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Some people say: "How cruel of God, to allow anyone to suffer in Hell". Rather, we should say, "How amazing it is, that, after repentance, weak, sinful people should be allowed to serve God, and then fly into the glory of Heaven, to live with Him in bliss, forever, with all the Saints!" Sad to say, some people who say they want to go to Heaven are not willing to believe in Christ, or do the Will of Christ, Who has opened Heaven for repentant sinners.

In speaking about God the Father, some people say that God is cruel, to allow people to fall into Hell. The truth is, in His goodness, He invites everyone to respond to His love, to grow in union with Him, though Jesus Christ His Son, and to do good and prepare for the gift of Heaven. But how can anyone expect to be saved, who will not do what is essential, in preparation for such a privilege and gift? How can anyone benefit from Christ's work, who refuses to do as Christ asks: to pray, to obey His commands, and to love Him as well as our neighbour?

We must never forget how powerful are the sacraments. Death is the 'cut-off' point: the moment in which we lose our ability to decide for God, or against Him. There are few death-bed conversions. Usually, as people live, so they die, either loving God or focussed upon their own desires. This is all the more reason for asking a priest to anoint a sick or dying person. Christ, through this holy sacrament, can free from sin someone who was about to fall into Hell.

We should all be aware that actions have consequences. Everyone deserves to be reminded of these truths: Life ends. There is either Heaven or Hell, in the end, for each of us. That is what every priest and Bishop should say, when he is asked to speak about salvation - even to children. Like adults, children who have reached the age of reason should be encouraged to recognise right and wrong actions, and to form their consciences in accordance with the teaching of the Church.

It is tragic that people think that God is cruel, to allow people to go to Hell. He is reaching out, all the time, to save us from the consequences of our sins, warning us of the total loss of joy and peace when people freely choose to try to live without His love. He even sent His Son to earth, as man, to speak to us, and to plead with us to repent, and lead holy lives in union with Him, in preparation for Heaven. He sacrificed His life for this - but still, many people walk away.

It is astonishing, how careless we are, in the face of danger. What the Lord allows us to picture as the fires of Hell are only images; but they represent a terrible reality, which is that there is no greater torment than alienation from God, forever. Christ often warned us about Hell. He has done so, through His Church, for 2000 years; and so He wants us to see that if we deliberately walk towards those flames, by refusing to repent and to live in His love, we are foolish as well as disobedient. For people who die in their sins, Hell never ends.

Christ wants everyone to know the truth about Hell as well as Heaven. He spoke a lot about Hell, in the Gospel stories, but this is rarely mentioned today. He wants us to realise that someone who deliberately commits grave sin, despite Christ's warnings, is foolish as well as disobedient. That person is freely choosing to walk into those flames, unless he repents in time.

It is normal for grieving parents to want special memorials for their departed child; but they must not fear that the child will be forgotten if they do not arrange a new trust or a charity to perpetuate the child's name. God never forgets his children - whatever age they were, however they died, and whether or not people on earth find that memories fade, to their surprise or embarrassment.

We cannot be certain who has gone to Heaven; however, we must never be sad that holy people we have known who seem to be forgetful in old age, or who seem to be forgotten after death, are indeed forgotten. Each one is as if carved on the Mind of God, and honoured for a holy life, as well as being honoured in Heaven, with the other Saints, canonised and uncanonised.

Christ wants everyone to be reminded that life ends. By our choices and actions today we are choosing to move towards Heaven or Hell. Either we are good children of God who will be confident that the Holy Spirit will carry them to Heaven when they die, or we are in danger of falling into the Abyss, to join the demons in Hell, by our own fault. Christ wants each person to think about this question: "What are you doing with your life?"

We should use the time well, doing good, and preparing for Heaven. At the end of earthly life, each of us will be on our way towards Heaven - carried by the Holy Spirit across the Abyss, even if we then pause in Purgatory - or on our way into Hell, in the depths of the Abyss. Our freely-made choices in this life affect our destiny. God is asking each of us: "What are you doing with your life?"

Some people wonder how we can believe that the Mass is a Sacrifice. At every Mass, by Divine power, Jesus Christ is made truly Present, under the appearance of bread and wine. He is God as well as man; and in being with Him now, we are also present to the events of His earthly life which - because He is God - always remain powerful and significant, including His Passion and Death. At Mass, those events are made effective for our salvation, through our union with Christ and His Church.

It is not the Will of Christ that priests keep their thoughts almost exclusively upon earthly matters, even though they work amongst people in the world who are beset by dreadful trisls. The ultimate aim of priests should be to give glory to God, and to bring themselves and other people towards holiness and Heaven, doing so by the priest's union with and imitation of Christ.

The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ. Just as we help the whole Church by our good deeds, thoughts and prayers, we harm the Church by our sins and failings. Even when Catholics call themselves people of 'loyal dissent', they harm the Body of Christ by their disobedience, their disbelief in Christ's teachings, given through the Church, and their lack of charity as they attack the Church and help to undermine the Faith of those who do believe. Christ looks on, as His own children hurt Him.

This is a picture of a mind, as someone wonders if he can avoid a moral obligation. Although we can freely make any one of several decisions, in following a good career, or choosing a spouse, for example; yet when we are reluctant to act, in moral issues, we often see that there is only one way - Christ's Way - by which we can please God, do good, help others, and gain or re-gain our peace of conscience. He can give us the courage to walk where He leads us. We can avoid our kaleidoscope of temptations, and call on Christ to lead us: to holiness and Heaven.

We help the whole Church by every good thought we have, every good deed we do, every humiliation or pain met with patience not resentment, and every prayer, and every act of humility or reverence; and the Church includes the Holy Souls in Purgatory, many of whom are released into Heaven - by the grace of Christ, because of the good we do.

The souls in Purgatory suffer amidst the clouds of remorse and sin from which they are being purified. They desperately want our prayers, to aid them in their preparation for Heaven, by God's grace. It is tragic that many Catholics are careless about having a Mass said for the dead, or praying in private, and even more tragic that many Christians don't believe prayer for the Departed is necessary, despite its scriptural warrant. They in fact abandon their departed friends and relations.

It is tragic not only that some Catholics forget the Holy Souls in Purgatory, but that many Christians are told by their leaders that prayer for departed souls is unnecessary or useless. Well-meaning people leave their friends and relations in Purgatory, without offering a single prayer to God for them, and imagining that every kind of person will speed straight into Heaven, even when laden with sinful habits and attitudes.

The Saints pray fervently for our well-being and salvation. Their prayers draw down upon the earth a great torrent of Divine graces, as they look with pity and love upon us, in our struggles to be holy. They persevered in the Faith, in love for Christ, until the end. Earthly life seems very brief, to them, who now enjoy God's love in Eternity.

Everyone will one day give an account of his life to God. Whether he is a President of a great nation or a slave from a poor cabin, everyone must find out the results of his own behaviour - and discover whether or not he is a real friend of God, and worthy to accept the free gift of union with God and the Saints in Heaven.