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It pleases Christ when we examine our conscience, daily, recognise our faults, confess them and to try to change, by His grace. Whoever confesses sins should do so with confidence in Christ's love, and in His power to help and save.

People who take the wrong way in life are often choosing an easy way, though God asks us to rely on Christ His Son, to grow in virtue, and to persevere in charity as far as Heaven. The easy way is to help patients to kill themselves, and to ask doctors to kill the elderly. But this is bad for patients, for doctors, for families, and for society, as well as being highly immoral and against God's holy law.

Just as a jug can only be swiftly filled with water if the lid is wide-open, so the gifts of God can only pour into a soul in full measure when the person opens her heart wide, to God, in deeply reverent prayer, with all sins confessed, all distractions banished, and an attitude of patience and trust.

If we trust in Christ and endure all trials, for love of Him, we shall be like the Prince in the sleeping beauty story, who eventually came to a beautiful castle. Christ will greet us on the steps of Heaven, and invite us to enter, to enjoy a great banquet.

It's as if Mary waits at the edge of Heaven, looking out for us. Our Blessed Mother can help us all, by her intercession; but what she is pleased to hear us say is: "I'm sorry I've done wrong, but I'm going to put things right". Through her prayers, we can find the courage to approach her Son, in real trust and repentance.

The state of someone who trusts in Christ, and who therefore prays confident prayers in and through Christ to the Father is very different from the state of a person who seems to say to Christ, in unbelief: 'Go away. I don't believe in You.' That person has rejected the one means of being brought towards Heaven and having access to the Father; in other words, he has refused to be saved.

Christ said: 'You can do nothing without me'; so we need to turn to Him in prayer, for help, so that He can do what we cannot do. He can open the door to let grace into our lives, or to deliver us from sadness, or to show us the Way to Heaven - or to work some other good thing to help us to achieve sanctity.

The prayers we offer in the name of Christ can be pictured as ascending to Heaven along the same channel in which faithful souls move, as they die and ascend to Heaven. We can have confidence in prayer, therefore, unlike those who do not believe in Christ and whose prayers are like cries uttered into a night sky, perhaps with little hope.

There are difficult decisions to make in our spiritual lives. A Protestant minister might sit and agonise about whether it's all right to ask for the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or, for example, a Catholic priest agonises over whether to persevere in the Priesthood. Prayer is essential, and trust in God and His Church.

A person who tries to do God's Will but who cannot see exactly where God is leading him must not give up hope. Even in semi-darkness he can still move forward. As long as he is surviving, his state must not worry him. All will be well, and will become clearer, at a time that God decrees.

We have a strong channel to Heaven, as if one made of brick! When we trust in the Father's love, and in the merits of Christ, and we call out with confidence, in prayer, saying 'Forgive my sins', or, 'Help me', or, 'Protect me from Satan', for example, our prayers are answered. To offer sincere prayer in the name of Christ is both to receive help, and to receive peace, from knowing we have certainly been helped.

If we look at the long line of Popes, from the present day, back to Pope Saint Pius X and then back through Popes of many earlier centuries, as far as St. Peter, we see that the true doctrine of the Church has been handed on by the Popes, even if individuals here and there have been very sinful. Christ wants wavering souls to know that, in doctrinal matters, we are 'safe with Peter'.

There is no doubt that our priests deserve care and respect both from their parishioners and their Bishops, as well as sufficient rest, and free time. Yet priestly life can only be renewed, where priests are dispirited or dejected, if there is also a humble, sincere, renewal of trusting prayer to Christ, and devotion to His Holy Mother Mary.

Jesus delights in seeing us approach Him with confidence and humility. His generosity is limitless. He rewards all who call upon His name. It's as if He is looking upon each of us, at the edge of Heaven, as He says: "What more can I do for you, My child? Place all your needs before Me."

Jesus delights in seeing us approach Him with confidence and humility. His generosity is limitless. He rewards all who call upon His name. It's as if He is looking upon each of us, at the edge of Heaven, as He says: "What more can I do for you, My child? Place all your needs before Me."

We learned that God's presence was experienced long ago amidst thunder and fire, on Sinai. People today who live in serious sin and are afraid of God, feel as though He is a God of terror and fire. All who have been purified in Baptism - or, later, in Reconciliation - can realise that God is love: a tender love, in which He enfolds those who trust in Him and strive to do His Will. Their souls are at peace.

Someone exhausted or ill might feel so oppressed by a 'cloud' of weariness that she feels her prayers can barely rise up to Heaven. But the Father does hear her; and He is delighted that in her exhaustion or illness she still trusts in Him, believes in His love for her, and turns to Him in prayer.

Even in infancy, Jesus Christ set an example of trust, as He entrusted Himself to the care of human beings, when He had 'left behind His glory' as the Son of God. He came amongst us on earth, even though He knew He would be mocked and rejected by many. We give Him joy when we turn to Him with gratitude and gladness.

By trust, we help to build a good society. Christ set us an example by entrusting Himself to human care. He asks spouses to trust one another. He asks mothers to be worthy of their children's trust. He wants children to be able to trust their teachers, and the sick to be able to trust those who look after them; and the elderly too, even if they are not sick, should be with people they can trust.

There is much mutual trust in a good society which can pre-suppose the desire of citizens to lead good lives. A police-force is then required only to deal with those who are determined not to be good, but to take advantage of the trust and goodness of others.