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People who want to arrive at the beautiful city beyond the mountains - in Heaven - need to take advice about the route from One who knows about it and speaks with authority. God the Son has shown in the way to Heaven, the Way of faith, hope and love, in charity and truth. People are foolish who say they can go in any direction.

The journey to Heaven can be seen as a route across dangerous terrain, to the beautiful city hidden far beyond the mountains. People who refuse good advice about travel and who insist on going where they please, and persevering in their sins, are like people foolish enough to insist on hopping all the way, or riding a unicycle.

In a time when Governments are not afraid to issue grim warnings about the results of certain sorts of behaviour - sexual promiscuity, drug misuse, and smoking - the Clergy fail in their duty to warn of the real and terrible consequences of deliberate disobedience to the Laws of God.

We ought always to be alert, to warn friends against danger. To see friends remaining in serious sin, or about to commit serious sin, is like being a person high up on a river-bank who sees some friends joyfully floating by on a raft, and watches another friend prepare to plunge in for a swim, yet who sees that they might all drown, when they reach the water-fall downstream. In appropriate ways, they deserve a warning.

We are right to want to avoid judging the motives and attitudes of other people; but we are not wrong to judge some of their acts, and to try to steer them away from physical or moral danger - or to rescue them. If we see a man about to leap of a cliff, we do not say, "I must not judge him". We act, to save his life. So we should at times warn people.

No mother tells a toddler all the details about car-accidents; but she warns him to take care. But when teenage boys and other people become preoccupied with pornography, lustful conversations and immoral activities, it is time to warn them quite frankly about the danger of falling into Hell.

It is usual to speak more about the love of God than the loss of God, to people of goodwill. But when sinful people are in danger of going astray, attracted by pornography, for example, the time has come to give stern warnings about the torments suffered in Hell by those who persist in mortal sin.

When a person meets Christ in a spiritual Communion, or in contemplation, it's as if she has a secret chamber - her own soul - where she can meet Christ, to adore Him, talk with Him, ask His advice, or rest in Him, even if her exterior life seems limited or restricted. Through Christ, furthermore, she can reach up to Heaven!

It is important not to 'cast pearls before swine': not to offer spiritual advice, too early, to those who despise spiritual things, nor to press information about the Church upon people who hate the mention of her name. This causes such people to be even more exasperated and confrontational. Our prayer for them is more important, for the moment.

If we wish we could give to a beloved relation all the wisdom and goodness that we have received from God in a life-time, the best means is by encouraging them to receive Christ with devotion in Holy Communion. In Christ is His Divinity, wisdom, power, beauty, and goodness: more than enough to fill our hearts, if we open our hearts fully to receive Him.

Just as a mother bird feeds her nestlings with small morsels of food, so a spiritual director or friend gives to the one she advises only what he or she can digest - depending on the state-of-soul of the listener.

A very talented musician can produce work even more beautiful if she listens to the advice of her coach about very tiny improvements she can make; and so it is with people who already love Christ, and have sacrificed much for His sake. They can become even more saintly by following His guidance in even little details that could be improved, or little flaws that could be avoided.

Everyone who has visions in prayer should be very cautious, and seek the advice of those in authority in the Church. They can prove their love for God by their obedience. People who insist on what their 'visions' ask of them, even against the request of Church authorities, are in danger of being led astray. Some visions come from Satan, who loves to give pleasure if he can thereby draw people down to Hell.

There are many people who have been urged to have abortions, but who have been given little advice or encouragement on the subject of adoption. This is usually second best, after caring by the birth parent; but it is always better than the killing of an unborn child; and it can give joy to couples unable to conceive children of their own.

Some people say: How can the Saints be happy, if they know that some souls are in Hell? Just as an adventurous person, centuries ago, risked death in the Wild West, because he longed for excitement, and took no notice of friends' advice, so some souls risk damnation for the excitement of sinful pleasures; they listen to no-one and will arrive in Hell unless they repent before they die; and the arrival will be their own choice.

There are deep caverns in Hell, crammed with sinful souls who have refused to repent of their sins, but have freely chosen to walk on the path to Hell, despite all sorts of warnings. There, they are tormented by the demons whose advice they have followed in life, instead of listening to God.

There is no end to the caverns and canyons of Hell, where unrepentant sinners go, to find themselves being tormented by the demons whose advice they have followed in earthly life instead of following God's laws.

A sovereign nation deserves respect, as does a family. When there is mis-government and misery, other countries should offer help and advice; but only in the gravest and most exceptional circumstances should one country, or a group of them, forcefully enter another, to subdue and change it - as was done, for people in desperate need in Europe, when Hitler was killing millions, with his evil regime.

It is only too easy for weak human beings to put themselves under Satan's influence, first, by some little sins which then lead to serious sins. He becomes their chief guide, and leader, instead of Christ. The only way of escape is through complete repentance of all sin, and then adherence to God and His laws. People in trouble deserve to hear this.

We are not all chosen to be official 'Evangelisers'; yet those who experience the peace-of-soul, spiritual growth and intellectual delight of the true Faith, and who are grateful for life in Christ, are not acting kindly if they don't share the Faith at suitable opportunities, or if they even advise other people to keep on with their mistaken beliefs or superstitious practices. It's as if people on their way to a warm climate can choose whether to take pity on a family they see, huddled in a snowfield, or can ignore them whilst rejoicing in their own good fortune.