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Before Jesus came to earth, people everywhere were being carried away on torrents of sin. Only because He has conquered death and sin by His Cross and Resurrection can we now receive the grace to change and find forgiveness and the hope of Heaven. No-one can make himself holy, or enter Heaven, by relying on his own efforts.

Jesus told His friends a parable to encourage them to pray and not lose heart. But then He asked, about the future: "When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?" Today, He is asking us: Can He find faith in our homes? Are Catholic families following the teachings of the Church Christ founded, and teaching them to their children?

It is a terrible thing, in Christ's sight, that some parents encourage their children to sin. They do this if they give their daughters contraceptive pills, or allow them to sleep with boyfriends in their house, or fail to teach the truth about Mass attendance, and the Real Presence of Jesus, and other truths of the Faith.

In ancient times, when God gave the Commandments to Moses, God forbade the making of images. He was helping a primitive people to turn away from idolatry. But ever since the living, invisible God has revealed to the world His Son Jesus Christ, the 'living image' of the Father, Christians have rightly used imagery to inspire and educate fellow human beings.

God wants our children to learn the truth. Each received life from God, is loved by God; and life has a purpose; we should prepare for Heaven by a life of love and holiness, through the friendship of Jesus Christ and the teachings of the Church. The Christian principles, on which our country is founded must not be pushed aside by atheistic government persons.

Christ spoke the truth, in the Temple, about the activity in the Temple, and risked criticism and revenge. We too must speak the truth about wrong-doing in our society, rather than condone it or keep silent about offensive behaviour.

If an Angel were to search the world looking for his God, Who had come to earth as man, the Angel might expect to see Him enthroned and adored. But no, he would have found the God-man in a dungeon, in chains, betrayed and tormented. What a picture this gives us of the sinful state of mankind.

In Being ordained to the Diaconate, a man leaps across the fence into a 'sacred space' which represents the life of the ordained celibate. When one day he speaks, as a priest, to the people, he will resemble Jesus on the Mount of Beatitudes; therefore he should resolve that he will never speak, act or think in ways which Jesus Christ his Master, the Son of God, would not have done.

There are three groups that endanger their salvation by not benefiting from the 'Bread of Life' which is Jesus our Eucharistic Lord: those who refuse to believe in Him or to join the Church, those other Christians who insist on believing that their Orders are valid, but who receive only bread, and those Catholics whose Communions are ineffective because of the refusal of those Communicants to believe in what Christ teaches them through His Church.

We need to be 'washed' before we work for others. Christ's main message for His disciples to share, and for us to follow, is about repentance. Unless we are reconciled to God, we cannot do good work for God in the world. It is foolish to try to 'save the planet' if we have not taken steps to accept salvation from God. A cookery teacher who never washes her hands before class will probably poison as many pupils as she feeds.

Christ did not come to earth like a precious cargo from outer space, carried in a capsule that could be discarded. He was placed into the womb of His real Mother Mary, who then nurtured Him, gave birth to Him, taught Him, supported Him as He died, and was with Him and His friends after the Resurrection. From Heaven, she still helps us, His friends, today.

Those who love God and live according to His laws, following the Way made by Jesus, the Son of God, can rise up when they die to join the Father in Heaven, to share His glory, and to experience bliss at His heart, in the Communion of Saints. Those who rejected Him have rejected Heaven.

Through the free gift of Divine grace, all that Christ out God did for us in His earthly life has been given to the Church to dispense. It all stemmed from His being made flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. As man, He preached the truth, suffered and died for our sins, rose up from the tomb, and by rising up to Heaven made a Way in which we can follow, by our union with Him in our Baptism: a union made stronger by prayer, sacraments, and good works.

When Christ was on earth as the God-man, suffering amongst sinners, and praying for us to be forgiven, it was as though His love for God the Father and for human beings was so great that His prayers could not fail to reach Heaven - thus ending the alienation of mankind. His prayers were heard and granted; and so it's as though He threw out a landline, so that not just He but all who trust in Him can follow His Way into glory.

The Father is like a great king, in Heaven; and whenever we pray to the Father in the name of Jesus Christ at our side, delivering our requests, it is as though the Father is so full of love for His Son that - as He declares to the Saints, Who surround the Father in Heaven - I can refuse nothing to my Son Jesus, nor can I refuse anything He asks for His friends.

God is loving, pure and wise; therefore God chooses, for intimate friendship, a person who loves Him and is reverent, prayerful, humble and obedient. That obedience includes loving his neighbour, and the Church. God cannot bring into close union with Himself those who hate fellow creatures, or believe Jesus was a liar, or hide away in sin, or despise the Church, or are self-important, or pray with little reverence, or despise popular devotions that lead people closer to Heaven, including honour to the Blessed Sacrament, and to the Virgin Mary and other Saints.

There are people in many places who wrongly believe that we can earn Heaven by our repeated prayers and laborious religious practices. Heaven is a free gift, received in the end as a free gift, through faith in Jesus Christ Who Himself came down from Heaven to show us the Way, and to free us from our sins.

The Son of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, became man, and bore suffering and death in order to fulfil His Mission, for our sakes. He knew He would rise from the dead; and by His Resurrection He proved that He has conquered death; and He can conquer our sins, if we put our trust in Him.

To learn very quickly what God has done for us all, we need only turn to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. There, we find the true story of God's goodness, of the fall of man, of God's wonderful plan of salvation, and of the arrival of Jesus Christ our Saviour - and much more.

Every priest needs a charitable heart. God the Father, like Jesus, knows what a man is like. He sees each man's soul and personality, gifts and background and attitudes. He calls to the Sacred Priesthood only men who are suitable for that special vocation.