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Some people say it is wrong to request clarity in doctrine or to criticize the words of dissenters in the Church. Truth sets us free, however. Heresy and dissent needs to be uncovered, so that people are not led astray, their souls endangered - just as a doctor is being kind when he tells a patient that he has discovered an undiscovered wound. Only by speaking about a wound can he gain consent to cure it, restoring the patient to health.
Christ said to me: 'Beware the Serpent'. He was referring to the evil one who likes to disturb my evening prayers in one disguise or another but who is put to flight by Holy Water and by prayer to the Holy Trinity.
A priest who fails to teach about sin, and separation from God, is as irresponsible as a parent who allows a toddler to play by a busy road, or to open tin cans alone, or to replace the blade in his father's razor.
Whenever we know we are dealing with a powerful substance, we wisely change our behaviour. We wear rubber-soled shoes if we work with electricity, lead aprons near X-ray machines, protective clothing for nuclear power. And we should act with care, with deepest reverence, respect and awe, when close to the Source of Divine power in our midst: Jesus our God, in the Blessed Sacrament.
Each priest should be 'another Christ' for us; yet we should not be surprised if we are treated unjustly by a priest. Christ Himself was hustled towards the edge of a cliff by men who were pillars of the local synagogue. Christ escaped, then; but until we die, we are in danger of treating others unjustly, and must resist temptation.
Those who freely and deliberately decide to disobey Divine Law on sexual morality, as taught by Christ through His Church, and who lead unchaste lives, are like people who freely board a train, laid on by Satan. It steadily descends, then enters a great hole in the ground.
Think about the uproar when careless school teachers allow the children to do as the please on school trips, only to find them lying dead near a river-bank. What will all of Heaven think when careless priests and Bishops, who have let people do as they please, see them falling down into the depths of Hell?
There is a path which leads straight to Heaven. It was built by Christ. There is a dangerous chasm at one side, into which will fall those people foolish enough to insist that they can do whatever they please, and disobey their guide, which is Christ and His Church.
Just as, on an aircraft, the flight is endangered if someone becomes so angry that he attacks the pilot or breaks a window, so, in the spiritual life, a person who commits a mortal sin risks missing a safe landing, and even entering a state which is indescribably painful.
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.
Catholics deserve to hear the whole gospel, about Heaven and Hell, sin and sanctity. Those who hear no warnings are likely to persist in their sins; whereas only the foolish would commit adultery, for example, if they knew that were they to die suddenly before they have repented they would fall straight into Hell.
There are people apparently respectable who look lustfully at other people and so sin against God and break their marriage vows. All who commit adultery, and who persevere in it, without repenting before they die, will be in danger of hell-fire - as Christ told us.
Just as a child needs to know about dangerous traffic, though not the details of possible injuries, so all Catholics need to know about the danger of turning away from God - though not read lists about the agonies of Hell. Hell awaits the damned, however: it awaits those who have refused to take notice of gentle warnings and vigorous reminders.
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.
There are large numbers of Catholics who imagine that they are active members of the Church but who have put themselves out of Communion by their dissent, rebelliousness and disobedience. In this precarious state, many are likely to fall into Hell when they die, unless they repent, and begin to love Christ and His Church
Many very sinful people, seen here laughing and drinking, lead lives which can lead to disaster. By a small step, they can fall into Hell, so dangerous is the state of mortal sin in which they live. If they ascend to God by repentance, they take the stairway to the safe place, a state of grace, where Christ Himself has bridged the gap.
A responsible Government is willing to give important information about crime, traffic accidents, epidemics, and other serious matters. Why should people resent the fact that God gives us important information? He who governs the universe is good. He warns us, out of love for us, to avoid sin, and damnation.
Catholics who persist in disbelieving much of what the Church teaches are like men struggling to walk up a mountain, taking care not to fall into narrow gullies, water-logged ditches, or near loose boulders, when they ignore the fellow Catholic who calls out to them, asking them to join him on the safe, narrow path which leads directly to Heaven. Dissenters support one another, but do not move to the safe route.
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