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Christ looks with great tenderness and love upon us all; yet He helps with especial care all who are too sick or weak to give much time to prayer. It is as if He gently lays them down, and invites them to rest in His presence, knowing that they are loved.

It can be a good idea to clear out possessions once again, first to help people in need, but also to spare other people the task if ill-health makes it likely that other people will have to do the same job for us one day soon.

Sick people have no special right to enter Heaven just because they have suffered much, no matter what sentimental onlookers say. The sick, too, are called to holiness. They need to believe, to think and act with charity, and to persevere, in order to be saved. Yet they have had greater than usual opportunities to do penance, by accepting their sufferings in patience.

Just as a loving Father, on holiday with his family, helps his disabled child to leave the water after only a short dip, so God the Father looks on lovingly if a sick or disabled person has to 'leave' prayer, through exhaustion; unable to concentrate. He is neither surprised nor offended; He looks on with sympathetic eyes.

Someone who is not in perfect health, and who is undecided about going to Sunday Mass, or reluctant, should ask: "If my favourite person invited me out for a meal today, would I agree to go?" A person who is well enough to go out for a meal is well enough to go to church, to meet Christ, our best friend, and to offer the Holy Sacrifice.

We cannot avoid difficult topics in discussing the faith; yet it is important to be aware, when speaking of subjects such as death, that we do not know the dreams, fears and past experiences of each listener. Some might have had dreadful experiences of the illnesses and deaths of friends or relations; and this colours their attitudes and even alters their belief. Sensitivity is essential.

There are people who deny that abortion involves the taking of human life; yet in every abortion clinic there are little dead bodies to be disposed of daily: treated as so much hospital waste, with no respect; and where bodies are, there has plainly been either illness or accident or a deliberate killing; and abortion is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being.

God is good, and just; therefore everyone who dies receives a just judgement; and even people who commit suicide are judged by Him. He understands the pain and sorrow that cause some people almost to lose hope of finding joy; but it is wrong for anyone to reject the gift of life and to kill himself, or to ask other people to take his life because he is very sick or disabled.

No-one ought to suppose that a person who kills himself is wise. In every life, there is some suffering. The way in which we respond to it reveals our character. Whether sick or well, rich or poor, we have free will. We can respond with recognition of what is good in our lives, even in difficulties, or we can give in to self-pity and resentment. All people - including suicides - are judged by God, at death: by God Who is both merciful and just, but who gave life as a gift, not to be carelessly thrown away. Suicide is a sin.

The Lord showed me that, just as on a lengthy car journey there comes a time to put down the map, collect belongings, and pick up gifts for the people we are meeting, so, in life's journey, when we believe it is shortly to end, it's time to prepare, to clear up our belongings, leave gifts for those who are close to us, and prepare, spiritually, for our meeting with the Lord.

There are worse tragedies than illness. There was once an advert that portrayed the pain of a family who lost a beloved member through sudden death. How terrible it is, if a member is lost forever, through not having prepared for death by repentance, holy living, prayer, and trust in God. Some people rule themselves out of Heaven by their sins or disbelief.

God delights in our love, proved by our devotion in prayer; but He delights in the charity in our hearts, when we freely choose to leave our devotions to attend to a neighbour, whether a person taken ill, or a husband arriving home and deserving a kind welcome.

When we are too tired or too ill to name each precious friend and relation before God, to intercede for each in the name of God's Son, we can be certain that God understands our plight. He welcomes, all at once, all the people we have in mind, as if they are like a swarm of bees powerfully rising upwards to Heaven.

It can be hard for some priests as they grow old and frail, and step down from positions of influence, no longer able to preach and command a hearing. Some feel as though, in retirement, they are falling, helpless, towards oblivion; but they should believe that, underneath them, to hold them, are the 'everlasting arms' of God.

No child, however tiny, and however sick, can be unnoticed by God, Who looks with love upon these infants as they suffer all sorts of illnesses and are even in danger of death, from very ordinary causes. God is holding them in His arms, whether they are allowed to live, or are brought through death into His loving care.

Someone exhausted or ill might feel so oppressed by a 'cloud' of weariness that she feels her prayers can barely rise up to Heaven. But the Father does hear her; and He is delighted that in her exhaustion or illness she still trusts in Him, believes in His love for her, and turns to Him in prayer.

It is important for us to be kind to the elderly as well as the sick. It is inevitable that when elderly people have serious mental problems, solely due to old age, their spiritual state can seem to be changed. They might be moody or impulsive, when they were not so in the past. A person can seem to resemble an old barn which still stands, but is evidently deteriorating. We must beware of falling beams - sudden rages - though persevering in kindness.

Just as there are tumble-down houses with overgrown gardens and broken fences, so there are elderly persons who are forgetful or disorganised, or manipulative. We might find some of them difficult to deal with; but it's important to be kind, as some of these people cannot help their condition. Practical help might be needed, and prudence in making decisions; but we must look at everyone as if through the eyes of Christ.

Christ cannot fail to shower graces upon all who are struggling to follow in His footsteps, up the Holy Mountain, to Heaven. That is what all who go on pilgrimage are certainly doing, as they serve one another and honour God, in union with Christ, helped by the prayers of Christ's holy Mother, and with the sick and disabled lovingly cared for on the journey.

Nothing can happen to us except what God permits, in this life. Someone who trusts in Christ has no need to panic when illness arrives. There are problems to face, with unpleasant symptoms, procedures - and ways of sustaining the family. But if we are on our way to Heaven, anyway, we are wise if we not only consult doctors, and make day-to-day wise decisions, but also abandon ourselves to God's plans, allowing Him to carry us closer towards Heaven, as if on an escalator.