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It is Christ Who has given the Church Popes to guide us, and has confirmed through Pope John Paul II that only men are called to be Sacred Ministers in the Church. There are only male priests; and this can never change.

God wants us to be at peace in our souls and minds. When our lists of things to do become so large that we seem to have a dark cloud over us, crushing our joy, it is time to shorten the list: to work out what is essential, and to do some of the rest when it is possible later on.

Catholics who make marriage vows or religious vows and live in love, and chastity, are on a straight road towards Heaven. But all who commit unchaste acts or develop unchaste relationships are causing a disaster for themselves and for any others involved, distressing all onlookers. They halt their progress to Heaven as surely as a lorry, crashed into the central barrier, has halted its delivery of goods.

A parent who, for selfish reasons, walks away from a spouse and children, is doing dreadful damage that can leave the children emotionally and spiritually crippled. God wants those sorts of parents to repent of their cruelty, and their new and immoral relationships.

When a crop of wheat is ruined with mould, it cannot provide nourishment; similarly, when dissenting Catholics spread disbelief or confusion they can neither hand on an authentic Faith nor find comfort themselves in the practice of it. This is not something that can be ignored, when Bishops notice it. It requires firm action, so that a good 'crop' can be grown for the future.

Not infrequently, some Catholics raise their voices to contradict, in public, the sure teachings of the Church, and so to disturb the faith of fellow-Catholics and spread confusion. Just as Pope Pius X wrote about this problem, so a Pope in another age needs to be just as brave in speaking the truth about dissent.

A careful look will show the truth, that even if it seems as if the fields are ripe for harvest, a crop is useless because of mould. Similarly, there are many people who call themselves practicing Catholics who in fact disbelieve many Church teachings, loudly share their disbelief, and so can neither hand on the Faith with conviction nor take comfort from it in their own difficulties.

When a person deliberately commits an act offensive to God - whether by sexual immorality or uncharitable acts against a neighbour - it is as if he releases into the world some of the smoke of Hell, from underground, and is glad to have done so, hoping to be hidden with his misdeeds. But God can see everything, including that soul's desperate need of rescue, before he dies.

It is a terrible thing, for a person to die, who has tried to lead a good life but who has refused to believe in the Catholic Church, to discover that everything to do with the Catholic Faith is true: The Risen Jesus, the Church, the Papacy, the constant teachings about union with God, morality, and the sacraments and prayer!

Some pro-abortion campaigners deny that abortion is the killing of little children. They speak of clusters of cells, blobs of tissue, or 'termination of pregnancy', pushing aside the truth, which is that wherever arrangements have to be made for the disposal of bodies, there has been death: in these cases, deliberate killings of millions of unborn, innocent human beings.

Christ looks down from Heaven upon women who have had abortions. He longs for each one to repent of having allowed the precious little body of her baby to be thrown away like garbage. He knows that through repentance each one can receive forgiveness and peace from Him, and lead a fulfilling life in His love, and service, and in new hope.

There are people who deny that abortion involves the taking of human life; yet in every abortion clinic there are little dead bodies to be disposed of daily: treated as so much hospital waste, with no respect; and where bodies are, there has plainly been either illness or accident or a deliberate killing; and abortion is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being.

It makes a difference, being a baptised person! Christ wants everyone to know that He has descended to earth, to become man, to save us. He, our God, promises that through Baptism we can share His life, and the life of the Father and the Holy Spirit too, the life of the Blessed Trinity. United with God, we become sure of being with them for all eternity, if we do not fall away and persist in mortal sin until death.

We can have a marvellous destiny, if we put our trust in Christ. He wants the whole world to hear about the powerful effect of holy Baptism, which brings about union between the Blessed Trinity and a sinful creature, with the result that a person's sins are forgiven, he receives God in his soul, sharing God's life as a member of the Church, and is made a child of God and an heir to Heaven.

Just as no driver is allowed to risk lives on the road, without having been prepared and instructed, so, no-one making vows in the Church, for marriage or Religious Life, which can affect other lives for a life-time and even for Eternity, should do so without first receiving preparation and instruction by the clergy or by loyal, practicing Catholics, authorised by the clergy.

Jesus Christ was God on earth: God-made-man, showing us His plan. He said that by Baptism in water we can be washed clean of sin, through His name, and given a share in His life, through the Holy Spirit, and made worthy of Heaven! Wise people believe what was said by Jesus, who proved His power and His Origin by His miracles, above all by His Resurrection from the dead.

Where there is dissent from Church teaching in a group or community which is meant to promote Church teaching and to support the Church, it is as if the ladder to Heaven which ascends from such a place is partly obscured by the smoke of disbelief, and has broken rungs, which delay the faithful on their journey.

Whenever we turn to Jesus with sincere hearts, He pours out His graces upon us: His power and His spiritual gifts; yet the greater the number of needy people we 'carry' to Him in our hearts, in prayer, the greater the number of graces.

Christ wants us to be certain that when we intercede for needy people, with God the Father, in the name of Christ, we certainly bring down Heaven's help to the down-hearted, even if we cannot see the results, if those people are far away in other parts of the world.

It is a dreadful thing, in Christ's sight, that many people are so blind to the wonder of human life, or blind to it being a gift from God, or determined that a woman should not be inconvenienced by a pregnancy, that they support and encourage the killing of babies in the womb: innocent children, to whom He had given the gift of life.