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Through the goodness of God the Father and the merits of His Son, our Lord, we can help the Holy Souls by our prayers, including those who usually have no-one to pray for them. We can help them towards Heaven, where they are greeted, and welcomed into glory, to join the Saints at God's Heart. It was with a similar welcome that Christ greeted the Saintly Souls, such as prophets and patriarchs, in the underworld, after His death and before His Resurrection; and He told them that their long wait was nearly over.

Christ is thrilled whenever we turn to Him with thanks and praise, showing our delight in His care for us. He sees millions of people, sad to say, who sit in pubs and hostelries, bored and unhappy, not knowing the purpose of life; and, without the help that our prayers or witness can bring, millions might die whilst never having offered a word of praise to God for His love, nor a word of gratitude for His gifts.

Since God the Father's plan was that Christ came to us through Mary, bringing His saving graces, He is always the Father's gift - and always through Mary. The gift is never taken back. Hence her title of 'Co-Redemptrix'; though Christ is the only Saviour, who died on the Cross for our sins.

Right from the early times, the Church has honoured the holy Mother of God: Mary. The Church does not teach that Mary won salvation for sinners. Jesus Christ is the only Saviour. By His Passion and Death He won forgiveness for all who repent and put their trust in Him; but Mary suffered, willingly, as she stood beneath the Cross, uniting her prayers and sufferings to His. She had benefited, in advance, at her Conception, from His Redeeming Work; but when she, the Immaculate, stood by the Cross, she had no sin in her. She was one with her Son in praying for sinners. She deserves to be formally proclaimed: 'Co-Redemptrix'.

Mary was chosen by God for a special role; and God the Father never changes His mind or revokes His choice. Just as He chose to bring Jesus to us, through the sinless Virgin Mary, so He still wishes to help us, through her. Indeed, He pours out through her, upon us, the graces that her son Jesus Christ won for us by His death on the Cross, as she stood beneath it, uniting her sufferings with His.

God has revealed Himself to us through His Son Jesus Christ; and Catholics know that we can rely on Sacred Scripture, the Sacred Tradition, and the Magisterium, to receive the truth handed down to us. We can hear, receive, treasure, and then share the Word of God in ordinary little ways throughout the day.

No-one in the Church should deny the importance of Missionary work. Those who revere Truth and love their fellow humans love to share the Truth about God's Love, made plain in Jesus Christ, our Saviour. There is a place for Dialogue with people of other religions; but if people called to evangelise are content to talk each time, without sharing the Faith, they have forgotten God's plan for their lives. They are foolish if they remain deaf to the Holy Spirit.

Some people seem content to live in spiritual darkness. It is important to persevere with our prayers of intercession, even for someone who seems to be preoccupied and unresponsive. The grace of God can penetrate hearts and minds without someone feeling anything, though it is when that person begins to reflect on his life and activities that he sees more clearly, and begins to see the need for change, and repentance.

God knows our nature: our desire for inspiration, and great goals. If children hear a watered-down version of the Faith, some feel only as if Jesus is yet another good man who wants them to do good. They are not awe-struck, or inspired. It is different when they hear the truth about God's descent to earth, to sacrifice his life for us: for each of us! How wonderful, to have a hero! Someone like us, but Divine, Who loves us!

It is true, that Christ wants us to be His friends and companions; yet He remains our God and King. And when we make a good preparation for our Holy Communions, we delight Him, just as a Sovereign is delighted when some of her people in ordinary homes make special preparations to honour her when she asks if she might pay a visit.

Are we ready for Heaven, if God calls us now? We are wise if we sometimes think about the moment of our death. When we arrive before the Father's throne, and hear His loving voice, will He be leaning forward, asking, 'Is there anything you've forgotten, my child?' He will mean: Is there unconfessed sin that we regret, or good deeds left undone?

Until we are safely in Heaven, by God's grace and mercy, we must remain vigilant. Our enemy, the devil, prowls around like a hungry lion, seeking someone to devour, which means, he wants to draw us into Hell. We must pray and strive to avoid all evil, and to do only good, in union with Christ.

By our intercessions we grow in holiness and help the Church; however, we must not become despondent if we seem to see no results from our prayers for those in spiritual need: people who do not love God or who have chosen one of a thousand ways in which to dismiss God from their lives, or to ignore His Son, Jesus Christ, or to leave the one true Church. Everyone has free will. And those who refuse to repent before they die will fall into a pit, as if through the floor of a rotten building which they chose to inhabit and refused to repair.

It is a tragedy, when Christian bodies vote to discard long-standing Christian doctrines and offer a truncated version of Faith, having abandoned efforts to believe or share God's laws. Various leaders jettison - as if from a ship, into the deep - the truths that the Catholic Church still teaches about holy, indisoluble marriage, about sexuality, chastity, a male-only priesthood, and other matters.

As if throwing precious cargo into the sea, there are non-Catholic Christians who delight in discarding long-standing Christian beliefs because they want to fit in with popular culture, mistakenly supposing that they will draw people to Christ. It is a dreadful thing, in Heaven's sight, that prominent Christians, through the desire to be 'modern', can encourage others to ignore God's laws about sexuality, marriage, and other tremendously important matters to do with salvation.

It is true that we are sometimes exhausted by our prayers and intercessions, as we grieve over the great evils in the world - such as abortion - as well as doing penance for our own sins, and for others; and it seems as if we always have another hill to climb, on the Holy Mountain; yet God treasures all our efforts, and delights in our love. Our efforts are all worthwhile.

Christ wants His faithful people to realise the truth: that all their efforts to serve Him and to pray for others are immensely worthwhile. Even when it seems as if there will always be another hill to climb on the Holy Mountain, we are doing great things for God and other people by our penances and intercessions. It's as if we are hauling a trolley-full of needy people towards Heaven.

No-one is exempt. At the end of time, God will bring the 'dead' to life. Everyone has to account to God, at death, for his life and behaviour; but in the end, everyone will rise to hear the Last Judgement of God, as described in Sacred Scripture and the Tradition. We can be glad if we have tried to serve God in humility, and if we have helped other people towards holiness by our intercessions, in earthly life.

We need to remember the Commandments: above all, about loving God, but also about loving our neighbour. Some people imagine it is no great wrong, to steal private property, but it can be as bad as physically assaulting the innocent, since it causes emotional damage and leaves people very afraid, even for years. Every thief should think about his likelihood of being saved.

We are glad when people are happy, in church; reverence in Church cannot be separated from dignity, however; and when young people show their delight in the arrival of church banners by loud shrieking and whistling - as if greeting footballers before a game - they demonstrate their ignorance, and their poor catechesis. It is tragic that these Catholics do not yet know how to prepare for the reverent worship of almighty God.