Thoroughly enjoyed the Holy Father's book: Jesus of Nazareth. I highly recommend it if you're interested in the Jesus of the Gospels.
Some of the more profound quotes I found from his exegesis:
1 At the heart of all temptations...is the act of pushing God aside because we perceive him as secondary, if not actually superfluous and annoying, in comparison with all the apparently far more urgent matters that fill our lives. Constructing a world by our own lights, without reference to God, building on our own foundation; refusing to acknowledge the reality of anything beyond the political and material, while setting God aside as an illusion-that is the temptation that threatens us in many varied forms.
2 ...one can still ask why God did not make a world in which his presence is more evident-why Christ did not leave the world with another sign of his presence so radiant that no one could resist it. This is the mystery of God and man, which we find so inscrutable. We live in this world, where God is not manifest as tangible things are, but can be sought and found only when the heart sets out on the "exodus" from "Egypt." It is in this world that we are obliged to resist the delusions of false prophesies and to recognize that we do not live by bread alone, but first and foremost by obedience to God's word. Only when this obedience is put into practice does the attitude develop that is also capable of providing bread for all.
3 Only when power submits to the measure and the judgment of heaven-of God, in other words-can it become power for good. And only when power stands under God's blessing can it be trusted.
4 The saints are oases around which life sprouts up and something of the lost paradise returns. And ultimately, Christ himself is always the well-spring who pours himself forth in such abundance.
