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When I addressed Christ, on His Mother's feast day, as the "Immaculate son of an Immaculate Mother", he said: "She is privileged beyond compare" - He meant, on her being conceived free from original sin. "But I am fortunate to have such a mother". In this way he showed His deep love and affection for Mary.
Jesus is the 'Lamb of God' we adore at Mass. Jesus, Who sacrificed Himself to save us from our sins, was once a flesh and blood baby, like those being sacrificed today by abortion, often on the 'altar' of convenience and self-love, though some young women act in terror or ignorance.
Jesus is the 'Lamb of God' we adore at Mass. Jesus, Who sacrificed Himself to save us from our sins, was once a flesh and blood baby, like those being sacrificed today by abortion, often on the 'altar' of convenience and self-love, though some young women act in terror or ignorance.
Whoever 'offers up' her suffering in union with Christ in His Passion, and prays for people in need, can be sure of bringing help to sinners, or the sick or lonely, and others. It's as if those needy souls are brought close to God, in a great procession, as His healing light shines upon them - even if the one praying has no idea who is being helped.
It is the Will of Christ that each Mass be offered with reverence and gratitude, in accordance with the rubrics. Wherever Clergy act in 'creative' ways disobedient to the rubrics and causing distraction in other ways, those present should focus on the heart of the Mass: the Real Presence, and Christ's Sacrifice - as if with Mary at the foot of the Cross.
People who are both reverent and well-instructed demonstrate their reverence for Jesus Christ, Present in the tabernacle. They bend the knee before Him in a reverent genuflection, on entering or leaving their place in a church, and when passing by the tabernacle.
It is true that Jesus healed everyone. But we cannot accuse sick people who fail to improve, after prayer, of having little faith. The Lord permits some people to bear sufferings so that - just like Him, on the Cross - they might do penance for the sins of other people. Others are allowed, by the Lord, a time in which to reflect on their lives and to amend their sinful ways. Others, by patience in sickness, set a good example.
Some clergymen try to forget that Christ said many 'hard sayings' about sin, Hell, judgement, and faithfulness to the Church; these are things often ignored or contradicted today, by those Catholic Bishops who are more keen to please their colleagues or their flocks than their Saviour.
A person's life can be seen as balanced if he believes all the truths of the Catholic Faith and tries to practice them; yet if he jettisons too much of the truth, he endangers his own soul, and might even fall away into the darkness. The boxes, here on the scales, represent our doctrines.
There is only one Way to Heaven, made by Christ, Who had come down from Heaven; so if we picture life on earth, we should picture Christ on the Cross, on Calvary - with a ladder nearby, which reaches as far as Heaven. Christ made that Way, by His suffering and death and Resurrection. We are heirs and heiresses to life in Heaven if we have passed through the water of Baptism - like a cleansing river - and live for love of Christ until we die. That is 'salvation'.
Here, now, today, we are present to Calvary's Sacrifice. Christ, Really Present, prays to the Father for sinners today, just as He did on Calvary; and we can unite our prayers and works and sufferings with His, to the Father.
Whenever a person offers up, in union with Christ in His Passion, some painful or distressing experience or state or event, in patience, to help sinners, someone in spiritual danger is saved from falling into Hell. The prayers we offer in Jesus' name are powerful, especially when we do penance for those who refuse to do so.
People who are trapped in a particular sin or sinful way of life are as if walking through a great fog, unable to see their steps clearly. When we help them by our prayers and sacrifices, we help to clear away the fog, and enable some to see the Abyss into which they might have fallen, had they continued in their sins.
Christ is our Creator, with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Because of His sincere love for us, we can be sure that whenever He has seen someone suffer - especially the martyrs - it has almost broken His heart to see it, though it has been necessary as part of the victory over evil.
It is the Will of God that people act with reverence and respect in church, in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament, in a sacred space consecrated for prayer. By noisiness and disrespectful behaviour, people give no honour to God and make it difficult for fellow-Catholics to pray.
When a new convert acts pleasantly, when he has formerly acted against the Church, it can be difficult for other Catholics not to be suspicious about his sincerity. St. Paul, too, was not immediately accepted. Each Catholic, nevertheless, must treat fellow-Catholics - 'new' or old - as brothers and sisters in the family of God.
The little child who was born of Mary is the Divine Saviour Who is worthy of all the glory we can offer Him today in our churches. In crossing the threshold we are in a sacred space, consecrated for the praise of the Blessed Trinity. What God always wants to see in our hearts is the simplicity and humility which were in the heart of the infant Jesus.
Despite their pain and remorse, the Holy Souls in Purgatory are happy to know of the great feasts of the Church, such as Christmas. They know that their present safety is due to the life of Christ, born on earth to die for our sins. They pray with us at every Mass, in and through Christ their Saviour.
Christ is pleased to see the traditional form of the Mass encouraged, yet Christ is Really Present in His Risen glory, after the Consecration, in every valid Mass offered by a Catholic priest, whether the words used are the traditional Canon in Latin by a priest facing, with the people, towards God the Father, or by a priest using the more recent form of words, as the priest stands behind the altar.
The Reason for Christmas: Christ was born on earth, God made man, because human beings were trapped in their sins, since the sins of our first parents. We could not save ourselves, but were like people behind a barred window, captive on a sinking ocean liner.
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