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Whenever a politician dies, he or she appears before the great Lord Who creates all creatures, and judges all people: the holy One, Who will say: "What have you done with all your power? Have you helped your fellow creatures, and saved lives? Or have you extinguished helpless innocent human lives through supporting or extending evil laws about abortion?" Every politician will have to account for his sins, as we all must.

Only because Christ suffered and died, as man, to conquer sin and death by rising up from the grave, has He made it possible for us sinners to follow in His Way. We who trust in Him, and go into the 'tomb' in our Baptism, and renounce sin, and carry our sufferings in patience, like crosses, know that our prayers are heard, and that Heaven awaits all who remain faithful.

Christ wants us to realise that the worst thing for Him to endure, in the events leading up to His trial, was not the roar of the crowd, but the desertion of His friends, which wounded His heart.

Some types of wrong-doing are merciless, and always wrong. Just as Pontius Pilate gestured towards Christ, and explained that he was going to wash his hands of that Galilean 'prophet', so a surgeon gestures towards a baby who lies hidden in the womb of the mother who has requested an abortion; and the surgeon explains that it won't take long to dispose of the child.

Just as Christ was left half-dead, after a cruel scourging, and was about to die on the Cross of Calvary, so it frequently happens that an aborted baby is left half-dead on a work-top, unwanted and untended, left to die solely because the child is unwanted. It is a monstrous sin, in God's sight, to kill the innocent.

One sin leads so easily to another; for example, when a woman idolises the man she loves, co-habits with him, pursues a career to be a glittering partner to him, rather that have a family, and then finds she is pregnant, she slides more easily into the grave sin of abortion than a woman who has already been prayerful and disciplined for God's sake, in a loving marriage begun in Church: a woman not ashamed to carry our ordinary domestic tasks, and who sees every baby as a gift from God to her and to her husband.

Christ wants each of us to believe that His love for us is real and everlasting. He was willing to live on earth, and even to be mocked and put to death on the Cross, in order to save each of us from the consequences of sin. Every individual can say: "He went to the Cross, for my sake". We can believe, and respond with gratitude - or, with hard hearts, turn away.

The two forms of the Rite of Mass which have been given to us in the Western Church have both been given by Christ our God, Who wishes none of us to be partisan, despising what others prefer. Yet Christ, like many of His flock, sees the regrettable mistranslations in the older translation of the Novus Ordo; and the style of language in it that represents a different attitude towards the Godhead and the life of grace: not as reverent as the Extraordinary form suggests.

The dangerous step of a suicide: Everyone who plans to commit suicide deserves to be reminded that death is like a prison with no exit. The entrance to it cannot be opened again, for a person who says: "I've changed my mind! I want to live! There I things I want to do". To commit suicide is to go towards judgement, before God has chosen to call that person, though only God knows how blame-worthy is someone who commits the sin of self-killing.

We are right to believe that the intercessions we offer for other people, in Christ's name, are heard and granted by the Father. It's as if everyone we've enfolded in our prayer is revealed in the presence of the Father on His throne. The Father blesses each person we've brought to His attention, as Christ our Saviour looks on with love.

To imprison someone unjustly is the equivalent of kidnap: an abominable crime, in God's sight. People who are responsible for such sins will have to account to God for them, when they die.

By requesting or assisting in an abortion, people ignore God, and His laws. Many people know that as well as destroying babies, abortion harms the mothers involved, whether by the grief and guilt many feel, or psychological problems, or even a greater likelihood of suffering physical ailments; but everyone deserves to know the truth which is rarely mentioned: that all who request or take part in an abortion risk their Eternal salvation, unless they repent before they die.

Since they are often ignorant of Christian history, some groups of puzzled reporters or politicians who regard the Church as irrelevant and a Bishop as a nuisance have no idea of the truth about his office. They do not realise that God the Son, in coming to earth, founded a Church with Divine authority, sent out chosen leaders to preach the truth in every place, about sin and salvation; and that the current Bishop is the particular ambassador or representative of almighty God in this place on earth!

God does not look upon us with distaste because we have distractions in prayer. He understands our nature. Just as one of us, reading peacefully in a hot climate, might be merely amused, not annoyed, by the little lizards which dart around our feet, on the stone pavement, so God looks on us with affection as He sees us praying sincere prayers although these are interrupted by minor distractions.

There are still many people who have not yet heard the Gospel preached. It is true, as the Church teaches, that it is possible for a person not baptised to be saved. However, this is far less likely than many people suppose, for the simple reason that many non-Christians have committed grave sins - as Christians have - but have never repented. Many have refused to join the Church, or mocked her, or mocked her priests; and of the rest, how many have followed the promptings of their conscience, for a life-time, until death, to do good and to avoid what everyone should know is evil? Only God knows.

There is a tremendous need for intercessary prayer. It is possible for the non-baptised to be saved, if they have never heard the Gospel but have persevered until death in doing good and avoiding evil; but many non-Christians have refused to believe in Christ. Others have committed grave sin and refused to repent. Others have mocked the Church or mocked her priests. Others have ignored the call of conscience, and followed selfish ways, knowing these were wrong. Thousands fall into Hell, everyday, alongside unrepentant Christians.

When someone baptised has become mired in grave sin, it's as if his soul is like a beautiful building now scarcely visible because of the jungle-like growth of sin that now almost covers him. Only by a repentance and trust in God can his spiritual beauty be restored, to give joy to Heaven.

Many Catholics do not enjoy the lights and consolations that God delights in giving to His faithful children. People who refuse to repent of their grave sins - which they do not want to abandon - act like a man who puts a boulder in the path between himself and Christ. It blocks the flow of light and joy from Heaven. Of his own free will, such a man is refusing Christ's free gifts.

We have a duty to pray for our brothers and sisters who have lapsed, and no longer enter church for Mass. Some have committed grave sins and don't want to give them up; others feel ashamed of their sins but have forgotten that they can repent and be forgiven. Others no longer believe in the teachings of the Church. They all deserve our prayers.

Real charity, in practice, includes speaking the truth. A member of the Clergy who panders to the desires of the laity not to hear about sin, and who fails to do his duty of issuing warnings, as Christ did, will be held responsible for when people do sin, just as people are held responsible for road-crashes when they have failed to put out signs about road-works, or major junctions.