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Christ has called His priests to be apart, as He was, when He prayed on the mountain to His Heavenly Father. A priest must lead his flock along a narrow road, high into the peaks which lie ahead: peaks of sanctity. He can only lead if he himself is prayerful, and charitable and willing to bear hardship in the Lord's service.
Christ our God, Who gives us life, was Himself once a child, when He was made man in the womb of Mary. He wants to protect all children from two particular dangers: first, the danger of being killed in the womb, and then the danger of having their childhood innocence destroyed by unnecessary and too-early information, often amoral too, about sexual relationships.
God wants to save us. People who accept Christ's invitation to follow His Way to peace, forgiveness and joy can reach the bliss of Heaven, if they persevere until death, to enjoy the company of the saints at the heart of the Blessed Trinity; however, the caverns of Hell are full of terrified people who have refused the graces of Christ, refused to follow His Way, and instead have found themselves, after death, at the mercy of the demons who have long ago chosen to disobey God. These sinners freely chose to ignore Christ's love, and Christ's warnings.
God wants to save us. People who accept Christ's invitation to follow His Way to peace, forgiveness and joy can reach the bliss of Heaven, if they persevere until death, to enjoy the company of the saints at the heart of the Blessed Trinity; however, the caverns of Hell are full of terrified people who have refused the graces of Christ, refused to follow His Way, and instead have found themselves, after death, at the mercy of the demons who have long ago chosen to disobey God. These sinners freely chose to ignore Christ's love, and Christ's warnings.
The souls in Purgatory are faithful people, some of whom are still marred by attitudes unworthy of Heaven - hence the need for the purification wrought in each person by the Holy Spirit. No-one can enter Heaven unless full of gratitude, joy and humility. No-one can go in, still thinking, about his health in earthly life, or other matters: "Why should I be treated like this? I deserve better".
The souls in Purgatory are faithful people, some of whom are still marred by attitudes unworthy of Heaven - hence the need for the purification wrought in each person by the Holy Spirit. No-one can enter Heaven unless full of gratitude, joy and humility. No-one can go in, still thinking, about his health in earthly life, or other matters: "Why should I be treated like this? I deserve better".
It is the Will of God that religious icons or paintings in any medium show out the limits of the Catholic Faith, even the sad ones which warn us to avoid the tricks and temptation of Satan or risk falling into Hell, by our own freely-made choices.
A Christian artist is right to use images of a font or a full-immersion Baptismal pool in paintings, as reminders of the process of conversion and sanctification. This is the path the Heaven: the path which leads through Baptism to union with the Blessed Trinity - and, as life continues, a way of even deeper purification necessary because of day-to-day sins.
Christ is never indifferent to our pains and sufferings. No-matter how alone we feel, we should believe that He is close by at work to ease our sufferings and to bring us help in the midst of trails. It is as if He has His arms round each individual, holding each one close to His heart.
People who suffer persecution or martyrdom because of their faith in Christ can feel as though they are leaving a garden of earthly delights to enter an endless tunnel of suffering. They can be assured that that tunnel opens out onto an area: not an area like the Colisseum, but a place where Christ, His Mother and all the Saints wait to greet them, and lead them into a life of Eternal bliss.
The Catholic Church is a visible body on earth, that cannot be mistaken for any other. It is not possible for her to water down her teachings in order to placate Christians in other bodies; yet her Bishops and other clergy can speak, side by side with other Christians, about matters in secular society on which all Christians agree.
Real love for God is shown by offering Him the courtesies we offer to people on earth whom we respect. If in God's presence, in prayer, it is respectful to say: 'please exclude me, Lord' - if we have to rush away, suddenly, for example. We would not rush out of an earthly throne-room without a word to the King.
Christ asked me to draw a cartoon, to show out how cruel young people are, who act 'cool', like their friends, striving to appear independent, unemotional, sophisticated and tough, but ignoring the needs of others, and refusing the normal courtesies of normal conversation with adults, or young people outside their group.
Pride was the sin of the Angels, as described in Sacred Scripture, when some rebelled against God and fell from grace. Pride, too, with stubbornness, is the sin which the Lord sees in the hearts of those who persist in disbelief even until death, ignoring His invitations to believe and to repent, so that they can enter Eternal life with Him and not fall into Hell.
We should honour Our Lady, and have confidence in her prayers. No-one's prayers are more powerful - except her Son's - than those of the Immaculate Mother of God. What millions have believed is indeed true, that just as an earthly king refuses nothing to his beloved mother, so Christ our King can refuse nothing His Mother asks. We are not wrong to pray by statues of Our Lady, which help us to fix our minds on her who lives in Heaven.
In this earthy life, those who follow Christ must invite all people who feel helpless in their sins and fears to reach out to God, through Christ. Faith is like a rope. If we grasp it, we can count on the Lord's help to be drawn up towards sanctity and salvation. People who say, "I don't need God", or, "I want to be independent", are like people trapped in a pit who insist on their own strength but fail to climb out.
Although the Pope hands on the truth, there is a cancer at the heart of Europe, which consists of disbelief in God and His laws, which leads to the promotion of wicked laws, and the encouragement of immoral acts and attitudes. It is not so elsewhere, in some societies called poor or primitive, but which live a vibrant, full-bodied Catholic Faith.
We adore God, and honour Mary, at every Mass. Our Blessed Lady was conceived Immaculate by a special privilege; and after fulfilling God's arduous plan for her life on earth, she reigns as Immaculate Queen in Heaven, at the heart of the Most Blessed Trinity, close to her son, and with all the Company of the Blessed.
The Scared Liturgy is prayer offered by Christ, in the power and light of the Holy Spirit to the Father Who reigns in Heaven. No other praise can surpass the praise which Christ offers from the heart of our Church - especially the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. To pray at Mass is to pray in Spirit and in truth. We pray in the power of Spirit, through Christ Who is the truth of God. God invites the whole world to prefer this sacrificial, sublime prayer to all of their own ideas, methods or idols.
There is no room in a heart both for malice and charity. A person who acts with deliberate malice might be trying to be worldly or sophisticated, in imitation of some modern hero, but more often he is prompted by the evil one who delights in causing us to belittle, hurt, humiliate or terrify one another.
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