Pope Benedict XVI Quotes

My mother once said, "A beggar must always give to another beggar that's worse off than he is." That has always stuck with me.

The mystery of poverty is that by sharing in it, making ourselves poor in giving to others, we increase our knowledge of and belief in love.

To be poor does not mean you lack the means to extend charity to another. You may lack money or food, but you have the gift of friendship to overwhelm the loneliness that grips the lives of so many.

When you're blessed, you've got to be sensitive to people that don't have and need to depend on somebody else to eat.

When you share your last crust of bread with a beggar, you mustn't behave as if you were throwing a bone to a dog. You must give humbly, and thank him for allowing you to have a part in his hunger.

A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog.

If what I have to do is share a sandwich to lift someone's spirits, put a smile on their face - the worst thing that happens is I go broke!

Compassion comes from a choice and not the liberal definition of a choice - the choice to say I can do with a little less so my brother can have a little more.

I have this whole theory that whether it's in your personal life or in your business life, you have to establish a culture of generosity wherever you are.

Everyone is able to give to someone.

The best rule for philanthropy is to give until it hurts, as much as you can, because none of us can get through life all by ourselves.

I've been blessed so much in my own life and I want to spread that blessing to others who need it.

I really believe when you give to other people, you give to yourself.

Take more pleasure in giving what is best to another than in having it for yourself, and then all the world will love you.

However little of anything you have, you can always find someone who has less. Find that someone, and give to them from the abundance that is yours.

You and I, we are the Church, no? We have to share with our people. Suffering today is because people are hoarding, not giving, not sharing. Jesus made it very clear. Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do it to me. Give a glass of water, you give it to me. Receive a little child, you receive me. Clear.

If only one little unhappy child is made happy with the love of Jesus,...will it not be worth...giving all for that?

They should give until it hurts, maybe a very small thing, maybe just a packet of cigarettes, but instead of by smoking that one packet, maybe I share that packet with somebody who has not got even one cigarette, and that's the beginning of love, to give until it hurts.

Give plenty of what is given to you, And listen to pity's call. Don't think the little you give is great, And the much you get is small.

If beings knew, as I know, the results of giving & sharing, they would not eat without having given.

The charitable say in effect, 'I seem to have more than I need and you seem to have less than you need. I would like to share my excess with you.' Fine, if my excess is tangible, money or goods, and fine if not, for I learned that to be charitable with gestures and words can bring enormous joy and repair injured feelings.

Christmas moves us to think of others rather than of ourselves & directs our thoughts to giving.

Among our tasks as witnesses to the love of Christ is that of giving a voice to the cry of the poor.

The cross is a very powerful symbol and it symbolizes suffering, but it also is connected to a person who was loving and sharing and his message was about unconditional love. I tried to take a powerful image and use it to draw attention to a situation that needs attention. For me, we all need to be Jesus in our time. Jesus' message was to love your neighbor as yourself and these are people in need.

Let us leave a spare place at our table: a place for those who lack the basics, who are alone.