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Plain churches, without images, encourage ordinary behaviour. Some of the Saints, to whom our churches are dedicated, would weep, if they could hear that noisiness, and see the disrespect shown by many Catholics in church. A wise priest in such circumstances puts out a notice, as a reminder.

When people are poorly-instructed about reverence, and when a church has few signs and images that indicate it is a sacred place, the faithful sometimes act, for a Mass, as if at a rally or a pop-concert. Even if a few pictures of the Saints are then put up around the walls, this is as effective as sticking a small plaster in a big wound. Change comes from clear instruction; and from effective signs of decoration at the entrance.

Wherever Catholics live out their faith with goodness and conviction, they have an effect upon their culture, as Catholics have since the earliest times. The Bishops hand on the truth from Jesus Christ, people are forgiven and transformed, freed from superstition, men and women are equal in marriage, the sick are cherished and not rejected, prisoners receive justice, little girls are educated, children are valued, even the unborn, the arts flourish - art, architecture, music and scholarship - and the Saints set an unparalleled example of goodness, in all sorts of ways.

St Peter, like Pope Paul VI, was fearless in teaching the truth. Christ chose Saint Peter to be the first leader of the Apostles: the first Pope. Christ intended the Church always to have a leader; and all through the ages, the teaching of the Popes had been of paramount importance - including the 1968 Encyclical entitled 'Humanae Vitae', about the wrongness of contraceptive use.

When we turn to Christ in prayer, in gratitude for His gifts and graces, all the Saints are close to us, glad to hear our thanks and praise for the One Who has brought them to Heaven. They long for us to find everlasting joy with Him, and help us by their prayers.

We are wise to ask the Saints for their prayers. They are alive, living in glory, and love to intercede for us with God. As we pray, and work, it's as if by their love and companionship they help to form a fence around us, to protect us from evil, and to encourage us to raise up our hearts and minds to the Blessed Trinity, above.

It is as if the Holy Souls are suspended in God's love, as they move closer to the light, little by little, helped by our prayers, until the moment when each can enter joyfully into Heaven, and share in the blissful life of the Saints, at the heart of the Most Blessed Trinity.

People wonder if Christ and the Saints can be joyful, if they know that some souls are in Hell. The answer is that anyone in Hell has got what he wanted. If he freely chose to reject Christ, until death, he now has no contact with Christ: just as he chose; nor has he the joy, peace and beauty which are found in Christ, alas. So the Saints pity the lost souls, but realise that the damned choose their destination.

Some people say: How can the Saints be happy, if they know that some souls are in Hell? Just as an adventurous person, centuries ago, risked death in the Wild West, because he longed for excitement, and took no notice of friends' advice, so some souls risk damnation for the excitement of sinful pleasures; they listen to no-one and will arrive in Hell unless they repent before they die; and the arrival will be their own choice.

The Catholic Faith should make Saints of us, people baptised, forgiven, transformed, enlightened, and worthy to worship on the threshold of Heaven, before the altar, until the time God calls us home to Heaven. The watered-down Faith sometimes offered today, which minimises the supernatural and even fails to request that candidates and catechumens give up their sins, is almost on a level with a Boy-Scout manual which requests good deeds but not faith or contrition.

We are right to help the poor; but Christianity is more than good deeds. In Christ's sight, modernism flourishes where people do not have sufficient awe of God. Many good hearted Catholics, through poor instruction, have a faith that revolves around what humans need, rather than what the Father requests and deserves. They have a too-exalted view of man, in relation to God, which distorts the whole picture; whereas Catholics really grateful to God for Jesus Christ accept the Church's teaching without constant grumbling, shoulder the Cross, and strive for holiness like the Saints, out of love for their Saviour.

Very few Catholics accept the truth: that it is Christ Who teaches us through His Church; and that she teaches the truth about faith and morals. It is with pride that many speak, when they say, in effect: "On the subject of contraception, I know better, what is right and wrong, than all these Patriarchs, Prophets, teachers, Popes, Bishops and Saints."

We are right to be confident when we ask the Saints of Heaven to pray for us or for people in need. Their prayers rise up like incense to the throne of God, and bring down upon us graces from Heaven. This is especially true when we pray at the shrine of a Saint: a shrine blessed by the Church.

God wants to save us. People who accept Christ's invitation to follow His Way to peace, forgiveness and joy can reach the bliss of Heaven, if they persevere until death, to enjoy the company of the saints at the heart of the Blessed Trinity; however, the caverns of Hell are full of terrified people who have refused the graces of Christ, refused to follow His Way, and instead have found themselves, after death, at the mercy of the demons who have long ago chosen to disobey God. These sinners freely chose to ignore Christ's love, and Christ's warnings.

God wants to save us. People who accept Christ's invitation to follow His Way to peace, forgiveness and joy can reach the bliss of Heaven, if they persevere until death, to enjoy the company of the saints at the heart of the Blessed Trinity; however, the caverns of Hell are full of terrified people who have refused the graces of Christ, refused to follow His Way, and instead have found themselves, after death, at the mercy of the demons who have long ago chosen to disobey God. These sinners freely chose to ignore Christ's love, and Christ's warnings.

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.

Within the Sacred Host there is a greater power than nuclear power, or dynamite. It is the power of God, which sets to work in human beings who are willing to change. It is the power that transforms weak people into Saints: with wills entirely devoted to doing God's Will, and - for some - to doing amazing works to benefit humanity.

Although brave or ambitious people might travel to the moon, or explore the whole world, in dangerous conditions, or record the world's flora or fauna, it is the work of the Saints that endures. They have received unparalleled Power: the power of God, in the Sacred Host in Holy Communion. Through prayer and the sacraments they are transformed, and empowered to do the Work of God, which affects the Church and the world.

Without trust in God, people turn away from Him, by a free choice. Millions of people have died with little faith or hope, and have left nothing good on earth. But the work of the Saints endures. Those self-centred people have had nowhere to go except on a single journey, chosen by them, away from God, to the depths of Hell. But the good that the Saints do lives after them, renews the Church, helps the needy, and changes attitudes across the world. The Gospel needs to be preached to the ends of the earth, to bring hope, and joy.

The journey to Heaven is, for most people, a slow and arduous climb. Christ wants each of us to believe in His love, to persevere in faith, hope, love and humility, and to avoid pride and vainglory. People who want to be Saints think more about God's goodness that about their own gifts, talents, plans and ambitions.