Joseph Ratzinger / Benedict XVI

If you follow the will of God, you know that in spite of all the terrible things that happen to you, you will never lose a final refuge.

To build your life on Christ, to accept the word with joy and put its teachings into practice: this, young people of the third millennium, should be your programme!

Marriage is the immediate “translation” of theology into anthropology, it is the consequence of the image of God in the human being.

A beautiful book to get started with Joseph Ratzinger's rich thought:

Only the courage to rediscover and accept the divine dimension of our being can give our souls and our society a new inner stability once again.

An excess of external activity can be the pitiful attempt to cover up inward pusillanimity and slothfulness of the heart that springs from poverty of faith, from a lack of hope and of love for God and for man made in his image and likeness.

The Church suffers today because of the antagonism of the groups and opinions that are warring within her; as a result, it becomes ever harder for the Christian to know where right lies and to distinguish true prophets from false ones.

The life a mother gives to her child is not just physical life; she gives total life when she takes the child’s tears and turns them into smiles.

When we are speaking of a man of conscience, we mean one who looks at things this way. A man of conscience is one who never acquires tolerance, well-being, success, public standing, and approval on the part of prevailing opinion at the expense of truth.

There is a greater generosity on the part of young people, who are not satisfied with vague feelings and half-hearted decisions but who seek unconditional obedience to the truth.

It is good for a young person to experience his limit, occasionally to be dealt with critically, to suffer his way through a period of negativity, to recognize his own limits himself, not simply to win victory after victory.