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In some disasters, such as a flood, when townspeople are hoping to be rescued and fed, one person might wait in patience; but another might look at her and think, "How can she smile, and sit peacefully there, when I am so miserable?" In his self-pity and anger he might lash out, or decide to steal something he does not need; and thus it is in everyday life, as well, amongst Christians.

Saint Paul warned us that the faithful are 'certain to be attacked'. This harm can be emotional, spiritual or intellectual instead of physical; but we can be wise and prudent as well as patient and uncharitable. It is not wrong to avoid the trouble caused by those who are simply malicious, or unpredictable and unwilling to respond to kindness or to listen to reason.

A person who is careless and irreverent about private prayer, perhaps always lolling in bed to pray, half-watching television, and with his mind not on God but on his plans for the next day, is likely to be careless and irreverent in church, at Mass, unaware that God is holy as well as kind, and deserves the upmost reverence and respect. People without much love for God do not become His close friends.

St. John Vianney's burning desire was to share the Faith and to save souls. His first preparation for his priestly task was to pray to the Lord, at the tabernacle, pleading for his flock, and also making a worthy preparation for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which he would offer for his parish as well as the whole Church.

A Christian in a state of grace is intimately united with the Triune God. By Baptism, all sin is washed away from the soul, the person is made a member of the Church; Baptism brings the life of God to shine within the soul through the presence there of the Blessed Trinity: called the Divine Indwelling. No longer need people go to a special Temple in order to pray - though we have churches for our public worship as the Body of Christ: consecrated places where Christ is Really Present, in the tabernacle, in the Blessed Sacrament.

It is a marvel of grace, that the Blessed Trinity is present within the soul of a Baptised person. That person shares God's life, and power, and joy and peace. Yet God's presence is light as well as life. There is nothing worse than to extinguish that light, by deliberate mortal sin. If we die in such a state, we are doomed to an Eternity without God.

Before we arrive at the edge of the Abyss, in dying, each of us would do well to ask: "have I done what God wanted, to arrive at death with a peaceful heart?" What could each of us have taken to heart, from all the prayer cards, novenas, spiritual warnings, that we have read in a lifetime?

We need to be on our guard, always. Just as wolves wait at the edge of the wood, prowling around, ready to leap upon any weak creature nearby, so, the demons seize every opportunity to cause confusion in good people, mislead good minds - and also use them to lead others astray, intellectually as well as morally. In Christ, we can find safety.

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.

Christ saw dreadful sights as He suffered on the Cross. He saw the aborted babies whose lives would be cruelly ended; but even worse for Him was the sight of many 'dead' souls: diseased souls in mortal sin, souls now made foul and repulsive through their own thoughts and actions; so Christ's torment was spiritual and mental, as well as physical, in His Passion.

It is a marvellous thing, to teach, preach or evangelise. Just as there are dark streets and alleys where no-one feels safe, and sensible people are glad to be shown the way to the well-lit reads nearby, so, in the moral sphere, wise people respond to any invitation to leave the dark paths on which they walk at present, to enter the Way of Christ, which is the sure way to Heaven, lit by Divine Light.

Some theologians are reluctant to accept Christ's claim to be the only Saviour. It's as if they are willing to explore a dark cave in the hope that it will lead to a cave-system that will stretch as far as the bright land beyond the mountains, when there is only one way over. Similarly, there is only one Route to heaven: Christ Himself - visible, safe, and well-known - which begins in Baptism.

Christ is deeply touched when we thank Him for the spiritual benefits He has brought, as well as for everyday helps. He is glad if we appreciate our Baptism, and other sacraments, and if we remember to celebrate the anniversaries of such events.

The Church is a Divine Institution composed of sinful human beings on earth as well as Saints in Heaven and Holy Souls in Purgatory. To refuse to believe in the Church or the Papacy because some Popes were very sinful is as strange as to refuse to believe that public transport should be abolished because some conductors are immoral or that all schools should be shut because a few head-teachers prove unfit to be in charge of children.

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.

Some Catholics speak rightly about God's love for us, but suggest that He is not strict about sin, and overlooks disobedience. Real love is both tender and strict, whether in our loving God, or in a loving parent who, for example, is strict in order to keep a child safe from a dangerous well or a live electric rail beneath a station platform.

God understands the sacrifice of celibate men who serve Him. When priests have lived well, they have been Christ amongst others, and have drawn down grace in torrents upon a darkened world. These men, when they die, are greeted by Christ and Our Lady at the edge of Heaven; then they make their way to the Father, in the heights, Who sees in them the image of His Son.

Christ wants us to know that He speaks to us about sin and Hell because of His great love for us. Just as a householder acts with kindness if he warns a new neighbour that there is an old well in that person's garden, where anyone could be lost, so Christ acts with kindness when He explains in various ways that certain types of behaviour can destroy the life of grace within our souls, extinguishing the light of the Holy Spirit within us - unless we repent and change.

We are foolish if we endanger our state of grace, and our eternal destiny. To have been given the gift of life in Christ is a great privilege. It is to share the very life of God through the indwelling Trinity, and so to fulfill the Father's plan that each of us begins to resemble Christ and to be transformed by the action of the Holy Spirit. It's as if we are held in His embrace, being prepared for life in Heaven.

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.