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God is loving, pure and wise; therefore God chooses, for intimate friendship, a person who loves Him and is reverent, prayerful, humble and obedient. That obedience includes loving his neighbour, and the Church. God cannot bring into close union with Himself those who hate fellow creatures, or believe Jesus was a liar, or hide away in sin, or despise the Church, or are self-important, or pray with little reverence, or despise popular devotions that lead people closer to Heaven, including honour to the Blessed Sacrament, and to the Virgin Mary and other Saints.

To learn very quickly what God has done for us all, we need only turn to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. There, we find the true story of God's goodness, of the fall of man, of God's wonderful plan of salvation, and of the arrival of Jesus Christ our Saviour - and much more.

The living God is a 'Holy Fire', blazing with love in our sanctuary, it seems, as we gather to offer Him honour and praise in His house of prayer, through the Holy Mysteries. Christ is Present; with His Angels and Saints, enfolded in the glory of the Father: glory into which we hope to plunge at death, having been purified in the Sacred Liturgy. Our reverent attention should be drawn towards God, for Whose glory this Church was built.

The Lord wants us to remember that our Catholic churches have been built for the glory of God and not the glorification or parishioners or Clergy. That is why it is not appropriate to have self-assertive, frivolous or irreverent behaviour taking place within.

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.

A man who carelessly and deliberately commits mortal sin, but who does not walk away from the Church is like a man on a narrow ladder in a mineshaft, above a fiery pit, in danger, but who has a safety-rope round his waist - from Heaven. If he begins to climb upwards, he can find safety at last, and avoid the flames.

A person who is in mortal sin who not only disobeys God's Commandments but deliberately leaves the Church is like a man on a narrow ladder, in a mine-shaft, above a fiery pit, who deliberately cuts the safety-rope that God had put around him to save him from falling into the flames.

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.

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.

A person who has had an abortion has only to repent, and to say 'sorry', to the Lord, and she will be forgiven. It is best if she receives the graces of the sacrament of Penance, and is thoroughly reconciled to God and the Church.

There are many types of sin, including the sin of many priests who lead people away by their own mistaken interpretation of the teachings of the Church, or the watering-down of sound doctrine. They will see this after death in shame and remorse, and will be purified in Purgatory.

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.

If we are determined to withstand temptations and spiritual assaults, we will use holy water, which is a sacramental, blessed by the Church. It drives away demons. It is more than a reminder of our Baptism. Wise people keep it by them, as well as a crucifix, and a rosary. They know the help received through the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and through the name of Jesus.

We are wise if we listen to the Pope and His teaching. A priest who is unorthodox misleads those he should guide. It is as if he has set up and climbed a short ladder, so he can look upon the Church and the world, and decide on a personal opinion to share. The wise priest hands on what he has learned from Christ and His Church - through the Scriptures and the Sacred Tradition - because Christ has seen everything from a higher place: from Heaven, which He once left for our own sake, and where He now reigns.

When people who have never read a serious book about Catholicism complain about episodes of Catholic history and hate the Church, it is best not to argue about history but to say: 'Look at the Church, as she is': the unique unity in Faith, government and worship, unique in handing on the body of truths, in helping the sick and needy, defending lives, including the unborn, inspiring artists, architects, composers, promoting education, all with confidence in God. Outside the Catholic Church people do not have such clear teaching. It is the one Church founded by Jesus Christ, Who still guides her, in union with the Father, and the Holy Spirit.

A person who goes his own way, ignoring God's laws, and not caring about committing mortal sin, is like a person in a lift which is hurtling towards destruction because the cable has snapped. Unless he accepts that he is in danger, and calls for help in time, he will perish.

It is not the duty of the priest, at a Requiem Mass, to announce that the deceased person is certainly in Heaven. His duty is to lead the Church in prayer, and to offer the Holy Sacrifice for the remission of the sins of the living and the departed. Only God knows who has been saved - though we should live in hope - and who has gone straight to Heaven: God and His Church, who canonises the Saints.