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There are occasions when we are caused to stop and think. Some people, when forced to think about death, spend only a brief moment wondering about Eternity, and their own future. Wise people decide to prepare. Rather that immerse themselves again in their everyday concerns they do everything possible to make themselves worthy of the gift of Heaven by growing in love for God and neighbour.

People know that kindness is important, but many forget that chastity is essential, in a life of true friendship with Christ, and preparation for Heaven. Those who mock people leading chaste lives and avoiding immoral entertainments also mock past ages in the Church for the care taken on this matter; but it is better to be disciplined and resemble a cared-for garden than ignore the Commandments and have a soul that resembles a jungle.

Whether people are atheists or God-fearers, they suffer. There is so much suffering in earthly life that we are tempted to complain; but if we were to load all our pains and problems onto a large lorry, to send them away, we would soon have another collection. What counts is to live a good life here on earth, even with suffering. We can please Christ when we resemble Him in patience and obedience, in union with Him, and interceding for others. We give glory to God, grow in virtue, and prepare for Heaven.

God is at work, in His merciful love, in Purgatory. People who die, but who have not taken sufficient care in earthly life to conquer their faults, to be active in charity and reverent in prayer, need to be totally transformed before they can enter Heaven, to be as holy as the Saints. They are appalled at how luke-warm they have been, but grateful to God for His love, as He moves each one little by little towards the light, and prepares them for Eternal Life.

Wise people reflect, and actively prepare for Heaven. As we occupy ourselves with ordinary concerns, it's as if we are on a walkway which moves slowly towards the moment of our death. Then, the quality of our relationship with God will be revealed - or even the lack of one. Some people will see God and leap into His embrace. Others gladly surrender to purification, ashamed at not being ready for Heaven. Others continue to do what they did on earth, ignoring or despising God, and freely walking away on the steep road to Hell.

It is not the Bishop's primary task to encourage people to 'save the planet' or merely to leave the world a better place - though we are trying to build God's Kingdom. The Bishop is a man who stands in front of the Abyss, his arms upraised, preaching, as he strives to lead his flock to repent of their sins while they can, to confess them, and to lead holy lives in preparation for Heaven.

If we could see into the womb of a pregnant woman, as if through a window, we would see a tiny infant, given life by God, and meant to receive love and education by its parents, in preparation for a good life on earth, and the eventual gift of Heaven. How blessed are those children who are welcomed as the fruit of their parent's union, as God intends.

If we were able to look over a huge hedge that surrounds Heaven, we would see gleaming squares and bright fountains where people can stroll in perfect companionship, if they are not busy praising God. Heaven is beautiful, and goes on forever; but everyone who enters must have a beautiful, holy soul. Wise people try, by God's grace, to get ready in good time.

Christ's invitation to us all is like the promise of a King, Who rides in a huge procession, that whoever follows Him to the palace can share His life there, as His friends, but only if they follow now, before the gates shut. It is a tragedy when some people say: "It's not convenient now", or, "It's too good to be true". The gates represent the death of each of us. People who are reluctant to follow the King might leave it too late, and find themselves excluded, which is to be in Hell.

St. John Vianney's burning desire was to share the Faith and to save souls. His first preparation for his priestly task was to pray to the Lord, at the tabernacle, pleading for his flock, and also making a worthy preparation for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which he would offer for his parish as well as the whole Church.

Some good souls cannot go straight to Heaven. It is common to hear people say, with a smile, that they will have to go to Purgatory, that they know they are not saints. Yet it is a tragedy, in their eyes, when they arrive, to be held captive there, as they see at last what lack of love for God, or laziness, kept them from achieving real holiness. What remorse they feel there, when they see that they could have become worthy to leap straight from earthly life into the embrace of their Saviour, Jesus.

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.

Christ wants us all to know that nothing matters more than this: to do good, in union with Christ, and to go to Heaven, by the grace of Christ, when our work on earth is done, and God calls us Home.

How people laugh at us, if they find out how much we struggle for perfection, and the heights of sanctity. To please God is seen as foolish, but to take tremendous pains over a climb to the summit of Everest is seen as admirable. Most Catholics would be wiser if they reflected on their priorities. Do we choose to spend our time and energy in ways that will make us ready for Heaven?

We need to think about death. In the life-time of a Catholic, a person might see hundreds of prayer cards and leaflets containing noble and encouraging phrases: the equivalent of notices in the doctor's surgeries, urging people to take care of their health. Many people will ask themselves, as they die: "Did I take enough notice of those warnings?"

Before we arrive at the edge of the Abyss, in dying, each of us would do well to ask: "have I done what God wanted, to arrive at death with a peaceful heart?" What could each of us have taken to heart, from all the prayer cards, novenas, spiritual warnings, that we have read in a lifetime?

It is true that Holy Souls in Purgatory are safe in God's care, and certain to go to Heaven when they have been made ready to enter. But some are so long in Purgatory that they look on, over and over again, as other souls speed away to Heaven. It's as if those guilty of grave sin, but saved at the last moment of life by the Last Sacraments, have to watch one train after another go to Heaven without them. Their purification is very lengthy. They, especially, need our prayers.

We are wise if we adopt a habit of prayer, shutting the door so that we can pray in our 'secret place', as Christ suggested. It is a good preparation for fruitful prayer at Mass. It can also mean that we worship God with our bodies, too, as we feel able to bow, or prostrate ourselves in private before our all-holy God and Saviour.

We are foolish if we endanger our state of grace, and our eternal destiny. To have been given the gift of life in Christ is a great privilege. It is to share the very life of God through the indwelling Trinity, and so to fulfill the Father's plan that each of us begins to resemble Christ and to be transformed by the action of the Holy Spirit. It's as if we are held in His embrace, being prepared for life in Heaven.

Christ wants us to think carefully about 'environmentalism'. We are right to be concerned for people all over the world - to ensure clean water supplies, and reduced pollution, for example. It is a mistake, if we become concerned with the care of the planet almost to the point of excluding from our minds any interest in the state of our souls. The heart of the Gospel message concerns liberation from sin, and preparation for Eternal Life.