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By the intercessary prayers we offer 'in Christ', with faith, we can help to draw up souls closer to holiness and Heaven - even those who do not yet know or love Christ. This is true, so long as the person prayed for does not deliberately refuse the graces God sends her - as if cutting herself 'free' from God; and one who accepts grace finds its brilliance painful, perhaps, as it illuminates dark areas of his conscience and his daily life. It's as if he must shield his eyes.

It is a charitable act - a work of mercy - to attend a Requiem Mass where the sole connection with the deceased and the relations is the communion that is shared in and through Christ. The mourners are comforted by additional prayers, the dead have the Mass offered for the repose of their souls, and the clergy benefit, and God is given glory by our kindness.

There were ancient temples where pagans offered sacrifices, and kept their victims in a dark underground chamber. There are many people today who freely 'sacrifice' their own souls by their un holy practices; and by these sins they freely move away from the light of God towards the dark, eternal state of being-without-God, rightly called Hell.

Earthly idols have sometimes been so glorious as to make men tremble with awe - yet the glory of Almighty God is a million times greater. How important it is, that we sinful creatures show reverence and love towards God. Christ, the Son of God, looks with kindness upon all who approach Him or His Father in sincere prayer; yet it is reverent souls who are invited to enjoy intimacy with God.

Christ makes the souls of sinners beautiful by His grace; and we sinful people can make our souls very beautiful by our trust in Him. When we really believe in His love for us, and act as though we believe that - confident in the power of prayer, and of the action of Divine Grace - our soul is like a beautiful temple, in His sight.

The Church is a home like no other: a true home for sinners. Christ wants us to hold up our heads bravely despite all the criticism currently made of the entire Church because of the wicked acts of a very small number of priests. He sees the Church as a giant, amongst institutions and organisations as She sustains and promotes life through her medical work, educational projects and care of the poor - as well as her main task: the care and salvation of souls, for the glory of God and our eternal joy.

If we are willing to be united with Christ in bearing unavoidable sufferings with patience and trust, and praying for the Church and the world, we become like Him, we join in His redemptive work of the Cross. It's as though we are with Him, beside the Cross, busy applying His Precious Blood as a healing remedy to the wounded souls for whom we pray.

The fact that the Catholic Church is persecuted is a sign that she shares in the sufferings of her Master, as the True Church that has been criticised in every age. If the people of the world were to march past us, criticising Catholics, even the very last of the persons would have something bad to say about the Church; but the Church consists of the Saints and the Holy Souls too. We must not lose heart, but trust in the promises of our Saviour, and in His graces.

All sad and wounded persons can find help through prayer. Every victim of abuse by a priest can find help and strength if he will turn to Our Blessed Lady, who will lead him towards her son. Healing rays of Divine Grace can work marvels in the hearts, minds and souls of those wounded in childhood, and still preoccupied, today, with horrible memories. God can even help them to live out their faith by forgiving their abusers.

Obstinate souls require firm 'treatment'. A soul that is well-cared for, in the sense of being pleasing to God because of its purity, humility and love, is like a beautiful lawn that is pleasant to walk upon; but a soul that neglects its spiritual health is like a place of dry grass broken up by patches of mud. It needs to be well-dug before new seed can be sown; and that 'digging' might take the form of an apparent catastrophe in ordinary life.

Whenever we offer up our sufferings, willingly accepting them in union with Christ in His Passion, we can know that we win graces for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, or for people on earth who are trapped in sin. We enable someone, somewhere, to leave gloom behind and to move towards the light of Heaven. We do their penance, for them.

Whenever we offer up, in prayer, in union with Christ our Saviour, whatever sufferings we currently try to endure with patience, we are helping souls in danger of spiritual disaster. It's as if we are calling out - by the power of Christ - to someone who is about to descend a flight of steps that lead down to Hell. It's as if we are calling out - 'Don't go down there; it's a dead end!' By the grace of Christ, and our prayer, we can help people to turn back to Christ.

How watchful are we about our everyday habits? Much of what people feast upon today is actually damaging to their souls. It can 'poison' their spiritual lives. By gossip, or pornography or other evils it's as if people feast, like the rats that eat the pellets in the corner of a barn. They feel full, but will poison their souls just as the rats poison their bodies.

Through the goodness of God the Father and the merits of His Son, our Lord, we can help the Holy Souls by our prayers, including those who usually have no-one to pray for them. We can help them towards Heaven, where they are greeted, and welcomed into glory, to join the Saints at God's Heart. It was with a similar welcome that Christ greeted the Saintly Souls, such as prophets and patriarchs, in the underworld, after His death and before His Resurrection; and He told them that their long wait was nearly over.

People are unwise, who are not content with the teachings of the Church, and ordinary devotions, and who run after spiritual marvels, secrets, reported apparitions and miracles, ignoring the judgement of Bishops. Satan can make 'idols', which means false apparitions so enticing that he leads people away from Christ's Way. Satan can manipulate people and circumstances in order to damage souls and try to ruin the Church.

Some souls have not heeded the warning that the evil one, like a lion, prowls around seeking those he can devour. They do their own will, not God's Will, until death; then are horrified to enter the 'lion's mouth', which is the evil one's 'embrace'.

There are many people who look upon the Church's teaching on celibacy as being something medieval that belongs to a time of fairy stories and superstition. They have no realisation that it is an heroic way of life on a par with the costly ventures undertaken by military forces. The military go out in order to save a nation, but the priests to save souls, by a radical way of life, like that of Jesus.