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When people are taught about the Mass, the focus of the teaching should be on God, to Whom our prayers rise up like incense, and on what we can understand about our relationship with God the Father, through His Son, in the Holy Spirit. That is even more important that what is true about the Mass as a gathering of the Faithful.

Christ holds up St. John Vianney, inviting all priests and Bishops to peer through the mists of time to meet a Saint whose priestly ministry was simple, fervent, Christ-centered, self-forgetful, pure and holy. St John is the ideal patron Saint for all Clergy. Faith and love are important, today, not trying to be being 'relevant'.

St. John Vianney's burning desire was to share the Faith and to save souls. His first preparation for his priestly task was to pray to the Lord, at the tabernacle, pleading for his flock, and also making a worthy preparation for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which he would offer for his parish as well as the whole Church.

When some priests try to appear unnecessarily modern and relevant, Satan is at work today. It is he who persuades so many of the Clergy to water down the Faith, to make compromises with the world, or with other Christians, that are against Church teaching and confuse the Faithful.

It is Satan who helps some of the Clergy to water down the Faith, and to act against the Faith in ways that others do. Christ sees it is as hard for an orthodox priest to speak with a luke-warm Bishop today as it was for Franz Jaggerstatter to speak to the army officer, or St. Thomas More to speak to his king.

We need not worry if we have so many duties to fulfil that we cannot name every individual whom we hold up before God in prayer. If we intercede for them all at once, we can be sure that as we hold them before God it's as if we are bringing them into the sunlight. God's warm love falls upon each one, with graces according to their needs, because of the merits of Christ, and our faithful intercession.

If we have faith in Christ, and a fervent spiritual life, we can become like the healthy mustard-plant that Christ described, in which 'the birds of the air can rest'; but if we have very little faith in Him, and are full of self-pity about our difficulties, resentful of the crosses we carry, and prickly towards our neighbour, we are like a thorn bush amidst all the beauty and life that is seen around us.

It is wrong, in God's sight, for us to deny God, in an attempt to be tolerant. A Government of a Christian country has a duty to tell people who wish to become citizens that the Christian Faith is the foundation of our country's institutions at large, that the greater proportion of the citizens claim to be Christian, and they they are expected to respect what is Christian, though no-one forces newcomers to become Christian.

Just as a mathematician finds joys in his calculations, as he explores obscure aspects of his subject, so, some theologians like to make nuanced statements about obscure aspects of doctrine; yet theologians are unwise if they neglect basic principles of the Faith, or forget that, in essence, it is simple, consisting of truths about God's plan of salvation, and how we can be saved.

Priests should set an example of holiness and purity, neither giving up nor watering down the Faith, nor developing a worldly spirit in order to be popular. They will do little good if they are disloyal to the Saviour, Who asks them to imitate Him, and keep people safe from Hell.

God looks from Heaven upon the Earth, and sees the long line of Popes whom He has appointed to be leaders of the other Bishops and of the Church. He sees that although all have been faithful to the Tradition, some have been silent when they should have spoken and allowed evil to flourish. Jesus is the model for all Popes: gentle with the weak but bold in correcting serious faults or misunderstandings.

A person who knowingly refuses Baptism and all that it means cannot be saved, because his refusal stems from a refusal to believe what God's only Son has said: that whoever repents and is Baptised will be saved, but that whoever refuses to believe is already condemned.

Are we handing on the Faith? Christ asks us to teach the Faith to our children. If we do that, we share a priceless gift, but also strengthen the family, which is precious. A family replicates the life of God. It is important for us to know how to live, and how to love with Divine charity, so that we will all be saved.

There are people in the Church who dishonour Christ by distorting the Faith. No-one should insult such dissenters; it is enough to speak about the errors in their works; but no Bishop should give them work to do in His Diocese that will damage the souls of his flock, no matter how famous, influential or persuasive that person might be.

A loving person takes care in setting the table for a family meal, just as a person who loves God takes care in making the sign of the cross. To be careless in making that sign of our Faith is to be like a careless person, before a meal, who throws the cutlery onto the table.

What will God's judgement be, on those Bishops who have focused on unimportant matters, and have neglected to teach the Faith in its entirety, thus endangering the Faithful? It's as though they have allowed souls in need of careful shepherding to wander near the edge of the Abyss.

Amazing results can spring from generous acts and prayers, in union with Christ our Saviour. Through every act of freely-borne penance, or patience in pain, it's as if we can reach out, in Christ, to draw people back from the edge of the Abyss: people who are trapped in unrepented sin, or who have terrible problems and weak faith. None of our sufferings need be wasted.

It is possible for us to persevere in naked faith, serving God and our neighbour with love, aiming for sanctity, hoping for Heaven, even when it seems as if we have no evidence of support, no signs that we are on the right path. Naked faith means clinging to what we believe to be good, and doing good, by the strength given to us by Christ and His Church.

What counts above all, in our lives, is love: love for God, and for our neighbour for God's sake. As God the Father looks down from Heaven, it's as if He sees a light shining wherever a person lives to do the Will of God, which means to believe in Him and His Son, Jesus Christ, and to follow His Way. Whatever such a person does is pleasing to God, if it is not sinful; so, although that person is called to do one task not another, he should not be anxious as he tries to discern precisely what to do next. He gives joy to God by living in a state of grace.

To pray in the name of Christ, with faith, is to act in a powerful way to help others and to benefit oneself and grow in holiness. Faith opens a door, so to speak; or, it's as if a person with faith in Christ, praying for others, parts the clouds that separate Heaven from earth. The Father always answers such prayers, for Christ's sake, though sometimes in unexpected ways.