Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Pope Benedict XVI advice to Parents and role of Christian Family

Everyone knows that the Christian family is a special sign of the presence and love of Christ and that it is called to give a specific and irreplaceable contribution to evangelization. ... The Christian family has always been the first way of transmitting the faith and still today retains great possibilities for evangelization in many areas. Dear parents, commit yourselves always to teach your children to pray, and pray with them; draw them close to the Sacraments, especially to the Eucharist, ... introduce them to the life of the Church; in the intimacy of the home do not be afraid to read the sacred Scriptures, illuminating family life with the light of faith and praising God as Father. Be like a little Upper Room, like that of Mary and the disciples, in which to live unity, communion and prayer!".
--Pope Benedict XVI   June 4, 2011

Inspiring message from Pope Benedict XVI on the happiness that comes from Jesus even when suffering, directed to the youth but really for everyone

Pope Benedict XVI, June 4, 2011:


Jesus speaks to you today, through the Gospel and his Holy Spirit. He is your contemporary! He seeks you even before you seek him! While fully respecting your freedom, he approaches each one of you and offers himself as the authentic and decisive response to the longing deep within your hearts, to your desire for a life worth living. Let him take you by the hand! Let him become more and more your friend and companion along life's journey. Put your trust in him and he will never disappoint you!".

 

  "Jesus enables you to know at first hand the love of God the Father; he helps you realize that your happiness comes from his friendship, from fellowship with him. Why?  Because we have been created and saved by love, and it is only in love, the love which desires and seeks the good of others, that we truly experience the meaning of life and find happiness in living it, even amid difficulties, trials and disappointments, even when it means swimming against the tide".

 

  Benedict XVI emphasized that "Jesus is not a Teacher who deceives his disciples: he tells us clearly that walking by his side calls for commitment and personal sacrifice, but it is worth the effort". In this sense he encouraged the youth to not let themselves "be led astray by enticing promises of easy success, by lifestyles which regard appearances as more important than inner depth. Do not yield to the temptation of putting all your trust in possessions, in material things, while abandoning the search for the truth which is always "greater", which guides us like a star high in the heavens to where Christ would lead us. Let it guide you to the very heights of God!"

Pope Benedict XVI on importance of forming conscience

Benedict XVI, speaking to Croatians on June 4, 2011, spoke of conscience as "the keystone on which to base a culture and build up the common good. It is by forming consciences that the Church makes her most specific and valuable contribution to society. It is a contribution that begins in the family and is strongly reinforced in the parish, where infants, children and young people learn to deepen their knowledge of the sacred Scriptures, the 'great codex' of European culture; at the same time they learn what it means for a community to be built upon gift, not upon economic interests or ideology, but upon love, 'the principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person and of all humanity'".

Pope Benedict XVI on conscience and its role in societal success or failure:

"Truly, the great achievements of the modern age - the recognition and guarantee of freedom of conscience, of human rights, of the freedom of science and hence of a free society - should be confirmed and developed while keeping reason and freedom open to their transcendent foundation, so as to ensure that these achievements are not undone, as unfortunately happens in not a few cases. The quality of social and civil life and the quality of democracy depend in large measure on this 'critical' point - conscience, on the way it is understood and the way it is informed. If, in keeping with the prevailing modern idea, conscience is reduced to the subjective field to which religion and morality have been banished, then the crisis of the West has no remedy and Europe is destined to collapse in on itself. If, on the other hand, conscience is rediscovered as the place in which to listen to truth and good, the place of responsibility before God and before fellow human beings - in other words, the bulwark against all forms of tyranny - then there is hope for the future". --Pope Benedict XVI, June 4 2011

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Pope Benedict XVI on humanism

Only if the human is an image of God does humanism flourish.
--Pope Benedict XVI. June 6 2011

Monday, June 6, 2011

Pilgrims Walk from Belgium to Medjugorje, a three year journey

This story is posted here on Medjugorje on the Web

Fr. Damien Lim: From paganism to Catholic Priest--Opus Dei Video

Damien Lim: from Paganism to the Priesthood


Recently ordained, Fr. Damien grew up in Singapore in a traditional Chinese family. In this video, he talks about how he discovered the "living God" of Catholicism.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011