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Some people, even though they have been saved, see clearly when they die how ill-prepared they are for Heaven, as if wearing filthy clothes - because they have neglected penance and prayer. They see all this in Heaven's light- yet they also see how merciful is God, Who invites them into Purgatory.

Some people, even though they have been saved, see clearly when they die how ill-prepared they are for Heaven, as if wearing filthy clothes - because they have neglected penance and prayer. They see all this in Heaven's light- yet they also see how merciful is God, Who invites them into Purgatory.

The Lord does not want us to do penance all the time, and become miserable, or proud of our self-sacrifice. There's a time for penance and rigour, and a time for a good rest, with a cup of hot chocolate, and a biscuit - in the Lord's company, at peace.

Christ came to earth, to be born in poverty, for our sakes; yet we need to feast as well as to fast in His Church. We feast on His birthday, for example, in preparation for the Eternal feasting which takes place in Heaven, in an eternal celebration of His Love.

Everyone alive is loved by Christ our God. Yet when we are reconciled to Him through sacramental confession, and renewed in love and joy, we are wrapped in His love as His own brothers or sisters or children.

Everyone alive is loved by Christ our God. Yet when we are reconciled to Him through sacramental confession, and renewed in love and joy, we are wrapped in His love as His own brothers or sisters or children.

By our Baptism, and the indwelling of God, we are given the gift of prayer. When we pray in Jesus' name to the Father we are certain of being heard. It's as if we have a megaphone - but we make a clearer 'sound' if, by penance, we keep it free from dust.

God pours out into our souls tremendous graces when we confess our sins in the Sacrament of Penance. As a dirty room needs cleaning right into the corners, so our souls need purifying in every 'area' - by the grace of Christ, Who is at work in His Church.

As I offered my pains in union with Jesus, as penance for my own sins and for those who don't do penance, the Lord showed me that by our penances we give tremendous help to people trapped in sin - who are as if trapped underground.

Through prayer, penance, and by offering up our sufferings in union with Christ, we bring powerful help to those trapped in sin

After Confession: Christ took my face in His hands and said to me: "Well done"! In this way He showed His delight in my sincere Confession this morning in the Sacrament of Penance.

After Confession, absolution, prayer and penance, I found myself lifted - as the Lord explained - into the 'dance' of the Three Divine Persons, Who showed me Their delight in my trust and obedience, as They shared Their joy with me in prayer.

A person who repents of sin, goes to Confession, receives absolution, prays and offers penance as the Church requests, and who perseveres in love and service, is eventually drawn into the life and prayer of the Holy Trinity, as if spiralling in a heavenly dance of delight, in known and blissful union.

We are right to do penance for our sins, especially in the season of Lent. But if we fail in our efforts, we must not become despondent. Our Divine Saviour, Who can forgive the most evil acts of a repentant sinner can certainly forgive us, if by carelessness or greed we act to indulge ourselves in little ways.

Those souls who live as Catholics but who never use the Sacraments of Penance are like people who never wash or clean their teeth but who imagine that they are pleasant to be with. Souls not properly purified stink before Heaven.

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.

Mary, the Immaculate Virgin Mother of Christ, has a purity which is extraordinary; and we, who are not so pure, need to do penance for our sins, as well as to pray for help and forgiveness.

The Lord asked me to look at all the people who were standing beside the balustrade at Lourdes, watching the Rosary Procession. He said: A great deal more prayer and penance would rise up to Heaven from this place if they all joined in, instead of just watching.

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.

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.