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As we pray to the Father in union with Jesus Christ our Saviour we are right to pray with confidence. Jesus' prayer is so powerful that it is as 'wide' as Heaven. Our prayers reach Heaven, united with His.
Jesus died on the Cross for the sake of the millions who could benefit from His conquest of sin and death. He would have died to save just one person; but the truth needs proclaiming today, that each one who ignores Christ, disobeys His laws and live in selfishness until death will find himself far from Christ, in Hell.
Christ is God-made-man, Who endured 'hell on earth', and sacrificed His life, in order to teach people about sin and goodness, and to conquer sin and death. He showed by his coming to earth, that the Father is not a tyrant, glad to send people to Hell, but a loving Father, Who, with His Son, has done everything possible to rescue, warn and convert sinners, to spare them their inevitable disaster.
The Lord invites everyone to reflect on what happens in church, where we enter into the presence of the Saints and Angels, gathered about Christ Who is Really Present in the tabernacle. The Father looks down upon the sanctuary where we shall offer the One Holy Sacrifice of His Son; and we should ask ourselves: "Am I worthy to be present?"
The Mass is a solemn and sacred representation of the once-for-all Sacrifice of Jesus Christ: God-made-man. Yet there are people who come to Mass and Holy Communion who are still in their sins: their grave sins. It is not fitting to receive Christ, unless a person has been purified by contrition, Reconciliation, and acts of penance.
There are things taking place in Catholic Churches which are outrageous; some of the worst have been interruptions to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in New York, by people who ridicule and despise the Church's teaching on morals.
If a man knows that God came to Earth to conquer sin and death, by dying on the Cross to save sinners, and remains unmoved by that knowledge, he needs a very special grace, to be able to open his heart to God, and to see clearly what lengths God has gone to, to rescue him from his sins.
In every age of Christian history, Christ makes Himself Present, under sacred signs, in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Christ prays for us, from our altar. He praises the Father, with praise worthy of Him: praise that we can offer as our own.
Fathers have traditionally sacrificed themselves to defend their wives and children. Mothers have traditionally sacrificed their hopes, in times of crisis, to send their children into safe-keeping, away from danger. Today, many mothers sacrifice their babies on the altar of convenience. To avoid hardship to themselves, they sentence their own children to death by abortion.
It is claimed that an abortion is an event that pertains only to the mother who carries a tiny child, and that no-one else need be affected by her decision. Sad-to-say, several abortions in one family show out the truth: that several generations can be horribly altered by these deaths, and that babies who might have been parents or become priests or religious have been sacrificed and slain.
A ruby wedding celebration today might have numerous gaps in the family photograph, even if most people don't realise it. Those who have had abortions have been too ashamed to say that they have sacrificed the lives of tiny babies to make their own lives easier or to avoid expense or dashed ambitions.
It is not the duty of the priest, at a Requiem Mass, to announce that the deceased person is certainly in Heaven. His duty is to lead the Church in prayer, and to offer the Holy Sacrifice for the remission of the sins of the living and the departed. Only God knows who has been saved - though we should live in hope - and who has gone straight to Heaven: God and His Church, who canonises the Saints.
The sanctuary of a Catholic church is a holy place, just as was the holy of holies in the Temple at Jerusalem. A man who enters the sanctuary as a priest to offer Christ in sacrifice, in the Mass, should be pure and holy in body, mind and soul. If he is not, he should repent, and confess his sins when he can.
There is only one Heaven: the one that people can hope to enter because of what Christ has done to make a way in, to give us access to the Father. There is no other Heaven. Only through union with Christ can people enter, some straight away, others - if not in mortal sin - after some purification.
The Mass is the Sacrifice of Calvary, re-presented in a sacramental manner on the altar, whether in a great basilica or in a tiny convent chapel, a thatched hut, or an ordinary parish church. Christ is Present, interceding for sinners.
When we pray for the living, and for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, we cast our minds over our families and towns, to pray for everyone; and when we do so by accepting our sufferings in patience, as penance for ourselves and for others, we do the powerful work that Christ did on the Cross, as He offered Himself, and prayed to the Father for sinners.
A very talented musician can produce work even more beautiful if she listens to the advice of her coach about very tiny improvements she can make; and so it is with people who already love Christ, and have sacrificed much for His sake. They can become even more saintly by following His guidance in even little details that could be improved, or little flaws that could be avoided.
Christ is pleased when people make every effort to help priests, and especially to help those priests who wish to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Extraordinary form: in the Traditional manner.
The Holy Sacrifice which is offered from the altar is so holy - because it is the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Divine Saviour - that holy Angels stand behind the priest, and adore their Lord and God, Present amongst us.
Just as people fleeing from a war-zone might rush to another area that only someone high above can see is also under bombardment, so people who sin and turn away from the self-discipline and sacrifice necessary for followers of Christ can find themselves on a new road, which does not lead to peace, but to even worse turmoil - in Hell, if they do not repent before they die.
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