We are called to be 'ambassadors for Christ' (2 Cor 5:20). Ours is a ministry of reconciliation ... To be an ambassador for Christ means above all to invite everyone to a renewed personal encounter with the Lord Jesus.

A God who draws near out of love, the Holy Father continued, walks with His people, and this walk comes to an unimaginable point. We could never have imagined that the same Lord would become one of us and walk with us, be present with us, present in His Church, present in the Eucharist, present in His Word, present in the poor, He is present, walking with us. And this is closeness: the shepherd close to his flock, close to his sheep, whom he knows, one by one.

Be men and women with others and for others: true champions at the service of others.

When we do not profess Jesus Christ, we profess the worldliness of the devil, a demonic worldliness.

May each family rediscover family prayer, which helps to bring about mutual understanding and forgiveness.

I want the Church to go out onto the streets, I want us to resist everything worldly, everything static, everything comfortable...eve rything that might make us closed in on ourselves.

Right now, we don't have a very good relation with creation.