Images » All Images

If it is really necessary to ask people not to chatter loudly in church, where Christ is Present in glory, as His angels adore Him, and people are still kneeling in prayer, we must not be upset if we are criticised for sharing the truth: that this building is a house of prayer. If we are reviled, for Christ's sake, we should rejoice.

Christ wants us to encourage one another to keep a reverent silence in church, where He is Sacramentally Present, adored by the Angels. If we suffer unpleasant reactions to our gentle words, we should remember Christ's words: that when we are reviled on His account, our reward will be great in Heaven.

It is not wrong to be prudent, in making decisions about whom to trust. People who show themselves to be habitually untrustworthy are acting in accordance with their current, unpleasant nature, just as a mosquito bites because it is his nature to do so. We must speak with charity, and pray for such people, but need not trust them without some sign of repentance and change.

It is easy to forget God's gifts, and to remember only our difficulties. Everyone on earth has suffering to bear, some much more than others. Yet we can freely choose whether to cope bravely with it, by God's grace, or to give in to self-pity. Some of those faithful people whose love for Christ was sincere but weak, and who were full of self-pity, or who even committed suicide, now languish in Purgatory, seeing at last how much they have sinned.

Mother Teresa, and Pope John Paul II, each suffered greatly in earthly life, but did so without grumbling; rather, they accepted and offered up their pains in union with Christ, to save souls and to help the Church; and, through their faith in Christ, and His grace, they are now being embraced by Him in Heaven. They are immensely joyful.

People in mortal sin are in great need of help, the help which can be brought to them through the prayers of other people. Divine grace can be brought to souls through intercession, just as dramatically as if a life-line were to be suddenly thrown to a person about to be swept over a huge waterfall, to her doom.

Those politicians who repeatedly seek to encourage further abortions are as if moving their desks further and further away from their proper place, so that those people are sitting within an inch of Hell - into which they will fall unless they repent before they die.

Many women cry out about their human rights, and even their 'right to choose', that is, to choose to destroy a little human being in the womb. No-one has such a right, whereas every little baby, however small, most certainly has the right not to be killed: a right which politicians should be defending.

When someone is sentenced to death, people usually say, "What evil has he done?" None of the little babies put to death in the womb is guilty of crime, or personal sin, but only of being unwanted. So they are dismembered or poisoned, and thrown away, in what was once a civilised society.

Pontius Pilate said, of Jesus: "I find no fault with Him". Yet he gave Him to be scourged and killed, to satisfy the clamour of the crowd. That is what is done today, as politicians allow innocent, unborn babies to be slaughtered in the womb, to satisfy the clamour of people who don't want their own children.

The attitude of some Catholic politicians is like that of Pontius Pilate. They say that they see abortion as wrong but do not want to impose their views on other people. Rather, like Pilate, they stand aside, and allow murder to be committed upon the innocent to satisfy the shouts of the crowd, which, for them, is much of the electorate.

To be baptised is to have received a wonderful gift of Divine Life. But many people outside the visible Communion of the Catholic Church receive no clear instruction about faith, and holy living, as their own leaders argue about the need for sacraments, and about sexual morality. It is sometimes as tragic a state as if a person had received a wonderful computer, but without a user's manual. It could remain inactive or ever useless.

Just as a person with a computer but no instruction manual presses various buttons but has no help from the computer until the booklet arrives, so many persons baptised outside the visible Communion of the Catholic Church have received a valuable gift, and try to live according to the various theories of various Christian leaders, who argue about faith and morals; but only when they are received into full Communion do they receive clear instruction about holy living, and receive the power from God in the Sacraments.

Christ teaches us, through His Church; so Catholics who refuse to believe in the teachings of the Church and even lead others astray by promoting their opposing views will arrive, at death, at the same place as the unbelievers, which is to say, at the edge of the Abyss, at some distance from the only crossing, which is Christ Himself, our bridge to Heaven. Unless they repent, and run to Him, they are doomed, because of their own freely-made choices and decisions.

When people have a man-centered faith, with a too-exalted view of human beings, in relation to God, and make excuses for their sins, convinced that all people will be saved, and that penance and sacrifice are old-fashioned concepts, they develop a faith so distorted that they never humble themselves sufficiently to be lifted up to Heaven.

We are right to help the poor; but Christianity is more than good deeds. In Christ's sight, modernism flourishes where people do not have sufficient awe of God. Many good hearted Catholics, through poor instruction, have a faith that revolves around what humans need, rather than what the Father requests and deserves. They have a too-exalted view of man, in relation to God, which distorts the whole picture; whereas Catholics really grateful to God for Jesus Christ accept the Church's teaching without constant grumbling, shoulder the Cross, and strive for holiness like the Saints, out of love for their Saviour.

Christ is deeply touched whenever people speak, work and pray, so that the truth will be known about injustice, but especially about the unjust and merciless killing of unborn babies. They have been given life by God. They are precious in His sight, and have done no wrong; yet they are slaughtered because their presence is inconvenient.

Christ is delighted by every effort we make to show people that the tiny babies who are rejected, and even dismembered or poisoned by abortion, are human beings, no matter how small. God gave them life; and like all humans they are worthy of respect and tender care, not slaughter because they are judged inconvenient or disabled.

Some people refuse to open their hearts to God about their fears, sins and weaknesses, even though they go through the motions of leading ordinary lives as faithful Catholics. It's as if their soul is like a garden, hidden behind locked gates - the will - as they keep God out, but also keep out His wisdom and His consolations.

Many people have a poor understanding of the purpose of the Priesthood. It's as if they peer at these men through a great cloud of incomprehension, and yet expect Baptism, marriage services and burial. If more of the Clergy did what the Lord has called them to do - asking sinners to repent and to avoid Hell, and to accept the grace that leads to Heaven, people would understand them more clearly, and some would respect them for their courage.