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Some people cannot be bothered to prepare for Holy Communion, or for death. It is impossible for a person befouled with serious sin to enter Heaven. It's as though, when a person has not repented, but dies, he moves towards God whilst still clothed in filthy rags, whereas those who have repented are wearing clean garments. They have been made pure and holy, by Christ, and are worthy to enter Heaven's purity and holiness.

Children deserve to be helped to reflect on their behaviour. When Bishops and others hand on the Faith to children, they should ask: Are you worthy to enter Heaven's glory, when your life ends? Are you ready to be carried by the Holy Spirit, across the Abyss, into the purity of the Godhead? Are you willing to prepare for that time?

Just as a scientist, using an illuminated magnifying lens, can see hair-line cracks, and other dangers to hygiene, invisible to the naked eye, so the Lord can illuminate our souls in prayer; and the Divine, healing light that shines within our souls when we bring our sins, hurts and problems to God is a powerful means of achieving purity and holiness.

A person who wants to get to Heaven, and who is not against God, but who is not yet willing to repent, is like a man who searches for a way across the great Abyss between earth and Heaven, but is unsuccessful. To cross that great divide, we need the help of the Holy Spirit, Who comes only to those who repent of their sins, and thus allow the Spirit of purity and peace into their hearts.

Christ holds up St. John Vianney, inviting all priests and Bishops to peer through the mists of time to meet a Saint whose priestly ministry was simple, fervent, Christ-centered, self-forgetful, pure and holy. St John is the ideal patron Saint for all Clergy. Faith and love are important, today, not trying to be being 'relevant'.

God is all holiness, purity, goodness and radiance. When we die, shall we be sufficiently like Him to be able to reach out to Him with joy, or to do so after some preparation? If our immediate reaction will be complete rejection of God there will be no place to go except down, away from Him into the Abyss.

Priests should set an example of holiness and purity, neither giving up nor watering down the Faith, nor developing a worldly spirit in order to be popular. They will do little good if they are disloyal to the Saviour, Who asks them to imitate Him, and keep people safe from Hell.

It is true that everyone is to be made welcome, who wants to attend Mass; but this does not mean that people in mortal sin have a right to approach the sanctuary to receive Holy Communion. It is the constant teaching of the Church that, in such cases, people must first be reconciled and receive absolution; then each one can begin a new life of holiness and purity.

Jesus Christ our God asks us to gaze above the rooftops, and across the whole of our land. He asks us to be aware that in this supposedly Christian country, in a supposedly civilised world, some politicians want to issue edicts that forbid us to teach right and wrong - especially about marriage, and purity.

The whiteness of an alb represents the purity that a good priest should have; a very sinful priest is like an area of emptiness, from which the Holy Spirit has fled, leaving only darkness. How can sinful priests be helped, or holy priests kept pure? - By the intercession of the faithful, the Mother of God, and all the Saints, who petition God to help the Clergy.

Obstinate souls require firm 'treatment'. A soul that is well-cared for, in the sense of being pleasing to God because of its purity, humility and love, is like a beautiful lawn that is pleasant to walk upon; but a soul that neglects its spiritual health is like a place of dry grass broken up by patches of mud. It needs to be well-dug before new seed can be sown; and that 'digging' might take the form of an apparent catastrophe in ordinary life.

The Lord has a question for us. He invites us to look at a picture of the Saints who are gazing towards Christ in awe, love and adoration; and the Lord asks us: 'Are you ready to join them?' - by which He means: 'Have you been reconciled? Have you decided to lead a life of purity, holiness and charity?'

Within the soul, as if in a bright interior chamber where the contemplative meets Christ in prayer, it's as if there is a secret chamber into which Christ can draw that person, to bring her to meet the Holy Spirit and the Father too, and to share Christ's secrets, about the life of God and the life of grace. Only those people who have sincerely tried to live in charity, humility and purity can enjoy such intimacy with God.

The Blessed Virgin sacrificed her life, to give the world its Saviour. The Church has issued formal declarations in modern times of what she has long believed about Our Blessed Lady: about her purity (The Immaculate Conception) and her triumph (Her Assumption, body and soul, into Heaven); yet Christ wants to see honour paid to her courage and love, through a formal definition of her titles, proclaiming her, 'Co-Redemptrix', and, 'Mediatrix of all Graces'.