Search Page

We should follow Christ through the 'narrow gate' that leads to Heaven, and avoid the darkness of sin and discouragement

At Pentecost, the Blessed Virgin Mary completely surrendered yet again to the light and power of the Holy Spirit as they poured down upon her from Heaven. She had followed the Spirit's guidance for the whole of her life, and that is what the Spirit asks us to do, and to do so by following all that He teaches and advises us through the Church, and in our individual vocations.

Within the soul, as if in a bright interior chamber where the contemplative meets Christ in prayer, it's as if there is a secret chamber into which Christ can draw that person, to bring her to meet the Holy Spirit and the Father too, and to share Christ's secrets, about the life of God and the life of grace. Only those people who have sincerely tried to live in charity, humility and purity can enjoy such intimacy with God.

We know that Christ was made incarnate of the Blessed Virgin Mary; and it is Christ Who is now made bodily Present, in a sacramental manner, in the Most Holy Eucharist; yet He is never separated from the Father and the Holy Spirit. When we are close to Christ we are also close to the Father and the Holy Spirit: to the one God, the Blessed Trinity.

We know that Christ took flesh from the Blessed Virgin, and is both God and man. We also know that He is bodily Present with us, in a sacramental manner, in the Holy Eucharist. Yet He is never separated from the Father and the Holy Spirit: in the unity of the Blessed Trinity.

The Holy Spirit, Who brought together thousands of priests to offer a Mass with Pope Benedict on one occasion, is the Spirit of Jesus Christ, Who chose each of those men. Each responded. Christ chose each one even before each emerged from his mother's womb. Christ wants each one to persevere, and never to become despondent, or give up, because of his own sins and weaknesses.

The almighty and Eternal God calls men to share the priesthood of the Son of God. If all priests were able to see and hear the Holy Spirit they would hear Him say, of the call from Christ: 'He chose you, and you responded. Even when you were in your mother's womb, He knew He would call you to be a priest; and then you accepted. Never give up because of your own sins and weaknesses.' Truely, the Catholic Priesthood is a calling, not a career.

All Christians should recognise the power of Christian prayer. To pray 'in the name of Jesus' - or 'through Christ our Lord' - is to pray with faith in our union with our one and only Saviour: the God-man Who sacrificed His life for us, but conquered death and sin by His death and R+D5182esurrection. It is also to pray with faith in His prayer, Who perpetually intercedes for us with our Heavenly Father. It's as if all the people, projects and situations I pray about, or intercede for, are swept up in one great prayer from my heart to Heaven, in the power of the Holy Spirit: Spirit of Jesus.

No-one in the Church should deny the importance of Missionary work. Those who revere Truth and love their fellow humans love to share the Truth about God's Love, made plain in Jesus Christ, our Saviour. There is a place for Dialogue with people of other religions; but if people called to evangelise are content to talk each time, without sharing the Faith, they have forgotten God's plan for their lives. They are foolish if they remain deaf to the Holy Spirit.

A pony waits patiently before moving up with his load; and the Holy Spirit 'waits' in patience, until we are recollected in prayer, before drawing us up high towards God's heart.

The view from Heaven: Christ, looking down at the world, sees his priests as 'other Christs', each a visible 'embodied' Christ in a particular place on earth, each chosen and made ready to sanctify the Faithful and to teach those who do not yet know Him, each one visible, truth-speaking, kind, prayerful, and trusting in the Father's plans and the Spirit's power.