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When a person has come close to spiritual disaster, and has lived as if in an icy wilderness of isolation, cold, pain and hardship, it can seem impossible to believe that another 'world' exists, of joy, peace, warmth and fruitfulness. With faith in God's love, trust in His power, and prayer, we can allow God to change our inner landscape from cold to warm, and change even the pattern of our ordinary days.

In the life of the Spirit, interiorly, God can bring about astonishing changes in the lives of ourselves, or of people we know, as great as if some slum-dwellers were to become famous in Hollywood. But just as those people would never have become actors if they had refused to speak to the film director, we and our friends cannot hope to enjoy great spiritual progress if we refuse to speak to God, or to follow His directions.

We give glory to the Father, and fulfil His plan for us, through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Jesus Christ is made Really Present to us under the appearance of bread and wine, we are made present to His one Sacrifice, once offered on Calvary. It is re-presented here, so that we in our generation can benefit from its saving power and receive the "Sacrament of salvation".

During the Mass, the whole Church is united in praising God the Father, through, with and in Christ, in the Holy Spirit. All the Saints of Heaven are adoring the one true God Who has brought them to His heart, for all Eternity. We too can hope to enter Heaven if we receive the Sacrament of salvation, and remain faithful.

Even if we were to avoid sports or obvious dangers there is no time in life, no matter how happy, when an accident can't happen - just as a skier might suddenly fall, or hit a hidden tree-stump. What counts in ordinary life is faith in God. If we trust in God, He gives us strength and patience in our troubles, and also allows them to purify us so that we are worthy of Heaven: His free gift to His friends.

Just as a skier cannot avoid occasional falls, we cannot live on earth without troubles of one sort or another; but we can act, by God's grace, to avoid the greatest of all disasters, which would be to end up in the pit of Hell, by our own fault, and not reach Heaven. It is by faith in God, and doing His Will, in response to His call, that we can allow Him to make us holy. Then, by prayer and acts of charity, we prepare for life in Heaven, no matter what temporary problems we endure in this world.

Christ asked us to reflect upon which of several priests is the one most like Him. It is the one who teaches the truth about God and man, sin and salvation, Heaven and Hell, though also teaching about love for God and neighbour. A kind attitude in a priest is not enough. Boy Scouts can be kind. A priest must hand on the Truth as Christ did, to make Him known.

Christ is God-made-visible. He spoke the truth. His Church speaks the truth today. A priest is asked to hand on the truth as well as to show charity. The truth is plain for all who want to know it; and priests are wrong who distort or contradict truth for what they call 'pastoral' reasons.

It is tragic that many people do not believe in God our Creator, Who gives signs of His wisdom and beauty in the natural world; it is tragic that they never speak to God in prayer, or ask for help of any sort. We must ask, about any atheist who dies, "Who will carry him across" - across the Abyss, to Heaven, if the deceased has refused the help of the Holy Spirit.

The Church agrees with the oft-spoken truth, that the family is the 'building-block' of society. God wants to lead people to holiness, in and through His Son, usually in ordinary ways, in families; but Satan is always at work to wreck God's plan by encouraging people to desert the family, or neglect them, or to be rebellious, or to have abortions.

Satan's great desire is to wreck God's plan for family life. Satan reaches out of the depths of Hell - out of the Abyss - to encourage family breakdown, to help spouses to desert one another, to cause children to be rebellious, and women to have abortions, and young adults to neglect their aging parents. He is also undermining the principles of people in Government, to induce them to pass anti-family laws.

God created, in the beginning, a beautiful world, as a beautiful setting for the people He would make. He wanted the families of the earth to flourish, to reproduce, and to find joy in earthly life, in His presence; but human beings rebelled; and Satan is still at work, today, working to draw people away from God.

As surely as terrorists destroy buildings and human lives, Satan destroys families by his malice and his evil influence. Satan acts against the love and joy in family life, working to remove harmony, peace, kindness, faithfulness, forgiveness, sobriety and prayer. Those who attack the family are doing Satan's work; yet God is stronger than an angel, no matter how wicked the angel; and we must count on God's help.

As surely as terrorists destroy buildings and human lives, Satan destroys families by his malice and his evil influence. Satan acts against the love and joy in family life, working to remove harmony, peace, kindness, faithfulness, forgiveness, sobriety and prayer. Those who attack the family are doing Satan's work; yet God is stronger than an angel, no matter how wicked the angel; and we must count on God's help.

When a Catholic church is designed not to be the threshold of Heaven, for a holy people, who adore Christ Really Present in His Divine Glory, but as an architectural gem, of beautiful proportions but with no sign or symbol of Christian faith, it is unworthy of the name "House of God". The Faithful deserve to see reminders of the crucified Saviour and of His ever-virgin mother, and of the Angels, the glory of Heaven, and the Communion of Saints.

God is so lavish in his creativity that there are thousands of creatures which He has designed, hidden in the depths of the ocean, or elsewhere, and so with us; it should not cause us sorrow if all our gifts or creative powers, given by God, are not used or recognised to the fullest degree. With God's guidance, we can be certain that He will use them in the best possible ways for His good purposes.

It is not enough to teach school children to recognise their talents, to celebrate them, and to use them. They need to be encouraged to ask God for direction. He sometimes asks people to hide or subdue their talents and ambitions, for the sake of a greater good, for a while. Children need to learn that humility, and gratitude to God, are of greater importance than the pleasure found in receiving praise from other people for their gifts.

No matter how Satan is portrayed in art, through the ages, nor how silly some of the depictions seem to be, the truth is that he is a very dangerous fallen angel, far more intelligent than most human beings, and determined, by any means, to draw us away from God. Yet God is stronger, and we must trust in Him, His Son, and His Holy Spirit.

It is only too easy for weak human beings to put themselves under Satan's influence, first, by some little sins which then lead to serious sins. He becomes their chief guide, and leader, instead of Christ. The only way of escape is through complete repentance of all sin, and then adherence to God and His laws. People in trouble deserve to hear this.

There is only one fate for those who have freely chosen to ignore God or to disobey His laws, and to persevere in self-love and sin until death: it is to be exiled from God, through their own fault, as if falling through a gap in the wall that separates earthly life from Eternity, and falling into the River of the dead which surges onwards to Hell.