Search Page

A person who lives in self-love, greed, pride, hard-heartedness or any sinful state, who will not change, builds a 'brick wall' between himself and God: the God who is made Present in every celebration of the Mass

By the mercy of God, the souls in Purgatory can bewail their pride, or greed, or lukewarm belief, or whatever has caused them, though believers, to be ill-prepared for death.

We are right to do penance for our sins, especially in the season of Lent. But if we fail in our efforts, we must not become despondent. Our Divine Saviour, Who can forgive the most evil acts of a repentant sinner can certainly forgive us, if by carelessness or greed we act to indulge ourselves in little ways.

The Lord does not look upon each repentant 'child of God' as if classifying us by our past sins; as an ex-greedy banker, or as an ex-prostitute. He thinks of each one in a state of grace as being His glorious, delightful child, whom He loves, and with whom He shares His glory. We must not allow ourselves to be dragged down by our past lives.

In a story, a kind king told His children that He would give them every advantage, and make them very happy, but they must learn to take responsibility for their behaviour. He said: When you are grown-up, and if you deliberately do grave wrong, you will go to prison. They all agreed that the king's words are wise and just. And so it is, with the warnings given to us by Jesus Christ our God and King, about persistant grave sin, and Hell.

A man with a spirit of violence is rarely still, but rushes here and there, seeking pleasure in his greed, and his lust for revenge. Yet unless he repents before he dies he will one day slide down into Hell, calling out to God, in terror, but too late. That man will experience, at last, what he had mercilessly inflicted upon his victims, and will suffer with those cruel demons forever, in Hell.

God created a beautiful world, and beautiful lands. But greed, false beliefs, and a lust for power are commonplace. All over the world, sinful people - including sinful Government leaders - make other people's lives a misery. Yet only in exceptional circumstances should one nation invade another to put right dreadful wrongs.

Prayer for evil rulers is more important than political activism. The mind and will of a person enslaved by evil is like a temple of doom, where Satan is at work. Principles and persons are sacrificed on the altar of personal ambition, lust or greed; and that person is incapable of doing good because of his enslavement, unless he repents. By the grace of God, he could change.

God the Father sent His Son to earth not just to die for our sins, but also to found a Church. If we follow her teachings about good and evil, by the grace of Christ, we bring about the fulfilment of God's plan for human life. People who claim to be practicing Catholics but who dispute long-standing teaching and discipline are like jigsaw pieces who agreed to be parts of a beautiful landscape but who now do what they please, and refuse to complete the Designer's plan.

Christ wept over Jerusalem because He saw, even in that holy city, the very sins which have festered in human hearts in every age of history: not just greed, lust and envy, but also malicious misinterpretation of innocent remarks and events, vengeful desires, and other sins, all of which injure individuals and damage families, communities and nations.

The Church is like a walled garden, in which both the clergy and the laity have opportunities to resist temptations in the clamour of the world, and to become peaceful, holy people - able to become free of greed, selfish ambitions and other dangers. All of us need to stay close to Christ in prayer.

A couple who enter marriage while planning to disobey the moral laws, for example, by the use of contraceptives, or having agreed to divorce if they don't feel happy, are in great spiritual danger. It's as if they enter a meadow to begin the dancing after their wedding, yet do so near an old well, unfenced, nearby. It is very likely that someone will fall in and be lost.