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People in mortal sin are in great need of help, the help which can be brought to them through the prayers of other people. Divine grace can be brought to souls through intercession, just as dramatically as if a life-line were to be suddenly thrown to a person about to be swept over a huge waterfall, to her doom.

To be baptised is to have received a wonderful gift of Divine Life. But many people outside the visible Communion of the Catholic Church receive no clear instruction about faith, and holy living, as their own leaders argue about the need for sacraments, and about sexual morality. It is sometimes as tragic a state as if a person had received a wonderful computer, but without a user's manual. It could remain inactive or ever useless.

Christ is deeply touched whenever people speak, work and pray, so that the truth will be known about injustice, but especially about the unjust and merciless killing of unborn babies. They have been given life by God. They are precious in His sight, and have done no wrong; yet they are slaughtered because their presence is inconvenient.

Christ is delighted by every effort we make to show people that the tiny babies who are rejected, and even dismembered or poisoned by abortion, are human beings, no matter how small. God gave them life; and like all humans they are worthy of respect and tender care, not slaughter because they are judged inconvenient or disabled.

The life we lead on earth must inevitably lead to either Heaven and Hell (even if to Heaven via Purgatory). Those who love Christ, and persevere in charity and purity in earthly life, will enjoy Eternal life in even greater charity and peace, with Christ. People who seethe with hatred, ambition or resentment, in this life, and persist in their selfish ambitions, will find themselves in Hell with others who are self-centered and lack love for Christ.

There are deep caverns in Hell, crammed with sinful souls who have refused to repent of their sins, but have freely chosen to walk on the path to Hell, despite all sorts of warnings. There, they are tormented by the demons whose advice they have followed in life, instead of listening to God.

There is no end to the caverns and canyons of Hell, where unrepentant sinners go, to find themselves being tormented by the demons whose advice they have followed in earthly life instead of following God's laws.

It is horrible, in God's sight, that when He had sent His Son to earth, to work miracles of healing before conquering sin and death, to found a Church to bring forgiveness to sinners, and to make possible the miracle of the Mass - and when it is God Who gives to each of us in the gift of life - it is horrible that, on a Sunday, a Catholic might say, "I can't be bothered by the Mass. I want to go, for example, to something more interesting, like a garden centre". What astounding contempt for our Divine Creator.

Since it is extremely sinful to ignore our Creator by choosing for selfish reasons to miss Mass, or to encourage other people to sin, it is plainly even more dreadful to tear, limb from limb, another human being - albeit a very small person in the womb, given life by God the Father. To suggest, undergo, or assist in a direct abortion is to place oneself on the side of the demons, in the war between good and evil.

Someone who is willing to poison, or to tear limb-from-limb, a tiny infant in the womb who had been given life by God is not on the side of God but of the demons, who love to see His work destroyed or damaged.

God's chosen people were led by God on a long journey to the Promised Land, through a desert, and not always understanding His wishes - as if deep in a canyon. When they emerged, so to speak, to witness Jesus the Saviour in His life-time, it was as if on a great plain, at a time of testing. Few believed. Others crucified Jesus; but He rose to Heaven, having conquered sin and death.

Christ our God, Who gives us life, was Himself once a child, when He was made man in the womb of Mary. He wants to protect all children from two particular dangers: first, the danger of being killed in the womb, and then the danger of having their childhood innocence destroyed by unnecessary and too-early information, often amoral too, about sexual relationships.

If we try to escape the Cross, we merely flee into darkness. No Christian can expect to escape some sort of crucifixion, whether interior desolation and trials, and the dark nights, or persecution, or the knowledge of one's own sinfulness. The only way to sanctity and Heaven is upwards, with Christ, one with Him in crucifixion followed by Resurrection even in this life, to find fulfilment and joy in His service.

Some people suppose that after a good Confession everything in the spiritual life will become easy, or the way ahead will be plain; yet they seem to be walking in a great spiritual cloud, unable to see the next step. They should believe that it is God who hides them within Himself. They are held by God, in God, as He urges them to take one step at a time, in faith, doing what is right and avoiding all that is wrong.

The souls in Purgatory are faithful people, some of whom are still marred by attitudes unworthy of Heaven - hence the need for the purification wrought in each person by the Holy Spirit. No-one can enter Heaven unless full of gratitude, joy and humility. No-one can go in, still thinking, about his health in earthly life, or other matters: "Why should I be treated like this? I deserve better".

The souls in Purgatory are faithful people, some of whom are still marred by attitudes unworthy of Heaven - hence the need for the purification wrought in each person by the Holy Spirit. No-one can enter Heaven unless full of gratitude, joy and humility. No-one can go in, still thinking, about his health in earthly life, or other matters: "Why should I be treated like this? I deserve better".

A Christian artist is right to use images of a font or a full-immersion Baptismal pool in paintings, as reminders of the process of conversion and sanctification. This is the path the Heaven: the path which leads through Baptism to union with the Blessed Trinity - and, as life continues, a way of even deeper purification necessary because of day-to-day sins.

People who suffer persecution or martyrdom because of their faith in Christ can feel as though they are leaving a garden of earthly delights to enter an endless tunnel of suffering. They can be assured that that tunnel opens out onto an area: not an area like the Colisseum, but a place where Christ, His Mother and all the Saints wait to greet them, and lead them into a life of Eternal bliss.

It is a cause of sadness - but for even more fervent evangelisation - that many people ignore the glorious God Who gave them the gift of life. In freely choosing to reject His love, and His invitations to repent and change, they approach death and Eternity carelessly. Without a last-minute repentance, they will condemn themselves to everlasting torment and darkness, as if beneath His throne, by their own fault deprived of His comforting Presence.

It is a cause of sadness - but for even more fervent evangelisation - that many people ignore the glorious God Who gave them the gift of life. In freely choosing to reject His love, and His invitations to repent and change, they approach death and Eternity carelessly. Without a last-minute repentance, they will condemn themselves to everlasting torment and darkness, as if beneath His throne, by their own fault deprived of His comforting Presence.