Christian hope is not a ghost and it does not deceive. It is a theological virtue and therefore, ultimately, a gift from God that cannot be reduced to optimism, which is only human. God does not mislead hope; God cannot deny himself. God is all promise.
War is not to be waged in the name of God.
We are not alone. We have many brothers who in this moment of catastrophe came to help. And we too, because of this, we feel more like brothers and sisters because we helped each other.
We have so much information but maybe we don’t know what to do with that information. So we run the risk of becoming museums of young people who have everything but not knowing what to do with it. We don’t need young museums but we do need holy young people.
Let us not have a computer psychology that makes us think we know it all. All answers on computers – but no surprises. The challenge of love. God reveals himself through surprises.
You may be poor yourselves in material ways, but you have an abundance of gifts to offer when you offer Christ and the community of his Church.
How many solutions are found to family problems if we take time to reflect? If we think of a husband or wife and we dream about their good qualities that they have? Don’t ever lose the illusion of when you were boyfriend and girlfriend!
The family remains the basic unit of society and the first school in which children learn the human, spiritual and moral values which enable them to be a beacon of goodness, integrity and justice in our communities.
Sin is not a stain that I must wash out. What I need to do is ask forgiveness and reconcile myself, not go to the drycleaners. I have to go encounter Jesus who gave his life for me.
Human dignity is the same for all human beings: when I trample on the dignity of another, I am trampling on my own.
On a positive note, we must reaffirm the right of children to grow up in a family with a father and a mother capable of creating a suitable environment for the child’s development and emotional maturity.
An evangelizing community gets involved in word and deed in people’s daily lives; it bridges distances, it is willing to abase itself if necessary, and it embraces human life, touching the suffering flesh of Christ in others.
May this colloquium be an inspiration to all who seek to support and strengthen the union of man and woman in marriage as a unique, natural, fundamental and beautiful good for persons, families, communities, and whole societies.
First, we can pray in communion with the Church on earth and in heaven. Let us not underestimate the power of so many voices united in prayer!
Confession is the sacrament of the tenderness of God, his way of embracing us.
The rosary is spiritual medicine.
We must always walk in the presence of the Lord, in the light of the Lord, always trying to live in an irreprehensible way.
When I have a problem, I write it down and ask St Joseph to sleep on it.
A society can be judged by the way it treats its children.
The first setting in which faith enlightens the human city is the family.