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Our prayers are heard for this reason: They are joined to the prayer of Christ who is present, our eternal High Priest.

A workman leans on his shovel amidst the mess and clutter of a building-site, not yet seeing the reason for all His labour: so it is with us as we persevere in faith!

This was the reason for Christ's parting from friends at His Last Supper, for His torment and His dying - the reason was sin.

In turning to the Risen Christ who is with the Father in Heaven, I find in Christ all the saving events of His life which are the reason for my hope.

In turning to the Risen Christ who is with the Father in Heaven, I find in Christ all the saving events of His life which are the reason for my hope.

Even when we trust in God and try to serve Him, it can seem as if life is a puzzle, with unexpected and ill-fitting parts. If we persevere, however, we shall see how Christ has been at work to make a special pattern out of those apparent oddments, for a special reason.

Just as a person in a wood cannot see the depths of a deep forest pool, so no-one can 'fathom' God, or ever understand and know Him completely; but it is nevertheless important to learn about God's nature and attributes, through reason and revelation.

When people accept God's call, and approach Him, some halt soon afterwards, being afraid that He will ask them to do uncongenial tasks, or make sacrifices they don't want to make. They do not really open their hearts to Him in prayer, for the same reason, and picture the Godhead as a massive fortress or walled city, with an open door they do not want to enter. They do not discover, therefore, all the joys and delights found inside by God's friends.

A person acts wholly against God and His Laws if he threatens or inflicts death as part of his criminal activities, for gain, fraud, punishment or bargaining, or any other reason.

If we enter a little door labelled 'The Past' we enter a world where Catholic churches were adorned with glorious images, to the glory of God and to inspire and educate the faithful. There is no reason why good Catholics today cannot commission and install powerful reminders of the Creation, of Christ and His Mother Mary, of the Last Judgement, and Heaven and Hell, and other subjects.

The Reason for Christmas: Christ was born on earth, God made man, because human beings were trapped in their sins, since the sins of our first parents. We could not save ourselves, but were like people behind a barred window, captive on a sinking ocean liner.

It is possible in the world to follow the inspiration of God; yet those who are transformed by Baptism are full of Divine Life of the Blessed Trinity. Only God can see who loves and serves Him and is on the Way to Heaven; but, outside the Church, it is difficult to live as a Saint among sinners if a person is ignorant of what God's Will really is, and does not have the ordinary channels of grace given unfailingly through the Church. All the more reason why we should spread the good news about Christ: the Way, the truth and the life, Who promises Heaven to forgiven sinners.

It is outrageous, that good people who want to heal the sick, and who apply for medical training, or for a post in obstetric care, will be looked upon as eccentric or uncooperative if they refuse, for moral reasons, to kill unborn babies by abortion.

No matter what the reason given by anxious women, no unborn baby deserves to be poisoned or dismembered in the womb, to resolve a problem or an inconvenience in the mother's life. Each mother, as she carries a child, has a duty to protect her tiny infant, no matter how small.

Just as we want to tell people the reason for the traffic queue in which they are stuck, as we drive freely on our side of the road, so we should want to tell people about the Way to Heaven - Christ's Way - to people who feel 'stuck' in ignorance or hopelessness, and are without the joy that the hope of Heaven brings to the human heart.

If Christ were to walk through our towns, discerning the attitudes of the Catholics gathered within Catholic churches, He would see people at Mass for all sorts of reasons, and mixed motives - but He would be thrilled by the small number who are present because they love Him, long to be closer to Him, and strive to do His Will.

When members of the Clergy, or theologians, or other people in the Church urge people to believe that behaviour once everywhere known as sinful is nowadays to be seen as reasonable or even good - such as contraceptive use, or sexual activity outside marriage - they endanger souls. To encourage people to sin is to help them on the way to Hell. The demons lie in wait for careless souls just as wild animals lie in wait for safari tourists who are foolish enough to leave the safety of the path.

A parent who, for selfish reasons, walks away from a spouse and children, is doing dreadful damage that can leave the children emotionally and spiritually crippled. God wants those sorts of parents to repent of their cruelty, and their new and immoral relationships.

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.

Even sick, disabled and paralyzed people, like every conscious person above the age of reason, can exercise his or her free will, in order to choose to live with a loving and grateful heart and outlook, or to live in self-pity and even despair. Plainly, God lovingly makes allowances for the troubles people suffer, but each person can develop a soul radiant with Divine Light, or, refusing grace, have a soul which is shrivelled and lifeless.