a literary work, even more, the great code of universal culture, it is also true that it should not be robbed of its divine element, but rather should be read in the same Spirit in which it was written. Scientific exegesis and lection divina are, therefore, both necessary and complementary for seeking, through the literal meaning, the spiritual one, which God wants to communicate to us today.
- Angelus Address, 26 October 2008
29 October 2008
The quest for the truth bears most fruit when it is sustained by love for the truth.
- Address, 16 October 2008
The Rosary is a spiritual "weapon" in the battle against evil, against all violence, for peace in hearts, in families, in society and in the world.
- Homily, 19 October 2008
The Lord's presence is a source of joy, for wherever he is, evil is overcome and life and peace triumph.
- Homily, 19 October 2008
20 October 2008
Every crisis, in fact - nature teaches us this - is a passage that leads to a new stage of life.
- Address to Retrouvaille International, 26 September 2008
[T]each the faith of the Church in its integrity, with courage and the conviction of those who live by it and for it, never ceasing to proclaim the moral values of the Catholic Doctrine explicity, which refer to the family, sexuality and life, that are sometimes the subject of debate in the political and cultural context and in the means of social communication.
- Address to the Bishops of Uruguay, 26 September 2008
By its very nature, the Gospel urges people of faith to offer themselves in loving service to their brothers and sisters without distinction and without counting the cost (cf. Luke 10:25-37). Love is the outward manifestation of the faith that sustains the community of believers and empowers them to be signs of hope for the world.
27 September 2008
18 October 2008
Only Christ is the true hope of man; only entrusting the human heart to Him can it open up to love that overcomes hate.
- Homily, 9 October 2008
It is precisely this generous path that was taken by those who we are venerating today as Saints. In Baptism they received the wedding garment of divine grace, they kept it clean and purified it and made it radiant during their life through the Sacraments. They are now taking part in the wedding feast in Heaven. The banquet of the Eucharist is an anticipation of the final feast in Heaven, to which the Lord invites us every day and in which we must take part, clothed in the wedding garment of his grace. Should it happen that we soil or even tear this garment with sin, God's goodness does not reject or abandon us to our destiny but rather offers us, with the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the possibility of restoring the wedding garment to the pristine state required for the feast.
- Homily, 12 October 2008
This is what happened in the Paschal Mystery: The power of evil was defeated by the omnipotence of God's love.
- Homily, 12 October 2008
Christianity is not a new philosophy or a new morality. We are only Christians if we encounter Christ.
- General Audience, 3 September 2008
In the ancient Church Baptism was also called "illumination", because this Sacrament gives light; it truly makes one see.
- General Audience, 3 September 2008
The average reader may be tempted to linger too long on certain details, such as the light in the sky, falling to the ground, the voice that called him, his new condition of blindness, his healing like scales falling from his eyes and the fast that he made. But all these details refer to the heart of the event: the Risen Christ appears as a brilliant light and speaks to Saul, transforms his thinking and his entire life. The dazzling radiance of the Risen Christ blinds him; thus what was his inner reality is also outwardly apparent, his blindness to the truth, to the light that is Christ. And then his definitive "yes" to Christ in Baptism restores his sight and makes him really see.
- General Audience, 3 September 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)