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As the Son of God looked down from Heaven towards the filth and darkness which He would enter, far below, when He came into our sinful world, He saw the Blessed Virgin Mary, who had been prepared, at her consent, as a safe place for Him who is all purity and goodness. She was like an 'ark', to hold and protect Him for a while.
The Catholic Church is like an ark, which at times is thrown about in stormy waters and suffers all sorts of turmoil. Yet there are times provided by God when her people enjoy tremendous calm and joy, such as will follow soon.
God has designed a man and a woman for a joyful union in marriage which can result in the gift of life: the gift of a child. Where they take pleasure in one another yet at the same time exclude the possibility of receiving God's gift, they are like those before them who have called out to God, saying, 'I will not serve'.
The Blessed Virgin Mary accepted God's Will, which was that she carry a child in her womb. She bore the gaze of amazed villagers, for love of God, unlike married people who refuse to do God's Will, as they deliberately make their married union sterile, by contraceptive use, and refuse the gift of life.
By ourselves, we cannot penetrate the bright cloud which is the Godhead. But God reaches out to some of us with a firm invitation to enter - in a sudden conversion - or reaches out at the very instant that someone calls out for His help. Unless we enter His life we shall, in the end, fall into the void.
Some people treat the Sacred Host as if it is merely a bit of bread and not Christ Himself with us in sacramental form under the appearance of bread. They neither respect nor adore Christ, whether from ignorance, carelessness or indifference: yet He is our Saviour and our God.
Some people treat the Sacred Host as if it is merely a bit of bread and not Christ Himself with us in sacramental form under the appearance of bread. They neither respect nor adore Christ, whether from ignorance, carelessness or indifference: yet He is our Saviour and our God.
A person with limited knowledge of God, and of people, and limited expectations, is sometimes ignorant about the wonders that God can bring about, Who knows the real needs of each individual. In her limitation, she is like a foreigner who is amazed by what she sees in a supermarket aisle, but is not aware - as a regular shopper is aware - that there are several aisles, each with new things to taste or choose.
The Father listens eagerly to our prayers for help for ourselves and for other people. It is as if the Father wanted us to make many more requests so that He could have the pleasure of granting them.
When a 'child of God' offers in conversation not words of charity or compassion, but malicious gossip or salacious comments, that soul is like a holy shrine from which now emerges no spring, no living water of grace, but from which oozes drops of evil-smelling puss. Such a serious infection needs powerful help.
The nuns who have offered their whole lives to God in contemplation and penance effect powerful changes in the lives of sinners. The penances of ordinary people, too, are effective, pouring into the world, by God's grace, a stream of living water rather than the 'puss' which oozes from sinful deeds and conversations.
God and His holy Angels look on with joy, wherever Christ and His mother Mary are present, where Christ is adored and Mary honoured, and where people follow their example - as in the Domaine, at Lourdes.
To live as a faithful Catholic, in difficult circumstances, is like climbing a huge mountain, knowing that a great welcome awaits climbers at the summit. A good climber does not lose hope, but keeps climbing, confident that - by God's grace - he will be strong enough to persevere.
I 'saw' a man falling into Hell, it seemed, as he shouted at the Lord: "How dare You do this to me!" But that angry soul had spurned the Lord's friendship and forgiveness and by his own choices had chosen to be separated from God.
Christ is pleased to be honoured by preparation for His visit in Holy Communion to the housebound. Jesus stood in my room, as I waited to receive Him in Holy Communion. He showed me how joyful He was to be here. He gazed around Him, looking at the crucifix and the candles put out in His honour, and at the pictures of His Mother, and other Saints, nearby. He said: "IT IS GOOD TO BE HERE, WHERE I AM HONOURED". He meant, in a place where He is plainly held in high esteem as our God and Saviour: our joy and strength.
I saw brave men, in clerical garments, who stood close to the Father's throne. In the heights of Heaven there was a small group of members of the Clergy - Bishops as well as priests - who had fulfilled God's Will completely, on earth, by teaching the Catholic Faith in its fullness.
A person who has welcomed the Spirit of Christ into his soul can count on the Holy Spirit to carry him across the Abyss when he dies, to meet Christ and to make his way into Heaven - even if through Purgatory. But the man who has persisted in saying to God: "I don't need you", will find, at death, that he falls into the Abyss.
As I praised the Blessed Virgin Mary on the feast of her Assumption, I was shown by the Lord a 'mountain', with the narrow path which leads to great sanctity. We can all become holy and pure, like Our Lady and the Saints, by God's grace - though we cannot yet enter bodily into Heaven, as she has, and her son.
It would please God if every Catholic would do what Pope Saint Pius X did, in that he loved to give glory to God by doing His Will, and worked to save souls. In every type of vocation we can give glory to God and save souls by our faithfulness and love, fulfilling the Father's Will not personal satisfaction.
Pope Pius X fought bravely against heresy, Christ said. It would be wonderful, the Lord said, if everyone could do what this Saintly Pope has done, and decide to fulfil the Father's Will, for His glory, and to save souls, rather than seeking personal satisfaction. It is sad that many Catholics criticise that Pope's life and works, and want to overturn the Church's teachings, even on moral issues.
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