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The Mass is a solemn and sacred representation of the once-for-all Sacrifice of Jesus Christ: God-made-man. Yet there are people who come to Mass and Holy Communion who are still in their sins: their grave sins. It is not fitting to receive Christ, unless a person has been purified by contrition, Reconciliation, and acts of penance.

Christ sees that there are many who come to church and to Holy Communion who are still in their serious sins. It is true that He loves everyone; but He invites to Holy Communion those who are sorry for their sins, and who have been reconciled with Him through His Church, and who have been purified by His grace and their penances.

There are times in life when a person who had been mired for a long time in habitual sin sees clearly the consequences of those sins, if he fails to conquer them. It's as if a war-zone lies in front of Him with destruction in every direction. Yet he has only to call out to God in humility, to find that God swoops to rescue him, and bring him to safety.

There are many people in religious life who nowadays despise the virtue of obedience; and there are many Parish Priests who think it infantile to obey rules and regulations, and who disregard even the instructions of the Pope. They displease Christ our Lord Who saved us by His love and by His obedience to the Will of His Father.

There are things taking place in Catholic Churches which are outrageous; some of the worst have been interruptions to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in New York, by people who ridicule and despise the Church's teaching on morals.

It is a sad truth today that some people attend Mass with unusual intentions. Instead of coming to church to praise God, they enter the church posing as ordinary worshipers, yet then interrupt the Mass - our most sacred rites - to promote sinful behaviour or to protest at the constant teaching of the Church.

People who use Mass as an opportunity to make protests against the teaching which Christ gives us through His Church make a sacrilegious interruption to the Church's most sacred rites. Christ suffered death on the Cross - a death remembered and re-presented at Mass - for our sins, including the very sins those people promote today.

A person who is deep in mortal sin, and does not care, whether through ignoring God's existence or His laws, is like a man playing cards in a coal-mine, unconcerned that the shaft leading out of the mine could collapse at any moment. Death is the 'collapse' that would leave him trapped, without God's love and light, forever.

By prayer and penance, which includes the offering-up of daily troubles, we can help to rescue people in danger of Hell, people who are unworried about mortal sin. It's as though such people are playing cards deep underground, unaware of the danger they are in; and the one who prays and does penance is crawling through a tunnel, to pull them out, to reach God's light and love.

When a monk or nun or devout lay-person offers prayers and penances in order to draw a soul away away from mortal sin, into a state of grace, it's as though that sinner has been pushed along in a dangerous coal-mine, helped to reach the main shaft leading upwards so that he can reach God's light, and freedom.

We might not always see the results of our prayer, but when a monk or nun or devout lay-person rescues a soul from sin by offering prayers and penances on his behalf, it's as though he had brought that soul from the depths of a dangerous mine, to emerge into sunlight, greeted by a joyful crowd: the Saints and Angels.

When we feel threatened by spiritual forces that would disturb our souls, or try to draw us away from Christ, the prayers we offer 'in Christ', and the prayers we request of the Saints and Angels, are so powerful that it's as if, by Divine grace, a strong, beautiful wall is built around us, protecting us from spiritual assaults.

A person who is content to serve God in faith and darkness, and to be obedient to His wishes in everyday life, persevering in prayer and acts of charity, is swiftly drawn by Him into contemplation - even experiencing, when God Wills, the type of prayer and union in which she leaves behind earthly things, to soar upwards into His heart.

Some preachers live alongside their flock, keeping silent. We can picture a man who finds a field of corn, growing naturally, but refuses to let it be cut to feed the hungry because it looks beautiful. That is what happens when Missionaries refuse to endanger 'natural' religions by refusing to offer the Gospel. They deny the people, amongst whom they live, the bread of truth, and the Bread of Life, which is Jesus Christ, with His Church, Sacraments, and Eternal Life.

If a man knows that God came to Earth to conquer sin and death, by dying on the Cross to save sinners, and remains unmoved by that knowledge, he needs a very special grace, to be able to open his heart to God, and to see clearly what lengths God has gone to, to rescue him from his sins.

The Lord showed me how pleased He is when people reduce the risk of dropping, dirtying or desecrating the Sacred Host by these measures: kneeling to receive Holy Communion, on the tongue, at an altar-rail, with hands folded beneath a clean cloth, and a server holding the patten beneath each chin, as the priest moves along.

The Lord showed me how pleased He is when people reduce the risk of dropping, dirtying or desecrating the Sacred Host by these measures: kneeling to receive Holy Communion, on the tongue, at an altar-rail, with hands folded beneath a clean cloth, and a server holding the patten beneath each chin, as the priest moves along.

The Lord said that if we looked all over the entire town we would find only a few souls who would act in obedience to Him, in something uncongenial, just because He had requested it. Most do His Will only if it corresponds with their own desires.

They are close to God, and safe; yet like the Chinese statues hidden from sight, the Holy Souls wait in a dimly-lit place, enduring their purification, as they think about their past lives, and suffer heartache because they were lukewarm in the Faith, or lacked faith in some of the Church's teachings - or prayed only occasionally, or made little effort to resist temptations, or to become really holy.

Those who died in a state of grace, but not pure enough for Heaven, must remain sheltered from glory, for a while, whereas a person who is full of love for Christ, and has confessed her sins, received Holy Communion, and also gained a plenary indulgence, finds that after death she flies straight into the arms of Jesus, in Heaven. She is greeted, too, by all the Saints - including Christ's Mother Mary - and all the angels.