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Christ asked me to set a good example as I mixed with the people at the youth Festival at Walsingham. It is Important that adults go to the sacraments and set a good example for the next generation of Catholics, in everyday life and at youth-orientated Church events; and they can be inspired by the example of others.
On my birthday, when I had thanked the Father for this gift of life, I saw Him lean over towards me, to embrace me, as He said: "HOW PRECIOUS YOU ARE". We ought to be amazed and awestruck that the Blessed Trinity has such love for weak creatures.
In His Divine nature, God is like a blazing Fire of Love, which would terrify us, were we unprepared, but which the just shall enter and experience bliss, when they enter Heaven, which is life-in-God.
From the beginning, Christian life has been lived out using symbols and signs. What signs are there, in some modern churches, which have filthy entrances, and modernistic crucifixes, a hidden Blessed Sacrament, and no statue of Our Lady - in an area where people chat and cheer as if at a football rally. St. Pius X would be horrified by one church dedicated to his memory.
It is a sad thing for the faithful, the Lord explained, when a church is built which has few indications that it is a House of prayer, and where there are few of the signs and symbols which have marked our Catholic devotions, buildings and practices since the early days of Church life; and in a place that looks like a grubby stadium people behave as if in a stadium, instead of with reverent silence before Christ our God.
When a person is torn between serving God as any Catholic ought, and succumbing to wrong-doing, he will be fortunate if he hears a friend say to him: "God will give you real joy, and real peace-of-soul, when you stop trying to seize the pleasures of human life, and decide to aim for the joys of heaven."
Low-cut necklines are so common-place that Christian women are sometimes slow to realise the importance of modesty. This requires a careful and sensible attitude to clothing, so that no immodest garments make life more difficult for men to be chaste. All immodest clothing should be altered or thrown away - and certainly not given away, for other people to wear it.
If we could see into a tunnel where a train has crashed we would see helpless people, in darkness, in desperate need of outside help; and so it is with people trapped in mortal sin. They are in desperate need of the Divine grace that can bring them to repentance, with new life, hope and joy and forgiveness. They desperately need the prayers of the faithful, to help them.
To be near the tabernacle, where Jesus Christ is substantially Present, hidden under the appearance of bread, is to be close to Christ's Divine Life and power. It is as if a fire burns, at the tabernacle, just as in the heart of the bush, as Moses looked on, long ago, when the Lord told him that where he stood was 'holy ground'.
There is not one person in a whole town or country who will escape judgement. God is kind and merciful; but everyone, at death, will have to account for his or her behaviour during earthly life, and proceed towards Heaven or, by their own choices - towards Hell. Everyone will be judged: Housewives, doctors, engineers, cleaners, politicians, models, schoolboys... no-one can opt out.
The Catholic Faith is simple. Through Christ, our Saviour, we can change. Every person on earth has decisions to make about his or her behaviour. Every decision forms part of a life in the service of God, or life in the pursuit of selfish endeavours, to the exclusion of God. Everyone will be judged, at death, on earthly behaviour - whether a housewife or doctor, cleaning lady, victim of crime, or criminal. Each finally reaches Heaven or Hell.
Christ understands all our griefs and sorrows. When Christ prayed to His Father in Gethsemane, He was thinking not only of the horrors which lay ahead, but also about the wonderful joys of earthly life that He would soon be leaving behind. He was joyful about going home to Heaven, but His heart ached at the thought of leaving earthly friendships and earthly beauty.
When a priest has repented of a terrible sin of child abuse and has been forgiven, he might try to lead a good life; but if he is half-hearted in his efforts to make amends, he will find himself, when he dies, deep in Purgatory, far down, as if through a lengthy corridor into the bowels of the earth, undergoing a thorough preparation for Heaven.
When we speak up bravely, when appropriate, about sin, and when we offer up our pains and tribulations in union with Jesus, to help others in their trials, and to save souls, we do indeed help them, by the grace of God. It's as if, as we have helped people to avoid sin, we have helped them to avoid a great pit at the centre of their ordinary life, which represents the alienation from God that sinners risk, by their own actions.
The eternal truths expressed in the writings of generations of Popes are for all people. The Lord has enlightened the Popes ever since St. Peter. Two great works that the Lord wants people to examine are the Catechism of the Council of Trent, and 'Of Human Life' by Pope Paul VI - and then, in recent days, the 'Catechism of the Catholic Church'.
When dissenting Catholics voice their opinions, and encourage others to dispute the constant teachings of the Church on faith or morals, they act as irresponsibly as people on a safari, looking at wildlife from behind a protective fence, who urge other people to leap over the barrier, or who even, jokingly, make to push people over, saying: 'You won't come to any harm!'
A person who deliberately commits grave sin, perhaps through becoming resentful or bored in the 'long haul' of ordinary life in Christ's service, is as foolish as a climber who lets go of his rope, in order to move towards something attractive seen in the distance. As a climber falls to his doom, unless by a miracle he is caught in mid-air, it takes a miracle of grace for someone in mortal sin to be converted, and saved.
By fervent prayer, we can withstand evil spiritual assaults. When we share the truths of the Gospel with new fervour, or in new ways, we can find that we have stirred up the anger of the evil one, who tries to distract or disturb us in prayer, by horrible sights of the fires of Hell, or by problems in ordinary life; but we must remember that Jesus is stronger; Jesus is Lord, and we are right to trust in Him and to feel safe in His love.
God our Father wants us to know that although He is holy, He is compassionate and understanding. If there are intensely shameful or embarrassing things in a person's life, that person should believe that nothing is too shameful to bring to God in prayer, in a search for help. Each of us should have faith in God's infinite love for us, which goes hand-in-hand with His desire to make us happy and holy.
God our Father wants us to know that although He is holy, He is compassionate and understanding. If there are intensely shameful or embarrassing things in a person's life, that person should believe that nothing is too shameful to bring to God in prayer, in a search for help. Each of us should have faith in God's infinite love for us, which goes hand-in-hand with His desire to make us happy and holy.
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