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A priest should lead his people upwards towards Heaven, on a sure path. If he teaches them to ignore the Pope's teaching, and says that we should dispute Church teachings, and that there is plenty of time and no need to repent, it is as if he leads them into a comfortable house in a cul-de-sac. It was built by Satan, as a trap, so that they might sit there discussing moral issues and never make up their minds to obey God and to do His Will, made known through the Church.

When we have emerged from sinful ways, as if from underground, it is important to strive fervently to stay in the path which leads to the distant mountain of sanctity. Our aim is to reach - by God's grace - the glory of God in Heaven; so we should keep walking, pausing only to put right those things we have done wrong; and we must keep our minds on Heavenly things, not on past sins or temptations.

A Christian artist is right to use images of a font or a full-immersion Baptismal pool in paintings, as reminders of the process of conversion and sanctification. This is the path the Heaven: the path which leads through Baptism to union with the Blessed Trinity - and, as life continues, a way of even deeper purification necessary because of day-to-day sins.

Christ wants everyone to see what He sees: that many people are ignoring what is good and embracing evil; but of those who have stepped onto His path to Life, a large number are making little progress. They argue so much about the teachings of His Church, disagreeing with His chosen teachers - the Pope and other Catholic Bishops; and Christ cannot ask them to do great work.

Christ's friends live as if within a bight cloud, of God's love. When we live in union with God in everyday life, nourished by the Sacraments, forgiven and in a state of grace, we do not need to see the path ahead, before we can love and serve God well. We don't need to picture the future. Even if we are uncertain of His plans for us, or unsure of our vocation, we should be confident that here, from moment to moment, we can delight Him by doing His Will, in our ordinary circumstances.

A person who feels trapped in bad habits and misery is like a man in a dark hut in the middle of a snow-field; but if he uses a generator to blast hot air at the snow he can make a pathway to a warm area - just as people who use the sacraments, and prayer, can make dramatic changes, by God's grace, to their sad, guilty lives.

Ahead of us, at death, lies Heaven or Hell. God gives life to each person on earth; but He does not put us here, and leave us alone, as we try to make decisions about good and evil, and freely choose whether to follow the path towards goodness, and Heaven - or evil, and Hell. He constantly helps us through the promptings of the Holy Spirit, urging us to do what is right; yet some people refuse to listen to Him, and are later damned, through their own fault.

At the Mass, we are present as Christ prays for us to be forgiven. When He is made Really Present at the Consecration, it is as though we have a pathway, in Him, through time and space, to be present to all He has done for us in His earthly life, supremely to the once-for-all Sacrifice of the Cross, on which He suffered to win forgiveness for sinners, including ourselves. By His Precious Blood, He sealed a new Covenant between Heaven and earth. By His Resurrection He conquered sin and death.

At the Mass, we are present as Christ prays for us to be forgiven. When He is made Really Present at the Consecration, it is as though we have a pathway, in Him, through time and space, to be present to all He has done for us in His earthly life, supremely to the once-for-all Sacrifice of the Cross, on which He suffered to win forgiveness for sinners, including ourselves. By His Precious Blood, He sealed a new Covenant between Heaven and earth. By His Resurrection He conquered sin and death.

Christ was willing to end his prayer, when people were in need. As we follow the rocky path to Heaven as disciples of Christ, we have two great Commandments to keep: to love God with all our being, and to love our neighbour for God's sake, with the love of Christ's Spirit within us. That is why we must offer practical love to those in need, not in showy gestures, but in the course of everyday life, and determined to be as kind as Christ.

There are atheists who freely, resolutely refuse to believe in God, or to love or obey Him, and when they die, it's as if some are puzzled not to see the God Whom others have spoken about; yet they shrug as if it matters little, before realising the direction of their self-chosen route. They have put themselves on the path away from God, into Hell.

God does not force anyone to love or serve Him; and some people even choose sinful ways of life, and freely walk along, refusing to repent and change, even though the path leads to Hell. This is as foolish as walking along a snowy street in a well-lit town, then choosing to follow a narrow track into a snow-covered field, where it is so cold that people there will inevitably die of exposure.

Everyone receives a just judgement, at death. The Blessed Trinity, our God, is infinitely compassionate and merciful, but does not over-ride our freedom, by which we choose to follow the path to life, opened by Christ, or choose to walk away, to sin, and to end in the Abyss, in a disaster of our own making.

Christ wants us to avoid the ultimate disaster. Christ leads us by love, encouraging us to follow the Way to Heaven, helped by His guidelines and graces; but those who persist in disobedience and foolishness, ignoring His Commandments and decrees, or neglecting prayer, or corrupting others, or being irreverent towards His Sacred Ministers, or persisting, without repentance, in any grave sin, are allowed to follow their own paths. Alas, these lead to the great sewer which carries souls to Hell.

Modernists have used the Second Vatican Council's decrees as a means of demanding more change in the Church than the decrees themselves allow. They have built a new road for themselves to walk upon, but have left behind the Holy Spirit. He is active, but in the heart and mind of the Pope, who guides the truly faithful souls on the Way of Christ, which winds around the path made by the extremists.

Just as people who follow a bridle path upwards, across the hills, in fine weather, can enjoy a beautiful view, so, people who 'ascend' in prayer, by the Lord's power, as they spend more time with Him, can see and understand spiritual things more clearly; but it is not always pleasant. Perhaps they see faults they had not previously noticed; but this is part of the process of growing in holiness.

Jesus wants everyone to know that by killing innocent human beings, people are setting themselves, by their own fault, on the path towards Hell rather than Heaven. To assist at or request an abortion is to kill the innocent; and Christ warned us, long ago, that it would be better for a man to be thrown into the sea with a millstone round his neck than to injure or corrupt one of his 'little ones'.

Many Catholics do not enjoy the lights and consolations that God delights in giving to His faithful children. People who refuse to repent of their grave sins - which they do not want to abandon - act like a man who puts a boulder in the path between himself and Christ. It blocks the flow of light and joy from Heaven. Of his own free will, such a man is refusing Christ's free gifts.

Some people say that Christians lead sad lives, think too much about death and judgement, and are too cautious about their behaviour. A dismissive non-believer might be pictured as someone over-confident of his skill as a motorcyclist. He will be in greater danger, if an obstacle appears in his path, than a careful driver of a small car who keeps to the speed limit.

The evil one is at work, to plant weeds on our path: to spoil our hopes and plans by his malicious acts and deceits, all in order to make us lose trust in God, or to grow fearful. But God is powerful, like a gardener who, with one movement of His foot can crush the poisonous weeds and then clear the pathway.