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Satan cannot bear to see Christ's faithful people happy and hopeful. When he cannot cause faithful people to break God's laws he stirs up discontent, or bouts of jealousy or anger, resentment and injured pride, to destroy the peace which is Christ's gift to His friends.

Living as if trapped in an underground cave, a person who is full of self-pity has a spiritual ailment. That person deserves sympathy, and perhaps rest, and practical help; but self-pity is damaging in that the one so afflicted is usually not very thankful for what is genuinely good in life: including the gift of life; and it cuts off the preoccupied one from sharing the interests, joys and sorrows of other people.

Christ deserves to be shown the deepest honour at Mass. Christ is touched by the deep reverence which is shown out at every Mass where people who love Christ take care that every word and gesture is dignified and worthy of their Divine Saviour. We should not offer, at Mass, words, gifts or gestures that are introduced merely to make children, or other people, feel special.

No-one forces anyone to water-ski; yet a special vocation requires special dedication. Just as a water-skier can grow careless, or decide to show off, or lose courage at great speed, and find himself humiliated, and reluctant to begin again, so a priest, or any disciple of Christ, can make foolish mistakes, in a freely-chosen vocation, if he is too proud to seek advice, or begins to doubt his gifts, or is afraid to begin again.

Just as a jug can only be swiftly filled with water if the lid is wide-open, so the gifts of God can only pour into a soul in full measure when the person opens her heart wide, to God, in deeply reverent prayer, with all sins confessed, all distractions banished, and an attitude of patience and trust.

A wise person is aware of real intentions. We are not wrong to pray to God when we are comfortable, enjoying mood music and a hot drink. But the pleasant feelings developed are sense-pleasures, not indications of the presence of God. He is most reverently approached, for prayer, by those who kneel or stand, or otherwise indicate humility before Him, and who, during prayer, shun pleasure, in order to make room, so to speak, for whatever gifts and graces God might choose to give them.

It gives joy to the heart of God, to see people helping one another, and especially to see people with special needs being helped by kind friends, relations or parishioners. These needy people are those whom others would have thrown away, at birth, since so little respect is shown for the gift of life, and for individuals.

God's choice of a man for the Priesthood is forever. God does not change His mind about a man to whom He had given great gifts, at Ordination, for the sake of the Church - though a man might disqualify himself from active service for various reasons.

The men who serve Christ in the Church as priests, seem similar, exteriorly; but here and there amongst them are priests in grave sin. Unless they repent, they will suffer the fate of those whom Christ condemned when he said 'Woe to you, Chorazin'. Priests have had wonders worked in their lives. To ignore God's gifts and commit grave sin is to deserve Hell.

We receive the free gift of Divine Life in Baptism. That is the start of our journey with and through Christ towards Heaven; but we choose at each moment whether to persevere. Some people do so, but some seem to throw the gifts away, and they will be lost, unless they repent.

The Lord wants everyone to realise that He is the Source of life. His gift of life is a blessed thing. Every child arises from the Heart of God, no matter how strong or weak the child, how grateful the parents or neglectful, or whatever the circumstances. Every child is precious in God's sight. He gave each one life, and invites human beings to care for one another, with love, but especially the weak and defenceless.

If we try to live without God, we live in spiritual darkness; yet as soon as we turn to Him in prayer, we can become hopeful of receiving His gifts and graces; and we shall be helped to open our hearts and lives to His influence, even if the 'light' of prayer seems to hurt or even blind us, at first.

People give joy to Christ by their gratitude for the gift of life. If the whole world were to show such delight at the birth of children, how much happier a place it would be! And how terrible for Christ, to see His gift of life despised and discarded.

Just as God has gifts for the Church, such as the Holy Eucharist, for His friends, so he has gifts for the whole world, the greatest of which - given even to those who ignore or hate God - is the gift of life. But when people reject life, and destroy innocent babies in the womb in the horror of abortion, they reject God the Father, whether or not they realise it.

A market-stall can be seen as an illustration of the generosity of God - except that all His gifts are free. They are always available. It is through prayer and the sacraments that anyone can receive these gifts. He is full of love for us, and delights in giving us His Spirit, His Son, and encouragement, forgiveness, and hope.

People can picture the gifts and graces given by God as being bargains from a wonderful stall-holder. Yet all the gifts He gives are free; and if we could see the invisible One high above us we would see how much He delights in giving gifts, to make us joyful and holy.

Good art is a gift made possible by God; but like all gifts it should be used wisely. It should never serve to offer malicious depictions of certain groups of persons or individuals, nor to inflame sinful desires by pornographic content, nor to corrupt the minds of the viewers, for example, by making an evil ideology or regime seem admirable.

When it is proposed, by organisers of what are called 'inter-faith' prayers, is that everyone pray together without mentioning names, and if a Catholic agrees not to pray 'through Christ our Lord', it's as if that Catholic denies Christ, steps out of the life of grace which was a privileged gift, and leaves Christ behind in order to please others. They would be more impressed, and he would please Christ, if he acted with integrity, and prayed as a Christian or not at all.

When it is proposed, by organisers of what are called 'inter-faith' prayers, that everyone pray together without mentioning names, and a Catholic agrees not to pray 'through Christ our Lord', it's as if that Catholic denies Christ, steps out of the life of grace which was a privileged gift, and leaves Christ behind in order to please others. They would be more impressed, and he would please Christ, if he acted with integrity, and prayed as a Christian or not at all.

It was as if from the 'womb' of the Godhead, from the heart of the Mystery of the Godhead, was born love, embodied, when Jesus Christ took flesh from the Blessed Virgin Mary. He came to earth to be our Saviour: to invite His beloved creatures to accept His free gift of salvation and joy.