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Where abortion is freely available, many young people have adopted a hedonistic outlook, supposing that if they want to get drunk, it's their right; if they unexpectantly conceive babies, they can get rid of them; and if the Government wants them to stop having babies, they should extend the provision of free contraceptives.
A woman trapped in self-love or atheism can be resentful about apparent limitations, angry that she must remain with a two-year-old to guard him; but one who cares for a child in love for the child and loving the Will of God that she fulfil her duties, is living in the light of God, confident that to serve Him is worthwhile.
When politicians ignore Christianity, ignore God's laws and pass foolish or wicked laws, there is inevitably a decline in society; the real charity which befriends, helps, heals and saves is replaced by an atheistic utilitarianism, in which the self is idolised, and the weak sacrificed on the altar of personal choice.
A person who has repented of mortal sin, and has been forgiven, after years of neglect of the spiritual life, is like a seaside shack after a furious storm. Even if it is still standing, and the rain is kept out for the occupant, it will need many repairs before it is a comfortable home. Much penance and prayer is necessary, to purify a sinner, and repair what had been damaged in him by prolonged self-love.
Without trust in God, people turn away from Him, by a free choice. Millions of people have died with little faith or hope, and have left nothing good on earth. But the work of the Saints endures. Those self-centred people have had nowhere to go except on a single journey, chosen by them, away from God, to the depths of Hell. But the good that the Saints do lives after them, renews the Church, helps the needy, and changes attitudes across the world. The Gospel needs to be preached to the ends of the earth, to bring hope, and joy.
The journey to Heaven is, for most people, a slow and arduous climb. Christ wants each of us to believe in His love, to persevere in faith, hope, love and humility, and to avoid pride and vainglory. People who want to be Saints think more about God's goodness that about their own gifts, talents, plans and ambitions.
Christ asks us to avoid all pride and vainglory. He wants everyone to know how much He loves each one of us; but He does not want priests or teachers to encourage children to start the day by saying: "I am great, I am wonderful, I am proud of being me!" He asks us to aim for humility, rather than concentrating on self-esteem.
We must never forget how powerful are the sacraments. Death is the 'cut-off' point: the moment in which we lose our ability to decide for God, or against Him. There are few death-bed conversions. Usually, as people live, so they die, either loving God or focussed upon their own desires. This is all the more reason for asking a priest to anoint a sick or dying person. Christ, through this holy sacrament, can free from sin someone who was about to fall into Hell.
Children are in moral and spiritual danger - as if near the edge of the Abyss - wherever educationalists and catechists work harder to boost self-esteem than to teach the true Faith, and where they leave out talk of sin and repentance, Heaven and Hell. They should give firm warnings against immorality, drunkenness, pornography and violence.
There is only one fate for those who have freely chosen to ignore God or to disobey His laws, and to persevere in self-love and sin until death: it is to be exiled from God, through their own fault, as if falling through a gap in the wall that separates earthly life from Eternity, and falling into the River of the dead which surges onwards to Hell.
When people have such an elevated self-regard, and, in pride, insist on fulfilling their own desires and ambitions even if this means overturning the good work of other people, they walk away from the sunlight of a healthy society into a cloudy area where people become confused about morality and ignore the laws of God.
If we are full of self-pity, no matter how justified it seems, we become inward-looking, focussed not upon Christ or our neighbour but our own feelings of misery. This is spiritually harmful - as if we are sitting on the edge of the Abyss, in danger of falling, not like those other suffering people who say: "I can't do much good, but I'll do the little I can" - on the way to Heaven.
Some people ignore all God's warnings about sin. It is a terrible tragedy, that some people determinedly refuse to listen to God, and refuse to accept His gifts, refusing to obey His laws and His Church, as well as their own conscience, in order to fulfil selfish desires. There can be no change of direction, after death; and some find themselves trapped forever in Hell, without God, through their own fault.
One sin leads so easily to another; for example, when a woman idolises the man she loves, co-habits with him, pursues a career to be a glittering partner to him, rather that have a family, and then finds she is pregnant, she slides more easily into the grave sin of abortion than a woman who has already been prayerful and disciplined for God's sake, in a loving marriage begun in Church: a woman not ashamed to carry our ordinary domestic tasks, and who sees every baby as a gift from God to her and to her husband.
Living as if trapped in an underground cave, a person who is full of self-pity has a spiritual ailment. That person deserves sympathy, and perhaps rest, and practical help; but self-pity is damaging in that the one so afflicted is usually not very thankful for what is genuinely good in life: including the gift of life; and it cuts off the preoccupied one from sharing the interests, joys and sorrows of other people.
Autobiography of Elizabeth Wang, Part 1
This text forms part of Elizabeth Wang's Falling in Love: A Spiritual Autobiography (1999). It tells the story of her life and of her spiritual journey as she came to know Christ and His Church.
You …
Autobiography of Elizabeth Wang, Part 2
This text forms part of Elizabeth Wang's Falling in Love: A Spiritual Autobiography (1999). It tells the story of her life and of her spiritual journey as she came to know Christ and His Church.
You …
Autobiography of Elizabeth Wang, Part 3
This text forms part of Elizabeth Wang's Falling in Love: A Spiritual Autobiography (1999). It tells the story of her life and of her spiritual journey as she came to know Christ and His Church.
You …
Communion with the Trinity, by Elizabeth Wang
This text is based on a talk with the title 'The Holy Trinity: Reaching Out to Help Us'.
Let's start with a passage from the letter to the Hebrews, Chapter 12, verse 1:
“With so many witnesses in …
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