Lent is like a long 'retreat' during which we can turn back into ourselves and listen to the voice of God, in order to defeat the temptations of the Evil One. It is a period of spiritual 'combat' which we must experience alongside Jesus, not with pride and presumption, but using the arms of faith: prayer, listening to the word… — Pope Benedict XVI Copy Share
a spiritual desert is spreading - an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair. — Pope Benedict XVI Copy Share Image
Advent is the spiritual season of hope par excellence, and in this season the whole Church is called to be hope, for… — Pope Benedict XVI Copy Share Image
If Jesus has become your hope, communicate this to others with your joy and your spiritual, apostolic and social engagement. Let Christ… — Pope Benedict XVI Copy Share Image
The diligent reading of Sacred Scripture accompanied by prayer brings about that intimate dialogue in which the person reading hears God who… — Pope Benedict XVI Copy Share Image
The fact that the Lord can work and act even with insufficient means consoles me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers. — Pope Benedict XVI Copy Share Image
The essence of Christianity...is an ever-new encounter with... the God who speaks to us, who approaches us and who befriends us! — Pope Benedict XVI Copy Share Image
If you abide in the love of Christ, rooted in the faith, you will encounter, even amid setbacks and suffering, the source of true happiness and joy. Faith does not run counter to your highest ideals; on the contrary, it elevates and perfects those ideals. Dear young people, do not be satisfied with anything less than Truth and Love, do… — Pope Benedict XVI Copy Share
Continue to witness to the Gospel every day and commit yourselves generously in the next missionary initiatives in the Diocese of Rome. — Pope Benedict XVI Copy Share Image
Jesus’ example of fidelity to prayer challenges us to examine the time and effort we devote to our own prayer. While prayer is a… — Pope Benedict XVI Copy Share Image
If we look to the saints, this great luminous wake with which God has passed through history, we truly see that here is a… — Pope Benedict XVI Copy Share Image
“Joseph Ratzinger never developed his own theological system. As a theologian he took on what was there, discerned its essentials, situated it in relation to the context of the time, and then expressed it anew – to preserve the message of the gospel and the accrued knowledge of the Christian past for generations to come. Given the significance which he… — Pope Benedict XVI Copy Share
Jesus Christ does not teach us a spirituality “of closed eyes”, but one of “alertness”, one which entails an absolute duty to take notice… — Pope Benedict XVI Copy Share Image
Material possessions, in themselves, are good. We would not survive for long without money, clothing and shelter. We must eat in order to stay alive. Yet if we are greedy, if we refuse to share what we have with the hungry and the poor, then we make our possessions into a false god. How many voices in our materialist society… — Pope Benedict XVI Copy Share
One of the promising indications of a renewal in the Church's missionary consciousness in recent decades, has been the growing desire of many lay… — Pope Benedict XVI Copy Share Image
God loves us despite our shortcomings and sins, and his love gives meaning to our lives and to the life of the world. — Pope Benedict XVI Copy Share Image
![“One of the promising indications of a renewal in the Church's missionary consciousness in recent decades, has been the growing desire of many lay men and women [...] to cooperate generously in the 'missio ad gentes.' As Vatican Council II stressed, the work of evangelization is a fundamental duty…” quote by Pope Benedict XVI](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f7c/pope-benedict-xvi-414_ads_one-of-the-promising-indications-of-a-re_71852.jpg)
