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It would please Christ very much if priests were to say: "We all do wrong. The Church can tell us what is right and wrong, but we can be forgiven. I shall be in the Confessional at certain times, this week, and every week". Christ wants them to invite people to repent, to change their lives, and to find freedom and peace-of-soul at last.
When we die, and enter God's presence - if we have not immediately hurled ourselves away from the God we hate, into Hell - we shall hear Him say to us, gently: "What have you done with your life, my child?" How happy we shall be if we have loved and served Him and our neighbour; but how sad, if we had been solely in search of pleasure, or preoccupied by trivia.
When I prayed, on the coach to London, Christ said: "Picture me on the coach with you". This would be a representation of the truth, since He is everywhere as our God, and He is with me, in my soul, since my Baptism; and He wanted this knowledge to make me joyful, now and always.
There are near-misses on the roads every day, and even fatal crashes. Christians in other circumstances even risk death for their Faith. Are we all ready for Heaven, if we meet sudden death? Christ wants us to examine our lives, to make an honest assessment of our spiritual state, in case we have not repented of mortal sins.
To arrive in God's presence, at death, without being clothed in the life of grace, is like arriving on earth at a wedding, in a naked state, having to endure the embarrassment, and the embarrassed gaze of fellow-guests. We need to prepare our 'wedding garment' for Heaven, by our holiness of life and love for Christ.
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.
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.
It is true that groups of Christians outside the visible unity of the Catholic Church join in Christ's saving work by baptising their members. But it is tragic that those young Christians are often taught mistaken things about faith and morals, and so encouraged to sin - even if their instructors thought they were right, in approving of contraception, divorce and remarriage, even abortion and other evils.
The Catholic Church is the 'city, set on a hill' by Christ, so that everyone can come to her, learn from her about God's plans, and about sin and virtue, and be reconciled and prepared for Heaven. Catholics must not disfigure the Church, by their bad behaviour; yet other Christians, though baptised, need her. She alone teaches the complete truth about Christ and His Way, opposing the spirit of of the age.
By His Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension, Christ made a Way to Heaven. It's as if His head is in Heaven, as He speaks to the Father from our midst at every Mass, as a great mass of needy people encircles the altar on earth.
Long ago, people did evil. It was as though there was a thick cloud of sin covering the world - even before there was a huge river of dead babies, killed by abortion. But Christ pierced the cloud by His Incarnation. He made a way up to Heaven. He asks each of us to work beneath the cloud, in our societies, to change things for the better, until we rise up to Heaven.
When people desert Christ and the Church it's as if they leave a wide open space around their city that must be filled. Therefore, dark forces move in, like a big shadow creeping forward.
Christ assured me that if I made a hat to wear to my grandson's Baptism I would honour Christ by obediently covering my hair in church, honour the occasion by special dress, and honour my husband by looking so smart!
When people die, they see the truth at last, which some of them have scorned or disbelieved, about there being one true Church: the Catholic Church, which teaches the truth, and in which Christ has placed, as His vicar, the Pope.
The whole purpose of life on earth is to love and serve God our Creator, before sharing His life in Eternity. Which of two women does the Will of God? One who cherished the child she conceived, given life by God, or the one who disposes of her own infant, refusing to let it live? To kill a baby, whether after its birth, or in a clinic before its birth, is to act against God and His Will.
A person who acts in hatred towards his fellow-creatures is as if shouting out to Christ on the Cross: "No, I won't serve You. I refuse to love my neighbour". In his hatred he is more disfigured than the bleeding figure of Christ, because the man becomes less than a man, and very undignified, through his hatred. Christ was perfect man, and God, in His charity, even when He was almost unrecognisable through His many wounds.
We pray with power whenever we pray in the name of Jesus. He is truly our bridge, and our Way to the Father. Christ carries all our needs and desires to the Father, as we pray, and draws the Father's attention to what is most urgently-needed, whether grace and help for ourselves or for those we love.
Each new baby is a gift from God, a gift of life, and Christ asks us to treasure each gift and teach others to do the same
This image of a baby is a gift from Christ, as a reminder that human life is a gift from God. Each person conceived is a unique and precious human being: precious in God's sight - and meant to be cherished by those on earth who are his parents.
Christ first became an embryo, in the womb of His mother Mary, before He became a full-grown man. If we keep this in mind, we can both celebrate the wonder of His birth at Christmas, and help other people to treasure the gift of life, not to dispose of it in a brutal manner.
Showing 1961 - 1980 of 2850