Do not give to the poor expecting to get their gratitude so that you can feel good about yourself. If you do, your giving will be thin and short-lived, and that is not what the poor need; it will only improvish them further. Give only if you have something you must give; give only if you are someone for whom giving is its own reward.

We cannot build up the idea of the apostolate of the laity without the foundation of the liturgy.

What else do we all want, each one of us, except to love and be loved, in our families, in our work, in all our relationships?

Thank God that He has permitted us to live among the present problems. It is no longer permitted to anyone to be mediocre.

Castro wasn't a Marxist. He was a Catholic educated by the Christian Brothers and the Jesuits. But fundamentally, I'm not talking about practising Catholics, but rather about something which is inbred; that is, a part of your country, your heritage, your life.

God forbid we should have great institutions. The thing is to have many small centres. The ideal is community.

Women think with their whole bodies