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Real love for God is shown by offering Him the courtesies we offer to people on earth whom we respect. If in God's presence, in prayer, it is respectful to say: 'please exclude me, Lord' - if we have to rush away, suddenly, for example. We would not rush out of an earthly throne-room without a word to the King.
It is a tragedy beyond words, that some people refuse to turn to God who created them, especially that they disbelieve or ignore Him when they die. It is He Who made them, from love, He Who supports them in existence, and now calls them 'Home'; yet in refusing to speak to Him or to ask for help, they deny themselves the comfort He can give, and by their free choice, condemn themselves to an Eternity without Him: and without the experience of His love, it is Hell.
There are many people facing decline and death, and who do not say a word to their Creator, Who made them, and the whole universe, and Who holds us all in existence. Even the pagans call out to their creator; but many modern, supposedly well-educated people keep a sad silence, in their agonies, and so do not receive the comfort God can give - and the hope of Heaven.
It is a cause of sadness - but for even more fervent evangelisation - that many people ignore the glorious God Who gave them the gift of life. In freely choosing to reject His love, and His invitations to repent and change, they approach death and Eternity carelessly. Without a last-minute repentance, they will condemn themselves to everlasting torment and darkness, as if beneath His throne, by their own fault deprived of His comforting Presence.
It is a cause of sadness - but for even more fervent evangelisation - that many people ignore the glorious God Who gave them the gift of life. In freely choosing to reject His love, and His invitations to repent and change, they approach death and Eternity carelessly. Without a last-minute repentance, they will condemn themselves to everlasting torment and darkness, as if beneath His throne, by their own fault deprived of His comforting Presence.
Pride was the sin of the Angels, as described in Sacred Scripture, when some rebelled against God and fell from grace. Pride, too, with stubbornness, is the sin which the Lord sees in the hearts of those who persist in disbelief even until death, ignoring His invitations to believe and to repent, so that they can enter Eternal life with Him and not fall into Hell.
If women do not cover their hair in church, they should at least control it. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass should be respected as a sacred rite, carefully choreographed, with reverent and beautifully-vested Clergy. If women are sometimes allowed in the sanctuary, they ought not to be given privileges proper to the clergy; and they should be invited to attend to their hair and clothing, in honour of almighty God.
Almighty God wants us to honour Christ's Mother Mary. Our Blessed Lady's soul was adorned with such sublime virtues, at her Immaculate Conception, that only her son, later on, surpassed her in His soul's beauty. She deserves to be honoured by our adorning her statues, with decorations worthy of a Queen, and crowning them, and in other ways.
We should honour Our Lady, and have confidence in her prayers. No-one's prayers are more powerful - except her Son's - than those of the Immaculate Mother of God. What millions have believed is indeed true, that just as an earthly king refuses nothing to his beloved mother, so Christ our King can refuse nothing His Mother asks. We are not wrong to pray by statues of Our Lady, which help us to fix our minds on her who lives in Heaven.
In this earthy life, those who follow Christ must invite all people who feel helpless in their sins and fears to reach out to God, through Christ. Faith is like a rope. If we grasp it, we can count on the Lord's help to be drawn up towards sanctity and salvation. People who say, "I don't need God", or, "I want to be independent", are like people trapped in a pit who insist on their own strength but fail to climb out.
It was necessary, in God's sight, that the Virgin Mary be conceived Immaculate - free from Original Sin, and then from personal sin, so that at her consent she could be a fit mother for the Son of God, as she taught and guided Him in His childhood, developing His human faculties.
Although the Pope hands on the truth, there is a cancer at the heart of Europe, which consists of disbelief in God and His laws, which leads to the promotion of wicked laws, and the encouragement of immoral acts and attitudes. It is not so elsewhere, in some societies called poor or primitive, but which live a vibrant, full-bodied Catholic Faith.
In God's sight, without the Pope, civilization is lost. He is the 'Rock', the reminder for the world of the existence of God, and the importance of God's laws, as people in many council chambers in Governments or international organisations deliberately leave out all mention of God, and even enact wicked and immoral laws.
When politicians purposely allow no mention of God, and forget the Christian heritage of Europe, they inevitably pass foolish or wicked laws, increase immorality in society, and witness an associated decline in charity - which they deplore, but which they have helped to accelerate.
When politicians ignore Christianity, ignore God's laws and pass foolish or wicked laws, there is inevitably a decline in society; the real charity which befriends, helps, heals and saves is replaced by an atheistic utilitarianism, in which the self is idolised, and the weak sacrificed on the altar of personal choice.
We adore God, and honour Mary, at every Mass. Our Blessed Lady was conceived Immaculate by a special privilege; and after fulfilling God's arduous plan for her life on earth, she reigns as Immaculate Queen in Heaven, at the heart of the Most Blessed Trinity, close to her son, and with all the Company of the Blessed.
The Scared Liturgy is prayer offered by Christ, in the power and light of the Holy Spirit to the Father Who reigns in Heaven. No other praise can surpass the praise which Christ offers from the heart of our Church - especially the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. To pray at Mass is to pray in Spirit and in truth. We pray in the power of Spirit, through Christ Who is the truth of God. God invites the whole world to prefer this sacrificial, sublime prayer to all of their own ideas, methods or idols.
Many Catholics like to appear strong, to fit in with the world. We must not do wrong, to please a secular or atheistic government. When there is confusion or near-panic amongst Catholics about dealing with the world and organising medical or surgical care, or schooling or Catechesis, in ways which fit in with the guidelines of a secular government, the Pope, and Christ Himself, serve as exemplars. If we do what is right, and do nothing wrong, willing to accept the consequences, we will please God and have peaceful consciences.
God is good, and just; therefore everyone who dies receives a just judgement; and even people who commit suicide are judged by Him. He understands the pain and sorrow that cause some people almost to lose hope of finding joy; but it is wrong for anyone to reject the gift of life and to kill himself, or to ask other people to take his life because he is very sick or disabled.
No-one ought to suppose that a person who kills himself is wise. In every life, there is some suffering. The way in which we respond to it reveals our character. Whether sick or well, rich or poor, we have free will. We can respond with recognition of what is good in our lives, even in difficulties, or we can give in to self-pity and resentment. All people - including suicides - are judged by God, at death: by God Who is both merciful and just, but who gave life as a gift, not to be carelessly thrown away. Suicide is a sin.
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