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Authentic Catholic teaching is like a glass of pure water for thirsty souls. Teaching which contains errors or distortions is like a glass of water which contains some dangerous organisms.

Souls are powerfully helped by the prayers we offer with and through Christ at Mass. It's as if needy souls are 'carried' by the prayer of the Church, away from danger and distress.

Souls are powerfully helped by the prayers we offer with and through Christ at Mass. It's as if needy souls are 'carried' by the prayer of the Church, away from danger and distress.

We fail in our duty if we never warn others of the consequences of serious sin and irreverence. It's as if we were to walk past people who are trapped in a swamp because they did not take the right path. They are in danger, even if they imagine all is well.

We are all on a journey, past great swamps and quicksands. It is not loving to say nothing when we see people set out on a dangerous path instead of the safe one: hence the importance of honest ecumenism, of good catechesis, and evangelisation.

The 'ground' in which we walk, in our spiritual lives, suffers from subsidence and becomes dangerously frail when the pure water-pipe of sound doctrine is broken by our disbelief. To have a weak faith, or to follow an erroneous conscience, is to walk along a road which is likely to collapse when tested by a heavy load.

Those in the Church who are proud or ambitious are like fish which dart about excitedly and travel far but are in danger from larger fish. Humble people who are faithful to their duties without noise or ostentation resemble those lowly creatures, outwardly dull, who live more safely on the ocean floor and also fulfil their purpose.

The work of intercession is very important. By a single prayer we can - by God's grace - help a person in need just as when a man trapped in a gravel pit is helped when a rope is thrown down.

Some people begrudge having to look after sick relations. They even bang the dinner plates on the table. That's what it's like when we pray to God with resentment, or are angry about having to confess our sins.

There are some souls who drift towards disaster. Though outwardly pious they abandon God through their self-will, disobedience and neglect of people in their care.

It is Christ Who has built the vehicle by which we can be carried away from the 'war-zone' of earthly life, to safety. He is the designer, and the pilot who will take us on a free flight, if we will trust in Him.

Someone who has been brought 'high' in prayer, and asked by the Lord to guide others, is like a climber on a mountainside who can call out to those below: "Come this way" or "Don't follow that ridge".

Someone who has been brought 'high' in prayer, and asked by the Lord to guide others, is like a climber on a mountainside who can call out to those below: "Come this way" or "Don't follow that ridge".

God's love 'falls' upon us unceasingly, as if from a waterfall. How surprised we would be if something interrupted the flow. We must beware of stopping the 'flow' of generosity in our own lives towards others.

Near the end of our earthly journey, we come to an intersection. If we follow the wrong road we will find ourselves lost on a bypass, or in industrial wastelands. But if we do what Our Lady says, and follow the map - which is Christ's instructions - we shall follow the road to the great Cathedral of Heaven, at the city centre, and hear beautiful music, in glorious surroundings.

Someone who refuses to repent of wrong, refuses to show contrition, or refuses to make reparation to those whom he has wronged, is in a dangerous place as if on the sloping side of the crater of a volcano. He might live in hope of reaching the top. But each new movement of rebellion makes him slide closer to the sheer precipice, from which only a miracle of grace can rescue him.

A person who has not seen a warning, and who skates on the thin ice, might be blameless, but still risks danger. So with those who commit from ignorance what are objectively sinful acts. They might not be culpable, but they are in danger of making a habit of sin, or being led to worse.

Someone who sees a warning about thin ice, and deliberately disobeys, even stomping on the ice in a display of 'bravery', will certainly fall into the freezing depths. So it is with grave sin, committed by persons who refused to listen to warnings. Through such sins, people risk disaster: the worst of all being the loss of God.

Just as a person who deliberately skates on thin ice is bound to fall through it, so people who willfully ignore God's laws risk falling and being lost.

Just as a person who deliberately skates on thin ice is bound to fall through it, so people who willfully ignore God's laws risk falling and being lost.