Grace and gratitude go together like heaven and earth.

No one can be saved - in virtue of what he can do. Everyone can be saved - in virtue of what God can do.

The nativity mystery “conceived from the Holy Spirit and born from the Virgin Mary”, means, that God became human, truly human out of his own grace. The miracle of the existence of Jesus , his “climbing down of God” is: Holy Spirit and Virgin Mary! Here is a human being, the Virgin Mary, and as he comes from God, Jesus comes also from this human being. Born of the Virgin Mary means a human origin for God. Jesus Christ is not only truly God, he is human like every one of us. He is human without limitation. He is not only similar to us, he is like us.

Sin is not confined to the evil things we do. It is the evil within us, the evil which we are.

We must read the Bible through the eyes of shipwrecked people for whom everything has gone overboard.

There will be no song on our lips if there be no anguish in our hearts.

Mozart's music always sounds unburdened, effortless, and light. This is why it unburdens, releases, and liberates us.