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Just as a dying sinner can (by God's grace) be saved from Hell by the visit of a charitable person, such as a nurse, for example, who pauses to pray with him, so sinners can be held back from committing mortal sin if we pause to 'offer up' our sufferings in intercession.
Many priests fail to mention the Cross. Jesus died on it, because of our sins. Few warnings are given from the pulpit, by many priests, about the serious sin by which people condemn themselves to Hell if they do not repent before they die. Many are lost because they have failed to repent of their adulteries, suicides, abortions, and lack of faith in God.
Each person on earth is given the choice: whether to serve God or to ignore Him. Those who refuse to live according to God's laws offer a great insult to their Creator; and if they persist in that state until death, it will be as if each is freely choosing to hurl himself away from his Creator, and so away from all love, light and joy.
Those souls who live as Catholics but who never use the Sacraments of Penance are like people who never wash or clean their teeth but who imagine that they are pleasant to be with. Souls not properly purified stink before Heaven.
Those involved in serious sin, such as those who promote abortion, unless they repent, will one day find themselves falling into hell.
If we persevere in fervent love of God and of our neighbour we can arrive at the top of the mountain of holiness, and enter Heaven as soon as we die. Those friends of Christ who grow luke-warm or careless are collected, at death, and taken to Purgatory, to be made fully-alive and joyful, ready for Heaven. People who have walked down the mountain, of their own free will, are heading towards the Abyss, and doom.
It was as a 'cloud' over the earth had been rent apart, when Jesus toured Galilee, speaking the truth about the purpose of life, the glory of the Father, the need for repentance, and for Baptism. He showed out God's nature and God's Will. He revealed the extent of Divine Love by accepting death on a Cross, rather than give up His Mission. He proved His Divinity by His miracles, above all by His Resurrection.
It is no small matter that many Christian bodies do not have the 'fullness of the means of salvation' which the Catholic Church has, as the 'one true Church'. In a matter of life and death, in bodily care, people take the tablets which are of known origin, proven efficiency, and correctly proportioned good ingredients. And so, for the spiritual life, for Eternity, we take 'medicine' from the Church of known origin - coming from Christ, known to have saints, and with valid sacraments.
Catholics, more than other people, have so many opportunities for prayer, yet many cannot be bothered to praise Christ for Creation, or for His Incarnation, or for His Church, or when receiving Him in Holy Communion, or when near the tabernacle, or during each day as He sustains our lives, or at death when we shall meet Him and find out what we have done with our lives and whether we are ready for Heaven.
I 'saw' falling straight into Hell, at death, an unrepentant soul who had kidnapped and abused a child, for his own pleasure, and with no charity towards all involved who would suffer from his actions.
A person who has welcomed the Spirit of Christ into his soul can count on the Holy Spirit to carry him across the Abyss when he dies, to meet Christ and to make his way into Heaven - even if through Purgatory. But the man who has persisted in saying to God: "I don't need you", will find, at death, that he falls into the Abyss.
As I praised the Blessed Virgin Mary on the feast of her Assumption, I was shown by the Lord a 'mountain', with the narrow path which leads to great sanctity. We can all become holy and pure, like Our Lady and the Saints, by God's grace - though we cannot yet enter bodily into Heaven, as she has, and her son.
The Lord showed me how brief is earthly life, compared with Eternity. He asked me to tell everyone: This glory is what you are called to. What will you do to attain it? - In other words, are we sincerely preparing to receive the free gift of Eternal Life, and are we worthy to enter Heaven?
Our Lady spoke about those people who deliberately ignore her prayers, and the good advice of other people, and who deliberately take the path that leads to Hell. If they do not repent before the 'door' of death closes, they will be trapped in torment forever.
As Jesus's Sacred Body was carried in a Monstrance past the crowd, at the prayer festival, I saw Jesus walking amongst us, happy to be amongst a different sort of crowd from the one that first called 'Hosanna', on seeing Him, but then rejected Him, and shouted 'Crucify Him'.
Truly, only by His Death and Resurrection did Christ defeat sin and death; and that saving work is made present now, in what we call a sacramental manner. Hidden under the appearance of bread and wine, Jesus Christ is bodily Present with us, offering His once-for-all Sacrifice to the Father, in the Spirit.
Satan, the wicked Angel, imagined that death would defeat the 'Son of Man'. Yet Jesus conquered both death and Satan by rising from the dead. In private prayer, and at Mass where Jesus' Sacrifice is re-presented, we are right to praise and thank our Saviour for shedding His Blood on the Cross, for our sakes, and re-uniting Heaven and earth by his love and obedience.
How can a man 'lose' God after death, by being in Hell, separated from God, when it is God Who holds everyone in existence? It is as if a man were living in a bright, beautiful home, but insisted on building concrete walls of sinfulness around Himself, which he refused to destroy. He would have 'lost' the company of His family and friends, while his suffering would be entirely due to his own actions.
Christ will say, to some of the Christians who come to Him to be judged: "You say you loved Me, though you ignored My Mother?" Then that person will see how grievously He has offended Christ, who told us to honour our mothers and fathers and Who now lives in Heaven with His Virgin Mother beside Him.
The power given to us in Baptism can draw us up to holiness and Heaven; but we can be hampered from 'flight' by these attachments: timidity in sharing our Faith, worrying about what people think our about particular vocation, concern for physical comfort, or neglect of everyday duties. The last 'string' to be cut is death.
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