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Christ is the only one who can cut the bars of sin in which we are imprisoned, like passengers on a doomed liner. Some people, however, do not want to change, and are not pleased to be approached by Christ or His followers.
Many people allow Christ to rescue them from captivity in their sins. Some people - as if turning away from a rescuer beside their doomed ship - want to persist in their sinful activities. They will all drown, unlike those who bravely plunge into the water, to reach Christ. "THOSE WHO REFUSE BAPTISM ARE LOST", if they understand what baptism truly means.
Christ sees all people trapped in original sin, except those who have repented and put their trust in Him. Christ said that each person who believes and is baptised can be saved, but the one who refuses to believe, is lost. This refusal includes the culpable refusal to be baptised, when baptism is the way we put our trust in Christ's saving power and receive His Spirit.
Just as the Titanic was lost, with many hundreds of lives, because of the decisions and actions of a small number of people, so the human race was 'lost' - deprived of supernatural life - because of the decisions and actions of a small number, who were our first parents. Yet Christ came to save us. The Father could not allow mankind to sink in hopelessness and sin.
Some of the people who meet sudden death plunge deep into the depths of Purgatory, because they love God but are not fit for Heaven without purification. They go down as surely as a stricken ship goes down; yet they are safe. Everyone who dies is immediately judged, and either goes towards Heaven - even if via Purgatory - or plunges into Hell.
A faithful person who believes in God's promises, prays in Christ's name, and is confident that her prayers will be granted because she is Christ's friend. It is as though she approaches a great king - the Father - sure that Christ the Prince is beside her in the throne room, saying to His Father: "Please grant her requests".
A person who wishes to show respect and honour towards the King, who is God the Father, as she approaches Him whilst she is accompanied by Christ the Prince, is willing to be suitably robed for the occasion, when she makes her requests. She clothes herself in garments offered to her: garments of penance, reverence, contrition, trust and love.
If we are tempted to be proud or self-satisfied, seeing the good work we achieve for God, we need only remember Christ's Passion, by which He won for us all the graces we enjoy, and the blessings of the spiritual life, and we shall be able to serve Him as He deserves, in humility and gratitude.
Christ came from Heaven as a man: a fire of Divine Love, embodied. His presence 'melted' and changed some people, who enjoyed a new and glorious life; but other people had no desire to allow Him to 'thaw' their frozen hearts and cold souls, and reacted to Him with anger.
People who meet Christ after death vary in their reactions. A person on fire with Divine Love is overjoyed to greet Him. Someone aware of her still-cold heart will accept the painful 'thawing' which is her purification. Someone frozen in spirit and unwilling to be changed will freely choose to hurl himself away, into Hell.
It was by her total surrender to the Father's Will that the Blessed Virgin Mary accepted the message of the Angel, and was able to reply that she was the handmaid of the Lord; and so Christ was conceived in her womb.
Bishops and priests who fail to teach the Faith in its fullness, rarely or never speaking against contraception or abortion, send a wrong message not just to Catholics but also to other Christians who notice what they say, and conclude that these are matters of little importance. Such things, objectively, (such as contraception, abortion, so-called 're-marriage' and other practices) are serious sins.
Jesus Christ was aware of His own Origin and Divine nature throughout His whole life on earth. Though He took a human nature to Himself and lived as a little boy in our world, He did not have to be told His purpose in life. About all these things, He had Divine knowledge and implicit human knowledge, as a boy, though He had to learn how to put it into words.
At the Consecration of the bread, it is changed into the Scared Body of Christ, Who is Present with us, in His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity: whole and entire. His radiance shines upon all who are present there, with an outpouring of graces for those willing to receive them.
Christ sees everything that human beings do. Human life is like a long, dimly-lit corridor; yet though people act in dark corners or behind closed doors, He sees and understands everything people do, whether in hidden areas, behind locked doors, in bright chambers or dark rooms - or in cellars deep underground. He loves sinners, but loathes sin; and so He encourages us all to repent, and He longs for everyone to change.
If we are attacked once again for our Catholic Faith, by persons who can speak only about the Crusades and the Inquisition, we are not wrong to ask them if they have even read a book on what we really believe, and whether they are aware of all the good which Christ has introduced into the world, through His Church.
In the history of the world and of religions, there has been one Person Who killed no-one, who healed everyone who suffered, and Who has proved, by His Resurrection from death, that He can take His followers, too, up to Heaven, just as He has promised. That person is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary.
It is the Lord's wish that the Last Judgement picture be used on a sanctuary wall, as a reminder of the truths we ought to know: that each of us, by our freely-made choices, is walking towards either Heaven - by the grace of Christ - or towards Hell, which is the loss of God.
It is part of Christ's plan that this 'Last Judgement' picture serve as an image in a sanctuary, and as a restatement of truth, an illustration of the Catechism, a teaching aid, and a proof of my own understanding of the Gospel: that each of us is making our way to Heaven or Hell, through our freely made choices as we accept or reject the graces Christ won for us on the Cross.
Christ took loaves and fishes, and fed thousands of hungry people.
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