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Jesus can help us to keep our balance, when we are about to fall into pride or despair

Jesus can help us to keep our balance, when we are about to fall into pride or despair

Even in a pit of darkness or despair, we can call out to our loving God, certain that He will hear us

Those who turn to the Lord in their sufferings receive graces and blessings, and even new hope, unlike those who neither ask for His help nor thank Him for what is good - some of whom fall into despair.

Each of us must 'climb' to Heaven in faith, hope and love, if we wish to reach glory, and avoid the smoke of Hell which lies below. With humility we can hope to persevere to the end, and to avoid lukewarmness, despair or self-satisfaction.

No-one should despair about the evils of our age. In every age - as in ancient Rome and Nazi Germany - there have been great temptations to do wrong. Yet there is good too in every age - including our own; when, for example, good things as well as evil are sent right round the world on the internet. People far away hear about Christ.

He sat in the depth of despair, in Hell, wondering how he could have been so foolish to have thought that his ways of acting were better than the ways of charity, peace, kindness and healing.

Whoever trusts in God and in the merits of Jesus His Son, and prays with faith that he will be helped, is indeed helped, even in the deepest pit of sinfulness, despair and self-disgust. He can even be led into an intimate friendship with his Creator, when he has been drawn up from darkness.

Judas lacked trust in God and in God's power and willingness to forgive; and so, instead of repenting and seeking mercy, Judas regretted his sin but allowed himself to run away, in shame, remorse, and despair - by which he cut himself off from Divine graces.

The Lord showed me a person lying in total despair in the depths of Hell. The Lord said that people today urgently need to see what Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco saw at Fatima, long ago, to help them put their lives right. Everyone should reflect upon death, judgement, Heaven and Hell, and not waste their lives.

By offering up our pains and unavoidable sufferings in union with Christ in His Passion we join in His redeeming work in our generation and bring powerful help to needy souls caught in sin, sadness or near-despair.

Even when there are few mourners at a burial or a funeral, or when people cannot find the words to express their grief, or to comfort one another - or are tempted to despair about the fate of the departed soul - they can be certain that the Lord is near. He Himself has told us, in Sacred Scripture, 'The Lord is close to the broken-hearted'.

Even sick, disabled and paralyzed people, like every conscious person above the age of reason, can exercise his or her free will, in order to choose to live with a loving and grateful heart and outlook, or to live in self-pity and even despair. Plainly, God lovingly makes allowances for the troubles people suffer, but each person can develop a soul radiant with Divine Light, or, refusing grace, have a soul which is shrivelled and lifeless.

Whether abortion clinics or certain types of nightclub, some attractive buildings hide dreadfully sinful behaviour. It can happen that a woman who is unexpectantly pregnant panics, thinks only of her own worries, and not about the life of her tiny child. In her icy desert of despair - a 'winter' of isolation - she might look upon an abortion clinic as a place of safety, help, and support which is warm, well-lit, and staffed by non-judgemental people who promise relief from her problem. She deserves compassion, but the truth is that the clinic is organised for the routine killing of tiny babies in the womb.

When a person has been brought to the brink of despair, because he feels guilty about the malicious gossip or slander he has spread, he can be certain of finding forgiveness and peace-of-soul if he confesses his sins, then makes amends, speaking the truth to the people he had misled, or had slandered.

Just as desperate drifters all over the world might travel the highways of rich countries but have little hope, so, people who are spiritually lost might be in danger of despair. Yet to turn to God is to change things, by His grace. With encouragement from sincere God-loving people, those in turmoil can see a prospect of change.

Just as the land which is not watered by spring rains becomes dry, causing subsidence and dangerous lesions in the road, so a spiritual life not fed by the sacraments becomes weak. Those most likely to fall into the pit are those preoccupied by earthly troubles, those careless in their everyday life, and those unable to go to church who sink into depression or despair.

It is when we are most fervent that Satan tries to make us despondent, or tries to bring us to despair. Satan is a thief. As a thief might steal valuable shirts, pennants, autographs and souvenirs from devoted fans at a football match, so Satan tries to 'steal' our faith, our convictions, our graces, and our peace of mind, if we are not vigilant. We must be vigilant and prayerful if we are going to persevere.

If we cannot sweep aside injustice we can bring comfort by our prayers. God has given everyone free will, which means that He does not step in, every time someone makes an evil choice; which is why there is all sorts of wickedness, including abortion of helpless babies - and even forced abortions against the will of the mother. By our prayers and penances we can help those suffering people to endure, and not to give in to despair.

It is no small matter, to feel ourselves dragged down by an evil force. When we are doing good work for Christ and the Church, whether it is quiet or public, the evil one tries to drag us down, to tempt us to despondency or despair, to wreck our plans, to deceive us in prayer, and to draw us away from our Saviour. We need to be fervent in fighting all dispiriting thoughts and temptations, and must rely on the grace of Christ, in prayer.