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We should pray for people in spiritual danger; however, people who insist on walking at the top of a steep cliff can fall, because of their own pride in ignoring warnings, onto the rocks below. A miracle could stop their fall, just as a miracle could stop the headlong fall towards Hell of a person who is insisting on committing mortal sin, despite all warnings. But miracles are rarely granted in such circumstances, being more usually given to the lowly.

Just as people who deliberately choose to ignore all warnings, and walk around the rim of the crater of a volcano, are in danger of falling into the fire, through their own foolishness and pride, so, those people who deliberately defy God by acting against His moral law are in danger of falling into Hell, through their own fault, unless they repent before they die.

We cannot look away when people starve; nor should we look away when the souls of fellow creatures are in danger. People who deliberately defy God's law, and commit mortal sin, and who even show pride in what they do, or boast about it, are as if climbers dancing only inches away from the mouth of a live volcano. They will end in Hell, unless they repent; and so they are in desperate need of our fervent intercessions.

If people in Government pass laws which promote evil, they are acting against God. Whoever supports evil acts such as abortion and promotes its greater availability, through committee work and voting, should think about Eternity. Each person of earth will end in Heaven, even if though Purgatory, or in Hell, through his or her own fault. All should strive to lead good lives, and not risk Eternal Life through helping others to kill the innocent.

People who have chosen to commit mortal sin imagine that they are free; but they have been weakened by Satan. It is if he seizes and moulds them, making them rigid, helpless parts of a great fence around his kingdom of evil. To escape, they need the grace of God and the prayers of the faithful.

People who persist in mortal sin, careless of the danger to their souls, and of the risk of damnation, are as if living on narrow ledges just above the great Abyss which separates earth from Heaven. They have no hope of crossing the Abyss, unless they are drawn up by God's grace and the prayers of the faithful to level ground, which is a state of grace. From there, they can allow the Spirit to carry them to Heaven; but if they stay on the ledges, then die, they will immediately fall into Hell below.

Some people say: 'Why does God let people suffer in Hell. Can't He destroy sinners?' It is not in God's nature to destroy, like a mythical God who is proud of his power. He is all-love, and lovingly reaches out to us through His Son, warning us of the danger of sin and disobedience. The sufferings of Hell are caused by the loss of God, through a person's own fault, and through the demons, who delight in causing pain.

We must never forget how powerful are the sacraments. Death is the 'cut-off' point: the moment in which we lose our ability to decide for God, or against Him. There are few death-bed conversions. Usually, as people live, so they die, either loving God or focussed upon their own desires. This is all the more reason for asking a priest to anoint a sick or dying person. Christ, through this holy sacrament, can free from sin someone who was about to fall into Hell.

There is no need to show children pictures of the flames of Hell, or demons; but they do need to be told about the consequences of our lives: that, at death, each person goes towards Heaven or Hell, and that Hell is truly terrible. If these truths are left out, how can children learn the truth about God's justice, and mercy - or about free-will, by which we can choose what to do, but must face the consequences if we walk away from God, and His love, joy and peace?

It is tragic that people think that God is cruel, to allow people to go to Hell. He is reaching out, all the time, to save us from the consequences of our sins, warning us of the total loss of joy and peace when people freely choose to try to live without His love. He even sent His Son to earth, as man, to speak to us, and to plead with us to repent, and lead holy lives in union with Him, in preparation for Heaven. He sacrificed His life for this - but still, many people walk away.

It is astonishing, how careless we are, in the face of danger. What the Lord allows us to picture as the fires of Hell are only images; but they represent a terrible reality, which is that there is no greater torment than alienation from God, forever. Christ often warned us about Hell. He has done so, through His Church, for 2000 years; and so He wants us to see that if we deliberately walk towards those flames, by refusing to repent and to live in His love, we are foolish as well as disobedient. For people who die in their sins, Hell never ends.

Christ wants everyone to know the truth about Hell as well as Heaven. He spoke a lot about Hell, in the Gospel stories, but this is rarely mentioned today. He wants us to realise that someone who deliberately commits grave sin, despite Christ's warnings, is foolish as well as disobedient. That person is freely choosing to walk into those flames, unless he repents in time.

Christ wants everyone to be reminded that life ends. By our choices and actions today we are choosing to move towards Heaven or Hell. Either we are good children of God who will be confident that the Holy Spirit will carry them to Heaven when they die, or we are in danger of falling into the Abyss, to join the demons in Hell, by our own fault. Christ wants each person to think about this question: "What are you doing with your life?"

We should use the time well, doing good, and preparing for Heaven. At the end of earthly life, each of us will be on our way towards Heaven - carried by the Holy Spirit across the Abyss, even if we then pause in Purgatory - or on our way into Hell, in the depths of the Abyss. Our freely-made choices in this life affect our destiny. God is asking each of us: "What are you doing with your life?"

Ahead of us, at death, lies Heaven or Hell. God gives life to each person on earth; but He does not put us here, and leave us alone, as we try to make decisions about good and evil, and freely choose whether to follow the path towards goodness, and Heaven - or evil, and Hell. He constantly helps us through the promptings of the Holy Spirit, urging us to do what is right; yet some people refuse to listen to Him, and are later damned, through their own fault.

This is a picture of a mind, as someone wonders if he can avoid a moral obligation. Although we can freely make any one of several decisions, in following a good career, or choosing a spouse, for example; yet when we are reluctant to act, in moral issues, we often see that there is only one way - Christ's Way - by which we can please God, do good, help others, and gain or re-gain our peace of conscience. He can give us the courage to walk where He leads us. We can avoid our kaleidoscope of temptations, and call on Christ to lead us: to holiness and Heaven.

Each Saint in Heaven is like a flame of pure praise in a great fire of praise of the Father. We hope to join them, and to be reunited with friends and relations, who have loved God. The truth about Heaven is that whoever does not love God, and does not want to praise Him, does not enter - by the free choice he has made to exclude himself.

It was the Father's plan to give His Son to the world through Mary, the Blessed Virgin. Only because of her consent to the Father's plan - which would bring her tremendous suffering as well as joy - did Jesus come to our world: the God-man, to save us from our sins. She is still active, with Christ, as she prays for us, as our Mother.

There might be pleasure in sinning, but there is no spiritual joy in being in spiritual danger. If a person freely chooses to do what God has forbidden, it's as if he is holding on to the edge of a cliff; if he dies without repenting and moving up onto level ground, he will inevitably let go and fall into the depths, never to emerge.

There are worse tragedies than illness. There was once an advert that portrayed the pain of a family who lost a beloved member through sudden death. How terrible it is, if a member is lost forever, through not having prepared for death by repentance, holy living, prayer, and trust in God. Some people rule themselves out of Heaven by their sins or disbelief.