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Christ is Really Present in our church. He delights in our visits. When I was on retreat at Douai Abbey, Christ spoke to me, on Good Friday, about His delight that I had kept Him company in His Passion. He was even more pleased that I had offered my whole adult life to Him, for the doing of His Will; and so He gave me reassurance and comfort.

In Being ordained to the Diaconate, a man leaps across the fence into a 'sacred space' which represents the life of the ordained celibate. When one day he speaks, as a priest, to the people, he will resemble Jesus on the Mount of Beatitudes; therefore he should resolve that he will never speak, act or think in ways which Jesus Christ his Master, the Son of God, would not have done.

There are three groups that endanger their salvation by not benefiting from the 'Bread of Life' which is Jesus our Eucharistic Lord: those who refuse to believe in Him or to join the Church, those other Christians who insist on believing that their Orders are valid, but who receive only bread, and those Catholics whose Communions are ineffective because of the refusal of those Communicants to believe in what Christ teaches them through His Church.

We need to be 'washed' before we work for others. Christ's main message for His disciples to share, and for us to follow, is about repentance. Unless we are reconciled to God, we cannot do good work for God in the world. It is foolish to try to 'save the planet' if we have not taken steps to accept salvation from God. A cookery teacher who never washes her hands before class will probably poison as many pupils as she feeds.

When someone we care for seems to be 'lost' in sinful behaviour, or alienation from the Church, it's as though he seems to be drowning: but Christ is there with a net, acting to rescue him, if he will allow it. As long as a person is alive, there is hope that he will repent and be saved.

Christ did not come to earth like a precious cargo from outer space, carried in a capsule that could be discarded. He was placed into the womb of His real Mother Mary, who then nurtured Him, gave birth to Him, taught Him, supported Him as He died, and was with Him and His friends after the Resurrection. From Heaven, she still helps us, His friends, today.

The lives of those people on earth who live according to God's laws are lived 'in the light'. They inhabit the 'City of God' on earth, which has at its centre a church, for the worship of the Father through Christ, in the Spirit. The light of Heaven shines down upon those lives, but others live in darkness.

Those who love God and live according to His laws, following the Way made by Jesus, the Son of God, can rise up when they die to join the Father in Heaven, to share His glory, and to experience bliss at His heart, in the Communion of Saints. Those who rejected Him have rejected Heaven.

In the whole universe, or the whole of eternity, there is only one Heaven, which people can reach who follow Christ's Way, made by Him to overcome the alienation which followed the Original Sin. There is no alternative to Heaven, for those who refuse to love God, but only a great fall into the depths of the Abyss.

The Lord asks us all to speak the simple truth to evangelisers of various sects, and to be kind, yet, in charity, to tell them that their beliefs are mistaken. Real charity is to want them to see the truth about Christ and the Catholic Church, not to pay false compliments about false religions. Plainly, we should be well-informed about our Catholic Faith, before we take part in discussions.

Christ asked His followers to follow the teachings given by religious leaders but not to do as they did. The same is necessary today. We should follow the authentic teachings offered by faithful Bishops, but should never do what some Bishops do, which is to water down the Faith to make it acceptable to non-believers, and to avoid being seen as 'rigid' at ecumenical gatherings.

As Sacred Scripture tells us, we are certain to be attacked, as followers of the Crucified Christ. Whether we suffer verbal, physical or spiritual assaults, however, Christ sees what we undergo for love for Him; and He sometimes intervenes with Divine power, to banish the attackers and to bring refreshment and peace.

During our life on earth, if we lift up our hands to God, He will draw us upwards towards holiness, through the grace of Christ and our trust. He will even draw us up as far as Heaven, when we die. If we refuse to trust in Him, however, or refuse to believe in Him, we shall slide into the pit, at death, by our own choice, with no-one to blame but ourselves.

Through the free gift of Divine grace, all that Christ out God did for us in His earthly life has been given to the Church to dispense. It all stemmed from His being made flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. As man, He preached the truth, suffered and died for our sins, rose up from the tomb, and by rising up to Heaven made a Way in which we can follow, by our union with Him in our Baptism: a union made stronger by prayer, sacraments, and good works.

When Christ was on earth as the God-man, suffering amongst sinners, and praying for us to be forgiven, it was as though His love for God the Father and for human beings was so great that His prayers could not fail to reach Heaven - thus ending the alienation of mankind. His prayers were heard and granted; and so it's as though He threw out a landline, so that not just He but all who trust in Him can follow His Way into glory.

The Father is like a great king, in Heaven; and whenever we pray to the Father in the name of Jesus Christ at our side, delivering our requests, it is as though the Father is so full of love for His Son that - as He declares to the Saints, Who surround the Father in Heaven - I can refuse nothing to my Son Jesus, nor can I refuse anything He asks for His friends.

Some Catholics ignore Christ; others look bored in His Presence; many take no notice of the teachings He gives through His Church. They scarcely believe that He is a real person - a Divine Person - Who is pleased to be shown love as well as to give it.

Christ asks us to picture a peaceful home, and what it is like to enter where there are no loud disagreements or resentments or disobedience. The soul of a person who really loves Christ, welcomes Him with reverence, believes in His Church's teachings, and puts them into practice, is like a 'peaceful home' for Him, when He enters in Holy Communion.

The Church is like a house, where the faithful are happy. Only if people leave the 'cellars' of sinful behaviour are they free to follow Christ to Heaven when He calls them, at the end of earthly life. His is the only Way. To refuse His invitation is to be lost forever, unable to ascend to where the Saints live, in Eternal Bliss.

Many people live parts of their lives in a cellar, keeping hidden various thoughts or activities or memories which they do not want anyone to bring out into the light. These are precisely what need to be dealt with before a person can lead a carefree life in Christ, as if in the happy home above the cellars.