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People who ignore road-signs about sharp bends, or speeding, are liable to crash when they suddenly arrive at a dip in the road, or roadworks. Just as they would be unlikely to finish their journey, so, people who ignore God's warnings about keeping the Commandments are unlikely to reach Heaven, unless they repent.

Will the 'gates of Paradise' open for you and me? Each of us should ponder the question from time to time, in order to refocus on our priorities. If we are true to Christ, on a journey of love, obedient to the Father's Will and loving our neighbour, we shall continue at death on the very same journey, to the heart of the Blessed Trinity, even if we need some purification before we enter our Home.

Friends of Christ ought not to grow despondent at the thought of growing old, and closer to Heaven, their destination. They are like people who are stiff and weary after a long coach journey but exhilarated by their first glimpse of the sea, as they turn into the sea front, and get ready to disembark. Our troubles today are only temporary. God awaits us in glory.

People who love Christ never love Him with a selfish love, but always want others to know Him too. It's as if the journey to Heaven goes through a bright corridor, in which fervent people frequently look back, to make sure that the people they love are following the same way. If not, they help them by their loving intercessions.

The evil one is at work, to plant weeds on our path: to spoil our hopes and plans by his malicious acts and deceits, all in order to make us lose trust in God, or to grow fearful. But God is powerful, like a gardener who, with one movement of His foot can crush the poisonous weeds and then clear the pathway.

Membership of Parliament can be like a journey on a boat downstream, in which people occasionally find themselves going over a weir, to experience turbulence and danger. People who are courageous, and prepared for such upheavals, do not panic, but don't allow plans to be wrecked. They persevere, to relaunch a boat, refusing to let their good intentions be wrecked by careless members more concerned with self-interest than with service of the nation's voters.

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.

People walk toward Christ and Our Lady when they approach the Grotto at Lourdes; and whenever people approach Christ and His Mother - through the Blessed Sacrament, or at Mass, or at a shrine, or in private prayer - they are 'walking in the right direction'.

Though we do not usually see them, the Saints and Angels are very close to us, urging us on, as we follow the path to Heaven in this dark world. They delight in our successes in the spiritual life. Their companionship is not enjoyed by people who take the wrong path which leads down low, as if into a ditch, as they try to hide their sins from God.

The person who is Baptised is able to receive Confirmation too, and the Holy Eucharist; and so, being fully initiated into the Church, and remaining in a state of grace - it is to be hoped - that person is on a sure road to Heaven as he or she fulfils everyday duties and tries to discern God's plan for his or her life.

After every Confession, every new start on our spiritual journey, we ought to move straight ahead, on the Way to greater sanctity. This means we should fix our eyes on Christ; with His help in the sacraments and in prayer we can avoid those routes which lead only to sin, in alienation from God, here and in eternity.

We need to pray for ourselves, and for others. We must remember that a simple choice lies before each of us, whether to follow the Way that leads to life: Christ's Way - or to follow the other fork in the road, into a dark path that leads downwards, amongst trees, where people try to hide their sins from God. Only one Way leads towards Heaven.

People who try to persevere in doing good, in ordinary life, even in obscurity, or with unexpected hardships, or further problems which seem impossible to survive, are walking steadily upwards towards Heaven, like the woman on a narrow street, sloping upwards, in a Mediterranean town.

It is possible for us to persevere in naked faith, serving God and our neighbour with love, aiming for sanctity, hoping for Heaven, even when it seems as if we have no evidence of support, no signs that we are on the right path. Naked faith means clinging to what we believe to be good, and doing good, by the strength given to us by Christ and His Church.

A person who takes a vehicle on the road needs to follow the route carefully, and obey the signs, or he will certainly not arrive at his destination. A person who wants to arrive in Heaven needs to follow the correct route, and obey the signs that have been placed by the One Who planned and built the road. We are foolish if we ignore or disobey Christ and His Church.

All who travel by the Royal Road of the Cross, faithful in love and sacrifice, can reach Heaven, both in their prayers, and when they die. They will meet the Saviour Who placed His Cross as a bridge across the Abyss between earth and Heaven, and whose saving work is celebrated in our feast: 'The Triumph of the Cross".

Some theologians are reluctant to accept Christ's claim to be the only Saviour. It's as if they are willing to explore a dark cave in the hope that it will lead to a cave-system that will stretch as far as the bright land beyond the mountains, when there is only one way over. Similarly, there is only one Route to heaven: Christ Himself - visible, safe, and well-known - which begins in Baptism.

What Christ told us is true, that there is only one Way to Heaven: His Way, which is like a road we travel safely when we have received his life in Baptism and have been freed from sin. If people are not willing to revere Christian Tradition they are not acting as true children of God, for example, Christians who are searching for another Way.

We receive the free gift of Divine Life in Baptism. That is the start of our journey with and through Christ towards Heaven; but we choose at each moment whether to persevere. Some people do so, but some seem to throw the gifts away, and they will be lost, unless they repent.

It is through the humanity of Christ that we come to the Father, in the Holy Spirit, in prayer, and then - if we have remained faithful until death - in our journey into Heaven, to be with God for all eternity. We have no power of our own by which to reach God, though by faith we allow Him to draw us to Himself.