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Our faith will increase, if we accept the truth taught by the Church: that the One Who suffered on the Cross on Calvary, shed His Blood for sinners, and died, is the very Son of God Who comes amongst us at every Mass, made Present at the Consecration, to pray with us, and for us, in the presence of His adoring Angels.

God the Father sent His Son to earth not just to die for our sins, but also to found a Church. If we follow her teachings about good and evil, by the grace of Christ, we bring about the fulfilment of God's plan for human life. People who claim to be practicing Catholics but who dispute long-standing teaching and discipline are like jigsaw pieces who agreed to be parts of a beautiful landscape but who now do what they please, and refuse to complete the Designer's plan.

It is nice to be in a warm room, at Christmas, yet if we go out into the garden at night, we might wonder what someone might think of our world, if he had come down from a far-away star. For Christ, coming from Heaven was like coming from a star of light and grace to a world of sinful people, many of whom persecuted and killed Him - but could not prevent His Resurrection. All who believe that He came from Heaven to save us from sin can be transformed by His power, and have a sure hope of reaching Heaven.

God wants each of us to realise that the Blessed Virgin Mary is not just an historical figure, or a person pictured in our Christmas cards, but is a living woman: a great Saint: the Mother of Jesus Christ. She reigns in Heaven with Him, and reaches out to help us by her powerful and loving intercessions.

It's as if God is like Three loving parents. Some people mock the simple requests of the faithful, and say that God is not a 'Sugar Daddy' or a Fairy Godmother. Christ wants us to know, however, that what He said in the Gospel is true. The nature of God is generosity and love. So when we ask God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - for something in prayer, believing that it will be ours, we shall receive it, if of course we have prayed properly, with trust and reverence, in the name of Jesus.

A person who is lonely at Christmas needs help; but the greatest help would be for him to believe that Christ was born into our world at Christmas not for mankind as a group, but in order to transform and make joyful each beloved individual - including that person who is sad, whether from loss of faith, or grievous sin, or bereavement, or other reasons.

A Catholic who ignores the Church's moral teachings, and the sacraments, is as much in danger as a person in the sanctuary at Lourdes, in winter, who decides to leave the town and stroll outwards, to go into the mountains, whilst not wearing sensible clothing. Just as the pilgrim might die of exposure, the unfaithful soul might die in mortal sin, and enter Hell.

There is a town which, to tourists, has a surface of appearance of prosperity, at its well-lit, well-paved centre. But the streets soon peter out, and the lighting ends, and the pavements disappears, as the ground slopes down to a dark, rubbish-strewn area where only the thieves and other lawbreakers feel safe. This is like the soul of someone who is well-mannered and pleasant but who, whilst having a duty to teach the Faith, disbelieves much of it and leads others astray by public declarations of disbelief.

For progress in prayer, and union with God, we ought to trust God, and be willing to be converted, again. People who don't want God don't pray much, or well, even if they believe in God. They don't want God's light to shine into their souls, encouraging them to give up their bad habits, unloving attitudes, selfish plans or uncharitable schemes. It's as though they keep the 'door' of their souls almost shut; alas, they themselves shut out God's graces in this way.

If we look beyond our Christmas decorations towards the Heavens, it can remind us of the gap between human beings and the Godhead: a gap we could not bridge through our own strength, which is why Christ came down to earth, and was born of Mary: to rescue us from weakness and sin. He founded a Church, so that by His power, given in the sacraments, we can be made holy, worthy of union with the Blessed Trinity and of Heaven.

After coming to earth, as man, Christ founded a Church, to continue His teaching: to hand on the truth about sin and goodness, to give power in the sacraments to be freed from sin and made holy. Catholics who refuse to believe in Church teachings on grave matters, and so do not avoid those sins, are like people who smash some of the rungs on the ladder by which they imagined they would reach Heaven; but by their own fault they make that ascent impossible, unless they repair it.

Bishops or priests who have been ordained to teach the truth about Christ, about sin and virtue, and Heaven and Hell, but who refuse to believe and to teach some of the important truths of the Church about morals, are like men who break some of the rungs on the one ladder which their people must climb, to reach Heaven. By such Clergy silence, the faithful are confused, or even encouraged to continue in their sins. Those Clergy members and lay-persons risk losing Heaven, and falling into Hell.

A Bishop is ordained to the fullness of the Priesthood so that he can teach the truths of the Faith with a sincere heart. When a Bishop ceases to believe in the moral teachings of the Church, or her articles of faith, and also criticizes the discipline of the Church which he should uphold, his best course is to resign. Teaching the Faith should be central to his life, not a half-hearted, occasional, sad duty.

When we pray with faith, in the name of Jesus, trusting in His merits and in the Father's goodness, our prayer of faith has a power greater than that of the greatest rocket. Our prayer pierces Heaven, and is granted, for Jesus' sake.

We should never look at our Christmas cards without remembering the real meaning of Christmas, and longing to share the Good News. The birth of Jesus was a unique event in the history of the world. Nothing like that has happened before or since. God was made man, amongst His people on earth, so that everyone who believes in Him can have Eternal life.

We should always long to share the good news about the event unique in world history: that God was made man, born into our world at the first Christmas, so that all who believe in Him, and faithfully follow His Way, can reach Eternal Life.

Christ invited us to set aside our distractions at Mass, and to rejoice that He is now amongst us in glory, now that His painful Work on earth had been completed, with His Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven. He wants His triumph to give us hope in our struggles against sin and hopelessness. With His power, we can persevere.

Christ said to me, about Christmas morning, "As you welcomed me into this world, My child, so do I welcome you, into My arms". Christ loves to receive an affectionate and glad greeting, as we welcome Him into our souls in Holy Communion.

Christ invites us to reflect on this question: How would we have treated Him, had we met Him when He was a child, or a Preacher, or a condemned criminal? Our attitude to people today in such categories is a fair indication of the stance we might have had towards Him. Do we dismiss children, including the unborn, or mock preachers, or despise criminals?

From the crib, the infant Jesus saw only shadowy figures around Him. He lay helpless, in His humanity, as His Mother smiled upon Him, and Saint Joseph gave a protective presence. We need to ask ourselves: how would I have approached Jesus in His lifetime in His infancy, His teaching ministry or His Passion. How do I treat people today? The measure of our love for other people, in God's sight, is counted as the measure of our love for Jesus.