The Cross Of Christ, Embraced With Love,

We Hear Many Offers From The World Around Us; But Let Us Take Up God's Offer Instead: His Is A Caress Of Love. For God, We Are Not Numbers, We Are Important, Indeed We Are The Most Important Thing To Him; Even If We Are Sinners, We Are What Is Closest To His Heart.

I Would Like To Ask You All To See A Ray Of Hope As Well In The Eyes And Hearts Of Refugees And Of Those Who Have Been Forcibly Displaced. A Hope That Is Expressed In Expectations For The Future, In The Desire For Friendship, In The Wish To Participate In The Host Society Also Through Learning The Language, Access To Employment And The Education Of Children. I Admire The Courage Of Those Who Hope To Be Able Gradually To Resume A Normal Life, Waiting For Joy And Love To Return To Brighten Their Existence. We Can And Must All Nourish This Hope!

Environmental Degradation Is One Of The Biggest Challenges We Have. I Think A Question That We're Not Asking Ourselves Is: 'isn't Humanity Committing Suicide With This Indiscriminate And Tyrannical Use Of Nature?'

Those Who Today Always Look For Disciplinarian Solutions, Those Who Long For An Exaggerated Doctrinal 'security,' Those Who Stubbornly Try To Recover A Past That No Longer Exists - They Have A Static And Inward-directed View Of Things. In This Way, Faith Becomes An Ideology Among Other Ideologies.

To Use A Telling Phrase Of The Reverend Martin Luther King, We Can Say That We Have Defaulted On A Promissory Note And Now Is The Time To Honor It.