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The purpose of Holy Communion is to restore to human beings the joy of intimate union with their Divine Creator: a joy known by the first man and woman but lost through Original Sin. It brings bliss, consolation and peace to those who come to Christ with purified hearts.

The purpose of Holy Communion, in which we receive Christ our God, is to restore to human beings the joy, and the intimacy with God, which was enjoyed by our first parents, before they sinned: before the 'fall' from grace.

It pleases the Lord when we celebrate the day of His Resurrection. We are right to prepare for the day, so that Sunday - our Christian Sabbath - is as far as possible restful, refreshing and joyful, in the company of those close to us, and with sufficient time for prayer and praise at Mass.

God, Who has asked us to rest for one day of each week, has given us a wise command. He knows the frailty of our nature, and our need for rest, reflection, and refreshment - and for praise and adoration in the church.

When a person meets Christ in a spiritual Communion, or in contemplation, it's as if she has a secret chamber - her own soul - where she can meet Christ, to adore Him, talk with Him, ask His advice, or rest in Him, even if her exterior life seems limited or restricted. Through Christ, furthermore, she can reach up to Heaven!

When we rest in silent prayer with Christ in holy Communion, or at other times, He is not offended if we briefly pay attention to something important, whether a necessary distraction or a nearby activity. Christ and the soul are like lovers, seated on a park bench, happy together, and sharing every thought.

Some conversions take a long time. Before a lasting conversion, a person needs to go on a 'journey' to the very centre of his soul and mind. By Divine grace, he can discover his own true will. Is his will fixed on achieving pleasure, above all, or power, or physical fitness, or truth or fame? He can discover his own motives, and change them, after providential times of rest and reflection.

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.

It is part of Christ's plan that this 'Last Judgement' picture serve as an image in a sanctuary, and as a restatement of truth, an illustration of the Catechism, a teaching aid, and a proof of my own understanding of the Gospel: that each of us is making our way to Heaven or Hell, through our freely made choices as we accept or reject the graces Christ won for us on the Cross.

A great battle goes on when a person is torn between love of God and love of self. Satan attacks that heart and mind, while the Guardian Angel acts to restore that soul's peace. Someone like this desperately needs to pray in the name of Jesus.

It is sensible to prepare and plan before Sunday arrives. Christ asks us to remember that Sunday is a day of rest. We should remember that it is the Lord's Day: the Christian Sabbath. Praise and thanks should be foremost in our minds, but we are wise to have some leisure, refreshment, celebration, and rest, to show out our gratitude and to fulfil God's plans for our lives. He wants us to enjoy good things, as well as to be conscientious at work during the week.

It is the Will of Christ that we treat Sunday as a holy day and a day of rest. It delights Him to see us rest from our labours and to enjoy good things that we don't have time for on normal work-days.

Some people do not believe that God is interested in their many little projects, or little troubles. But just as an insignificant crack in the ground, near the Cathedral, can be seen by an interested person to be teeming with fascinating life, so the human soul with it's apparently hum-drum preoccupations is fascinating to God, Who is interested in everything we think and do and say.

A person in mortal sin is like a man on a mountain-side looking into a beautiful valley, towards the City of God, but unable to see a way in. He cannot, by his own power, be restored to a state of grace, or - if he dies - enter Heaven. He needs the help of God, to find forgiveness and salvation.

God created good people. But those first human beings rebelled against God, and so turned a corner in the great 'road' of our salvation history. They left behind the joys of Eden; but God would choose a people to follow Him, and would promise a Saviour Who would help people to regain their lost innocence. He would restore the life of Divine grace to their souls.

God wants us to be at peace in our souls and minds. When our lists of things to do become so large that we seem to have a dark cloud over us, crushing our joy, it is time to shorten the list: to work out what is essential, and to do some of the rest when it is possible later on.

It is horrible, in God's sight, that when He had sent His Son to earth, to work miracles of healing before conquering sin and death, to found a Church to bring forgiveness to sinners, and to make possible the miracle of the Mass - and when it is God Who gives to each of us in the gift of life - it is horrible that, on a Sunday, a Catholic might say, "I can't be bothered by the Mass. I want to go, for example, to something more interesting, like a garden centre". What astounding contempt for our Divine Creator.

We must watch our words, carefully. Where two people speak fervently about something of great importance to them, it is only too easy to slide into uncharity, in mentioning other people, just as when people on a riverbank speak with vehement concern but with violent movements, it is very likely that the one nearest the river will slide away and fall in.

Every detail of our lives is of interest to God, Who loves us as a good father loves his children. Whatever good things we do, God is willing and able to help us with them, whether we build, make music, nurse the sick, or paint for His glory and to delight or help other people. He cannot help us to do evil - though He can bring good out of the evil we do.

It is the Holy Spirit Who carries the souls of faithful people, when they have died, across the Abyss which separates earth from Heaven. By our intercessions, in the power of Christ, we can help others to remain faithful until death and so to fly across the Abyss, far above Satan's kingdom, to fly swiftly into the glory of Heaven or to rest for a while, as if on a little ledge, hidden below the glory, which represents Purgatory - where souls are purified and made worthy of Heaven.