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Just as God arranged that all who were bitten by serpents could gaze upon the bronze serpent and by spared, so God arranged that His own Son, Jesus Christ, would be lifted up on a cross; to look on Christ, and believe, brings healing from sin, a healing that, if continuing, leads to life with Christ in Eternity.

Christ wants us all to know how deeply He rejoices in our devotion to 'Our Lady of Sorrows'. It was the Father Who made Mary worthy to be mother of Jesus, gave her the courage to persevere even through her Son's Passion - and so to enjoy His Resurrection.

We are right to be concerned, as Catholics, about the teachings and influence of many non-Catholic Christians, especially of those who unfortunately teach that contraception and even abortion is not wrong. There are children playing today who would not have been born, had their parents not been faithful Catholics who treasure God's gift of life.

Anyone who speaks for Christ, in everyday evangelisation, or a special mission, should set a good example, and should be free from the 'burdens' of anxiety, or personal plans, or great worries - or great possessions. Simplicity of life should be the aim, so that he or she can do the Lord's work unhindered.

God's choice of a man for the Priesthood is forever. God does not change His mind about a man to whom He had given great gifts, at Ordination, for the sake of the Church - though a man might disqualify himself from active service for various reasons.

When Christ was in torment, hanging on the Cross, He suffered mental and spiritual torment too, from the knowledge of all the people who would ignore His message, and would refuse to repent: especially those who would request or carry out abortions. The sight of hundreds of dead babies grieved His tender heart.

Christ saw dreadful sights as He suffered on the Cross. He saw the aborted babies whose lives would be cruelly ended; but even worse for Him was the sight of many 'dead' souls: diseased souls in mortal sin, souls now made foul and repulsive through their own thoughts and actions; so Christ's torment was spiritual and mental, as well as physical, in His Passion.

A holy statue is a means blessed by the Church, to help us to focus on a particular holy person in prayer, and a means of propelling our thoughts towards a person who is now in glory, or to a particular topic, such as the Passion of Christ, or another Scriptural event.

A grave, unconquered sin, in the life of an apparently good and peaceful person is like a fire which burns uncontrolled in a mine beneath the surface. Even if the flames are not visible, the fire will weaken the ground above, to cause eventual subsidence and disaster - unless it is recognised and put out, by repentance and forgiveness.

Through faith in Christ, the Baptised person can call out to the Father, confident that her prayers are heard and answered. Because of her obedience to Christ, the Son of God, Who intercedes for her, it's as if she is held in Christ's arms, as Christ vouches for her, before Heaven, because she is a 'child of God' - unlike people who don't know Him, or who have refused to believe in Him.

The state of someone who trusts in Christ, and who therefore prays confident prayers in and through Christ to the Father is very different from the state of a person who seems to say to Christ, in unbelief: 'Go away. I don't believe in You.' That person has rejected the one means of being brought towards Heaven and having access to the Father; in other words, he has refused to be saved.

Every Pope deserves our prayers. Each Pope who faithfully fulfils his duties works to save people from the pit: to bring them to know and love Christ, or to renew their knowledge and love. He follows Christ in the office of Saint Peter, and often does so despite the physical and emotional cost. He has a world-wide flock, which is the Catholic Church.

The truth about suicide is that there are grave consequences wherever a person decides to kill himself, and succeeds. Whatever the reason for the act, or the degree of culpability of that person, there is no way back. Suicide is like stepping onto an underground train to travel into darkness, then finding the doors are locked, and there is no way out.

What Christ told us is true, that there is only one Way to Heaven: His Way, which is like a road we travel safely when we have received his life in Baptism and have been freed from sin. If people are not willing to revere Christian Tradition they are not acting as true children of God, for example, Christians who are searching for another Way.

Christ said: 'You can do nothing without me'; so we need to turn to Him in prayer, for help, so that He can do what we cannot do. He can open the door to let grace into our lives, or to deliver us from sadness, or to show us the Way to Heaven - or to work some other good thing to help us to achieve sanctity.

Christ is deeply touched when we thank Him for the spiritual benefits He has brought, as well as for everyday helps. He is glad if we appreciate our Baptism, and other sacraments, and if we remember to celebrate the anniversaries of such events.

When a politician, by his votes to promote or increase abortion provision, walks further and further away from life in God - as if along a long corridor - and avoids every alternative route, he will eventually find himself in a place from which every new route leads to the Abyss. He will have entered a place from which only damnation awaits him, unless he repents before he dies.

The Church is a Divine Institution composed of sinful human beings on earth as well as Saints in Heaven and Holy Souls in Purgatory. To refuse to believe in the Church or the Papacy because some Popes were very sinful is as strange as to refuse to believe that public transport should be abolished because some conductors are immoral or that all schools should be shut because a few head-teachers prove unfit to be in charge of children.

The prayers we offer in the name of Christ can be pictured as ascending to Heaven along the same channel in which faithful souls move, as they die and ascend to Heaven. We can have confidence in prayer, therefore, unlike those who do not believe in Christ and whose prayers are like cries uttered into a night sky, perhaps with little hope.

By every sincere, humble act of contrition, it's as if we make it possible to enjoy a higher degree of glory in Heaven, when the Lord eventually brings us home. What a thought! What a help for us, in our search for sanctity.