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It is as if the Holy Souls are undergoing purification by reflecting, just below Heaven, within sight of the Abyss that leads to Hell, how good God is, who has rescued them from sin and disaster. They are helped by our prayers - and by the prayers of the Saints, which are like lifelines: long ropes let down from Heaven, so that the Holy Souls can be pulled up to glory.

We help the whole Church by every good thought we have, every good deed we do, every humiliation or pain met with patience not resentment, and every prayer, and every act of humility or reverence; and the Church includes the Holy Souls in Purgatory, many of whom are released into Heaven - by the grace of Christ, because of the good we do.

The souls in Purgatory suffer amidst the clouds of remorse and sin from which they are being purified. They desperately want our prayers, to aid them in their preparation for Heaven, by God's grace. It is tragic that many Catholics are careless about having a Mass said for the dead, or praying in private, and even more tragic that many Christians don't believe prayer for the Departed is necessary, despite its scriptural warrant. They in fact abandon their departed friends and relations.

It is tragic not only that some Catholics forget the Holy Souls in Purgatory, but that many Christians are told by their leaders that prayer for departed souls is unnecessary or useless. Well-meaning people leave their friends and relations in Purgatory, without offering a single prayer to God for them, and imagining that every kind of person will speed straight into Heaven, even when laden with sinful habits and attitudes.

Many people who sincerely love Christ and do His Will become the targets of the evil one. If he cannot tempt them to sin, he mocks them for their kindness, or their purity, and makes them endure salacious spiritual assaults of various types; yet all the time, Christ is close to such souls, supporting them in their trials. It's as if each of these faithful persons stands amidst piles of stinking rubbish, but is being held in the arms of Christ.

It's as if the Holy Souls are invited to wait, on a ledge, able to see the Abyss from which God has saved them. They cannot yet enter Heaven. Some people need a lengthy purification because, when on earth, they made compromises with the world which were scandalous or shameful, in the sight of God, Who sees everything. When our attempts to 'fit in' lead us to scorn or disobey God's Commandments, we shall have a prolonged Purgatory to endure, to be made worthy of Heaven, even when we have confessed our sins before we die.

The Scriptures say: 'Test the spirits'. Christ is the light of the world, and the love of God made visible; and He is alive, active in our world through His Spirit. We recognise Him in all that is done in His name in truthfulness, genuine charity, a desire to save souls, and a longing to glorify the Father in prayer. It is not Christ Who rocks tables as curious people call up unknown spirits, or claim to have new inspired Scriptures from God, or who shriek and dance, promising miracles to stir up interest in their own signs and wonders!

A blanket of fresh, gleaming snow looks beautiful, but underneath are hidden the gloomy depths of the earth, with damp vegetation, and worms. Many souls are like this. Catholics who persuade themselves that they are not sinning, and who never go to confession, are good only on the surface, and ill-prepared for Heaven.

When an evil spirit has been welcomed into a wounded soul, and made at home, it will not leave, unless the person wishes to be delivered from it, for example, from a spirit of unkindness. It lurks in some souls, as a trap-door spider lurks underground, ever ready to leap out to hurt an unsuspecting victim.

We need to examine our souls, and repent of our bad habits; for example, if we have a spirit of unkindness within our souls, always ready to spring up to say or do something offensive or hurtful, we act like that trap-door spider, in Australia, which waits until the next victim is heard approaching, just a little way above.

In God's sight, it is a cause for sadness that some of the Clergy, who have been ordained to preach the truths handed down in the Church, now teach a religion which they have tailored to suit their own ideas and desires. Most of these do not realise that they are being used by the evil one to lead people astray. Priests endanger their own souls, too, when they are proud and disobedient.

We can save souls, by the grace of Christ, through our prayers and sacrifices. No matter how sick we are, nor how feeble our efforts, if we offer up our prayers, and our pains as penances for people trapped in sin and in danger of falling into the Abyss (into Hell), and if we offer everything in union with Christ's Sacrifice, we join in His work of salvation.

Just as a scientist, using an illuminated magnifying lens, can see hair-line cracks, and other dangers to hygiene, invisible to the naked eye, so the Lord can illuminate our souls in prayer; and the Divine, healing light that shines within our souls when we bring our sins, hurts and problems to God is a powerful means of achieving purity and holiness.

In making a spiritual Communion we invite God to come into our hearts and lives in a more powerful way. If we turn to Christ, make an act of sorrow for sin, an act of trust in His love, and an act of confidence in His presence in our souls, with a reverent request for a spiritual Communion, it can be as if the clouds and the sky have parted, to let the light of Christ shine more strongly upon us, bringing His peace and joy to our souls.

The gift we are given at Baptism is the gift of the Holy Spirit, Who can lift our souls up to Heaven, across the gulf, when we die. A person who has become careless or disobedient and who has driven away the Spirit of Love, and no longer lives in a state of grace, will be lost, at death, in the Abyss, unable to rely on the Holy Spirit, having refused Him.

Whether a person becomes careless about his spiritual life, or deliberately sinful, his soul can become like a neglected garden: unpleasant for God to look upon. That person is loved by God, yet appears horrible, compared with holy souls. It's as stark and tragic a contrast as between a neglected garden, full of rubbish and rotting woodwork, and a renovated garden which has flower-beds, trees, and all sorts of features to delight the eye and to bring peace.

Though we cannot see them, the other members of the Church, of Heaven and Purgatory, are united with us in praise of the Father, through Jesus Christ, at every Mass. We can take comfort from the truth, that we are already doing, on earth, in our prayer, what we hope to do in Eternity, when we are perfectly joyful in God's Presence.

Christ wants us to avoid the ultimate disaster. Christ leads us by love, encouraging us to follow the Way to Heaven, helped by His guidelines and graces; but those who persist in disobedience and foolishness, ignoring His Commandments and decrees, or neglecting prayer, or corrupting others, or being irreverent towards His Sacred Ministers, or persisting, without repentance, in any grave sin, are allowed to follow their own paths. Alas, these lead to the great sewer which carries souls to Hell.

Modernists have used the Second Vatican Council's decrees as a means of demanding more change in the Church than the decrees themselves allow. They have built a new road for themselves to walk upon, but have left behind the Holy Spirit. He is active, but in the heart and mind of the Pope, who guides the truly faithful souls on the Way of Christ, which winds around the path made by the extremists.

People who are in grave sin, engrossed in their evil ways, are spiritually dead - though only God can judge souls and know who these are. Yet for as long as people persist in such sins they resemble dead people, walking, making their way, bit by bit, underground, on the road that ends in Hell.