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The whole life of the Church follows in Christ's 'wake' as part of God's eternal plan: the Apostles and Saints, a visible Church, Catholic life and culture and devotions. All of this was in the mind of God.

Someone who searches avidly for new devotions is like a fish which searches for food, day after day, on the Barrier Reef. We need spiritual 'food', but also to make time for our everyday duties, and for care of our neighbour.

As we enter the church, Christ greets us from the tabernacle. He delights especially when we love and honour His Mother on her feast days.

Whenever we honour the Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament the angels and saints join us in our worship

Whenever we honour the Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament the angels and saints join us in our worship

We should be aware of the importance and value of popular devotions.

Christ is deeply touched whenever we take care to show reverence by our gestures and thoughts; honouring Him by the Sign of the Cross; by kneeling, if we can; by being alert in prayer, by kissing sacred objects.

As we pray the Rosary, the Saints join in the first half of the 'Hail Mary', praying it with us to honour Our Lady and to glorify her son, Jesus.

As we pray the Rosary, the Saints join in the first half of the 'Hail Mary', praying it with us to honour Our Lady and to glorify her son, Jesus.

As we pray the Rosary, the Saints join in the first half of the 'Hail Mary', praying it with us to honour Our Lady and to glorify her son, Jesus.

Christ is touched to the heart by every sign of devotion to Him in His Passion - which He endured out of love for us all. He wants us to revere the crucifix, pray the stations of the Cross, and make the sign of the Cross with reverence and care.

No Catholic should look down on our ancient Christian devotions, or those of other Christian cultures, where the imagery of faith is clothed in an unusual or unfamiliar appearance; for example, Our Lady of Sorrows.

Christ is deeply touched, and very pleased, when we take part in traditional devotions such as Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, with Benediction, or the 'Forty Hours', and various devotions which honour His holy Mother Mary. He does not want anyone to criticise such practices, nor to ban them.

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.

Lourdes is not just an example of care of the sick. In looking at the Domaine in Lourdes, we have a picture of the Church which is in the world but not of it. We have a place for the sacraments, and for Reconciliation, a place for Adoration of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, a place for devotion to Mary, a place where contemplatives pray for Church members - and much mutual help between pilgrims during our pilgrimage, including care of strangers.

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'.

Christ invites those Catholics who pay little honour to His ever-Virgin Mother Mary to imitate, in this matter, the Orthodox, who have not grown cold in their love for the Blessed Virgin nor lessened their devotion.

Just as, in an art gallery, it is tragic if pictures have been cut from their frames, and visitors can only gaze at empty spaces, so it is also tragic, the Lord showed me, when the Catholic faithful must look at empty spaces in their churches where once they found beautiful and expressive imagery, to inspire them.

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.