Images » All Images

When we die, perhaps unexpectedly, a person is in one of three states: either standing in the Light of God, ready to enter Heaven, or still at the foot of the stairway to Heaven, so that our Purgatory will consist of necessary purification, or else still trapped, by our free choice, in a grossly selfish way of life: trapped in unrepented sin, unable to enter Heaven, and therefore in Hell for all Eternity.

A man who carelessly and deliberately commits mortal sin, but who does not walk away from the Church is like a man on a narrow ladder in a mineshaft, above a fiery pit, in danger, but who has a safety-rope round his waist - from Heaven. If he begins to climb upwards, he can find safety at last, and avoid the flames.

A person who is in mortal sin who not only disobeys God's Commandments but deliberately leaves the Church is like a man on a narrow ladder, in a mine-shaft, above a fiery pit, who deliberately cuts the safety-rope that God had put around him to save him from falling into the flames.

When we pause to pray by a statue of our Blessed Lady we are addressing the real person whom the statue represents. Our Lady is in Heaven, her arms out to welcome us in prayer. She is our Mother, who loves to see us confide in her, and show love for her.

Our Blessed Lady wants us to approach her in prayer, and to be confident that she will not be shocked by our sins and weaknesses, whether minor or major. She can bring us powerful comfort, and powerful help through her prayers.

The Lord explained about a further image of Hell, where people are trapped as a result of their own free choices, if they have not repented before they die. He said that very few people preach today about Hell; but if more will speak of it, a greater number of sinners can be helped to repent, and be saved.

We are right to warn children about the consequences of sin, just as we would warn them about the danger of cliff-tops, deep water, or other risky places. Yet we can point out the far-off 'country' which is our homeland, Heaven, where there is no more danger, and no more sadness or pain.

It is commonplace to see Catholics on television who deny the truths of the Faith; yet people call them 'practicing Catholics'. It would never be said, or people of another religion, who despised its teachings, that they were faithful to it. This is one sort of danger that Christ warned his followers to expect.

The journey to union with God is only a slow journey, if a person is half-hearted in serving Him and fearful of His demands. The one who surrenders completely to God by obedience to Him in everyday life makes swift progress in prayer, as if travelling in a fast vehicle, not on foot.

In a hotel lobby, when an important person is surrounded by admirers, an onlooker must either push through them, to see him closely, or climb nearby stairs for a better view. Likewise, someone who wants to be closer to God must push forward to meet Him, in humility and trust, or take a careful look at His attributes, and see how he can please Him.

In contemplative prayer, in a state of grace, a soul can be lifted by God into new states of union as swiftly and directly as if that person were a child being borne aloft, flying towards Heaven on the back of an eagle.

In contemplative prayer, in a state of grace, a soul can be lifted by God into new states of union as swiftly and directly as if that person were a child being borne aloft, flying towards Heaven on the back of an eagle.

To meet Christ at death whilst in a state of grace is to be wearing the wedding garment necessary for Heaven, even if it is stained, and must be washed clean in Purgatory. Good people who have never known Christ meet Him at the edge of Heaven; some greet Him gladly, when told He is the Saviour of the world and so receive a white garment. Others refuse to accept Him, and condemn themselves, and cannot therefore enter Heaven.

The Lord asks us to persevere in prayer for atheists. When we do so, it's as if He lets down a rope from Heaven, into the hole in the ground where they choose to live. They have blinded themselves to His existence by ignoring the glory of the natural world, the weight of human testimony, and the call of conscience.

A person who is brought back to God's friendship, reconciled through a sacramental Confession, and brought closer through the Mass and Holy Communion, is like a man suddenly brought back to a main road, from a far away desert country, and who now drives straight towards Heaven, as long as he does not deviate from the route.

Thoughtful people mourn those who died on the battlefields of war, but many fail to mourn the tiny infants cut to pieces by abortion.

Those who do abortions use euphemisms such as 'termination' or 'therapeutic procedure'. But the result is the same: thousands of tiny dead babies, to be disposed of, who were killed because they were inconvenient, ripped from the womb before birth.

Whole societies allow the barbaric practice of abortion to continue, because it is hidden from sight, in clinics and hospitals; and the millions of tiny infants who are cruelly destroyed disappear, as swiftly as a tide of rubbish in a gutter when a storm causes all the debris to be swept away.

Whole societies allow the barbaric practice of abortion; yet it only continues at present because most people cannot see it being carried out since it is hidden away in clinics and hospitals. The people asking for abortions are often unconscious when it happens; and so people speak as if it is a health procedure, when it is mass slaughter.

There is a smiling face put on the 'treatment' of women wanting abortions. Yet the results are the same, day after day and year after year. There are dead bodies to be disposed of: tiny bodies, but the real mortal remains of thousands of tiny babies, ripped from the womb before birth, unwanted.