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It is tragic, that a human being can arrive at great old age - as if on a pinnacle, after a lengthy life on earth - without having given any thought to God. What a shock such a person has, if she dies in such a state, having been devoted to her own pleasure, and sees that she has spent an entire life without praising or thanking God, or doing His Will.

If a carpenter makes a good table, but finds that the table wishes to be a truck, he would be amazed. Just as silly would be a hedgehog who wishes to be a gazelle, or a person destined for sainthood, and Heaven, who wishes to spend his life fulfilling selfish ambitions, careless about his eternal destiny and even involved in grave sin.

The Church is like a walled garden, in which both the clergy and the laity have opportunities to resist temptations in the clamour of the world, and to become peaceful, holy people - able to become free of greed, selfish ambitions and other dangers. All of us need to stay close to Christ in prayer.

Some souls lead lives of such resolute self-will that, instead of being full of Divine warmth and glory they are like snowy waste-lands, where the snow is frozen on the trees, or even like those places in Siberia where the permafrost never melts. These souls will need a lengthy purification in Purgatory - if they die in a state of grace; not mortal sin. Their love for God has grown very cold.

We must take care not to halt the action of God in our lives. When a person refuses to do the plain Will of God, shown out in the constant teaching of the Church, it's as though she places a cloth on the ground, saying to God: 'This little enclave is yours. Don't come into my life any more. The rest of this area is mine". It is impossible for God to use people for great works who refuse to do the ordinary works.

Already, God sees the end of each of us. From Eternity, God can see, all at once, the whole of human history. He sees which human beings have persevered in the 'race' to holiness and triumph, and which have come to grief through their own sin and foolishness, and have also set a bad example. This is true of the lowliest amongst us, and of clergy as well. Each of us must be alert, because, by some carelessness, or a moment's selfishness, we can drastically alter our direction, take a foolish course, and even lead others astray.

If we want God to make a beautiful pattern out of our lives, using our various gifts, interspersed with weaknesses, failings, unhappy memories and foolish ambitions, it's as if we must allow Him to shake up our lives, by the various crosses we carry and the trials we endure. Then, from all those odd pieces, God can form a beautiful, unique pattern, as seen in a wonderful kaleidoscope such as children enjoy.

By our own freely-made choices, we alter our destiny. Those who persist in selfishness and sin, despite the help given by God to reflect upon their lives, and to turn to Him in contrition and trust, will find themselves led, at death, into total alienation and spiritual hopelessness, as if through a dark doorway, unlike those who have persevered in faith and love, and who are raised up in the glorious life of Heaven, to share the joy of the Saints, forever.

It is only reasonable to believe the evidence of our eyes and ears. If we saw blood flowing in a gutter, we would search the road for an injured body, and would find it. If we see plain evidence that hundreds of thousands of Catholics have abandoned their vocations, or left the Church, we are sensible if we look back, to find the cause. It lies in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council, in the exaggeration, rebellion, dissent, and selfishness that cause traditional teaching and liturgy to be despised.

A person who freely welcomes evil thoughts, or selfish desires, is as if being hospitable to a stream of shrieking demons, who chatter to one another as they enter.