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All who travel by the Royal Road of the Cross, faithful in love and sacrifice, can reach Heaven, both in their prayers, and when they die. They will meet the Saviour Who placed His Cross as a bridge across the Abyss between earth and Heaven, and whose saving work is celebrated in our feast: 'The Triumph of the Cross".

We should remember that the Holy Souls are still members of the Church. We can picture the forgotten souls in Purgatory as being in the deepest valleys, between mountains, in a vast underground area that we cannot enter but that we can penetrate by our prayers. We can help the Holy Souls by the prayers we offer for them in Christ's name; and we can assure them that they are not forgotten.

The Mass is at the heart of the life of a priest. A good priest is pleased to show the place where he offers the Holy Sacrifice daily on the altar; and he can be sure that all part hurts, memories, and failings can be offered up and 'burned up' in the great fire of love which is Christ's sacrificial prayer to the Father.

It's as if Mary waits at the edge of Heaven, looking out for us. Our Blessed Mother can help us all, by her intercession; but what she is pleased to hear us say is: "I'm sorry I've done wrong, but I'm going to put things right". Through her prayers, we can find the courage to approach her Son, in real trust and repentance.

A holy statue is a means blessed by the Church, to help us to focus on a particular holy person in prayer, and a means of propelling our thoughts towards a person who is now in glory, or to a particular topic, such as the Passion of Christ, or another Scriptural event.

Many Christians make a dreadful error in refusing to know Our Lady or to seek her prayers. They draw a curtain over centuries of Christian devotions to her, devotions she deserves because of her central place in God's plan of salvation. How shocking, to ignore the mother of God!

A Christian who deliberately leaves out the name of Christ, to join in mixed-religion or inter-faith prayer, and make himself acceptable to other people, is detaching himself from Heaven, for it is through Christ that he has access to Heaven and to the Father.

Few of us sufficiently appreciate our good fortune. To be baptised, and purified, and a member of the Church, is to be guaranteed a hearing, when we pray. It's as if each of us is held in Christ's arms, as He says to the Father: 'She is Mine. Hear her. Do as she asks!' The state of such a person is more secure that the state of a person who does not know Christ but calls out in prayer, uncertain that he is heard.

Through faith in Christ, the Baptised person can call out to the Father, confident that her prayers are heard and answered. Because of her obedience to Christ, the Son of God, Who intercedes for her, it's as if she is held in Christ's arms, as Christ vouches for her, before Heaven, because she is a 'child of God' - unlike people who don't know Him, or who have refused to believe in Him.

The state of someone who trusts in Christ, and who therefore prays confident prayers in and through Christ to the Father is very different from the state of a person who seems to say to Christ, in unbelief: 'Go away. I don't believe in You.' That person has rejected the one means of being brought towards Heaven and having access to the Father; in other words, he has refused to be saved.

Every Pope deserves our prayers. Each Pope who faithfully fulfils his duties works to save people from the pit: to bring them to know and love Christ, or to renew their knowledge and love. He follows Christ in the office of Saint Peter, and often does so despite the physical and emotional cost. He has a world-wide flock, which is the Catholic Church.

People who spread the Faith, working to draw others from sinful acts and ways of life are acting, in the moral sphere, are as if drawing people away from a street that moves so swiftly downwards that people inevitably fall or crash. Of course, indirect evangelisation too is valuable, through good example, faithful work, and prayers and penances.

Christ said: 'You can do nothing without me'; so we need to turn to Him in prayer, for help, so that He can do what we cannot do. He can open the door to let grace into our lives, or to deliver us from sadness, or to show us the Way to Heaven - or to work some other good thing to help us to achieve sanctity.

The prayers we offer in the name of Christ can be pictured as ascending to Heaven along the same channel in which faithful souls move, as they die and ascend to Heaven. We can have confidence in prayer, therefore, unlike those who do not believe in Christ and whose prayers are like cries uttered into a night sky, perhaps with little hope.

There are difficult decisions to make in our spiritual lives. A Protestant minister might sit and agonise about whether it's all right to ask for the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or, for example, a Catholic priest agonises over whether to persevere in the Priesthood. Prayer is essential, and trust in God and His Church.

We have a strong channel to Heaven, as if one made of brick! When we trust in the Father's love, and in the merits of Christ, and we call out with confidence, in prayer, saying 'Forgive my sins', or, 'Help me', or, 'Protect me from Satan', for example, our prayers are answered. To offer sincere prayer in the name of Christ is both to receive help, and to receive peace, from knowing we have certainly been helped.

Just as a man on a boat, in danger, battered by great waves, can send up a flare, to gain help, so, we can send up a 'flare' to God, in and through our prayer - and we shall receive help, and we shall also receive the peace that comes from knowing we are loved.

If we try to live without God, we live in spiritual darkness; yet as soon as we turn to Him in prayer, we can become hopeful of receiving His gifts and graces; and we shall be helped to open our hearts and lives to His influence, even if the 'light' of prayer seems to hurt or even blind us, at first.

Helped by our prayers, offered in the name of Christ, the Holy Souls make their way towards Heaven. All those who are about to be welcomed into Heaven are by now carefree, purified, and no longer remorseful or saddened by their sins. They see Heaven as an undeserved free gift, so their hearts and minds are full of thanks and praise - just like the Saints whose company they are about to enjoy.

It is through the humanity of Christ that we come to the Father, in the Holy Spirit, in prayer, and then - if we have remained faithful until death - in our journey into Heaven, to be with God for all eternity. We have no power of our own by which to reach God, though by faith we allow Him to draw us to Himself.