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Christ said: 'Eat what is set before you. Take no spare tunic'; so when Christ sent out His disciples to preach the good news of the Kingdom, He gave them precise instructions, to help them. He can not fail to help those He chooses, and sends out, even today, even if the circumstances, and the instructions, are different.

Christ wants us to know that He speaks to us about sin and Hell because of His great love for us. Just as a householder acts with kindness if he warns a new neighbour that there is an old well in that person's garden, where anyone could be lost, so Christ acts with kindness when He explains in various ways that certain types of behaviour can destroy the life of grace within our souls, extinguishing the light of the Holy Spirit within us - unless we repent and change.

There is no doubt that our priests deserve care and respect both from their parishioners and their Bishops, as well as sufficient rest, and free time. Yet priestly life can only be renewed, where priests are dispirited or dejected, if there is also a humble, sincere, renewal of trusting prayer to Christ, and devotion to His Holy Mother Mary.

St. Paul spoke, by the altar of the 'Unknown God'. Like St. Paul, we should admire the efforts of people of other religions to search for God; yet like him, we should seize opportunities of telling people who have never heard the good news, about what God has done for us, in love for us, through Jesus Christ, who came through Mary.

Even in infancy, Jesus Christ set an example of trust, as He entrusted Himself to the care of human beings, when He had 'left behind His glory' as the Son of God. He came amongst us on earth, even though He knew He would be mocked and rejected by many. We give Him joy when we turn to Him with gratitude and gladness.

We need to refocus our thoughts: on Heaven! Someone sad can gain a new perspective, by looking at a traditional scene, and realising that he or she enjoyed many more happy Christmasses than sad ones. What counts is to realise that in every season we are deeply loved by God, as precious individuals whom He wants to bring to enjoy eternal joy with Him.

By sincere prayer in Christ's name, we can make a 'bridge' - thanks to Divine grace - between what we desire now, and what we ought to desire in order to become holy. A new stage of determination and repentance can give us a real hope of making progress on our spiritual journey instead of continuing in mediocrity or worldliness.

Long ago, the new rite of the Mass was very hurriedly introduced. Through long-standing, tragic ignorance of the Traditional Mass, many people have lost the sense of ascending, together, to Calvary, to offer the Holy Sacrifice. The Traditional rite seemed to be put aside, and the Novus Ordo was in place. But now (in 2010) Christ is encouraging, through the Papacy, a growth in understanding, at last, of the beauty and antiquity of the Traditional Mass, and of its reverent phrasing, and its silences.

God is enabled to act powerfully upon the earth, wherever people are willing to carry out His wishes, and so to fulfill His plan to lead us to holiness; yet His plans are delayed or stopped, on earth, where Catholics raise their voices, and challenge faithful Clergy members who are faithfully handing on the Faith in its fullness. Those who dissent on faith or morals undo God's work, unlike Catholics in the new Movements or Orders, or following in traditional ways, who persevere no matter what the cost.

The priest is the man at the heart of the process of conversion. He brings good news about God's love, and the forgiveness given to repentant sinners. He brings Jesus to us: in His Word, in the Real Presence of Christ at Mass and in the tabernacle. He organises Catechesis; and he preaches, offers the Holy Sacrifice, prepares us for death, guides and helps the bereaved - and the faithful priest will be marvelously rewarded, even in this life. His greatest friend is Jesus Christ.

Catholics who work in mission and evangelisation can often be seen as calling out into the dark, in the heights of a great cavern, as they look down to the depths where many people are hiding away from God. Someone in this sort of Apostolate should have a burning desire to share the good news about God's love for us, about the forgiveness of sins, and about the graces made available through Christ and His Church, to bring us back to God and to prepare us for Eternity.

We are right to pray for prisoners, as we think of one needy group of people, then another, as we make our intercessions; yet the worst sort of 'captivity' is brought about by grave sin, when a person imprisons himself through freely deciding to do what is gravely sinful, or to neglect an important good. The good news is that, helped by Divine Grace, he can repent, and open the door of his 'prison', and set out on the path to Heaven.

We can picture Heaven as being like another country. Wise people who want to enter a new country have some humility, and are willing to allow their documents to be examined, to see if they are in order. We are foolish if we expect to drift into Heaven if we have made no preparations for our new way of life, have no humility, and rely only on God's kindness towards us, while forgetting His blazing holiness, that only the holy can understand!

The Church in every age meets mockery and persecution; and she prays to Heaven for help and is always answered. God sends star-bursts of light, which are persons and movements which show out truth and love, renewing the Church, bringing new hope to the weak and consolation to the faithful.

None of us can imagine how close Christ is to His holy Mother Mary. He Who created her was later born of her. Her love for Him, and her trust in Him, were perfect. He confided in her. She knew, even before the Apostles did, that Christ would suffer; and so she prayed, and endured, and waited; and she consoled her beloved son by her presence.

Obstinate souls require firm 'treatment'. A soul that is well-cared for, in the sense of being pleasing to God because of its purity, humility and love, is like a beautiful lawn that is pleasant to walk upon; but a soul that neglects its spiritual health is like a place of dry grass broken up by patches of mud. It needs to be well-dug before new seed can be sown; and that 'digging' might take the form of an apparent catastrophe in ordinary life.

The prayer that is offered with real faith in Jesus' name goes swift as an arrow to Heaven, whereas the prayer offered in half-belief is like a little flame of hope that is swiftly extinguished by a new, doubting thought, then is set alight again by an influx of faith, but not yet strong enough to reach Heaven.

Just as in a childrens' play-house there can arise nasty squabbles, and an adult has to swoop down to help the children to see reason, so in the Church, our joy can be spoiled by squabbles about doctrine or Liturgy, especially when the truth offered by those in authority is ignored; and so God swoops down from time to time, to help, by means of an inspiring vision, or a message, or a new call to penance, or a new gift of encouragement for the Church.

The almighty and Eternal God calls men to share the priesthood of the Son of God. If all priests were able to see and hear the Holy Spirit they would hear Him say, of the call from Christ: 'He chose you, and you responded. Even when you were in your mother's womb, He knew He would call you to be a priest; and then you accepted. Never give up because of your own sins and weaknesses.' Truely, the Catholic Priesthood is a calling, not a career.

We are not wrong to say things have gone wrong, in Church life. Sensible people draw sensible conclusions from evidence - for example, if we saw blood flowing past us, in a gutter, we would conclude that a body must be nearby, perhaps mortally wounded. So when there are clear signs of a disaster in the Church, with priests and religious having left, in thousands, and with children often uncatechised and irreverent, it is plain that the so-called 'Renewal' of the Church after the Second Vatican Council was in many ways a time of chaos, dissent and exaggeration of the reforms proposed, with disastrous results.