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Truly, it is Christ Himself, our Risen Lord, Who is Present with us on All Souls Day, Who raises His hands in prayer, praying to the Father for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, as the priest offers the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

As a river follows its course, downwards, so a person freely sets his own course. If he chooses - by the grace of Christ - to aim for sanctity and Heaven, in the love of Christ, he will move in that direction - if he chooses selfishness and sinful pleasures he will be choosing to move steadily towards Hell, unless he repents in time.

People wonder if Christ and the Saints can be joyful, if they know that some souls are in Hell. The answer is that anyone in Hell has got what he wanted. If he freely chose to reject Christ, until death, he now has no contact with Christ: just as he chose; nor has he the joy, peace and beauty which are found in Christ, alas. So the Saints pity the lost souls, but realise that the damned choose their destination.

It is tragic that so many people have not been baptised. A family which is affectionate but which ignores or disbelieves in God, and has no respect for the Commandments, cannot be saved by qualities of optimism or human warmth - but only by the grace of Christ accepted. They need the prayers of the faithful, that they will open their eyes to the truth which they have never encountered, or have half-heard, and dismissed.

The Mass is far more than a sacred meal. The Sacrifice which Christ once offered on the Cross, as He prayed for sinners to be forgiven, and gave up His life without complaint to conquer sin and death, is available for every generation. Christ has marvellously arranged that He is Really Present in every Mass, in every era, praying for sinners just as He prayed from the Cross, though He no longer suffers. It is the same Sacrifice, however, since the same Victim offers Himself, on the altar as on the Cross; and His true friends attend, and adore Him, and receive Him in Holy Communion, and receive the graces He won.

Have we repented, and become children of God? The Father and His Son invite us to look at other people just as The Blessed Trinity look upon us, seeing us as we are now, in a state of grace, serving God and our neighbour. We should forget the behaviour and outlook of past times, which people have repented of, and left behind. If we are charitable, we resemble Christ, Who is transforming us.

Just before Christ ascended in triumph to Heaven, after His Resurrection, He sent out His disciples, so that they would tell the world the truth about Christ. He asked them to say: "He who believes and is baptised will be saved, but he who refuses to believe is condemned", which means, condemns himself through refusing the Eternal Life which is given with Baptism. To say 'no' to God, and His Son, brings terrible consequences, through one's own fault.

Christ is pleased when a mother imitates Him by giving thoughtful, unconditional love to her children, and being close to them, helping them at each new stage, whether basics like washing and dressing, or giving them confidence when they go to school, teaching them good manners, and encouraging love amongst relations - and love for God, shown by reverence in church.

Christ looks on with sadness when He sees people being received into the Church who have not been encouraged towards a radical conversion, but who enter the Church to receive the sacraments while persevering in behaviour which is, objectively speaking, gravely sinful, for example, co-habitation and contraceptive use.

Christ our God, Who created the whole Universe, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, is over-joyed by those who appreciate His Creation, which the Blessed Trinity made in order to delight us. We are right to see, in nature, evidence of the existence of God, and of God's Wisdom, and artistry and beauty.

We can picture Christ in His earthly life as He prays to His Father: "I want men who will act for me" - as He thinks about His future Church; and the Father tells Him: "Choose men. Anoint them. Set them apart. Let them look to me every day, as you do, as intercessors and mediators for sinners, opening the way to Heaven. They will offer your Sacrifice through all the ages, until you come back to Your People on earth.

If it is really necessary to ask people not to chatter loudly in church, where Christ is Present in glory, as His angels adore Him, and people are still kneeling in prayer, we must not be upset if we are criticised for sharing the truth: that this building is a house of prayer. If we are reviled, for Christ's sake, we should rejoice.

Christ wants us to encourage one another to keep a reverent silence in church, where He is Sacramentally Present, adored by the Angels. If we suffer unpleasant reactions to our gentle words, we should remember Christ's words: that when we are reviled on His account, our reward will be great in Heaven.

It is easy to forget God's gifts, and to remember only our difficulties. Everyone on earth has suffering to bear, some much more than others. Yet we can freely choose whether to cope bravely with it, by God's grace, or to give in to self-pity. Some of those faithful people whose love for Christ was sincere but weak, and who were full of self-pity, or who even committed suicide, now languish in Purgatory, seeing at last how much they have sinned.

Mother Teresa, and Pope John Paul II, each suffered greatly in earthly life, but did so without grumbling; rather, they accepted and offered up their pains in union with Christ, to save souls and to help the Church; and, through their faith in Christ, and His grace, they are now being embraced by Him in Heaven. They are immensely joyful.

Pontius Pilate said, of Jesus: "I find no fault with Him". Yet he gave Him to be scourged and killed, to satisfy the clamour of the crowd. That is what is done today, as politicians allow innocent, unborn babies to be slaughtered in the womb, to satisfy the clamour of people who don't want their own children.

To be baptised is to have received a wonderful gift of Divine Life. But many people outside the visible Communion of the Catholic Church receive no clear instruction about faith, and holy living, as their own leaders argue about the need for sacraments, and about sexual morality. It is sometimes as tragic a state as if a person had received a wonderful computer, but without a user's manual. It could remain inactive or ever useless.

Just as a person with a computer but no instruction manual presses various buttons but has no help from the computer until the booklet arrives, so many persons baptised outside the visible Communion of the Catholic Church have received a valuable gift, and try to live according to the various theories of various Christian leaders, who argue about faith and morals; but only when they are received into full Communion do they receive clear instruction about holy living, and receive the power from God in the Sacraments.

Christ teaches us, through His Church; so Catholics who refuse to believe in the teachings of the Church and even lead others astray by promoting their opposing views will arrive, at death, at the same place as the unbelievers, which is to say, at the edge of the Abyss, at some distance from the only crossing, which is Christ Himself, our bridge to Heaven. Unless they repent, and run to Him, they are doomed, because of their own freely-made choices and decisions.

We are right to help the poor; but Christianity is more than good deeds. In Christ's sight, modernism flourishes where people do not have sufficient awe of God. Many good hearted Catholics, through poor instruction, have a faith that revolves around what humans need, rather than what the Father requests and deserves. They have a too-exalted view of man, in relation to God, which distorts the whole picture; whereas Catholics really grateful to God for Jesus Christ accept the Church's teaching without constant grumbling, shoulder the Cross, and strive for holiness like the Saints, out of love for their Saviour.