At times we can be self-absorbed. Lord, help us to open our hearts to others and to serve those who are most vulnerable.

The true strength of the Christian is the power of truth and love, which leads to the renunciation of all violence. Faith and violence are incompatible.

Jesus on the cross feels the whole weight of the evil, and with the force of God's love he conquers it; he defeats it with his resurrection. This is the good that Jesus does for us on the throne of the cross. Christ's cross, embraced with love, never leads to sadness, but to joy, to the joy of having been saved and of doing a little of what he did on the day of his death.

Do not forget this: the Lord never wearies of forgiving! We are the ones who weary of asking for forgiveness.

The Cross is the Word through which God has responded to evil in the world.

Europe has discarded its children. A bit triumphantly. I remember that when I was studying in one country the clinics that did abortions then prepared everything to send it to cosmetic factories. Makeup made with the blood of innocents. And this was something to brag about, because it was progressive.

We need courage if we are to be faithful to the Gospel.