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God wants everyone to know that we don't need special circumstances in which to show out love for God and our neighbour, or advanced education or special training or equipment. In whatever vocation God has called us to undertake, we can show our love, and - by the graces won for us by Christ - prepare for Eternity in Heaven.

It is a terrible thing, that people in many parts of the world are enslaved by other human beings. The worst sort of slavery, however, in God's sight, is enslavement to sin, because, in it, people are in danger of losing not just earthly joy but Eternal happiness, if they do not repent.

It is the desire of Pope Benedict that everyone come to what Holy Scripture calls 'the obedience of faith'. He enjoys a little leisure time; but his whole desire is to bring people away from dissent and disobedience. The really new, radical way of 'being Church' today is to believe everything the Church teaches, as he does, and to put it into practice.

When spouses are obedient to God's plan for marriage, they want to be faithful to one another, and if it is possible the wife seeks to care for the children as only a mother can, the father wants to support the whole family, and the children are happy, well looked after and secure.

Just as Jesus came silently through a locked door to be with His friends in the Upper Room, and to bring them courage and joy, so He comes silently to us when we put our trust in Him, and pray sincerely: and we receive His peace and encouragement.

It can be a good idea to clear out possessions once again, first to help people in need, but also to spare other people the task if ill-health makes it likely that other people will have to do the same job for us one day soon.

Two people can look at the same scene, and one feels horror - knowing a murderer is prowling around, while the other sees only the breeze blowing in the curtains - as the sun shines down. So it was, on earth, for Christ in His life-time here. There was much beauty in the world, but He came across many damaged souls, and knew that Satan was always prowling around, doing evil.

We please Christ if we are 'faithful in little things', for example, by reaching out to help someone in need, instead of ignoring that person to fulfill our own plans.

An image of hell

Satan, reigning in the centre of Hell, looks upwards as if through a glass ceiling to where people who have given their lives to him on earth are busy corrupting children, or fortune-telling, or busy with superstition of different sorts. They have not yet realised what horrors await them if they serve the evil one until death.

At the entrance to Hell is a great, barred gate, which closes firmly after each newcomer has entered. There is no possibility of ever leaving. That knowledge is one of the torments of Hell; for everyone here has ignored God's warnings and has chosen this fate. This image is given to help those who have not yet chosen to seek God and cling to Him.

When Christ was in the Upper Room, praying before His Passion, He was praying in the Holy Spirit to His Heavenly Father. The Three are One God, distinct Persons but undivided; and we should remember that salvation is the work of the Holy Trinity. The Father's goodness, the Son's obedience and the Spirit's power have made our salvation possible.

When Christ was in the Upper Room, praying before His Passion, He was praying in the Holy Spirit to His Heavenly Father. The Three are One God, distinct Persons but undivided; and we should remember that salvation is the work of the Holy Trinity. The Father's goodness, the Son's obedience and the Spirit's power have made our salvation possible.

The Holy Souls have only each other for company: such sad company, as they weep, and bewail the times they wasted on earth when they might have shown more love for God or their neighbour, or might have been quicker to repent of their sins. But at least they are safe now, and grateful for safety - with Heaven to look forward to, in the end.

The Holy Souls have only each other for company: such sad company, as they weep, and bewail the times they wasted on earth when they might have shown more love for God or their neighbour, or might have been quicker to repent of their sins. But at least they are safe now, and grateful for safety - with Heaven to look forward to, in the end.

Men in storybooks have undertaken long journeys to prove their love for a princess. Christ has undertaken the longest journey of all, to prove His love for Mankind. He descended from the heights of glory in Heaven, not just to Earth, but to the bottom of the dungeon in which He huddled, bleeding and deserted, during His Passion.

Christ was paraded by His captors before jeering crowds; yet He accepted without hatred or impatience the humiliating treatment he received because of His words. He let nothing stop Him from His mission to show out His Divine nature and to rescue us from our sins. We cannot repay Him for all He suffered to bring truth and salvation to the world; but we give joy to Him when, in gratitude, we show love towards Him and our neighbour.

Christ was paraded by His captors before jeering crowds; yet He accepted without hatred or impatience the humiliating treatment he received because of His words. He let nothing stop Him from His mission to show out His Divine nature and to rescue us from our sins. We cannot repay Him for all He suffered to bring truth and salvation to the world; but we give joy to Him when, in gratitude, we show love towards Him and our neighbour.

There are priests in great moral danger who need our prayers. A priest who leaves his sacristy in order to commit deliberate sin is like a man who leaves a clean room to enter immediately into a filthy alley, where he will inevitably become dirty and foul-smelling, and unworthy to celebrate the sacraments.

When a priest commits grave sin, and does not repent, it is as if he dirties everything he touches, as he goes about his duties; but nothing can sully the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass or Christ the pure and Holy Saviour, Son of God, Whose once-for-all Sacrifice each priest offers from the altar.