An authentic faith always implies a deep desire to change the world.

An authentic faith-which is never comfortable or completely personal-always involves a deep desire to change the world, to transmit values, to leave this earth somehow better than we found it.

Before I give you a blessing, I ask you for a favor: I want you to bless me.

Man has slapped nature in the face. If you slap it, it will slap you back.

Let Christ turn your natural optimism into Christian hope, your energy into moral virtue, your good will into genuine self-sacrificin g love! This is the path you are called to take. This is the path to overcoming all that threatens hope, virtue and love in your lives and in your culture. In this way your youth will be a gift to Jesus and to the world.

Being a Christian means renouncing ourselves, taking up the cross and carrying it with Jesus. There is no other way.

When we walk without the cross, when we build without the cross and when we proclaim Christ without the cross, we are not disciples of the Lord. We are worldly. We may be bishops, priests, cardinals, popes, all of this, but we are not disciples of the Lord.