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Christ's saving work on earth was something that only He could do. As God-made-man, He enabled sinful human beings to know and love Him, and, through Him, the Father. We can neither free ourselves from our sins nor know, without Christ and His Revelation, exactly how to please the Father. Through His Spirit, given in Baptism, we receive power; and through His Church, in every age, Truth, to guide us.

Though we cannot see them, the other members of the Church, of Heaven and Purgatory, are united with us in praise of the Father, through Jesus Christ, at every Mass. We can take comfort from the truth, that we are already doing, on earth, in our prayer, what we hope to do in Eternity, when we are perfectly joyful in God's Presence.

No matter how devout a person has been, no matter how grateful to God for His love, that person, when at last approaching Heaven after death, will find himself amazed by the beauty and majesty of the Godhead, and be prompted to exclaim - "I never knew how glorious You are... I never realised how beautiful and how good!"

The Blessed Virgin Mary is dear to the Father, Who admires her loving heart, which caused her to say 'yes' to His plan of salvation. He is glad to see her honoured by the Church.

The Blessed Virgin Mary is dear to God the Father. Christ, Son of God and of Mary, loves His Mother and wants her to be loved and honoured. It is tragic, in His sight, that some Christians refuse to honour her. They discover, in Purgatory, the truth about their neglect of her, and they bewail the blindness of their earthly lives.

Every Mass is a triumph of grace, no matter how weak we are. When we unite our thanks and praises, our sorrow-for-sin, and our petitions and intercessions, with Christ's great sacrificial prayer in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we can be confident that our prayer is successful, for it is Christ Himself, from our altar, Who lifts up our prayer, with His, and presents them to our all-holy Father, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

We are right to believe that the intercessions we offer for other people, in Christ's name, are heard and granted by the Father. It's as if everyone we've enfolded in our prayer is revealed in the presence of the Father on His throne. The Father blesses each person we've brought to His attention, as Christ our Saviour looks on with love.

It is the fervent wish of Christ our God, Who is the source of life, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, that every woman shown her unborn child will look at that image with gratitude and love. How terrible it is for Christ, whenever a woman sits in judgement on her child, planning to destroy him by abortion because he is 'inconvenient' or imperfect!

We are sometimes humiliated, slandered or ignored, because of our Christian faith. In His Passion, Christ set us an example. He kept silent, as an example for His friends to follow, as He accepted the Will of the Father, to fulfill the Father's plan of salvation. He had confidence in the Father's love, and the Father's power to save Him.

Christ is glad to see His people arrange for kingly greetings - processions, and trumpets - to be offered to the 'other Christs' He has called to look after His flocks, whether a Bishop or Archbishop. He is the King of Heaven, and these leaders in the Church are representatives of our Heavenly King, and so deserve our respect - including parish priests, also chosen by Christ to lead us.

We who follow in Christ's Way, faithful to His wishes, should be confident when we turn to the Father in prayer. Despite our many weaknesses, we can know we are heard, simply because we pray in and through Christ. It's as though He stands beside us, reaching up to the Father, praying for us, saying to the Father, about each of us: "Hear her!" or "Hear him!".

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!"

Our loving Father in Heaven invites us to share our lives with Him. We can be confident that He is just, kind and merciful, just like Jesus His Son; yet we are often afraid to show Him what our lives are really like. What do we try to keep secret from Him? What dark areas do we hide? Are we really sincere, as we say we are doing His Will and loving Him and our neighbour?

When people are taught about the Mass, the focus of the teaching should be on God, to Whom our prayers rise up like incense, and on what we can understand about our relationship with God the Father, through His Son, in the Holy Spirit. That is even more important that what is true about the Mass as a gathering of the Faithful.

It is the Will of God that we have beautiful imagery in church to inspire us; but He also wants us to have beautiful altar frontals, furnishings, chalices, chasubles, and decorative motifs. Everything should give glory to God, Whose house of prayer we have entered, and should remind us that we are on the threshold of Heaven, with the Angels.

We act like wise 'children of God', if we go to Mary, our Blessed Mother, seeking her help in approaching the Father through Christ, in prayer. She can help us to purify our intention, to clarify our thoughts, and to prepare a Gift for the Lord, the gift being the thoughts, words, offerings we offer each day, perhaps with a special degree of hope, patience, or long-suffering.

Christ's own people found it difficult to recognise, in a Person suffering pain and humiliation, the King or warrior they awaited as a Saviour. But in His Resurrection Christ performed a marvel greater than any achieved in a throne-room or a battlefield. Truly, He and God the Father are One, as Christ said.

She is only human; however, Our Lady can bring down Divine grace upon us. When the Blessed Virgin Mary reaches up in prayer to her son, to ask Him to help us, He hears her; and when her son turns to His Heavenly Father, in Heaven, the Father hears Him; so we can be confident that it is worthwhile, in every situation, to seek the help of our dear mother, the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God.

When a Christian prays to the Father through Christ only infrequently, not frequently as he ought, it's as if he had begun to build a wall; but each time he returns to it, he finds that a great part of it has collapsed, and cannot shelter him. Without frequent prayer, we can neither stay close to Christ nor lead a virtuous life.

Our Blessed Mother looks with gratitude and joy upon all the faithful priests who are living as her Son lived, doing His work - many of them celibate like Christ, and so most surely repeat His pattern of self-giving, in order to save souls and to give glory to the Father.