Benedict talks about ...

1. College students becoming isolated because of information technologies.

Students today are in danger of losing this balance, the Holy Father explained, due to the increased use of information technologies. “On the one hand, they run the risk of a growing reduction in their capacity for concentration and mental application on an individual level; on the other, that of isolating themselves individually in an increasingly virtual reality.”

In doing so, students close themselves off to “constructive relations with others."

With so much uncertainty in our world today, academic studies should not only focus on understanding scientific research, but also give young people “the opportunity to mature intellectually, morally and civilly, through the great questions that challenge the conscience of the contemporary man,” the Pope said.

In order to make these changes, Pope Benedict turned once again to the reformer, St. Peter Damian.

“All authentic reform must be, first and foremost, spiritual and moral; that is, it must start from people's consciences,” he explained. “If we want a human environment to improve in quality and efficiency, we must first ensure that each person begins by reforming him or herself, correcting that which can harm the common good or hinder it in any way."

2. The reality of Original Sin and its defeat by Christ.

"In effect, there is a contradiction in our being. On the one hand we know we must do good, and in our inner selves this is what we desire, yet at the same time we feel an impulse to do the opposite, to follow the path of egoism, of violence."

When we recognize this inner struggle, the Pope continued, we also recognize the desire to be freed from our own weakness. That desire, he said, is universal: a common striving of all mankind.

Different theories have been advanced to explain this contradiction within the human soul, the Pope observed. One theory, advanced by atheists, is that good and evil always coexist in everyone. But that theory, the Pope said, "is a vision of despair," because it suggests that "evil is invincible," inevitably present at all times and in all persons.

3. The vocation of altar servers.

Dear Altar Servers, you are, in fact, already apostles of Jesus! When you take part in the Liturgy by carrying out your altar service, you offer a witness to all. Your absorption, the devotion that wells up from your heart and is expressed in gestures, in song, in the responses: if you do it correctly and not absent-mindedly, then in a certain way your witness is one that moves people.

The Eucharist is the source and summit of the bond of friendship with Jesus. You are very close to Jesus in the Eucharist, and this is the most important sign of his friendship for each one of us. Do not forget it.

This is why I am asking you not to take this gift for granted so that it does not become a sort of habit, knowing how it works and doing it automatically; rather, discover every day anew that something important happens, that the living God is among us and that you can be close to him and help him so that his mystery is celebrated and reaches people.

If you do not give into habit, if you put your innermost self into carrying out your service, then you will truly be his apostles and bear fruits of goodness and service in every context of your life: in the family, at school, in your free time.

Take to one and all that love which you receive in the Liturgy, especially to places where you realize that they lack love, where they do not receive goodness, where they suffer and are lonely.