A Kind and Gentle Shepherd 

Today the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI will take place in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. To honor the late Pope, a man whose last words were, “Lord, I love you!” below are some of his most inspiring and meaningful quotes.

May they encourage you, as they have encouraged us, to seek a deep and eternal friendship with Jesus Christ.

– The Dynamic Catholic Team

“We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God.”

“The world offers you comfort. But you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.”

“Evil draws its power from indecision and concern for what other people think.”

“It is when we attempt to avoid suffering by withdrawing from anything that might involve hurt, when we try to spare ourselves the effort and pain of pursuing truth, love, and goodness, that we drift into a life of emptiness, in which there may be almost no pain, but the dark sensation of meaninglessness and abandonment is all the greater.”

“Love is the only force capable of changing the heart of the human person and of all humanity, by making fruitful the relations between men and women, between rich and poor, between cultures and civilizations.”

“If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship are the doors of life opened wide. Only in this friendship is the great potential of human existence truly revealed. Only in this friendship do we experience beauty and liberation.”

“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. You know that the foundation of the world is love, so that even when no human being can or will help you, you may go on, trusting in the One that loves you.”

“Truth is not determined by a majority vote.”

“Seeing with the eyes of Christ, I can give to others much more than their outward necessities; I can give them the look of love which they crave.”

“To have Christian hope means to know about evil and yet to go to meet the future with confidence. The core of faith rests upon accepting being loved by God, and therefore to believe is to say Yes, not only to him, but to creation, to creatures, above all, to men, to try to see the image of God in each person and thereby to become a lover.”