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Pope John Paul II
Quotes by John Paul II
"The future starts today, not tomorrow."
"The worst prison would be a closed heart"
"Forgiveness, in its truest and highest form, is a free act of love".
"May his justice and his peace become a gift for all, without distinction!"
"An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie, for an excuse is a lie guarded."
"As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live."
"Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought."
"Each man, in his suffering, can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ."
"May the family so live in peace that from it peace may spread throughout the whole human family!"
"Do not forget that true love sets no conditions; it does not calculate or complain, but simply loves."
"The distinctive mark of the Christian, today more than ever, must be love for the poor, the weak, the suffering."
"Work bears a particular mark of man and of humanity, the mark of a person operating within a community of persons."
"Forgiveness is above all a personal choice, a decision of the heart to go against the natural instinct to pay back evil with evil."
"The cemetery of the victims of human cruelty in our century is extended to include yet another vast cemetery, that of the unborn."
"To every person of good will, eager to work tirelessly in the building of a new civilization of love, I say once more: Offer forgiveness and receive peace!"
"The way Jesus shows you is not easy. Rather, it is like a path winding up a mountain. Do not lose heart! The steeper the road, the faster it rises towards ever wider horizons."
"I appeal to all of you, wherever you are, whatever you are doing, to see the face of a brother or sister in every human being. What unites us is so much more than what separates and divides us : it is our common humanity.
"Not all are called to be artists in the specific sense of the term. Yet, as Genesis has it, all men and women are entrusted with the task of crafting their own life: in a certain sense, they are to make of it a work of art, a masterpiece.
"To maintain a joyful family requires much from both the parents and the children. Each member of the family has to become, in a special way, the servant of the others."
"As the fundamental nucleus of society, the family has a right to the full support of the State in order to carry out fully its particular mission."
"To you parents falls the responsibility for forming
and educating your children to be people of peace: for this purpose, you
in the first place must be workers for peace."
"Finally, how can we forget the many people who for various reasons
feel that they have no family? To them I would like to say that there
is a family for them too: the Church is home and family for all.
"Young people are threatened... by the evil use of advertising techniques that stimulate the natural inclination to avoid hard work by promising the immediate satisfaction of every desire.
"The great danger for family life, in the midst of any society whose idols are pleasure, comfort and independence, lies in the fact that people close their hearts and become selfish.
"The Church calls everyone to make faith a reality in their lives, as the best path . . . for attaining true freedom, which includes the recognition of human rights and social justice."
"True holiness does not mean a flight from the world; rather, it lies in the effort to incarnate the Gospel in everyday life, in the family, at school and at work, and in social and political involvement."
"You are priests, not social or political leaders. Let us not be under the illusion that we are serving the Gospel through an exaggerated interest in the wide field of temporal problems."
"To choose life involves rejecting every form of violence: the violence of poverty and hunger, which afflicts so many human beings; the violence of armed conflict; the violence of criminal trafficking in drugs and arms; the violence of mindless damage to the natural environment."
"You men and women in public life, called to serve the common good, exclude no one from your concerns; take special care of the weakest sectors of society."
"Violence is a lie, for it goes against the truth of our faith, the truth of our humanity, the life, the freedom of human beings. Violence is a crime against humanity, for it destroys the very fabric of society … On my knees I beg you to turn away from the paths of violence and to return to the ways of peace ..."
"Forgiveness in fact always involves an apparent short-term loss for a real long-term gain. Violence is the exact opposite; opting as it does for an apparent short-term gain, it involves a real and permanent loss.
"It is a mistake to apply American democratic procedures to the faith and the truth. You cannot take a vote on the truth. The value of democracy stands or falls with the values which it embodies and promotes."
"We are all called upon to do everything possible to banish from society not only the tragedy of war but also every violation of human rights, beginning with the indisputable right to life, which every person enjoys from the very moment of conception.
"The obligation to earn one's bread by the sweat of one's brow also presumes the right to do so. A society in which this right is systematically denied, in which economic policies do not allow workers to reach satisfactory levels of employment, cannot be justified from an ethical point of view, nor can that society attain social peace."
"Peace is a good to be promoted with good: it is a good for individuals, for families, for nations and for all humanity; yet it is one which needs to be maintained and fostered by decisions and actions inspired by good.".
"But freedom is not merely a right that one claims for oneself. It is also a duty that one undertakes with regard to others. If it is really to serve peace, the freedom of each human individual and each community must respect the freedoms and rights of other individuals and communities."
"And although the State can do much by providing means and structures of support, the contribution of the family to ensuring that climate of security and trust cannot be replaced, so important is it in helping young children to look to the future with serenity, and in preparing them to take a responsible part in building a society of true progress when they grow up."
"The family, as the fundamental and essential educating community, is the privileged means for transmitting the religious and cultural values which help the person to acquire his or her own identity. Founded on love and open to the gift of life, the family contains in itself the very future of society; its most special task is to contribute effectively to a future of peace."
"Dear young people of every language and culture, a high and exhilarating task awaits you: that of becoming men and women capable of solidarity, peace and love of life, with respect for everyone. Become craftsmen of a new humanity, where brothers and sisters — members all of the same family — are able at last to live in peace."
"To all of you and to each one of you, young and old, weak and powerful, I appeal: embrace peace as the great unifying value of your lives. Wherever you live on this planet I earnestly exhort you to pursue in solidarity and sincere dialogue: Peace as a value with no frontiers: North-South, East-West, everywhere one people united in only one Peace."
"Finally, true freedom is not advanced in the per missive society, which confuses freedom with licence to do anything whatever and which in the name of freedom proclaims a kind of general amorality. It is a caricature of freedom to claim that people are free to organize their lives with no reference to moral values, and to say that society does not have to ensure the protection and advancement of ethical values. Such an attitude is destructive of freedom and peace. There are many examples of this mistaken idea of freedom, such as the elimination of human life by legalized or generally accepted abortion."
"To all I want to say just one thing: "May God reward
you."
editor@Preach-the-Gospel.com
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