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In no other way can I fulfil the will of God for me except by following in Christ's footsteps in obedience and patience. But Christ and His mother look with sympathy on us in our sufferings.
There is a path which leads straight to Heaven. It was built by Christ. There is a dangerous chasm at one side, into which will fall those people foolish enough to insist that they can do whatever they please, and disobey their guide, which is Christ and His Church.
It is a special honour, to be the mother of a priest: an honour which Christ intends from the beginning of a woman's life, as He leads her onto the right path, so that her example of faith can help her son.
Everyone who really loves Christ can set aside some time for prayer, even if it means having less sleep, or dealing with an unsympathetic family. Catholics who don't pray are usually either faithless, or lukewarm, or idle, or badly-organised - and lacking awareness of the importance of prayer for holiness and salvation.
A person who is on his way to Hell has taken that downward path only by a series of deliberate, freely-chosen acts or thoughts by which he defies God or disobeys His laws. Yet if he pauses, and regrets his choices, and simply calls out "O God, Help me" - he will be helped to move upwards towards the light: helped by God who loves Him.
Christ will judge us when we die. No-one who dies will receive an unjust judgement. He can see which Christians have remained faithful - and which people who have followed other paths through ignorance have adhered to what is good and avoided what is mistaken or evil in their customs, and would have believed in Christ if they had known about Him.
Catholics who persist in disbelieving much of what the Church teaches are like men struggling to walk up a mountain, taking care not to fall into narrow gullies, water-logged ditches, or near loose boulders, when they ignore the fellow Catholic who calls out to them, asking them to join him on the safe, narrow path which leads directly to Heaven. Dissenters support one another, but do not move to the safe route.
Christ our Saviour is touched to heart - deeply touched - by all the suffering He sees. Every person who suffers, even those whose sufferings were caused by their own fault, can be certain of Christ's sympathy and compassion. Even when people are not healed, they should believe that Christ can bring good out of evil.
When there has been a death, or a tragedy for the nation, it is important that all who mourn, or work for justice, or show sympathy for others, or demonstrate for change, open their hearts to the influence of the Holy Spirit, and refuse entry to the spirit of hatred, lies and malice which is Satan.
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.
When we ask Our Lady to intercede for us, God responds to her prayer by raising up the lost soul, out of the cloud which obscured the view, to show him a path, that leads to the main road to Heaven. It is always worthwhile to ask Our Lady, and to other Saints, and the Angels, for their prayers
There are souls in Hell who are being tormented by demons. In earthly life, they refused to listen to God who loves them. They chose to walk on the path to Hell as they cried out, until death. 'I can do whatever I like'.
Nursing used to be seen as a caring profession. Now, those nurses who are deeply upset by the killings which are called 'termination of pregnancy', are shunned as over-emotional, or trouble-makers, or as unsympathetic to women 'in trouble', whereas they deserve support: and the right to avoid involvement in such evil procedures.
God invites us to love Him, to follow the hard road of obedience until we die, and share His love, with the Saints, eternally. People who refuse to love God and who deliberately take the broad road, refusing to repent of their sins, find that at death, by their own choice, they remain on the same path, on which there is no light from Heaven, nor any Heavenly peace, joy, beauty or companionship. To be without God is to exist in Hell.
The path of love for Christ, and obedience, leads straight towards Heaven, for the faithful. Those Catholics who are disobedient or faithless take a dark, downward path. There can be an opportunity, before death, for repentance, at which the soul can be drawn up towards Heaven's light instead of falling down into Hell.
The attraction of sin often masks the danger further ahead. It's as if Satan prepares a trap for us: like a bright entrance to a tunnel, promising great pleasures - though a careless person will find himself on a sloping path with no handholds. It leads straight to Hell.
Satan is a liar. Satan clearly disguises temptations, so that sinful behaviour is made to seem attractive and safe, when in reality it is like following a pathway which leads to doom: a path through an attractive entrance, but which soon slopes downwards, to Hell.
Christ looks on with deepest sympathy and concern when He sees even Catholics failing sometimes to make arrangements so that disabled persons can be included in their outings. It is not possible to make every place accessible, but it is possible to keep people company, and not ignore them.
When members of the Clergy, or theologians, or other people in the Church urge people to believe that behaviour once everywhere known as sinful is nowadays to be seen as reasonable or even good - such as contraceptive use, or sexual activity outside marriage - they endanger souls. To encourage people to sin is to help them on the way to Hell. The demons lie in wait for careless souls just as wild animals lie in wait for safari tourists who are foolish enough to leave the safety of the path.
There are deep caverns in Hell, crammed with sinful souls who have refused to repent of their sins, but have freely chosen to walk on the path to Hell, despite all sorts of warnings. There, they are tormented by the demons whose advice they have followed in life, instead of listening to God.
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