Search Page
Showing 621 - 640 of 740
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.
We are not all chosen to be official 'Evangelisers'; yet those who experience the peace-of-soul, spiritual growth and intellectual delight of the true Faith, and who are grateful for life in Christ, are not acting kindly if they don't share the Faith at suitable opportunities, or if they even advise other people to keep on with their mistaken beliefs or superstitious practices. It's as if people on their way to a warm climate can choose whether to take pity on a family they see, huddled in a snowfield, or can ignore them whilst rejoicing in their own good fortune.
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.
It can happen that a person becomes so despondent about the demands of the Gospel that he begins to blame God, or the Church for what he sees as unfairness; in his rage he might fall, and endanger his spiritual life and his immortal soul. It is important to persevere in prayer for people in difficulty.
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.
When a person has been brought to the brink of despair, because he feels guilty about the malicious gossip or slander he has spread, he can be certain of finding forgiveness and peace-of-soul if he confesses his sins, then makes amends, speaking the truth to the people he had misled, or had slandered.
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.
When a new Bishop is appointed, he should know what his Master, Christ, is inviting Him to examine, as he begins his care of a new Diocese. The Bishop will ask about his priests, and their well-being. He will look at the Seminary, and its training. He will ensure that catechesis is well-organised, orthodox and wholehearted; and he will see whether the Sacred Liturgy is celebrated in a way which gives glory to God, and every possible help for the education and salvation of souls.
When someone baptised has become mired in grave sin, it's as if his soul is like a beautiful building now scarcely visible because of the jungle-like growth of sin that now almost covers him. Only by a repentance and trust in God can his spiritual beauty be restored, to give joy to Heaven.
People know that kindness is important, but many forget that chastity is essential, in a life of true friendship with Christ, and preparation for Heaven. Those who mock people leading chaste lives and avoiding immoral entertainments also mock past ages in the Church for the care taken on this matter; but it is better to be disciplined and resemble a cared-for garden than ignore the Commandments and have a soul that resembles a jungle.
The power of prayer, offered in the name of Christ, is extraordinary, especially the greatest prayer: the Sacrificial prayer of Christ in the Mass, offered for the faithful departed as well as the living. A soul in the depths of Purgatory can find himself brought suddenly, swiftly, towards the light of Heaven, as he cries out with joy because he has not been forgotten, but has had a Mass offered for him by a fellow Catholic.
Christ told me, about my Radiant Light paintings, that they are powerfully effective in helping people to assess their souls and lives. Just as a man who sees a drama on stage might see his own life mirrored, and want to make changes, so a person seeing his life or attitudes mirrored in many of my paintings can be led towards contrition, or to greater praise.
Bishops are called to do more than show out niceness. The Bishops of the Church should act, in their faithfulness and preaching, like a 'wall' of truth and care, to prevent any of their flock from falling into the Abyss. When Bishops neglect to preach about sin, but are mainly concerned to be nice to everyone, they will have to account to God for the souls of those whom they let through the gap in the 'wall', without a word of warning.
If we were able to look over a huge hedge that surrounds Heaven, we would see gleaming squares and bright fountains where people can stroll in perfect companionship, if they are not busy praising God. Heaven is beautiful, and goes on forever; but everyone who enters must have a beautiful, holy soul. Wise people try, by God's grace, to get ready in good time.
An individual's soul can be pictured as being like a well-proportioned chamber, which that person can beautify even more by a holy life; and when he dies, the doors to Heaven, which open inwards, will be pushed open by God, Whose glory will pour into that beautiful place, as God invites the soul to come through the doors, to Heaven.
The soul of a person who freely chooses to sin can be pictured as a beautiful chamber, with a pair of inward-opening doors; but this place is filled by filthy water, which leaks into that room whenever that person sins. If he does not repent, he is in danger of drowning. Even worse, if he dies, unrepentant, the doors will be unable to open, inwards, because of the weight of the filthy water. He will be sealed with his sins forever, unable to enter Heaven.
Modern countries call themselves civilized. But they differ from those ancient cultures who offered human sacrifice only in that people today usually try to hide what they do. Unborn babies are routinely killed, supposedly to bring happiness to the mothers, and some elderly or sick persons are killed, to make life easier for other people: killed in modern hospitals, quietly, by professionals who defy God and ruin their own souls.
Showing 621 - 640 of 740