Images » All Images

Christ comforted me by drawing up my soul towards Heaven and showing me the company of Saints. They look with amazement, He said, and gladness, when they see any of us act in obedience, and love for Christ.

We need not live in dull austerity. Just as Christ changed water into 'the best wine', not the most ordinary, so I have done right to ensure 'the best' for our home; this means not extravagance, but whatever is pleasant, helpful, beautiful, and comfortable, for visitors and family.

It is not necessary for everyone to live in grim, colourless, puritanical surroundings, as if by austerity and simplicity we can prove our love for God and the poor. It is part of the duty of family care, and hospitality, to greet and entertain people in pleasant surroundings, just as Jesus offered 'the best wine'.

Our prayers, with the prayers of the Saints (whose intercession we seek), rise up like incense to Heaven, like a fragrant offering which is acceptable to Him.

The prayers of the Saints rise up to join the sacrificial prayer of Christ, as it rose from the Cross and rises still from Christ Who offers the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is Calvary's offering, re-presented.

The prayers of the Saints, offered for needy souls, are like a fragrant offering to God. As they rise to Heaven, they can penetrate even those hearts which are locked 'from the inside', and persuade sinners to open their hearts to God.

People who repent of their sins show their contrition in different ways. Real repentance causes souls to turn to God as did St. Ignatius Loyola and others. But Judas rushed away to kill himself, despite his sorrow. Hence the need to pray for one another.

As my heart aches now, Christ told me, so His heart ached, when in His earthly lifetime He saw people ignore His wise words and refuse to follow the Way to Heaven. He watched as they walked towards damnation.

Some Catholics who currently 'fight' within the Church to spread their mistaken views about sin and sanctity will one day look back, and see how much time they have wasted in having acted, for many years, as if the truth about morality and sanctity were not yet known by the Church, and by those chosen by God to teach us.

Christ told me of the message He offers to all who dissent from the teaching of the Catholic Church: "Imagine, if you can, that the Church's teachings are all true, that her discipline is wise, her customs admirable, her Saints active and the holy Angels powerful. There things are true; and I invite you to believe Me".

There are Catholics who agree with their priest when he says how good it would be for them to learn more about the Faith; and some even ask him to arrange for speakers. Yet, of all these people, few can even be bothered, Christ said, to look at a Catechism.

God created all that lives and breathes - even sharks and tarantulas, and other creatures that kill. Yet everything shows out some facet of His nature - such as the beauty and single-mindedness of a shark - or the extent of His creative power, in the amazing creatures, colours and varieties of means of motion.

People caught up in turmoil or tragedy react in various ways: The wise turn to God, and open their hearts to Him. Others cry out in anger or resentment, and increase their own distress.

Within the Father's heart, in Heaven, burns a blazing light. This is the glory of the Father, and within it is a furnace of Divine Love. That very love should burn within the heart of every Christian who professes to work for God. If a burning charity is lacking, someone's work cannot succeed. It will be based on human ambition and only human strength.

After the Consecration, we can be certain that Christ is Present amongst us: Christ Who died on the Cross, praying for sinners, and Who is Present now, praying for us in our day, and offering the same sacrifice.

At every Mass the Sacrifice of Calvary is re-presented on our altars

After Confession, absolution, prayer and penance, I found myself lifted - as the Lord explained - into the 'dance' of the Three Divine Persons, Who showed me Their delight in my trust and obedience, as They shared Their joy with me in prayer.

A person who repents of sin, goes to Confession, receives absolution, prays and offers penance as the Church requests, and who perseveres in love and service, is eventually drawn into the life and prayer of the Holy Trinity, as if spiralling in a heavenly dance of delight, in known and blissful union.

Those who, at the end of a sinful life, refuse to repent, cannot rise up to Heaven, but must 'fall' far below, into Hell. It is like a terrible prison from which there is no escape.

Many Catholics today who do not believe in all of the teachings of the Church paint a false picture of the era before the last Council. They say the laity did nothing but 'pray, pay and obey'. They overlook their heroic faith, love and obedience.