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A sinful soul, damaged by a seriously sinful way of life, is like a bombed-out shop in a war-zone. Rubbish is strewn all over the street, from the blast: and no trading can take place until the premises have been cleaned, mended, painted, furnished and re-stocked. As kind people can make a place habitable, so the prayers of our Blessed Lady are powerfully effective in restoring souls to their earlier beauty.
Christ showed me that from every floor of the hospital of St Frai in Lourdes we can see the sunlight and the Heavens. At every Mass, likewise, we are in contact with the Father - Who reaches out to us - and with Heaven, no matter whether the Mass has to be conducted outdoors, or underground, or in any sort of building, because of unusual circumstances.
When people want to be good but have not yet made firm resolutions or adopted firm principles, they are like climbers on a mountain on which there are large patches of loose shale - small stones. It is only too easy to take a few steps up, and then to slide down again.
It is strange, in the Church today, that many priests who encourage parishioners to go on processions which honour the Blessed Virgin Mary are reluctant to take part in, or allow, devotion and processions which honour her Son, Jesus Christ, in the Blessed Sacrament. Surely, those who love Mary should be even more glad to show love for her Divine Son!
Whoever needs help need only go to the hearts of Jesus and Mary, who work together to help and save us. This happened in Lourdes, for example, when Mary appeared to Bernadette, then Jesus was made Present in the grotto in the Blessed Sacrament.
Lourdes is not just an example of care of the sick. In looking at the Domaine in Lourdes, we have a picture of the Church which is in the world but not of it. We have a place for the sacraments, and for Reconciliation, a place for Adoration of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, a place for devotion to Mary, a place where contemplatives pray for Church members - and much mutual help between pilgrims during our pilgrimage, including care of strangers.
The sacred Domaine in Lourdes can serve as an image of the soul of each individual. It should be kept holy. Nothing unholy should be allowed to disturb or sully its peace, purity and beauty.
The Lord illustrated for me the result of prayer. When I prayed for a troubled soul, the Lord showed me that He was sitting between me and that person, with His arm round each of us. The troubled person had been brought closer to Christ by my intercessionary prayer; and I had been drawn closer to Christ through my act of charity.
Our Lady lives in Heaven, close to Jesus Christ her Divine Son. She longs for us to reach Heaven. When she sees sincere people who do good and try to honour their Creator but who do not know Christ or His Way, it is as though she leans over to pull those people onto the right trajectory for Heaven, at the last moment.
Wearing His chasuble, Christ sits beside us in our Holy Communion, inviting us to remain silently in His company, enjoying His Presence, in utter peace and delight.
The Lord told me that I can more easily avoid distraction during Holy Communion if I remember that to meet Christ in Person, flanked by His holy Angels, is a far greater privilege than if I were to meet the Queen in person, in her palace, flanked by her companions.
He sat in the depth of despair, in Hell, wondering how he could have been so foolish to have thought that his ways of acting were better than the ways of charity, peace, kindness and healing.
I 'saw' falling straight into Hell, at death, an unrepentant soul who had kidnapped and abused a child, for his own pleasure, and with no charity towards all involved who would suffer from his actions.
I 'saw' a man falling into Hell, it seemed, as he shouted at the Lord: "How dare You do this to me!" But that angry soul had spurned the Lord's friendship and forgiveness and by his own choices had chosen to be separated from God.
Christ is pleased to be honoured by preparation for His visit in Holy Communion to the housebound. Jesus stood in my room, as I waited to receive Him in Holy Communion. He showed me how joyful He was to be here. He gazed around Him, looking at the crucifix and the candles put out in His honour, and at the pictures of His Mother, and other Saints, nearby. He said: "IT IS GOOD TO BE HERE, WHERE I AM HONOURED". He meant, in a place where He is plainly held in high esteem as our God and Saviour: our joy and strength.
I saw brave men, in clerical garments, who stood close to the Father's throne. In the heights of Heaven there was a small group of members of the Clergy - Bishops as well as priests - who had fulfilled God's Will completely, on earth, by teaching the Catholic Faith in its fullness.
Christ said to me, about the mantilla I was wearing in Church: "This is what I want every woman to do" - as a mark of respect for Him. Or we can wear a headscarf, hat or veil; so long as we cover most of our hair, just as St. Paul recommends, and as has been customary in the Church for two thousand years.
A person who has welcomed the Spirit of Christ into his soul can count on the Holy Spirit to carry him across the Abyss when he dies, to meet Christ and to make his way into Heaven - even if through Purgatory. But the man who has persisted in saying to God: "I don't need you", will find, at death, that he falls into the Abyss.
As I praised the Blessed Virgin Mary on the feast of her Assumption, I was shown by the Lord a 'mountain', with the narrow path which leads to great sanctity. We can all become holy and pure, like Our Lady and the Saints, by God's grace - though we cannot yet enter bodily into Heaven, as she has, and her son.
The Lord showed me how brief is earthly life, compared with Eternity. He asked me to tell everyone: This glory is what you are called to. What will you do to attain it? - In other words, are we sincerely preparing to receive the free gift of Eternal Life, and are we worthy to enter Heaven?