Search Page

All of those Catholics who cannot be bothered to go to Mass once a week are like people marching across an icy landscape towards the Abyss. The snow represents the deadness of the souls of all who, by refusing to attend Mass, are as if saying to Christ: 'I don't need your prayers, at the Holy Sacrifice' - 'I'm not bothered about my salvation'; 'I'm not going to confess my sins, to be reconciled with You'.

What a comfort is our God! Even if we are being mercilessly treated, we know that God's love for us is so great that He came amongst us in the Person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who made Himself one will all who suffer. He was willing to live and die, as man, to fulfill the Father's plan of Salvation. He triumphed over sin and death; and we can triumph, too; if we live and die 'in' Christ.

When someone has proclaimed that he has no need of God, or doesn't believe in Him, and so endangers his own salvation, that person is in need of our intercessions. Through our prayers, and the graces won by Christ for us, a sinful person can be brought to repentance, unexpectedly - and a complete conversion will bring him to his knees, even feeling unworthy, at first, to face the God of Love.

If we know someone who endangers his own salvation, and we pray to the Father, in the name of Christ, with faith, it is as though Christ on the Cross has freed an arm, in order to point to that great sinner, saying: "He is one of Mine: one of those I came to save"; and so, for Jesus' sake, the Father hears and grants us Jesus' prayer, obtained through our intercession. We should be joyful that, in Christ, we have so much power.

If we pray sincerely, with faith in Christ, interceding for someone in need, it's as though we are looking through the 'roof' into that person's life, drawing aside the roof, so that the light of Heaven can shine in, and that person will be helped to turn to Christ, in her need.

Whenever there is a natural disaster in a poverty-stricken country, it should be borne in mind that, amongst the dead, are many who were responsible for the dreadful corruption, crime, poverty and injustice. No-one who has made himself rich or secure by sin can protect himself against sudden death, and Judgement.

If we picture an underground car-park, after an earthquake, with its floor a mess of broken concrete, and people feeling really unsafe on the uneven floor, with little hope: it will be worse than that for all who have preyed on the poor and have committed every sort of evil, and who have not repented before they died. They will experience Eternal separation from God and from loving friends and relations.

Those who use their roles in Government to support injustice and sin will meet the same fate as those who commit it - unless these politicians repent before they die. They risk Eternal separation from God, than which nothing is more horrible; yet they themselves would be to blame.

When a person convinces herself that she is justified in a course of action, freely deciding to disobey God's laws - especially His laws about married love, it's as if she slides away downhill, in a snowy landscape, so slippery as to be like a ski-slope. It is very hard for her to return to the heights of a state of grace after such a lapse in faith and morals. Indeed, it is impossible, without God's grace, and without a willingness to change.

Pornography is like a thick, poisonous cloud emerging from our world, and which is enveloping the globe, as people hide within it, and commit all sorts of sins and types of indecency, including drunkenness and multiple sexual partners. Brave politicians and brave people involved in televisual and other communications are needed, to halt this cloud of filth.

Priests, especially, must not regret their state of life. We cannot avoid all suffering, in this life, but God can help us to bear it. No-one should envy people who have another vocation. Which is the greater sacrifice: doing without marriage, to become a priest, or suffering within a difficult marriage, to be faithful to the Lord's teaching? God the Father will reward all who make sacrifices for His sake, since He is just.

Christ knows that a person whose love for Him is sincere, who recognises the wonderful graces given to him, and realises his privileged state as a sharer in Divine life, is truly grateful; and such gratitude expresses itself in praise and thanks, offered to God with outward as well as inward expressions of reverence. A person who acts in this way opens his heart to receive an even greater number of graces.

Christ wants us to reflect on what He sees, from Heaven. Christ sees a strange sight, today. In every century, people have accepted instruction in order to enter the Church and lead holy lives. Today, many are badly instructed; many continue with sinful practices; and in arguing with the Clergy about morals some make themselves unavailable for great work for Christ. How can they help Him in great things, if they will not obey in moral issues?

The Clergy sometimes, individually, make mistakes. We are right to respect the man and his office, and to accede to his wishes in the service of God, the Church and our neighbour. We should act with truth and charity towards him; but we are not obliged to believe the personal opinions he expresses if he is in error or offends against charity. A bishop in error confuses us by confusing two contradictory messages: his own, and also the one that he should embody as our Shepherd who guides, teaches and governs in the place of Christ.

Only by the grace of God can we persevere in grace. We should give thanks to God, and take no pride in our success, whenever we manage to endure a distressing or painful episode, or a time of persecution, without becoming resentful, envious, or full of self-pity or gloom. It is as though we have forded a dangerous river, with our soul held high above our head.

The priest is the man at the heart of the process of conversion. He brings good news about God's love, and the forgiveness given to repentant sinners. He brings Jesus to us: in His Word, in the Real Presence of Christ at Mass and in the tabernacle. He organises Catechesis; and he preaches, offers the Holy Sacrifice, prepares us for death, guides and helps the bereaved - and the faithful priest will be marvelously rewarded, even in this life. His greatest friend is Jesus Christ.

None of us should think that a Baptism is merely an excuse for a ceremonial gathering. A real change is effected by the sacrament of Baptism, by which a person is freed from sin, made a child of God and a member of the Church, and receives the very life of God within his or her soul. The indwelling Trinity makes the soul glorious with Divine Glory; this is a light that can only be extinguished by serious sin.

How carefully we should preserve the grace of God within us. Just as the brilliant surface of a polished table can be damaged, or ruined, by ill-treatment, through hot objects, or corrosive liquids, or savage blows, so the glory within the soul of a baptised person can be diminished or banished by the corrosive effect upon the soul of sin.

In one picture is here encapsulated what God the Father has done for us by sending His Son to be out Redeemer. Christ came amongst us, as man, to rescue people stricken by sin, who cannot, by our own power, raise ourselves up to health and holiness and Heaven. He said: Repent; Be baptised: then He conquered sin and death by His death and Resurrection.

If we have abandoned our sins, by God's grace, and if we love God, and arrange our day so that we offer frequent, sincere prayers, we can be sure that God looks upon our soul with delight. It's as if He sees a well-tended, well-watered garden, with weeds under control. We are free to choose one type of prayer or another, just as a gardener can choose to grow more vegetables than flowers. The Holy Spirit guides us.