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We can save souls, by the grace of Christ, through our prayers and sacrifices. No matter how sick we are, nor how feeble our efforts, if we offer up our prayers, and our pains as penances for people trapped in sin and in danger of falling into the Abyss (into Hell), and if we offer everything in union with Christ's Sacrifice, we join in His work of salvation.

In the life of the Spirit, interiorly, God can bring about astonishing changes in the lives of ourselves, or of people we know, as great as if some slum-dwellers were to become famous in Hollywood. But just as those people would never have become actors if they had refused to speak to the film director, we and our friends cannot hope to enjoy great spiritual progress if we refuse to speak to God, or to follow His directions.

We give glory to the Father, and fulfil His plan for us, through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Jesus Christ is made Really Present to us under the appearance of bread and wine, we are made present to His one Sacrifice, once offered on Calvary. It is re-presented here, so that we in our generation can benefit from its saving power and receive the "Sacrament of salvation".

During the Mass, the whole Church is united in praising God the Father, through, with and in Christ, in the Holy Spirit. All the Saints of Heaven are adoring the one true God Who has brought them to His heart, for all Eternity. We too can hope to enter Heaven if we receive the Sacrament of salvation, and remain faithful.

Christ asked us to reflect upon which of several priests is the one most like Him. It is the one who teaches the truth about God and man, sin and salvation, Heaven and Hell, though also teaching about love for God and neighbour. A kind attitude in a priest is not enough. Boy Scouts can be kind. A priest must hand on the Truth as Christ did, to make Him known.

Christ is God-made-visible. He spoke the truth. His Church speaks the truth today. A priest is asked to hand on the truth as well as to show charity. The truth is plain for all who want to know it; and priests are wrong who distort or contradict truth for what they call 'pastoral' reasons.

It is a blessing that we now have the new Catechism of the Catholic Church to help us. Christ asks all of us to repent of our sins. But if some of the Clergy are arguing about what is sinful and what is not, they are hampering the Church's mission and failing to imitate their Divine Saviour. They are ignoring the teaching of the Pope and Bishops who have given us the Catechism to guide us.

Christ died and rose again, to save sinners. He has called men, through the ages, to serve as priests in His Church, to save sinners. If, in their preaching, their celebration of the Sacraments, and their pastoral work, they are not saving sinners from the consequences of their sins, they are failing in their duty. It is not enough to be kind, yet to be off-hand about doctrine, feeble in efforts to draw people from sin to holiness.

When a Catholic church is designed not to be the threshold of Heaven, for a holy people, who adore Christ Really Present in His Divine Glory, but as an architectural gem, of beautiful proportions but with no sign or symbol of Christian faith, it is unworthy of the name "House of God". The Faithful deserve to see reminders of the crucified Saviour and of His ever-virgin mother, and of the Angels, the glory of Heaven, and the Communion of Saints.

Satan is at work, offering temptations and lies to the followers of Christ. Like the secret police of harshly-ruled countries, he persuades a person to agree to a minor act of betrayal, and then makes further demands until the person is trapped and must keep proving his loyalty to his new masters. Even some of the Clergy fall in with Satan's suggestions; by keeping silent on the subject of sin, they are half-way to contradicting Christ and His teachings.

Satan is not a figment of our imagination, but a malevolent creature who emerges from the Abyss to cause priests as well as lay persons to commit some small act of rebellion. Then he leads them on to greater betrayals of Christ and His Church, as when priests contradict the truth about sexual morality, or confirm people in their sins rather than inviting them to repent of sin.

It is only too easy for weak human beings to put themselves under Satan's influence, first, by some little sins which then lead to serious sins. He becomes their chief guide, and leader, instead of Christ. The only way of escape is through complete repentance of all sin, and then adherence to God and His laws. People in trouble deserve to hear this.

Christ did not suffer on earth as man, and endure a terrible death, just to persuade us to be nice people who help other people across roads. He conquered sin and death! He can give us the power to conquer our sins, to be transformed, and to cross the Abyss between earth and Heaven! Salvation is more than an ability to be 'nice'.

Some Catholics are so impressed with the fervour of certain Christian groups that they think about leaving the Catholic Church, forgetful of what they already have, from God. It is the Holy Eucharist that makes the Church - not a charismatic founder, or a special healer, or huge numbers of new members. Jesus is Really Present in His one true Church. To go elsewhere is to desert Him.

The Living Word, Who is Christ, is as if waiting to meet us through our reading of Sacred Scripture. We can meet Him there, as well as in our prayer, our spiritual Communions, our visits to Him at the tabernacle, our gathering-together with fellow Catholics - and our supremely powerful and intimate union with Him during the Mass, in Holy Communion.

In making a spiritual Communion we invite God to come into our hearts and lives in a more powerful way. If we turn to Christ, make an act of sorrow for sin, an act of trust in His love, and an act of confidence in His presence in our souls, with a reverent request for a spiritual Communion, it can be as if the clouds and the sky have parted, to let the light of Christ shine more strongly upon us, bringing His peace and joy to our souls.

A call to the Sacred Priesthood is a call to a man, from the Most Blessed Trinity, to accept a way of life in a most exalted state, which no-one can deserve. This call is made in the presence of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Archangels; and loving service as another Christ, in this world, however arduous, will be followed by a glorious welcome in the next.

We are not all chosen to be official 'Evangelisers'; yet those who experience the peace-of-soul, spiritual growth and intellectual delight of the true Faith, and who are grateful for life in Christ, are not acting kindly if they don't share the Faith at suitable opportunities, or if they even advise other people to keep on with their mistaken beliefs or superstitious practices. It's as if people on their way to a warm climate can choose whether to take pity on a family they see, huddled in a snowfield, or can ignore them whilst rejoicing in their own good fortune.

A Mass can be offered anywhere appropriate, even in a private house, with due respect and reverence. But a domestic setting should not be an excuse for informality, or disregard for the rubrics. Jesus Christ is no longer a carpenter, but King of Heaven, and glorious in His Majesty. It is better if there is room to kneel, as we adore Him, and offer His praise and His sacrificial prayer to the Father in Heaven.

We all need the prayers and intercessions of others. There is only one Way across the gulf that separates earth from Heaven, and we shall not cross it when we die if we have wandered away, far from the bridge, looking for all sorts of distractions from our ordinary duties, or avoiding the call of conscience, or unwilling to suffer for Christ by remaining faithful. Perseverance is all-important, by the grace of God.