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March 27, 2008
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Meditations
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10.15.07
BUT WHEN THE SON OF MAN COMES, WILL HE FIND FAITH ON EARTH?
Christ is a divine judge with a human heart, a judge who wants to give life. Only unrepentant attachment to evil can prevent him from offering this gift, for which he did not hesitate to face death.
Pope John Paul II
10.15.07
TEN WERE CLEANSED, WERE THEY NOT? WHERE ARE THE OTHER NINE?
Jesus comes to offer us a salvation which, although primarily a liberation from sin, also involves the totality of our being with its deepest needs and aspirations. Christ frees us from this burden and threat and opens the way to the complete fulfillment of our destiny.
Pope John Paul II
10.06.07
IF YOU HAD FAITH THE SIZE OF A MUSTARD SEED�
The kingdom is God's effective but mysterious action in the universe and in the tangle of human events. He overcomes the resistance of evil with patience, not with arrogance and outcry.
Pope John Paul II
09.28.07
If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.
There should be no more postponement of the time when the poor Lazarus can sit beside the rich man to share the same banquet and be forced no more to feed on the scraps that fall from the table.
Pope John Paul II
08.27.07
For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.
To possess the �kingdom of heaven�, it is necessary to have the interior attitude of the poor� Material poverty is never an end in itself, but a means of following Christ, about whom Paul said to the Corinthians: �though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.�
Pope John Paul II
08.20.07
FOR BEHOLD, SOME ARE LAST WHO WILL BE FIRST, AND SOME ARE FIRST WHO WILL BE LAST.
Christ is the fulfilment of the yearning of all the world's religions and, as such, he is their sole and definitive completion.
Pope John Paul II
08.06.07
For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.
It is true that the Word was made flesh in 'the fullness of time' (Gal 4:4); but it is also true that, in virtue of the mystery of his identity as the eternal Son of the Father, he is the origin and end of the universe.
Pope John Paul II
08.04.07
THIS NIGHT YOUR LIFE WILL BE DEMANDED OF YOU.
The thought of hell... must not create anxiety or despair, but is a necessary and healthy reminder of freedom within the proclamation that the risen Jesus has conquered Satan, giving us the Spirit of God who makes us cry �Abba, Father!�
Pope John Paul II
07.26.07
How much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?
The Holy Spirit will ensure that in the Church there will always continue the same truth which the Apostles heard from their Master.
Pope John Paul II
07.18.07
MARY HAS CHOSEN THE BETTER PART AND IT WILL NOT BE TAKEN FROM HER.
Is it not an incontestable fact that women were the ones closest to Christ along the way of the cross and at the hour of his death?
Pope John Paul II
07.12.07
You shall love the Lord, your God, and your neighbor as yourself.
It was not by chance that Jesus closely united the Eucharist with service (John 13:2-16), asking the disciples to perpetuate in memory of him not only the 'breaking of the bread,' but also the 'washing of the feet.'
Pope John Paul II
07.02.07
I am sending you like lambs among wolves
We believe that, without the direction and assistance of Christ, true, permanent and worldwide Peace is not possible. We also consider that the Peace of Christ does not weaken people, does not make them timid and victims of others' arrogance, but rather renders them capable of struggling for justice and of settling very many questions with the generosity, indeed the genius, of love.
Pope Paul VI
06.25.07
Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.
The Lord wished to show his total openness to his Heavenly Father, whose will he was determined to carry out without letting himself be hindered by the possession of worldly goods: for there is always a danger that earthly realities will take the place of God in the human heart.
Pope John Paul II
06.23.07
What, then, will this child be?
No one is nameless in God�s sight! All have equal value in his eyes: all are different, yet all are equal, and all are called to be sons and daughters in the Son... This is true for everyone, with the exception of none.
Pope John Paul II
06.04.07
They all ate and were satisfied
Christ wanted his saving presence in the world and in history to be linked with the sacrament of the Eucharist. He wanted to make himself the bread which is broken so that everyone can be nourished by his very life through participation in the sacrament of his Body and Blood.
Pope John Paul II
05.28.07
When he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.
Since the way of peace passes in the last analysis through love and seeks to create the civilization of love, the Church fixes her eyes on him who is the love of the Father and the Son and in spite of increasing dangers she does not cease to trust, she does not cease to invoke and to serve the peace of man on earth.
Pope John Paul II
05.21.07
Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.
[The Church] knows quite well that the divine message entrusted to her is not hostile to the deepest human aspirations; indeed, it was revealed by God to satisfy, beyond every expectation, the hunger and thirst of the human heart. For this very reason the Gospel must not be �imposed� but �proposed�, because it can only be effective if it is freely accepted and lovingly embraced.
Pope John Paul II
05.14.07
That they may be one, as we are one.
We know that the Redeemer spent most of his life in the obscurity of Nazareth, �obedient� (Lk 2:51) as the �Son of Man� to Mary his Mother, and to Joseph the carpenter. Is this filial "obedience" of Christ not already the first expression of that obedience to the Father "unto death" (Phil 2:8), whereby he redeemed the world?
Pope John Paul II
05.06.07
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
Christ's example, no less than his words, is normative for Christians. We know that, at the Last Judgment, we shall all be judged, without distinction, on our practical love of our brothers and sisters.
John Paul II
04.30.07
As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.
The Church sees in Mary the highest expression of the "feminine genius" and she finds in her a source of constant inspiration.
Pope John Paul II
04.23.07
My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
Let us stir up our hearts, rekindle our faith, and long eagerly for what heaven has in store for us. To love like this is to be already on our way.
Saint Gregory the Great
04.18.07
Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.
This is Christ's promise, our consoling certainty:  the Petrine ministry is not founded on human abilities and strengths, but on the prayer of Christ who implores the Father that Simon's faith 'may not fail.' (Lk 22: 32).
Pope John Paul II
04.10.07
As the Father has sent me, so I send you.
Is not loving God and loving one's neighbor and even one's �enemies�, after Jesus' example, the program of life of every baptized person and of the whole Church?
Pope John Paul II
04.06.07
Why do you seek the living one among the dead?
The Easter liturgy repeats to us, the men and women of the third millennium: Christ is risen, Christ is alive among us! His name now is 'the Living One', death has no more power over him.
Pope John Paul II
03.26.07
Not my will but yours be done
The light of Easter reveals the great teaching contained in the Passion:  life is affirmed through the sincere gift of self to the point of suffering death for others, for the Other.
John Paul II
03.19.07
Neither do I condemn you, go and do not sin any more
Jesus is newness of life for those who open their hearts and, after acknowledging their sins, receive his saving mercy.
Pope John Paul II
03.12.07
This man welcomes sinners and eats with them
God welcomes every prodigal child who returns to him� The acceptance of God's forgiveness leads to the commitment to forgive our brothers and sisters and to be reconciled with them.
Pope John Paul II
03.06.07
If you do not repent, you will all perish as they did
Do not forget to seek Christ and to recognize his presence in the Church, which is like the continuation of his saving action in time and space.
Pope John Paul II
02.26.07
This is my chosen son; listen to him
Lent invites us to follow Christ in the mystery of his prayer, source of light and strength in times of trial.
Pope John Paul II
02.12.07
Love Your Enemies
Christians must make peace even when they feel that they are victims of those who have struck and hurt them unjustly. This was how the Lord himself acted.
Pope John Paul II
02.05.07
Blessed are you when people hate you... on account of the Son of Man
God has ordered civil society to the service of the human person, to whom belongs the freedom to seek and embrace the truth.
Pope John Paul II
01.29.07
Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.
The reality of the Church as Communion is the central content of the divine plan for the salvation of humanity.
Pope John Paul II
01.22.07
Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing
The cross is like a touch of eternal love upon the most painful wounds of man's earthly existence.
Pope John Paul II
01.15.07
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me
When the Father intervenes with his Spirit, chaos is transformed into cosmos, the world comes alive and history is set in motion.
Pope John Paul II
01.08.07
Do whatever he tells you
The presence of the Son of God at the wedding feast is an indication that marriage should be an effective sign of his presence.
Pope John Paul II
01.01.07
Did you not know that I must be in my Father�s house?
During those three dramatic days when the Son withdraws from them to stay in the temple, Mary and Joseph experience an anticipation of the triduum of his Passion, Death and Resurrection.
Pope John Paul II
12.18.06
Blessed are you among women
The 'yes' of Mary and Joseph involves their entire person: spirit, soul and body.
Pope John Paul II
12.11.06
I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming.
Man needs love, he needs truth, if he is not to squander the fragile treasure of freedom.
Pope John Paul II
12.04.06
Prepare the way of the Lord
The 'fullness of grace,' which is Mary's starting point, for all others is the  goal
Pope John Paul II
11.27.06
Raise your heads because your redemption is at hand
If humanity loses the meaning of God, it will close itself to the future and inevitably lose the perspective of its pilgrim journey in time. Why birth, why death? Why sacrifice, why suffering?
Pope John Paul II
11.20.06
Are you the King of the Jews?
The created world is not the result of mere chance. It springs from God's love; it is sustained by God's love, and all the events of human history are subject to God's loving providence.
Pope John Paul II
11.14.06
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
Hell is the ultimate consequence of sin itself� Rather than a place, hell indicates the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy.
Pope John Paul II
11.06.06
She, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.
If the world of the most refined technology is not reconciled with the simple language of nature in a healthy balance, human life will face ever greater risks, of which we are already seeing the first disturbing signs.
Pope John Paul II
11.03.06
You shall love your neighbor as yourself
This is the great newness of Christianity: one cannot love God if one does not love one's brethren, creating a deep and lasting communion of love with them.
Pope John Paul II
10.25.06
Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!
Mary, the humble girl of Nazareth, in giving birth to the Son of God, introduced him into David's genealogy and into the entire human family.
Pope John Paul II
10.19.06
Whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.
Jesus, Servant and Lord, is also the one who calls. He calls us to be like him, because only in service do human beings discover their own dignity and the dignity of others.
Pope John Paul II
10.09.06
Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven.
The treasure is in his heart, which Christ makes capable of 'giving' to others by the giving of self. The rich person is not the one who possesses but the one who 'gives,' the one who is capable of giving.
Pope John Paul II
10.02.06
The two shall become one flesh.
Genesis 2:24 sets forth the principle of the unity and indissolubility of marriage as the very content of the Word of God, expressed in the most ancient revelation.
Pope John Paul II
09.25.06
Whoever causes one of these little ones to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.
Like soft wax on which every tiniest pressure leaves a mark, so the child is responsive to every stimulus that plays upon his imagination, his emotions, his instincts and his ideas.
Pope John Paul II
09.18.06
If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.
With the witness of her life, Mother Teresa reminds everyone that the evangelizing mission of the Church passes through charity, nourished by prayer and listening to God's word.
Pope John Paul II
09.10.06
Who do you say that I am?
Even the centurion, who does not belong to the chosen people, recognizes Jesus as the Son of God, the Saviour not only of a people or a nation, but of every man and woman who accepts him and acknowledges him in the moment of his extreme humiliation.
Pope John Paul II
09.05.06
He has done all things well.
Christ opens man to a knowledge of both God and himself. He who is truth opens man to the truth, touching him from within and thus healing �from within� every human faculty.
Pope John Paul II
08.28.06
This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
Hypocrisy thus consists in a false wisdom which is pleased with so much knowledge but very careful not to be committed to facing weighty questions of a religious and moral nature.
Pope John Paul II
08.21.06
Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
Jesus is no lover of half measures, and he does not hesitate to pursue us with the question: �Will you also go away?�
Pope John Paul II
08.11.06
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.
The gift of this life includes sharing in his eternity. Jesus said so especially with regard to the Eucharist.
Pope John Paul II
08.07.06
I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever.
The Eucharist leads us to be generous evangelisers, actively committed to building a more just and fraternal world.
Pope John Paul II
07.31.06
This is my beloved Son.
Nazareth teaches us to overcome the apparent tension between the active and contemplative life; it invites us to grow in love of the divine truth that radiates from Christ's humanity and to exercise courageously the demanding service of safeguarding Christ who is present in every human person.
Pope John Paul II
07.23.06
This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.
Jesus is not only a great figure of the past, a teacher of life and morals. He is the risen Lord, the God who is close to every person, to whom we can speak and with whom we can experience the joy of friendship, hope in time of trouble and the certainty of a better future.
Pope John Paul II
07.17.06
Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.
A Christian who has contemplated Jesus Christ cannot fail to be captivated by his radiance and to commit himself to bearing witness to his faith in Christ, the only Saviour of mankind.
Pope John Paul II
07.10.06
Leave there and shake the dust off your feet.
The ultimate goal of discipleship is glory. The way is one of 'imitating Christ', who lived in love and died for love on the Cross.
Pope John Paul II
07.03.06
Is he not the carpenter?
From Jesus� own teaching we can clearly see that man who works is much more important than the product of his work.
Pope John Paul II
06.26.06
Go in peace, your faith has saved you.
The encounter with Jesus is like a rebirth:  it brings forth the new creature who is capable of true adoration, which consists in worshiping the Father "in spirit and truth" (Jn 4: 23-24).
Pope John Paul II
06.20.06
Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?
[A] continuous effort of conversion is needed to straighten humanity's course, so that it may freely choose to follow "God's art", that is, his plan of peace and love, of truth and justice.
Pope John Paul II
06.12.06
This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many.
The seeds of disunity, which daily experience shows to be so deeply rooted in humanity as a result of sin, are countered by the unifying power of the body of Christ.
Pope John Paul II
06.05.06
I am with you always.
The first Christians, coming both from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, differed from the pagans not only in their faith and their liturgy but also in the witness of their moral conduct, which was inspired by the New Law.
Pope John Paul II
05.29.06
As the Father has sent me, so I send you.
Embrace Christ in everyone who shares with you the dignity of human nature. Reach out to him and discover him in the poor and lonely, the sick and troubled, the disabled, the aged, the unwanted...
Pope John Paul II
05.22.06
Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel!
Through the Cross, Jesus Christ brought an end in himself to the hostility which divides people and keeps them apart.
Pope John Paul II
05.15.06
Love one another as I love you.
The human person is called to love God with total commitment and to relate to his brothers and sisters with a loving attitude inspired by God's own love.
Pope John Paul II
05.08.06
I am the Vine, you are the branches.
The reality of the Church as Communion is � the central content of the �mystery�, or rather, the divine plan for the salvation of humanity.
Pope John Paul II
05.01.06
I know my own and my own know me.
Christ�s pastoral mission is a universal mission, which is not limited to the sons and daughters of Israel, but, by virtue of his sacrifice on the Cross, embraces all men and all peoples.
Pope John Paul II
04.24.06
Touch me and see that it is I myself.
Could not Mary�s absence from the group of women who went to the tomb at dawn indicate that she had already met Jesus?
Pope John Paul II
04.20.06
Peace be with you!
If Christ did not rise from the dead, not only would our faith be in vain (cf. 1 Cor 15:14), but our hope would also be vain, for we would all still be held hostage by evil and death.
Pope John Paul II
04.17.06
He is Risen!
'O death, where is your sting?' (1 Cor 15:55), exclaims the Apostle Paul,
touched on the road to Damascus by the light of the Risen Christ. His cry echoes down the centuries as the proclamation of life for the whole of human civilization.
Pope John Paul II
04.03.06
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Today we, like the multitude in Jerusalem, are called to decide if we are to be with him, or flee, or just be spectators at his death.
Pope John Paul II
03.27.06
The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
The Church fulfils her mission by striving to offer an ever more convincing witness of the gratuitous, unlimited love of the Redeemer.
Pope John Paul II
03.19.06
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.
The world is loved by God in spite of the refusals of which it is capable and it will continue to be loved to the very end.
Pope John Paul II
03.13.06
Whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst.
The saints are true worshipers of the Father who, like the Samaritan woman, have met Christ and through him discovered the meaning of life.
Pope John Paul II
03.06.06
This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.
On this Second Sunday of Lent, we hear the announcement of the Resurrection as we set out on the way to Jerusalem, where we will relive the mystery of the Lord�s Passion and Death.
Pope John Paul II
02.26.06
Repent, and believe in the gospel.
It is the Spirit who impels each of us to �return into ourselves� and to see the need to go back to the Father�s house.
Pope John Paul II
02.20.06
Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?
Christ�s coming on earth, the wedding feast, is marked by the drama of the Cross but it will culminate in paschal joy.
Pope John Paul II
02.12.06
Child, your sins are forgiven.
In the sacrament of Penance the faithful begin that interior process which leads to that higher peace which consists in compliance with God�s will.
Pope John Paul II
02.05.06
Be made clean.
Jesus knocked down the barrier separating the untouchables from the human community, and by this miraculous cure he opened a path of hope that religion and science have to follow.
Pope John Paul II
01.31.06
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
Although illness is linked to the sinful condition of humanity, suffering is not divine retribution. On the contrary, it is intended for a good purpose: �so that the works of God might be displayed�.
Pope John Paul II
01.22.06
He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.
Enlivened by the Spirit, what Jesus says expresses his mystery with �authority� as the Word made flesh. They are words that extend divine forgiveness to sinners, offer healing and salvation to the sick and even bring the dead back to life.
Pope John Paul II
01.15.06
Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.
A disciple of Christ is never a passive and indifferent observer. On the contrary, he feels responsible for transforming social, political, economic and cultural reality.
Pope John Paul II
01.08.06
Behold, the Lamb of God.
The Church believes that the key, the centre, and the purpose of the whole of man�s history is to be found in its Lord and Master.
Pope John Paul II
01.02.06
We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage
Epiphany celebrates the appearance in the world of the divine Light in which God has reached out to the faint light of human reason.
Pope John Paul II
12.26.05
Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.
On the threshold of a new year, the Church returns to the inner experience of the Mother of God. Mary�s motherhood accompanies the history of redeemed humanity, the journey of the great human family.
Pope John Paul II
12.18.05
Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy.
This is Emmanuel, God-with-us, who by his birth draws us all into the sphere of the divine, granting to those who in faith open themselves to receiving his gift the possibility of sharing in his divine life.
Pope John Paul II
12.11.05
You shall name  him, Jesus.
This name, Jesus, in the supreme sacrifice of Golgotha, shone forth as a life-giving name in which God offers the grace of reconciliation and peace to all mankind.
John Paul II
12.05.05
The Lord is at Hand!
The night of Bethlehem and John the Baptist's witness at the baptism in the Jordan converge in the same truth: we must shake off our inertia and prepare the way of the Lord who comes.
Pope John Paul II
11.28.05
Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.
When we hear the Good News of a God who emptied himself for love of us and took on our human condition, we cannot help opening our hearts to repentance.
Pope John Paul II
11.20.05
Jesus said to his disciples: Be watchful! Be alert!
God is the future of the human person and of the world and Christ is the hope of humanity. He is the true meaning of our present, because he is our sure future.
Pope John Paul II
11.14.05
Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.
The coming of the Kingdom is both the gift of the Father and the result of man�s personal response. In the new creation, we will be able to enter into the Kingdom of the Father only if we have followed the Lord during our earthly pilgrimage.
Pope John Paull II
11.07.05
Well done, my good and faithful servant.
Not all are called to be artists in the specific sense of the term. Yet all men and women are entrusted with the task of crafting their own life: in a certain sense, they are to make of it a work of art, a masterpiece.
Pope John Paul II
10.30.05
Stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
The call of Jesus is clear. He says: 'Stay awake, the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.' In this way he urges all his followers to work for the goal that the Father has set: the Kingdom of justice, truth and peace.
Pope John Paul II
10.24.05
You have but one Father in heaven.
Through his Son�s death the Father communicated new life to us so that we might call upon him in the Holy Spirit with the same term that Jesus used: Abba.
Pope John Paul II
10.16.05
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Only those who are involved with their neighbor and his needs concretely show their love for Jesus. Being closed and indifferent to the �other� means being closed to the Holy Spirit, forgetting Christ and denying the Father�s universal love.
Pope John Paul II
10.09.05
Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.
There need be no fear that religious freedom would be injurious to the life of civil society or that religious freedom, once granted to the Catholic Church, would intrude upon the realm of political freedom: the Church is able carefully to distinguish, as she must, what belongs to Caesar from what belongs to God.
Pope John Paul II
10.02.05
My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?
Communion of life with God and our brethren, which the action of the Holy Spirit brings to believers� lives, is centered on the Eucharistic banquet, the source and summit of all Christian experience.
Pope John Paul II
09.25.05
The stone rejected has become the cornerstone.
The Lord Jesus Christ is called stone, not inanimate stone nor cut by human hands, but the cornerstone, because he who believes in him will not remain disappointed.
Pope John Paul II
09.19.05
Tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.
Conversion to God always consists in discovering his mercy. Those who come to know God in this way can live only in a state of being continually converted to him. This marks the most profound element of the pilgrimage of every man and woman on earth.
Pope John Paul II
09.11.05
The Kingdom is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.
A new state of affairs today calls with a particular urgency for the action of the lay faithful. If lack of commitment is always unacceptable, the present time renders it even more so. It is not permissible for anyone to remain idle.
Pope John Paul II
09.05.05
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?
The intense joy of forgiveness, offered and received, heals seemingly incurable wounds, restores relationships and firmly roots them in God's inexhaustible love.
Pope John Paul II
08.29.05
Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I...
The knowledge that Christ remains among his people encourages believers and spurs them to promote authentic solidarity by actively working to build the �civilization of love.�
Pope John Paul II
08.22.05
Deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow Me.
When the cross is embraced it becomes a sign of love and of total self-giving. To carry it behind Christ means to be united with him in offering the greatest proof of love � the choice is between a full life and an empty existence, between truth and falsehood.
Pope John Paul II
08.15.05
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.
The Lord wanted the Church to be a universal sacrament of salvation� It is God's will that the forgiveness of sins and the return to divine friendship should be mediated by the Church's action.
Pope John Paul II
08.08.05
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.
The Queen of the world reveals to individuals and to nations the power of the love of God whose plan upsets that of the proud, pulls down the mighty from their thrones and exalts the humble, fills the hungry with good things and sends the rich empty away.
Pope John Paul II
08.01.05
Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.
Christ freed Peter from the fear which seized him on the stormy lake. Christ enables us too to overcome the difficult moments in life...
Pope John Paul II
07.25.05
Give them some food yourselves.
The Eucharist is not merely an expression of communion in the Church's life; it is also a project of solidarity for all of humanity.
Pope John Paul II
07.18.05
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field.
The voice of Christians can never fall silent, for the Lord has entrusted to us the word of salvation for which every human heart longs.
Pope John Paul II
07.11.05
The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.
For her part the Church �seeks but a solitary goal: to carry forward the work of Christ himself under the lead of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.�
Pope John Paul II
07.05.05
The seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it.
Let us become the fertile ground which receives the Gospel and bears fruit!
Pope John Paul II
06.27.05
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.
Difficulties and sorrows, if accepted out of love, are transformed into a privileged way of holiness, which opens onto the horizons of a greater good, known only to the Lord.
Pope John Paul II
06.21.05
Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
It is the unique character of the vocation of the lay faithful to �seek the Kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and ordering them according to the plan of God.�
Pope John Paul II
06.11.05
Everyone who acknowledges me before others. I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.
The Church is called to establish an intense dialogue with humanity, not only to transmit authentic values to them, but above all to reveal Christ's mystery, because only in him does the person reach his truest dimension.
Pope John Paul II
06.06.05
The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.
Because the needs of the �harvest� are so great, all the members of God's People must grow in the awareness of �being called.�
Pope John Paul II
05.31.05
I desire mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.
No peace without justice, no justice without forgiveness: I shall not tire of repeating this warning to those who, for one reason or another, nourish feelings of hatred, a desire for revenge or the will to destroy.
Pope John Paul II
05.24.05
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.
Christ, �the living bread which came down from heaven� (Jn 6: 51), is the only one who can appease the hunger of human beings of every time and in every corner of the earth.
Pope John Paul II
05.16.05
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son
Through Baptism we are inserted into Trinitarian communion. Every Christian is baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; he is immersed in the life of God. What a great gift and a great mystery!
Pope John Paul II
05.09.05
Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.
The hearts of Mary and the Apostles at those moments were longing for his coming, alternating between ardent faith and the confession of human inadequacy.
Pope John Paul II
05.02.05
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations.
To the disciples Jesus entrusts the task of spreading the Gospel throughout the world, spurring them to abandon their narrow vision limited to Israel.
Pope John Paul II
04.25.05
I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always.
The Holy Spirit will ensure that in the Church there will always continue the same truth which the Apostles heard from their Master.
Pope John Paul II
04.18.05
I am the way and the truth and the life.
The development of science and technology� does not free humanity from the obligation to ask the ultimate religious questions. Rather, it spurs us on to face the most painful and decisive of struggles, those of the heart and the moral conscience.
Pope John Paul II
04.11.05
I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.
[Christ�s] saving event reveals to humanity not only the boundless love of God who �so loved the world that he gave his only Son� (Jn 3:16), but also the incomparable value of every human person.
Pope John Paul II
04.04.05
Stay with us!
The Eucharist is a mode of being, which passes from Jesus into each Christian, through whose testimony it is meant to spread throughout society and culture.
Pope John Paul II
03.28.05
Peace be with you.
It is not easy to love with a deep love, which lies in the authentic gift of self. This love can only be learned by penetrating the mystery of God's love.
Pope John Paul II
03.21.05
Do not be afraid! He is not here, for he has been raised�
We catch a glimpse, on this night of Passover, of the dawning of that day that never ends, the day of the Risen Christ, which inaugurates the new life, the �new heavens and a new earth.�
Pope John Paul
03.14.05
Blessed is the he who comes in the name of the Lord.
In Christ, the humiliated and suffering Son of Man, God loves everyone, forgives everyone and confers the ultimate meaning on human life.
Pope John Paul II
03.07.05
I am the resurrection and the life
Yes, faced with the signs of a creeping �culture of death�, Jesus' great revelation must still be heard today:�I am the resurrection and the life.�
Pope John Paul II
02.28.05
Do you believe in the Son of Man?
May no one close his soul to Christ! He gives to the one who accepts him the light of faith, the light that can transform the heart, and, consequently, mentalities, social, political, and economic situations dominated by sin.
Pope John Paul II
02.21.05
Whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst.
�the Lord is revealed as the one who offers the living water of the Spirit, that satisfies forever the infinite thirst of every human being.
Pope John Paul II
02.14.05
This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.
Only those who deeply know the Lord and are converted to his love can become his courageous heralds and witnesses in every circumstance.
Pope John Paul II
02.07.05
You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test
Christ alone can free man from what enslaves him to evil and selfishness: from the frantic search for material possessions, from the thirst for power and control over others and over things, from the illusion of easy success, from the frenzy of consumerism and hedonism which ultimately destroy the human being.
Pope John Paul II
01.31.05
Your light must shine before others.
Faith is not just a collection of theoretical assertions to be accepted and approved by the mind, but an experience to be had, a truth to be lived, the salt and light of all reality.
Pope John Paul II
01.24.05
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
It is strange that Jesus exalts those whom the world generally regards as weak. He says to them, �Blessed are you who seem to be losers, because you are the true winners: the kingdom of heaven is yours!�
Pope John Paul II
01.17.05
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
God traveled the tortuous roads of sinners through his Son, Jesus Christ� The door of hope is therefore always open to every sinner. Man is not left alone to attempt, in a thousand often frustrated ways, an impossible ascent to heaven.
Pope John Paul II
01.10.05
Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
Christ suffers voluntarily and suffers innocently. With His suffering He gives the answer to the question about suffering and the meaning of suffering not only by His teaching, that is, by the Good News, but most of all by His own suffering.
Pope John Paul II
01.03.05
This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.
The baptized person is consecrated to the Father in the Holy Spirit, in the image of Christ, the new Man, and made a member of the Church, his Mystical Body.
Pope John Paul II
12.27.04
When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
I repeat to you the Redeemer's words: "Duc in altum!". Do not be afraid of the darkness of the world, because the one who is calling you is "the light of the world" (Jn 8,12), "the bright morning star" (Apoc 22,16).
Pope John Paul II
12.20.04
Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place.
O Holy Night, so long awaited, which has united God and man for ever! You rekindle our hope. You fill us with ecstatic wonder. You assure us of the triumph of love over hatred, of life over death.
Pope John Paul II
12.13.04
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.
Joseph can be described as an authentic man of faith like his wife Mary� Indeed, believing means living through history open to God's initiative, to the creative force of his Word who became flesh in Christ, uniting himself to our humanity forever.
Pope John Paul II
12.06.04
Go and tell John what you hear and see
The Church vigorously proclaims that Christ is the true liberator of man, the one who leads all humanity back to the paternal and merciful embrace of God.
Pope John Paul
11.29.04
Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.
Reconciliation between people is and can only be the fruit of the redemptive act of Christ�
Pope John Paul II
11.22.04
So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.
It is with great love and patience that the Church tries to helps all those who experience difficulty in meeting the demands of Christian married love and family life.
Pope John Paul II
11.15.04
Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.
Jesus' kingship can appear "paradoxical". Indeed, the power he exercises does not fit into earthly logic. On the contrary, his is the power of love and service that requires the gratuitous gift of self and the consistent witness to the truth.
Pope John Paul II
11.08.04
By your perseverance you will secure your lives.
The definitive coming of God is Christ, the Gospel of salvation, in which humanity's eschatological waiting is fulfilled. The world and mankind who dwell in it are no longer condemned to death.
Pope John Paul II
11.01.04
He is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.
By the Incarnation the Word of God has taken on human flesh, enabling it to share, through his Death and Resurrection, in his own glory as the Father�s Only-begotten Son. Through the gifts of the Spirit, the Father instills in all man�s being and, in a certain way, in the universe itself, a yearning for this destiny.
Pope John Paul II
10.25.04
For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.
Man is not left alone to attempt, in a thousand often frustrated ways, an impossible ascent to heaven. The Word became flesh, like us in everything except sin. He pours divinity into the sick heart of humanity�
Pope John Paul II
10.18.04
The one who humbles himself will be exalted.
It is quite human for the sinner to acknowledge his weakness and to ask mercy for his failings; what is unacceptable is the attitude of one who makes his own weakness the criterion of the truth about the good��
Pope John Paul II
10.11.04
But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?
Christ is a divine judge with a human heart, a judge who wants to give life. Only unrepentant attachment to evil can prevent him from offering this gift, for which he did not hesitate to face death.
Pope John Paul II
10.04.04
Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine?
Jesus comes to offer us a salvation which, although primarily a liberation from sin, also involves the totality of our being with its deepest needs and aspirations. Christ frees us from this burden and threat and opens the way to the complete fulfilment of our destiny.
Pope John Paul II
09.27.04
If you had faith the size of a mustard seed�
The kingdom is God's effective but mysterious action in the universe and in the tangle of human events. He overcomes the resistance of evil with patience, not with arrogance and outcry.
Pope John Paul II
09.20.04
If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.
It is necessary to distinguish between error, which always merits repudiation, and the person in error, who never loses the dignity of being a person even when he is flawed by false or inadequate religious notions. God alone is the judge and searcher of hearts...
Pope Paul VI
09.13.04
You cannot serve both God and mammon.
It is necessary to create lifestyles in which the quest for truth, beauty, goodness and communion with others for the sake of common growth are the factors which determine consumer choices, savings and investments.
Pope John Paul II
09.06.04
Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.
In pardoning sins, Jesus shows the face of God the merciful Father. By opposing certain religious tendencies marked by hypocritical severity towards sinners, he shows on various occasions how great and profound is the Father's mercy towards all his children.
Pope John Paul
08.30.04
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
Worshipping the true God is an authentic act of resistance to all forms of idolatry. Worship Christ: He is the Rock on which to build your future and a world of greater justice and solidarity.
Pope John Paul II
08.23.04
For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.
To possess the �kingdom of heaven�, it is necessary to have the interior attitude of the poor� Material poverty is never an end in itself, but a means of following Christ, about whom Paul said to the Corinthians: �though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.�
Pope John Paul II
08.16.04
For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.
Christ is the fulfilment of the yearning of all the world's religions and, as such, he is their sole and definitive completion.
Pope John Paul II
08.09.04
Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
Mary is a consoling sign of our hope. In looking to her, carried up amid the rejoicing of the angelic hosts, the whole of human life, marked by lights and shadows, is opened to the perspective of eternal happiness.
John Paul II
08.02.04
For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.
It is true that the Word was made flesh in "the fullness of time" (Gal 4:4); but it is also true that, in virtue of the mystery of his identity as the eternal Son of the Father, he is the origin and end of the universe.
Pope John Paul
07.26.04
This night your life will be demanded of you.
The thought of hell... must not create anxiety or despair, but is a necessary and healthy reminder of freedom within the proclamation that the risen Jesus has conquered Satan, giving us the Spirit of God who makes us cry �Abba, Father!�
Pope John Paul II
07.19.04
How much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?
The Holy Spirit will ensure that in the Church there will always continue the same truth which the Apostles heard from their Master.
Pope John Paul II
07.12.04
Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.
Is it not an incontestable fact that women were the ones closest to Christ along the way of the cross and at the hour of his death?
Pope John Paul II
07.05.04
You shall love the Lord, your God, and your neighbor as yourself.
It was not by chance that Jesus closely united the Eucharist with service (John 13:2-16), asking the disciples to perpetuate in memory of him not only the 'breaking of the bread,' but also the 'washing of the feet.'
Pope John Paul II
06.14.04
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
The person who is �begotten from above� becomes able to �see the kingdom� of God (Jn 3:3), and take part in building up social structures more worthy of every individual and of all humanity, in promoting and defending the culture of life against all threats of death.
Pope John Paul II
04.05.04
Why do you seek the Living One among the dead?
However dark the horizon of humanity may seem� If a contrary wind slows the march of peoples, if the sea of history is tossed by storms, let no one yield to dismay and lack of trust! Christ is risen; Christ is alive in our midst�
Pope John Paul II
03.03.04
This is my chosen Son; Listen to him
The Jewish authorities and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ; still, what happened in His passion cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today.
Pope Paul VI, 'Nostra Aetate'
02.25.04
You shall worship the Lord, your God
By calling God �Our Father� we will better realize that we are his children and feel that we are brothers and sisters of one another.
Pope John Paul II
01.11.04
You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased
God always loves us first and, with the blood of his Son, has already paid the price of our redemption.
Pope John Paul II
11.09.03
Stop making my Father's house a marketplace
Love for others, and in the first place love for the poor, in whom the Church sees Christ himself, is made concrete in the promotion of justice
Pope John Paul II
10.29.03
I shall raise him on the last day
For how could a man have learned that he is himself an infirm being, and mortal by nature, but that God is immortal and powerful, unless he had learned by experience what is in both?
St. Irenaeus of Lyons
10.26.03
Jesus, Son of David, Have Pity on Me
Jesus revealed that love is present in the world in which we live - an effective love, a love that addresses itself to man and embraces everything that makes up his humanity.
Pope John Paul II
10.15.03
Can You Drink the Cup that I Drink?
In human eyes, Jesus is in absolute immobility. His life seems a failure. But, in the eyes of God, on the Cross, Jesus has carried out the most important action of His life. He has saved the whole of mankind.
Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan
10.08.03
What Must I do to Inherit Eternal Life?
You must make real the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Only in this way is it possible to change the  world.
Pope John Paul II
10.01.03
Male and Female: The Image and Likeness of God
...man and woman, created as a "unity of the two" in their common humanity, are called to live in a communion of love...
Pope John Paul II
09.17.03
God's Risk...Our Freedom
God built us on a razor's edge, so full of godly fire that we are capable of both martyrdom and murder.
Ronald Rolheiser
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