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A Christian marriage, lived as it should be lived, is like a lamp set on a hill, for society; a sacramental union full of grace. It provides a loving home for children who are not rejected by contraceptive use or abortion; it is a place of care for elderly relations, provides warmth for the lonely, and is an example to all of love and compassion.

There are many children who, left to themselves, make foolish or selfish decisions about their behaviour; for example, many choose to watch pornography on their computers instead of doing their school-work. Yet Christ is at work, by His grace, calling back each one to find lasting joy and fulfilment.

Catholics who do not pray, or who hope to do good but without prayer, cannot draw from Christ the graces they need for a vigorous spiritual life. They are like grapes that are shrivelling on the vine, through separation.

God wants everyone to know that we don't need special circumstances in which to show out love for God and our neighbour, or advanced education or special training or equipment. In whatever vocation God has called us to undertake, we can show our love, and - by the graces won for us by Christ - prepare for Eternity in Heaven.

Through prayer, especially through the cycle of the Church's Liturgical prayer, we can enter the Mysteries of Christ's earthly life. At each of the feasts of His life we can address Him in that event, and benefit from the graces He won for us, in it. Simple people who pray to the 'infant Jesus' have an instinctive knowledge of this truth.

Through prayer, especially through the cycle of the Church's Liturgical prayer, we can enter the Mysteries of Christ's earthly life. At each of the feasts of His life we can address Him in that event, and benefit from the graces He won for us, in it. Simple people who pray to the 'infant Jesus' have an instinctive knowledge of this truth.

By the powerful prayer we offer in the name of Jesus Christ, we can - by His grace - help to remove evil influences from the souls of people trapped in sin. Demons flee at the sound of Jesus's name, and peace is restored to the heart, soul and mind, with a renewal of innocence and trust.

Christ said that by offering up our sufferings in union with Him, in intercession for others, we can (by His grace) save people from committing mortal sin, or save sinners who are dying from falling unrepentant into Hell.

Just as a dying sinner can (by God's grace) be saved from Hell by the visit of a charitable person, such as a nurse, for example, who pauses to pray with him, so sinners can be held back from committing mortal sin if we pause to 'offer up' our sufferings in intercession.

Christ said that by offering up our sufferings in union with Him, in intercession for others, we can (by His grace) save people from committing mortal sin, or save sinners who are dying from falling unrepentant into Hell.

Wherever someone calls out to a Saint in Heaven, to ask for his or her prayers, grace pours down upon the needy as surely as sunlight pours through gaps in a huge cloud.

Although God pours down grace upon us, like sunlight through a great cloud, whenever we ask for the prayers of one of the Saints of Heaven, even greater graces are given to us when we go to the shrine of one of the Saints, and there ask for his or her intercession, at a shrine authorised and blessed by the Church.

The Saints love to intercede with God for us, to draw down grace upon us like sunlight upon dark lives. The greatest help pours down - like a blazing gift of light, covering a huge area - when Christ's Mother intercedes for us, in response to our cries for help.

We can gain great graces from Heaven through the prayers of the Saints; yet the greatest graces are given by Christ Himself, directly, in the Mass, in the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle, and in Exposition and Adoration.

If we 'offer up' our sufferings in union with Christ, interceding for sinners, we can help people who have not yet heard Christ's message, and have not yet repented. By the grace of Christ, we can help save those people who would otherwise fall into Hell, far below the glory of Heaven.

When a 'child of God' offers in conversation not words of charity or compassion, but malicious gossip or salacious comments, that soul is like a holy shrine from which now emerges no spring, no living water of grace, but from which oozes drops of evil-smelling puss. Such a serious infection needs powerful help.

The nuns who have offered their whole lives to God in contemplation and penance effect powerful changes in the lives of sinners. The penances of ordinary people, too, are effective, pouring into the world, by God's grace, a stream of living water rather than the 'puss' which oozes from sinful deeds and conversations.

To live as a faithful Catholic, in difficult circumstances, is like climbing a huge mountain, knowing that a great welcome awaits climbers at the summit. A good climber does not lose hope, but keeps climbing, confident that - by God's grace - he will be strong enough to persevere.

As I praised the Blessed Virgin Mary on the feast of her Assumption, I was shown by the Lord a 'mountain', with the narrow path which leads to great sanctity. We can all become holy and pure, like Our Lady and the Saints, by God's grace - though we cannot yet enter bodily into Heaven, as she has, and her son.

The sick can exercise great spiritual power, with Christ. Those who resolve to be patient and to accept a special vocation can work for God and the Church, in and through their sufferings. By God's grace they can accept without resentment their pains and humiliations, as a penance for themselves and to help save other souls, in union with Christ Who won salvation for us by His patient love, in accepting the Cross.