The family is a community of love where each of us learns to relate to others and to the world around us.

When I was a seminarian, I was dazzled by a girl I met at an uncle’s wedding. I was surprised by her beauty, her intellectual brilliance… and, well, I was bowled over for quite a while.

We cannot live as Christians separate from the rock who is Christ. He gives us strength and stability, but also joy and serenity.

Today, the news is scandals, that is news, but the many children who don’t have food - that’s not news. This is grave. We can’t rest easy while things are this way.

This is ideological colonization. They colonize people with ideas that try to change mentalities or structures, but this is not new. This was done by the dictatorships of the last century.

Suffering is a call to conversion: it reminds us of our frailty and vulnerability.

Nurturing and cherishing creation is a command God gives not only at the beginning of history, but to each of us. It is part of his plan; it means causing the world to grow responsibly, transforming it so that it may be a garden, a habitable place for everyone.