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How many Angels! A great number were clustered within the Church to celebrate Our Lady's Feast, no matter how few the faithful.

Those who cannot be bothered to go to Mass are guilty of more than just laziness, in God's sight. They are like those friends of Jesus who deserted Him during His Passion. And so it is, when His friends cannot be bothered to attend and pray at the Holy Sacrifice.

Those friends of Christ today who cannot be bothered to go to Mass act like those friends of Christ, long ago, who ran away when Christ was arrested and crucified.

The Lord is no more concerned by my distraction at Mass, when I'm tired and in pain, than if I were a sick child on her father's lap, at Mass. He is glad that I am present at Mass out of love for Jesus.

How sad it is, in an earthly home, when a child disobeys, grumbles, shouts, stamps, sulks, and lacks gratitude. That it what it is like in the 'family' of the Church when members grumble about attending Mass, disobey God's laws, contradict Church teachings and gossip about the Clergy.

Where is Everyone? Christ 'wonders', so to speak (though He knows everything) - Where are all those followers of His who profess to love Him? Yet many can't be bothered to meet Him at Mass, whilst others have not yet been told that He is Really, substantially Present here in the Blessed Sacrament.

Christ asked me a rhetorical question, saying 'Where are the others?' He meant: If Catholics had been well-taught about the Holy Sacrifice, and about Christ's Real Presence, many more would be present even at a week-day Mass.

Christ is pleased when we make great efforts to attend Mass and receive Him in Holy Communion, even battling through snow and difficult circumstances to reach the church.

It is a serious matter to miss Mass carelessly or deliberately, and so to miss being present at the re-presentation of Christ's Sacrifice of Calvary. We could not be there, at Calvary; but we show how little love we have for Christ, and how little concern about our sin and weaknesses, if we cannot be bothered to attend Mass, as Christ prays there for us to be forgiven our wrong-doing.

It is a tragedy, in Christ's sight, that many Catholics are told that the Mass is simply a meal - with no mention of the Sacrifice He offered on Calvary, which is made present in our sanctuary. At Mass, we can be with Christ as He prays for us to be forgiven, just as He prayed on Calvary. It is shameful for Catholics not to bother to attend Sunday Mass.

Christ and Our Lady are ready to greet everyone who arrives in Church for Mass. Yet they also look beyond the church building, searching for those family members of the 'Communion of Saints' who rarely or never come to take part in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

God, Who has asked us to rest for one day of each week, has given us a wise command. He knows the frailty of our nature, and our need for rest, reflection, and refreshment - and for praise and adoration in the church.

At the Last Judgement, the Angels and Saints who have joined in the praises of Catholics at Mass will gaze upon those Catholics who used to pray with them but who stopped attending. They will look on with pity, as those unhappy souls realise how dreadful has been their carelessness in God's service - or as some souls finally turn away from God, to enter darkness.

It is a terrible thing, in Christ's sight, that some parents encourage their children to sin. They do this if they give their daughters contraceptive pills, or allow them to sleep with boyfriends in their house, or fail to teach the truth about Mass attendance, and the Real Presence of Jesus, and other truths of the Faith.

At the Consecration of the bread and the wine, these change into the Sacred Body and Precious Blood of Christ Who is therefore Present in our sanctuary. From our midst, He prays for sinners today, just as He once prayed from the Cross. That is why it is so important that we attend Sunday Mass, as the Church requests.

Someone who is not in perfect health, and who is undecided about going to Sunday Mass, or reluctant, should ask: "If my favourite person invited me out for a meal today, would I agree to go?" A person who is well enough to go out for a meal is well enough to go to church, to meet Christ, our best friend, and to offer the Holy Sacrifice.

When Christ is made Really Present, at the Consecration, He prays for the Whole Church, to the Father in the Spirit; yet those who are bodily present gain special graces from being willing to be near their Saviour, in obedience and reverence and love. What great loss is suffered, therefore, by Catholics who are so lazy, or whose faith is so lukewarm, that they rarely take part.

It is horrible, in God's sight, that when He had sent His Son to earth, to work miracles of healing before conquering sin and death, to found a Church to bring forgiveness to sinners, and to make possible the miracle of the Mass - and when it is God Who gives to each of us in the gift of life - it is horrible that, on a Sunday, a Catholic might say, "I can't be bothered by the Mass. I want to go, for example, to something more interesting, like a garden centre". What astounding contempt for our Divine Creator.

Since it is extremely sinful to ignore our Creator by choosing for selfish reasons to miss Mass, or to encourage other people to sin, it is plainly even more dreadful to tear, limb from limb, another human being - albeit a very small person in the womb, given life by God the Father. To suggest, undergo, or assist in a direct abortion is to place oneself on the side of the demons, in the war between good and evil.

There are Catholics who complain about the Church and the world; but each of us needs a reminder that Catholics who cannot be bothered to get out of bed in the morning, to pray with reverence to their infinitely lovable and holy Saviour, are not going to become great friends of His, and cannot expect to be given great work to do, unless they change.