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It was from the heart of our loving Father in Heaven that human beings 'emerged', beautifully designed for loving union in marriage, and for fruitful love, in self-giving. They would welcome and care for their children, and all family members would care for one another. That was God's plan for Mankind.
The hierarchical ordering of creation is part of the plan of God our Creator, with human beings 'higher' than fish and animals. Man and woman are equally important in God's sight, and designed to come together for a life-long union and the creation of children in a union properly called marriage.
We can picture the life of Heaven as being like a sort of parallel universe, right beside us: just as real as the visible, everyday life we know, or even more real, yet at present invisible. If we are faithful we will one day pierce the veil, to be with Christ and the Saints when we die, to stay with them for all Eternity.
A person who is at work fulfilling his ordinary duties for love of God is very beautiful, in God's sight. This is what Our Lord Jesus Christ did, for many years, before He set out for His brief but amazing Public Ministry. We too, can be sure that we please God when we fulfil our daily duties.
Christ is pleased when we step forward when people are grieving, to offer comfort, or to make kind enquiries - even if those people are strangers. It is better than hurrying past, worrying about them but not acting.
Just as a chef is kind to his trainee when he reminds him that he has forgotten to put eggs in his sponge mixture, so we speak from charity, not from hard-heartedness, when we give people precise instructions about the Faith, and tell them what behaviour is sinful in the sight of God.
God wants everyone to know that we don't need special circumstances in which to show out love for God and our neighbour, or advanced education or special training or equipment. In whatever vocation God has called us to undertake, we can show our love, and - by the graces won for us by Christ - prepare for Eternity in Heaven.
It is a terrible thing, that people in many parts of the world are enslaved by other human beings. The worst sort of slavery, however, in God's sight, is enslavement to sin, because, in it, people are in danger of losing not just earthly joy but Eternal happiness, if they do not repent.
Two people can look at the same scene, and one feels horror - knowing a murderer is prowling around, while the other sees only the breeze blowing in the curtains - as the sun shines down. So it was, on earth, for Christ in His life-time here. There was much beauty in the world, but He came across many damaged souls, and knew that Satan was always prowling around, doing evil.
Satan, reigning in the centre of Hell, looks upwards as if through a glass ceiling to where people who have given their lives to him on earth are busy corrupting children, or fortune-telling, or busy with superstition of different sorts. They have not yet realised what horrors await them if they serve the evil one until death.
The Holy Souls have only each other for company: such sad company, as they weep, and bewail the times they wasted on earth when they might have shown more love for God or their neighbour, or might have been quicker to repent of their sins. But at least they are safe now, and grateful for safety - with Heaven to look forward to, in the end.
The Holy Souls have only each other for company: such sad company, as they weep, and bewail the times they wasted on earth when they might have shown more love for God or their neighbour, or might have been quicker to repent of their sins. But at least they are safe now, and grateful for safety - with Heaven to look forward to, in the end.
Men in storybooks have undertaken long journeys to prove their love for a princess. Christ has undertaken the longest journey of all, to prove His love for Mankind. He descended from the heights of glory in Heaven, not just to Earth, but to the bottom of the dungeon in which He huddled, bleeding and deserted, during His Passion.
Christ spoke to me about the devout remembrance of His Passion which has been made by so many of His followers during the past two thousand years. He said, about the 'Stations of the Cross' which I had just prayed, "You comfort my heart by your devotion". From the Cross, He could see and hear His friends of future ages comforting Him, including ourselves today.
Through prayer, especially through the cycle of the Church's Liturgical prayer, we can enter the Mysteries of Christ's earthly life. At each of the feasts of His life we can address Him in that event, and benefit from the graces He won for us, in it. Simple people who pray to the 'infant Jesus' have an instinctive knowledge of this truth.
Through prayer, especially through the cycle of the Church's Liturgical prayer, we can enter the Mysteries of Christ's earthly life. At each of the feasts of His life we can address Him in that event, and benefit from the graces He won for us, in it. Simple people who pray to the 'infant Jesus' have an instinctive knowledge of this truth.
A person who rarely prays, or who prays but does not open her heart completely to Christ cannot develop an intimate friendship with Him. It is as if she declares that He is a good friend but, not trusting Him, keeps the door of her soul on the chain.
Can we imagine that the Blessed Virgin Mary did not know when her son had risen from the dead? She knew, at the moment of His rising, as she experienced in her own heart His bliss and glory. She cried out in joy - and later on was overwhelmed with joy when He visited her before anyone else.
It is against the Will of God for people deliberately to kill sick persons, or to assist them in committing suicide. Only God can give life. Only God has the right to call someone from earthly life into eternity.
A person acts wholly against God and His Laws if he threatens or inflicts death as part of his criminal activities, for gain, fraud, punishment or bargaining, or any other reason.
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