Catholic Fire

"These days of preparation that immediately precede the Solemnity of Pentecost stimulate us to renew our hope in the help of the Holy Spirit to advance along the path of ecumenism. We have the certainty that the Lord Jesus never abandons us in our search for unity, because His Spirit is tirelessly at work to support the efforts we make to overcome all forms of division". ~ Pope Benedict XVI

The ultimate foundation of the value and the dignity of man, of the meaning of his life, is the fact that he is God's image and likeness! ~ Pope John Paul II

"Bear witness to everyone, beginning with your peers, to the joy of His strong and sweet presence. Tell them how wonderful it is to be friends with Jesus and that it is worthwhile following Him. Show your enthusiasm, ... only by following Jesus can the true meaning of life, and true and lasting joy, be found." ~ Pope Benedict XVI, speaking to a group of young people from Italian Catholic Action, December, 2005.

"Lent is the time for entering into oneself. It is the period of the particular intimacy with God in the secrecy of one’s own heart and conscience… Lent is essentially an invitation to conversion." ~ Pope John Paul II It's that time of year again -- the time of both internal and external recollection that we are setting out on a journey. On Ash Wednesday, the ashes placed on our forehead invite us to begin a new journey of repentance. They invite us to turn again to God and to receive new life. Once again, we are called to let God penetrate deeper into our lives, for indeed, turning back to Him with our whole hearts is a submission to His holy will. Lent is a time when we permit God to purify our hearts allow Him to unite our wills with His. I love Lent because it is a time of interior spring cleaning and obtaining new strength and great graces from God. This is the time of year to take a good look inside of myself and take inventory. What bad habit or sin can I work on ...

"The most radical and elevating affirmation of the value of every human being was made by the Son of God in His becoming man in the womb of a woman." ~ Pope John Paul II

"Does she, our heavenly mother, not invite us to avoid evil and to accomplish good, meekly following the divine love written in every Christian heart? Does she (who kept her own hope alive at the moment of harshest trial) not ask us not to lost hope when suffering and death knock at the door of our homes? Does she not ask us to look trustingly to our future? Does the Immaculate Virgin not exhort us to be brothers to one another, joined by the commitment to build together a more just, united and peaceful world?" ~ Pope Benedict XVI, Vatican City, December 8, 2007 (VIS)

"Truthfully, the Church invites us to pray for the dead every day, offering also our sufferings and difficulties that they, once completely purified, might be admitted to enjoy the light and peace of the Lord for all eternity." ~ Pope Benedict XVI

"It was in Europe that the notion of human rights was first formulated. The fundamental human right, the presupposition of every other right, is the right to life itself. This is true of life from the moment of conception until its natural end. Abortion, consequently, cannot be a human right -- it is the very opposite. It is a deep wound in society." ~ Pope Benedict XVI, September, 2007, Austria

"To understand correctly the meaning of chastity we must start with its positive content. [Christ's mission] led Him to a pure and unreserved commitment to men and women. Sacred Scripture shows that at no moment of His life did He betray even the slightest trace of self-interest or selfishness in His relationship with others. ... Priests and religious are not aloof from interpersonal relationships. By their vow of celibate chastity they do not consecrate themselves to individualism or a life of isolation; instead, they solemnly promise to put completely and unreservedly at the service of God's Kingdom the deep relationships of which they are capable." ~ Pope Benedict VI, To the Benedictine Community of the Austrian Shrine of Mariazell, September 8, 2007

"For the Church the new world of cyberspace is a summons to the great adventure of using its potential to proclaim the gospel message. This challenge is at the heart of what it means to at the beginning of the millennium to follow the Lord's command to put out into the deep: Duc in altum! (Luke 5:4)" ~ Pope John Paul II, 36th World Communications Day, Sunday, May 12, 2002

"We not only take care of the earth, but we must respect the other, other human beings...only in absolute respect of other (humans)...can we make progress." ~ Pope Benedict XVI

Truly we are passing through disastrous times, when we may well make our own the lamentation of the Prophet: "There is no truth, and there is no mercy, and there is no knowledge of God in the land" (Hosea 4:1). Yet in the midst of this tide of evil, the Virgin Most Merciful rises before our eyes like a rainbow, as the arbiter of peace between God and man. ~ Pope St. Pius X

"Openness to the Father's will supposes a total self-giving, including even the gift of one's life: 'the greatest witness is martyrdom.'...The basic task for which Jesus sends out His disciples is the proclamation of the Good News, that is evangelization." ~ Pope John Paul II

"One can not sufficiently deplore the blindness of so many women of every age and station. Made foolish by a desire to please, they do not see to what degree the indecency of their clothing shocks every honest man and offends God. Most of them would formerly have blushed for such apparel as for a grave fault against Christian modesty . Now it does not suffice to exhibit themselves on public thoroughfares; they do not fear to cross the threshold of churches, to assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and even to bear the seducing food of shameful passions to the Eucharistic Table, where one receives the Heavenly Author of Purity." ~ Pope Benedict XV

"In modern life, which is so often noisy and distracting, it is more than ever important to recover the capacity for inner silence and prayer. Eucharistic adoration enables this to happen, not only around 'me,' but also in the company of the 'you' full of love that is Jesus Christ." ~ Pope Benedict XVI

"The Cross is the definitive revelation of love and divine mercy, also for us, men and women of our time too often distracted by worldly and momentary concerns and interests. God is love and His love is the secret of our happiness. To enter into this mystery of love there is no other way than that of losing ourselves, giving ourselves, the way of the Cross." "For this reason the liturgy of Lent invites us ... to reject sin and evil, and overcome selfishness and indifference, Prayer, fasting, penance and works of charity towards our brothers and sisters thus become spiritual paths to follow in order to return to God." ~ Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, February 21, 2006

"There is an urgent need to reflect upon the question of natural law and to rediscover its truth" which "is common to all mankind. ... This law has as its first and most general principle that of 'doing good and avoiding evil'," from which "derive all the other more specific principles that regulate ethical judgements on the rights and duties of everyone." [These include:] "the principle of respect for human life from conception to natural end," because "life is not the property of man but a gratuitous gift of God;" and "the duty to seek the truth, a necessary supposition for all authentic human maturation." ~ Pope Benedict XVI