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An orthodox and fervent form of catechesis is badly needed. Things began to go wrong thirty years ago when many tabernacles were moved to unsuitable, make-shift chapels unworthy of our Divine Saviour. Christ's Real Presence is ignored or forgotten. Children were taught little about His Presence. Attention was paid, frequently, more to the community than to almighty God.

We are mistaken if we think that ours is a civilised age. There was a temple dedicated to pagan gods, near Christ's home town. Living creatures - even human beings - were thrown to their deaths, at the back of it, to persuade the gods to grant some favour. In our days, slaughter continues, though mostly hidden away. For the good fortune or convenience of many today, lives are sacrificed through abortion, or people are quietly killed if deemed sick, elderly and useless, or the chronic sick are helped to commit suicide.

Everyone has a desire to pray, unless it is stifled by false teaching. Almighty God sees and hears everything that is said or done by people on earth. He loves everyone; yet those who have freely chosen to repent and to believe in His Son and to share His life through Baptism can be confident that God hears them because they already live 'in Christ', as if enclosed in a great flame of Divine charity which has reached out across the Abyss which separates earth from Heaven. Children of God should be confident in prayer.

A selfish person, always determined to have his own way, whatever the cost to people in particular, or to society, is like a raging bull, ready to charge. He knows nothing of patience or charity. If he calms down now and then, it takes only a pinprick to make him bellow again. Only by Divine grace, and conversion, can that sort of nature be changed and made Christ-like.

Our Blessed Lady, who is not Divine, was chosen for a special role. In consenting to conceive within her womb the very Son of God, she allowed Him to show out more clearly than ever His Divine nature: His love, compassion, willingness to share our lives from beginning to end, and His mercy and tenderness. Christ showed out, on earth, as man, what the Triune God is like: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one all-holy Creator and Redeemer.

If we are tired or despondent, or feel over-burdened by Crosses, we need to reflect on the love that surrounds us, if we have remained faithful, living 'in' God, the Blessed Trinity. What joy we give to the heart of Christ, as He turns to the Father Who sent Him to us, and to the Holy Spirit Who is making us holy, and says with delight: "She loves us!" - or "He loves us!"

It would be easy to say, of a view over a city, by night: "Oh, how beautiful - but how marvellous it must look in the daytime!" And so it is, with the Godhead. We have been given a glimpse, so to speak, from within the darkness of earthly life, through Jesus, and the sacraments and prayer; but all who enter Heaven are enthralled by the beauty of the glory of the Blessed Trinity, as are the people they have helped to bring there by their intercessions.

Membership of Parliament can be like a journey on a boat downstream, in which people occasionally find themselves going over a weir, to experience turbulence and danger. People who are courageous, and prepared for such upheavals, do not panic, but don't allow plans to be wrecked. They persevere, to relaunch a boat, refusing to let their good intentions be wrecked by careless members more concerned with self-interest than with service of the nation's voters.

It can sometimes seem as if the small number of Parliamentarians who want to do God's Will in opposing laws which permit abortion, and the killing of the sick or the elderly, cannot possibly succeed. Yet Christians do not work for good all alone. Just as an army of Angels accompanied the brave men who once crossed the Channel to defeat an evil regime, so armies of angels and Saints are ready to help any 'child of God' who calls for their aid and has confidence in their communion with him, 'in Christ'.

For every little or large suffering we willingly bear in patience - even an experience of pain at the dental surgery - we can help to save souls, by that offering of penance in union with Christ. We can help someone in mortal sin who suddenly realises what a dangerous state he is in, or perhaps a dying person, who suddenly receives the grace to turn to God, in trust and hope.

There are people all over the world who long to have some connection with God and Heaven. How marvellous it is, that through membership of the Catholic Church we can know that "we too rejoice with the Angels", in the praise of God, every day, even in a tiny church in a little village (in this case, Harpenden!) thousands of Angels pray with us, adoring the Blessed Trinity.

A person who deliberately sets out to harm another, in a spirit of malice, even if he knows this is foolish, is like a man on a motorboat who, full of bravado, aims his craft towards the rapids on a dangerous river. He is doomed, but does not care. People full of such malice are sure to be damned, unless they repent before they die.

We must pray with fervour, that everyone will see the truth: that from Christ, (and from His chosen Apostles) has come a river of redeemed humanity: each person forgiven and transformed by grace - except for those who now resemble dead fish floating in that river because they deserted Christ, whether through deliberate mortal sin or ceasing to believe in Him.

In some disasters, such as a flood, when townspeople are hoping to be rescued and fed, one person might wait in patience; but another might look at her and think, "How can she smile, and sit peacefully there, when I am so miserable?" In his self-pity and anger he might lash out, or decide to steal something he does not need; and thus it is in everyday life, as well, amongst Christians.

Our Blessed Lady, standing in a snowy landscape, represents a perfect, sinless woman in a world populated by selfish, hard-hearted sinners. She was the perfect receptacle for the Son of God, descended from Heaven to save us. She never ceases to hold in her Immaculate heart the needs of all 'children of God', hence her numerous visits to this world throughout the centuries.

Christ's invitation to us all is like the promise of a King, Who rides in a huge procession, that whoever follows Him to the palace can share His life there, as His friends, but only if they follow now, before the gates shut. It is a tragedy when some people say: "It's not convenient now", or, "It's too good to be true". The gates represent the death of each of us. People who are reluctant to follow the King might leave it too late, and find themselves excluded, which is to be in Hell.

A person who is careless and irreverent about private prayer, perhaps always lolling in bed to pray, half-watching television, and with his mind not on God but on his plans for the next day, is likely to be careless and irreverent in church, at Mass, unaware that God is holy as well as kind, and deserves the upmost reverence and respect. People without much love for God do not become His close friends.

Christ wept over Jerusalem because He saw, even in that holy city, the very sins which have festered in human hearts in every age of history: not just greed, lust and envy, but also malicious misinterpretation of innocent remarks and events, vengeful desires, and other sins, all of which injure individuals and damage families, communities and nations.

Christ knows about the sufferings of those who endure physical, psychological or emotional torment because of their faithfulness to Him. He understands when we sometimes feel as though we cannot bear another rejection, or day of isolation or insults. He does not blame us for our apprehension, but admires our courage.

Saint Paul spoke wisely about bearing our sufferings. We are right to offer up our sufferings in union with Christ, and, with Him, to intercede for people trapped in mortal sin and in danger of being lost for ever. Someone in mortal sin is as if trapped on a small ledge, above the great Abyss; and by our prayers and the grace of Christ he or she can be rescued and made safe.