For me, prayer is the surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy. St Therese of Lisieux Catechism of the Catholic Church, page 673. CNS photo/Paul Haring World Youth Day evening vigil with Pope Benedict XVI in ...read more

The disciple of Christ must not only keep the faith and live on it, but also profess it, confidently bear witness to it, and spread it: “All however must be prepared to confess Christ before men and to follow him along the way of the Cross, amidst the persecutions which the Church never lacks.” Catechism ...read more

Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. Its voice, ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, sounds in his heart at the right moment….For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God….His ...read more

The Beatitudes reveal the goal of human existence, the ultimate end of human acts: God calls us to his own beatitude. This vocation is addressed to each individual personally, but also to the Church as a whole, the new people made up of those who have accepted the promise and live from it in faith. ...read more

Freedom and rights belong to people not because they have already attained the truth, but in order that they might reach it. Archbishop Denis Hurley, OMI Archbishop of Durban, Natal-KwaZulu, South Africa 1915-2004 A leader in the Church during Vatican II and in the struggle against Apartheid. CNS photo/Paul Jeffrey Sister Ninet D’Costa teaches in Malakal, ...read more

– CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters Pope Benedict XVI looks through a microscope during his visit to the headquarters of the Vatican Observatory in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Sept. 16, 2009. Dialogue and cooperation between faith and science are urgently needed for building a culture that respects people and the planet, the pope said in Nov. ...read more

To be contemplative as Christ is contemplative is to be open to all the fullness that the Father wishes to pour into our hearts. With our minds made still and ready to receive, with our self-generated fantasies about God and ourselves reduced to silence, we are at last at the point where we may begin ...read more

The Church’s deepest nature is expressed in her three-fold responsibility: of proclaiming the word of God (kerygma-martyria), celebrating the sacraments (leitourgia), and exercising the ministry of charity (diakonia). These duties presuppose each other and are inseparable. For the Church, charity is not a kind of welfare activity which could equally well be left to others, ...read more

The presence of Mary, Mother of Christ, is close to us. I entrust each one of you to this Mother. Because she is the source of our consolation and therefore of our hopes. Because the Mother of Christ, and our Mother, can give you the love of God as a gift. I want to entrust ...read more

Let us be buried with Christ by Baptism to rise with him; let us go down with him to be raised with him; and let us rise with him to be glorified with him. Everything that happened to Christ lets us know that, after the bath of water, the Holy Spirit swoops down upon us ...read more