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A person who refuses Baptism refuses to be made a member of the Body, for whose members Christ prays: Christ who is the Son of God, God-made-man, and Head of the Church, as He prays for all members, and perpetually intercedes for them. It is a dreadful thing, to refuse to allow Christ to pray for one's Salvation! This is a much-neglected truth.

Every Pope deserves our prayers. Each Pope who faithfully fulfils his duties works to save people from the pit: to bring them to know and love Christ, or to renew their knowledge and love. He follows Christ in the office of Saint Peter, and often does so despite the physical and emotional cost. He has a world-wide flock, which is the Catholic Church.

Some theologians are reluctant to accept Christ's claim to be the only Saviour. It's as if they are willing to explore a dark cave in the hope that it will lead to a cave-system that will stretch as far as the bright land beyond the mountains, when there is only one way over. Similarly, there is only one Route to heaven: Christ Himself - visible, safe, and well-known - which begins in Baptism.

The Church is a Divine Institution composed of sinful human beings on earth as well as Saints in Heaven and Holy Souls in Purgatory. To refuse to believe in the Church or the Papacy because some Popes were very sinful is as strange as to refuse to believe that public transport should be abolished because some conductors are immoral or that all schools should be shut because a few head-teachers prove unfit to be in charge of children.

There are difficult decisions to make in our spiritual lives. A Protestant minister might sit and agonise about whether it's all right to ask for the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or, for example, a Catholic priest agonises over whether to persevere in the Priesthood. Prayer is essential, and trust in God and His Church.

Many Catholics practice what must be called false ecumenism. A Catholic priest or Bishop acts against the truth if he stands with a Protestant leader and gives what is called a joint blessing. This gives the impression that they each have the same power and authority. And when a Protestant minister is invited to offer a sermon during a Mass, this is against the wish of Christ and His Church. It is forbidden.

Faithful Catholics must continue to be brave and vigilant. Life in the Church has been endangered for two generations, undermined by dissent and watered-down preaching, and false notions of pastoral care; and Catholics who have pointed out the danger - like people revealing a dangerous degree of subsidence next to a Cathedral - have been ostracised, and labelled as 'prophets of doom'.

St. Therese of Liseux was overjoyed that her relics had inspired people to have greater devotion to God; yet the gaze of the faithful should eventually turn from relics to the Church's greatest treasure: Jesus Christ Himself, sacramentally Present in the Blessed Sacrament, in the tabernacle, as here, in Westminster Cathedral.

From the life of Christ on earth, and from His death and Resurrection, has come a surging river of grace, which is the Church with her Sacraments. If we swim in that river, we can be carried to Heaven; but if we separate ourselves from her by our dissent and disbelief it's as if we climb out of that river - to sit on the banks, and then complain.

The Catechism is a precious resource for everyone in the Church. It is Christ Who has given it to us, through His Church, so that we need not be puzzled on any matter of importance for our earthly and spiritual lives.

Some people fall away if their comforts and consolations are removed. Those whose faith is real will not allow anything, or any circumstances, to damage it, whether opposition, temptation, or ejection from their churches, homes, land or families; they will keep the light of Christ burning in their souls and lives, and show out His love and light in all they say and do, until they reach Heaven.

The men who serve Christ in the Church as priests, seem similar, exteriorly; but here and there amongst them are priests in grave sin. Unless they repent, they will suffer the fate of those whom Christ condemned when he said 'Woe to you, Chorazin'. Priests have had wonders worked in their lives. To ignore God's gifts and commit grave sin is to deserve Hell.

There is no need for concern about the Pope's decision to assist Anglicans who want to become Catholic whilst retaining some of their 'heritage'. He knows that Anglicans do not have valid orders, and that special measures are necessary rather than leave many Christians without all the Sacraments. The Holy Spirit, pictured in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome as a dove, in a Scriptural image, is guiding the Church today, just as in past ages, through all the Popes of the ages - and despite the personal sins of individual Popes.

When Christians talk together, discussing the meaning of 'Church' and 'Communion', Christ is on the edge of Heaven, gazing upon the earth, interceding for those people, praying for those who are out of Full Communion, so that they will come home, into Full Communion with the successor of St. Peter, the Pope, and with the other Catholic Bishops.

How important it is that we reflect on the purpose of our lives, before we die. How terrible, to go to the grave, and then meet God, and find out the truth - that in one way or another some of us have deliberately ignored the truth about the Church, or have wasted our time and energy on selfish ambitions, instead of loving God.

Just as God has gifts for the Church, such as the Holy Eucharist, for His friends, so he has gifts for the whole world, the greatest of which - given even to those who ignore or hate God - is the gift of life. But when people reject life, and destroy innocent babies in the womb in the horror of abortion, they reject God the Father, whether or not they realise it.

The Papacy is like the hearth at the centre of the home. As a family needs to be present together, if love is real, so a Church family needs to be in Communion with the Pope, if faith is real. All Christians are called to be in full Communion, even if they don't agree with everything in the home.

If we look at the long line of Popes, from the present day, back to Pope Saint Pius X and then back through Popes of many earlier centuries, as far as St. Peter, we see that the true doctrine of the Church has been handed on by the Popes, even if individuals here and there have been very sinful. Christ wants wavering souls to know that, in doctrinal matters, we are 'safe with Peter'.

We can imagine a group of Christians in Roman times, hearing about the privileged men who are chosen to be ordained, to serve as priests in the Church - and to make Christ Really Present in the Holy Eucharist. How fervently some might have said: "Oh! I hope I'm chosen!" It is a hard life, but most men feel honoured to be called by God, though they are unworthy.

A woman in a charity shop can be seen selecting attractive objects, and rejecting those items she deems unattractive. This is how many Christians act, even some who believe that they are Christian Bishops. They select doctrines they find attractive and reject long-standing doctrines which are not attractive to them. This is not what faithful Catholics do.