November 2, 2009

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                    Excerpt from the Mass Book 

UNION WITH JESUS

. . . Oh, how hurt you would feel inside! With my whole heart I wanted to give you the gift of myself, my whole self and you said nothing and walked away. I want to close up and never give myself again to anyone because when I finally opened myself so deeply to give myself, the gift of myself, I was treated as if it was nothing-my gift of self was nothing and you walked away and I felt bare and opened wide with my heart burning and on fire, wanting to unite and be one with you and you did not connect with me at all, and I was left wide open and raw. I was hurt beyond all hurts in my heart and I wanted to close up my wound and protect myself.

Jesus is a person. He is the Almighty God. He gives Himself. Our Divine Savior, gives Himself totally to us in every Mass. He gives Himself to us in the Eucharist-the greatest gift of love, God the Son, giving Himself completely to man. God, Who is love, wanting our love. He is longing, He is thirsting, He is waiting for our love. Think, that the Almighty, all powerful God, wants us so much-He wants union with us. He has remained alive in His Divinity and humanity on the earth, no less present than the day He walked the earth and he gives Himself completely to us in the Mass.

How is He received? Love is giving. Union occurs only when both parties give their all. If one person holds back, if they do not trust the other, there is not union. Oneness or union occurs according to how completely each person gives of themselves to the other.

Jesus gives Himself in the most perfect act of love to us in the Mass. He gives Himself completely. He is a Divine Person. He is Love. He is giving Himself to us and He is ignored, rejected, and treated with indifference by man.

The Divine God created us to share His divine love. We are humans, we have human capabilities. He gives to us a sharing in His divine life in Baptism. Our human nature is elevated to such heights to share in His divine life, to share in His divine love. This is the reason we were created - to love God and love one another. We are creatures of love. Only love makes us happy. Only His love satisfies us. What will feed us? We are only fed by Him. All other things we feed ourselves with do not satisfy us. Many try to satisfy the craving in the soul for God with other things: food, sex, possessive love of others.

Only God's love will satisfy us. This is how we are created-to love God and love one another according to His will. There will be peace and harmony on the earth only when men are loving God and loving one another according to His will. This will come soon in the great era of peace, promised by Our Lady at Fatima. In order to bring this about, we must give ourselves as a sacrifice to God, a sacrifice, an offering: I give myself to God just as I am, my faults and failings and my good qualities. I give God myself, all of myself-this is what He wants.

At Fatima, Mary tells us how to give ourselves to God. We are sinners, tainted by original sin. Mary is the pure, immaculate one. I am a sinner. I cannot unite in great depths to the all-holy God by myself. I must go through the pure and sinless one, in order to unite deeply to God. She is the only way to have deep union with Him. I go to her pure and immaculate, sinless heart and she places me deeply in the Heart of her Son. I have a deep union with Him because I am surrounded by her Immaculate Heart. It is there, in her pure heart, her Spouse, the Holy Spirit, dwells. It is through His permeating action He makes me more holy, to unite more deeply to God.

It makes perfect sense. God shows us the way. The Father sends His Son in the world in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the pure and sinless one. In her womb, the Christ Child is formed. God comes as a baby, the Almighty God, the Son of the Father.

In order to unite with Divinity as Jesus desires, we must go through her. He came as a baby in the womb of Mary. He is the Light of the World.

If we go through the womb of Mary as a little baby, she will bring us forth as her children of light through the permeating action of the Holy Spirit. We will become more holy and we will thus unite more to our all-holy God.

Of ourselves, in our sin, we cannot unite as we should unless we go through her Immaculate Heart.

So what do I do to have union with God? I must go through the pure and Immaculate Heart of Mary. This is the greatest act of love - God gives Himself in the Mass. In order to be united more deeply to Him, I want to offer a holy sacrifice. When I go through the pure heart of Mary, the Holy Spirit sanctifies me and makes me more holy. My union with Him is dependent upon my purity. I tell Him I am sorry for my sins and go to confession regularly. Before Mass, I consecrate my heart to Mary and Jesus and pray to the Holy Spirit. I want to be a pure, holy sacrifice. I ask for His help and her help for His grace to do this.

He gives Himself completely as a sacrifice. I give myself as perfectly as I can as a sacrifice to Him.

The Mass is the greatest act of love given-God, gives Himself to man. The greatest act we can do on this earth is to love God.

God gives Himself to me. I give myself to God. We become one. The most complete way I can give myself to God is to give myself completely to Mary, to unite as completely to her, the pure and sinless one, in her Immaculate Heart and to give myself completely to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

This is what the Mass is. It is a love affair with God. God wants love. God wants our whole selves. God wants us to caress every word spoken in the Mass as a lover would caress every word the loved one speaks to them.

The Mass is God's greatest act of love given to us. This is in no way a complete study in the Mass. The words of the Mass I long to caress and I feel them deep within my heart and my heart burns with love for Him as they are spoken. I am not a theologian, I am a housewife and teacher. My dear Lord has moved me to write about the Mass I love so much.

In the Mass, the priest says, "As we prepare to celebrate the mystery of Christ's love, let us acknowledge our failures and ask the Lord for pardon and strength."

I love this part, when he says, "...prepare to celebrate the mystery of Christ's love..."

To me this is the greatest act of love. Oh, my heart burns to share this great act of love with my Divine God. I love Him. I love Him. I love Him. and I love the Mass. It is the greatest expression of His love for us. God gives Himself to man in the Mass.

God knows that we are imperfect. To offer a holy sacrifice, to unite most deeply with Our Divine Lord, we must be most holy. The more pure we are, the more we can unite with Him. We then "...acknowledge our failures and ask for pardon and strength..." We want to be so pure so we can be one with Him and partake in the greatest degree in His love. My purity is a determining factor to this union. That is why I give myself to Mary. I go to His Heart, surrounded by her pure heart, and offer the sacrifice. The more I am one in Their Hearts, I partake more fully in His love and experience an abundant outpouring of His grace. The Mass and the sacraments are the richest sources of His grace. Grace is a gift from God. Grace is His life. He gives us a sharing of His divine life. The fountain of His grace is outpoured in the Mass. The more the priests' hearts are consecrated to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the more he is one with Christ, the more the grace is outpoured in the Mass.

The greatest gift is sharing in His divine life. It all comes down to grace. To know, love, and serve God, it is a grace He gives us. I want grace to flow in me so I can be one in Him. This is my greatest desire. I want grace and mercy to flow in me and in all souls. I want to be the purest sacrifice that the grace will flow in me and through me.

end of December 26, 1996

Prayer for Union with Jesus

Come to me, Lord, and possess my soul. Come into my heart and permeate my soul. Help me to sit in silence with You and let You work in my heart.

    I am Yours to possess. I am Yours to use. I want to be selfless and only exist in You. Help me to spoon out all that is me and be an empty vessel ready to be filled by You. Help me to die to myself and live only for You. Use me as You will. Let me never draw my attention back to myself. I only want to operate as You do, dwelling within me.

    I am Yours, Lord. I want to have my life in You. I want to do the will of the Father. Give me the strength to put aside the world and let You operate my very being. Help me to act as You desire. Strengthen me against the distractions of the devil to take me from Your work.

    When I worry, I have taken my focus off of You and placed it on myself. Help me not to give in to the promptings of others to change what in my heart You are making very clear to me. I worship You, I adore You and I love You. Come and dwell in me now.

                Song: God's Love

                Give Jesus what He wants and we
                    will be blessed — Jesus
                    wants obedience to the
                    Father's will

                Jesus wants us to focus on Him, not be
                    full of anger from the past — we
                    project on others —
                    so we see ourselves as a victim
                    and blame someone in our
                    present life for our sins

                Sin makes a person miserable —
                Sin hurts our union with God —

                Our happiness lies in obedience
                    to God's will — serving, and loving
                    God — honoring God makes us
                    happy —

                Sin is evil — God wants us to love
                    with a heart that is warm and
                    kind

                A person with an ice heart is not happy —
                The Shepherds of Christ is to lead us into this
                    great era of love —

                Our hearts are soft like the Blue Books —

                A person that is wounded from the past
                can try to project their anger for the
                wounds on someone else —

                    How cold is your heart?
                    How warm is the Heart of Jesus?

                    We can say — if only so-and-so loved
                me, I would be happy — Our happiness
                depends on our heart and how we serve
                God — How we love God — How we are working
                to rid ourselves of vices caused by
                possessiveness of others, lust, greed,
                anger — slothfulness —

                    When we are in our comfortable
                habit hole, not living to grow in
                purity — we have a big trap —
                This is my style —

                I go into a community and cause discord
                to get control —

                Is this being like the Hearts of Jesus and
                Mary — Jesus who was wounded for our
                ice hearts and pride to keep doing
                harder what didn't work our whole life
                and led us to disunity — discord —

                    The more we give our hearts to Jesus
                and Mary — the more we are one with others
                giving their hearts in consecration to please
                God, to serve God, to honor God —

                    Being evil, sinning will never make
                us happy, when we lie to get what we
                want and we grow deeper into these
                bad habits. Love is the way of God,
                serving and honoring God, praising God —
                walking humbly — telling God we are
                sorry for our sins to control others and
                seek dominance for dominance sake
                with a cold heart — set on trying to
                make the world love us, while we do what
                we want and lie and do anything —
                sneak around to get it —

                    The devil is the devil of darkness —
                he wants us to force our sick behavior
                on others and demand our way —

                    Only in loving, in giving, in dying
                to impurities, habits that are evil
                will we live a happy virtuous life.

                    God on this All Souls day help people
                to want to be cleansed of their sins, not
                seek affection from others for our possessive
                ways — for the work we do to spread God's
                Kingdom —

                    To give the honor to God
                    To walk humbly, like Mary
 

                Pray with me on this All Souls Day —

                    Focus on the souls who need our
                        prayers —

Joyful Mysteries

                Annunciation

                (1) Mary called for reparation at Fatima —
                    conversion — to not be in a comfortable
                    cubby hole and keep walking blindly
                    without changing what we need to
                    change in our hearts —
                    To make our hearts like Jesus

                (2) Mary said 'yes' to the angel —
                    Mary was called by God to do His will —
                    Mary did the will of the Father —

                (3)

Act of Consecration (new)

"Jesus, You show us Your Heart as symbol of Your life of love in all its aspects, including Your most special love for each of us as unique individuals. Out of Your great love for us, You died a brutal death, nailed to the wood of the cross. Out of Your great love for us, You rose gloriously from the dead.

"From Your pierced Heart the Church with her life-giving Sacraments was born. In the Eucharist, Crown and Center of the Church’s life, You continue to give Yourself to us with the deepest, most tender, most on-fire, most complete love.

"Jesus, since in Your great love You give Yourself so completely to us, it is only fitting that we make a gift to You in return. It is entirely fitting that we give ourselves completely to You. Yes, we consecrate ourselves to Your most loving Heart. Each of us says to You, O Lord, our Savior and our Friend: ‘Jesus, take me wholly, take me completely to Your magnificent Heart. Out of love I give myself to You. Live in and through me. In love You give Yourself completely to me. In love and in a spirit of reparation, I want to give myself, with the help of Your grace, entirely to You. Take me, Jesus, to an ever closer union with the Father, in the Holy Spirit, with Mary my Mother at my side. Pierced, Glorified, Eucharistic Heart of Jesus I place my trust in You.’ "

 

Act of Consecration (new)

"Dear Blessed Virgin Mary, I consecrate myself to your maternal and Immaculate Heart, this Heart which is symbol of your life of love, including your most special love for me as this unique individual. You are the Mother of my Savior. You are also my Mother. In a return of love, I give myself entirely to your motherly love and protection. You followed Jesus perfectly. You are His first and perfect disciple. Teach me to imitate you in the putting on of Christ. Be my motherly intercessor so that, through your Immaculate Heart, I may be guided to an ever closer union with the Pierced, Glorified, Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the flock."

                (5) Mary is the New Eve
                    Mary came at Clearwater — to tell us
                        we are to obey God and be PURE —
                        be holy —

Revelation 12: 1-2

Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman, robed with the sun, standing on the moon, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant, and in labour, crying aloud in the pangs of childbirth.

                (6) Luke 1: 26-38

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, you who enjoy God’s favour! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Look! You are to conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I have no knowledge of man?’ The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. And I tell you this too: your cousin Elizabeth also, in her old age, has conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ Mary said, ‘You see before you the Lord’s servant, let it happen to me as you have said.’ And the angel left her.

                (7) Mary always did the will of the Father —
                    Eve did her own will —
                    The Shepherds of Christ is to help renew the Church
                        and the world —
                        to live — to die, in our own lives, to
                        those selfish ways and do what God wants —

                (8) On this All Souls Day we pray for the souls
                        is purgatory —

                    Song: Bring Me Souls

                (9) Excerpt from Response to God's Love by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.

    Love is reconciliatory and integrative. Love hates divisiveness. It knows the difference between diversity and divisiveness. It knows that healthy diversity reflects the varied richness of human existence and is something to be desired. It knows, too, that divisiveness is the sworn enemy of community; divisiveness perniciously eats away at those bonds of love and union that are meant to unite the members of God's human family. Love, consequently, works to promote the integrative process that harmonizes human persons and human events according to God's holistic plan, a plan in which the numerous and richly diversified parts become increasingly beautiful the more they contribute to the health and functioning of the whole. 

                (10) Excerpt from Response to God's Love by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.

       Love knows what love really is, and this awareness is a result of love's contemplative thrust. One of the truths that emanates from the act of contemplation is the realization of what actually constitutes true love. This is no small accomplishment, for, despite the numberless volumes that have been written about love, one can still have only a blurred idea of what it really is. Love is the gift of self to promote the authentic good of the one or ones who are loved. The manner in which the gift of self is made is commensurate with the type of relationship. A doctor gives himself or herself to his or her spouse in one way, to his or her children in another, to his or her patients in yet another way, and to his or her friends in a way that is still further differentiated. Whatever way the gift of self is made, however, it has the same basic goal in mind—namely, to promote the real good of the other. Love realizes that it is not always easy to discern what really promotes the true good of the other; however, despite this difficulty, love is aware of its true identity—love, in short, knows what love really is. 

 

The Visitation

(1) Excerpt from Response to God's Love by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.

    Love is trusting. Regarding a person's relationship with God, this attitude of trust grows in proportion to the atmosphere of love; as one grows in the realization of how much God loves him or her, and responds with a love of his or her own, trust in God matures and is a dominant facet of one's daily existence. A serenity of spirit becomes more obvious as the person grows in the awareness of both how much God cares and how supportive his loving embrace is, come what may.  

    This attitude of trust also characterizes one's relationship with others. One who is properly loving is not naive or oblivious to the fact that one can be needlessly hurt by others, that one's trust in others can be betrayed. On the contrary; one who is properly loving realizes that there is certainly an evil side to mankind, but nevertheless prefers to concentrate on the basic goodness of the human heart. This positive focus allows a person to trust that people not only will frequently act according to this goodness but, as a matter of fact, will actually be encouraged to do so when they themselves are the recipients of a true and sincere love. 

                (2) Excerpt from Response to God's Love by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.

Jesus himself gives us the answer to this question. He has told us to love and to grow in love; it is impossible, then, to love others too much. We must be careful, however, to distinguish true love from elements of nonauthentic love. Nonauthentic love can cause all sorts of problems; one difficulty is the desire to wrongfully possess the loved one, a desire that can lead one to feel that he or she has loved too much when the desire is frustrated. Another problem that results from nonauthentic love is the misconception that love has failed either when it is not reciprocated, or when it is not reciprocated to the degree that it itself has loved, and, therefore, should never have been extended in the first place. It is also important to realize that authentic love, even when it is growing, can change its form in relation to a particular person. What was once romantic love, for example, can change to a love of friendship, or to that general type of love for neighbor that we should have for everyone. Consequently, although it is possible to say that a person can love another too much with the love of friendship if this is the inappropriate form, it is not possible to say that a person can love another excessively according to the more general form of love of neighbor. 

                (3) Excerpt from Response to God's Love by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.

Love is not proud, is not egotistical. Love is interested, of course, in the self and the good of the self. The authentic lover, however, realizes that the love of one's true self is based on the awareness that one has been created and redeemed by God's love, that one has been endowed with various gifts by the creator, and that these gifts are to be exercised in the loving service of God and mankind. Love, then, does not become selfishly proud in its accomplishments; rather, love realizes both that God is the ultimate source of personal accomplishments, and that one can achieve only what God helps a person to accomplish. Love is very much aware of Jesus' words that, without him, we can do nothing. 

(4) Sing: Holy Is His Name

                (5) Excerpt from Response to God's Love by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.

Love is what it is all about. Jesus himself has told us this. We are and we become Christians to the extent that we love. Love gives meaning to our lives; it is the motivating force that allows us to endure the boredom of prosaic everydayness, and it is also the motivating factor that enables us to undertake the magnanimous, namely, that which tries our creative and staying power to the utmost. Love allows us to dream dreams; it also gives us the courage to implement these dreams in concrete achievement despite the fear, the anxiety, the pain, and the weariness that we experience along the way. Love allows us to bear with the ugliness of evil in the world; it also allows us to see that, despite this ugliness, the truth, the beauty, and the goodness of God's creation is even more manifest. Love accomplishes all this and much more; it is for all seasons and for all circumstances. Love is now.

                (6) Excerpt from Response to God's Love by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.

       Prudence

Prudence is that virtue which governs us in making the proper decisions in the exercise of our Christian life. It aims at using the proper means to express our love of God and man. Prudence governs the seeking of God's will in all the areas of one's Christian existence; it is a guiding virtue of the entire spiritual life. The importance of prudence is obvious, and it rightfully holds the first place among all the moral virtues. Although it is not as important as the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love, its influence also extends to these virtues, for prudence tells us how to exercise faith, hope, and love as well as all the other virtues.
 

                (7) Excerpt from Response to God's Love by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.

Prudence is meant to influence every aspect of our participation in the mystery of Christ; it guides us on the best course to avoid sin. Among other means, it bids us to learn from the past. Prudence urges us to ask, What were the circumstances that led me to fail in love through this or that sin? Even when there is no question of sin, prudence still leads us to learn from the past mistakes that have hindered us from making a greater contribution to the Church and the world. 

        (8) Excerpt from Response to God's Love by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.

Prudence is always our guide as we strive to more perfectly put on Christ through positive action. What state of life does God wish me to undertake? What kind of work does he desire of me within that vocation? Here and now should I pray or engage in some external service for my neighbor? Among the various forms of expressing love, how am I to love God and others at this particular time? Am I working too much or too little? Am I too concerned for my health or not sufficiently concerned? Prudence helps us answer these and all other questions concerning the Christ-life. 

        (9) Excerpt from Response to God's Love by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.

Some people have a misconceived idea of what prudence is. They think that prudence is merely an attitude of caution, an instinct that always leads us to take the safer path. True, prudence can lead us to choices of this nature, if God's will seems to indicate this type of action. Prudence, however, is also concerned with the bold and the daring, with taking risks, with magnanimous action, and again, the guiding principle is God's will. The prudent Christian will act boldly, daringly, or magnanimously if, after taking the proper means to discern the divine will, he or she decides that God is truly leading in such a direction.

        (10) Excerpt from Response to God's Love by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.

       Justice

       The virtue that has traditionally been called justice bids us to give to others what is their due. We must respect the life, good name, and the property of another because they have rights concerning these values. 

       The world of work, professional service, and commerce also involves various applications of justice. The laborer must give an honest day's work, for example, and the employer is obligated to render a just wage. The teacher must realize his or her duty to students by both properly preparing his or her classes and by actively progressing in the knowledge of his or her field. The doctor must maintain proper medical knowledge in justice to those whom he or she serves. Manufacturers of goods as well as wholesale and retail sellers must establish just prices. 

                The Birth of Jesus

                (1)

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Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

The Christian life is rooted in the great event of the Incarnation. We must consequently always focus our gaze upon Christ, realizing that the Father has spoken to us in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. It only remains for us, then, to strive to understand with greater insight the inexhaustible truth of the Word Incarnate (Heb 1:1-2).

(2) Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

What was the condition of the human race at the time of Christ’s coming? In some ways, people were much the same as we are today. There were those just being born into this world of human drama. There were those who, in death, were leaving it, some of whom had grasped but little of life’s meaning. There were those who were healthy and vigorous. There were those who were sick and lame. Some especially felt the burdens, the grief, the suffering of the human condition. Others were ebullient and desired all the pleasures life could provide. There was some good being accomplished. Immorality, however, was rampant. What St. Paul tells us concerning the time that immediately followed Christ’s existence certainly could also be applied to the time of His entrance into the world. It is, in short, an ugly picture that St. Paul depicts for us (Rom 1:22-32).

(3) Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

Into such a depraved condition Jesus entered, with a full and generous Heart, to lead the human race from the depths of sinfulness to the vibrant richness of a new life in Himself. Through His enfleshment, this Christ became the focal point of all history. The authentic hopes and dreams of the human family, now so overshadowed by the ugliness of sin, came converging upon this Christ. He would gather them up in Himself, give them a new luster and brilliance and dynamism, and would lead the human family back to the Father in the Holy Spirit.

(4) Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

Christ was radically to release us from the dominion of sin and elevate us to a new level of existence. This life Christ has given us is not a type of superstructure which is erected atop human existence. Although nature and grace are distinct, they do not lie side by side as separate entities. Rather, grace permeates nature. The Christian is one graced person. The Christian is one who has been raised up, caught up, into a deeper form of life in Christ Jesus. Nothing that is authentically human in the life of the Christian has been excluded from this new existence. Whatever is really human in the life of the Christian is meant to be an expression of the Christ-life. The simple but deep joys of family life, the wonderment at nature’s beauty, the warm embrace of a mother for her child, the agony of crucial decision making, the success or frustration that is experienced in one’s work, the joy of being well received by others, and the heartache of being misunderstood—all these experiences are intended to be caught up in Christ and made more deeply human because of Him.

(5) Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

Jesus has come, then, not to destroy anything that is authentically human, but to perfect it by leading it to a graced fulfillment. The more God-like we become through Christ, the more human we become.

We, through our incorporation into Christ which occurs at Baptism, are meant to relive the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. In doing so, we are not only accomplishing our own salvation, but we are assisting in the salvation of others also. The Incarnation continues all the time. Christ, or course, is the one Who fundamentally continues the Incarnation. But He enlists our help. The world no longer sees Jesus, no longer is able to reach out and touch Him. We are the ones who now, in some way, make Christ visible and tangible. In union with the invisible, glorified Christ, and depending on Him as our source of life, we continue the Incarnation in its visible and temporal dimensions. This is our great privilege. This is our great responsibility.

(6) Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

It is not sufficient, however, that we be incorporated into Christ through Baptism. All forms of life require nourishment. So, too, our life in Christ must be continually nourished. How can we continually keep in contact with Christ? There are various ways as we live our life within the Church. We contact Christ in a most special way through the liturgy, above all in the Eucharistic liturgy. Through our most special and most personal meeting with Jesus in the Mass, we are more deeply incorporated into Christ. Also, we should remember that all the sacraments make up part of the Church’s liturgy.

                (7) Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

The Indwelling of the Trinity and the Life of Grace

The spiritual life, the life of holiness, begins at Baptism. Archbishop Luis Martinez says:

"When we are born we are endowed by God with all we need for our human life, a complete organism, and a soul with the full range of faculties. Of course they are not all developed from birth, but we have them then as the source of everything we are going to need in life. And thus it is also in the spiritual order. When someone is baptized, he receives in all its fullness that supernatural world which the Christian carries within his soul. He receives grace, which is a participation of the nature of God; the theological virtues, which put him in immediate contact with the divine; the moral virtues, which serve to regulate and order all his life; and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the divine, mysterious receivers for picking up the Spirit’s inspirations and movements."²

^2. Archbishop Luis M. Martinez, The Sanctifier, Pauline Books and Media, pp. 124-125.

                (8) Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

Another author states: "The Three Divine Persons inhabit the sanctuary of our soul, taking their delight in enriching it with supernatural gifts and in communicating to us a Godlike life, similar to theirs, called the life of grace.

"All life, however, implies a threefold element: a vital principle that is, so to speak, the source of life itself; faculties which give the power to elicit vital acts; and lastly, the acts themselves which are but its development and which minister to its growth. In the supernatural order, God living within us produces the same elements. He first communicates to us habitual grace (the life of sanctifying grace) which plays the part of a vital supernatural principle. This principle deifies, as it were, the very substance of the soul and makes it capable, though in a remote way, of enjoying the Beatific Vision and of performing the acts that lead to it.

                (9) Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

"Out of this grace spring the infused virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit which perfect our faculties and endow us with the immediate power of performing Godlike, supernatural, meritorious acts.

"In order to stir these faculties into action, He give us actual graces which enlighten our mind, strengthen our will, and aid us both to act supernaturally and to increase the measure of habitual grace that has been granted to us.

"Although this life of grace is entirely distinct from our natural life it is not merely superimposed on the latter. It penetrates it through and through, transforms it and makes it divine. It assimilates whatever is good in our nature, our education and our habits. It perfects and supernaturalizes all these various elements, directing them toward the last end, that is toward the possession of God through the Beatific Vision and its resultant life." ³

Our being in the state of sanctifying of grace and the special indwelling of the Persons of the Trinity within us always exist together. We cannot have the one without the other. Our life of grace, which is a sharing in Trinitarian life, allows us to know and love Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in a most intimate fashion. Through grace we are in the image of the Trinity, and we enjoy special relationships with the Divine Persons.

Again, we listen to the words of Archbishop Martinez as he speaks about our relationships with the Divine Persons:

"Love, we have said, is the foundation of devotion to the Holy Spirit, as it is also the foundation of Christian perfection. But love as a reflection of God, as His own image, is something that encloses within its simplicity a boundless wealth and a variety of forms. Who can fathom the depths of love?

3. Adolphe Janquery, S.S., The Spiritual Life, Desclee & Co., p. 18

                (10) Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

"Human love in all its manifestations is admirably in harmony with the love of charity; it is confident in filial love, trusting in friendship, sweet and fruitful in the love of husband and wife, disinterested and tender in the love of a mother. Our love of God must include all these forms of human love; every fiber of our heart must vibrate when the harmonious and full canticle of love bursts forth from it. But since God is one in essence and triune in Persons, our love for Him takes on a particular aspect accordingly as it is directed to each one of the divine Persons.

"Our love for the Father is tender and confident like that of children; eager to glorify Him as His only-begotten Son taught us to do by word and example. Love for the Father is the intense desire to have His will fulfilled on earth as it is in heaven. Our love for the Son, who willed to become flesh for us, is characterized by the tendency to union with Him and transformation into Him; by imitation of His example, participation in His life, and the sharing of His sufferings and His Cross. The Eucharist, mystery of love, of sorrow, and of union, reveals the characteristics of this love.

"Love for the Holy Spirit also has its special character, which we should study in order completely to understand devotion to Him. We have explained how the Holy Spirit loves us, how He moves us like a divine breath that draws us to the bosom of God, like a sacred fire that transforms us into fire, like a divine artist who forms Jesus in us. Surely, then, our love for the Holy Spirit should be marked by loving docility, by full surrender, and by a constant fidelity that permits us to be moved, directed, and transformed by His sanctifying action.

"Our love for the Father tends to glorify Him; our love for the Son, to transform ourselves into Him; our love for the Holy Spirit, to let ourselves be possessed and moved by Him."⁴

1. 4. Archbishop Martinez, op. cit., pp. 67-68,

  

Presentation in the Temple

(1) Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

Life In and With Jesus

• The spiritual life centers in Christ. Here are words from the Jerusalem Catecheses: "When we were baptized into Christ and clothed ourselves in him, we were transformed into the likeness of the Son of God. Having destined us to be his adopted sons, God gave us a likeness to Christ in his glory, and living as we do in communion with Christ, God’s anointed, we ourselves are rightly called ‘the anointed ones.’ " ⁵

1. 5. Jerusalem Catecheses, as in The Liturgy of the Hours, Catholic Book Publishing Co., Vol. II, p. 608.

        (2) Luke 2: 22-28

And when the day came for them to be purified in keeping with the Law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord—observing what is written in the Law of the Lord: Every first–born male must be consecrated to the Lord—and also to offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is prescribed in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. Now in Jerusalem there was a man named Simeon. He was an upright and devout man; he looked forward to the restoration of Israel and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had set eyes on the Christ of the Lord. Prompted by the Spirit he came to the Temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the Law required, he took him into his arms and blessed God; and he said:

    Now, Master, you are letting 
        your servant go in peace 
    as you promised; 
    for my eyes have seen the salvation 
    which you have made ready 
        in the sight of the nations; 
    a light of revelation for the gentiles 
    and glory for your people Israel.

 

                (3) Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

• Msgr. Robert Guste says: "Ideal Catholics held up to us by the Church are the saints. As you read their lives, what do you notice? One after the other, they were men and women who had a deep, personal relationship with Our Lord Jesus Christ. Their hearts were on fire with love for Him..." ⁶

• When we are baptized we are incorporated into Christ’s paschal mystery of death and resurrection. St. Paul speaks of this marvelous union with Jesus: You cannot have forgotten that all of us, when we were baptised into Christ Jesus, were baptised into his death. So by our baptism into his death we were buried with him, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glorious power, we too should begin living a new life. (Rm 6:3-4).

1. 6. Msgr. Robert Guste, The Gift of the Church, Queenship Publications, pp. 22-23.

                (4) Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

Christ has structured the Christian life by the way He lived, died, and rose from the dead. It is obvious, then, as Paul tells us above, that the pattern of death-resurrection must be at the heart of the Church’s life. Individually and collectively, we continually die with Christ so that we may continually rise with Him. Thus we pass over in a process of ongoing religious transition to a greater participation in Christ’s resurrection. It is true that our participation in Christ’s resurrection will reach its completion only in eternity. Nevertheless, we begin the life of resurrection here upon the earth, in the here and now of human life, in the midst of joy and pain; in the experience of success and failure, in the sweat of our brow, in the enjoyment of God’s gifts. As Christians, we should have a sense of dynamic growth concerning our here and now life of resurrection.

                (5) Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

We cannot maintain the life of resurrection or grow in it without a willingness to suffer. This does not mean that we need to feel overwhelmed and heavily burdened in our lives. The greater portion of suffering for most Christians seems to be an accumulation of ordinary hardships, difficulties, and pains. At times, however, deep suffering, even suffering of agonizing proportions, can enter into one’s life. Whether the sufferings one encounters are of either the more ordinary variety or the more rare and extreme type, Christians must convince themselves that to relate properly to the cross is to grow in resurrection, and growth in resurrection means we will also have an increased capacity to help give resurrection to others.

                (6) Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

• The Church invites us to share deeply in the passion of Christ, in the cross of Christ. She does so that we might share deeply in His life of resurrection—here and hereafter. The more we die with Christ, the more we share in His life of resurrection—here and hereafter. Our ultimate goal here below is not the cross, but resurrection—the newness of life the cross leads to - here below as well as in eternity.

We are meant to share in all of the mysteries of Christ here below—we are meant to relive them in our own lives. And all of these mysteries are directed to the crowning mystery of Jesus, His resurrection: "As the Church is ever re-enacting, during all the ages, the life story of her Divine Spouse—undergoing in the Mystical Body what He suffered in His Natural Body, so it must be too, in some measure, for every individual Christian that lives in real unity with Christ. It was thus that the saints understood the life of the Divine Master. They not merely contemplated it, they lived it. This was the source of the immense sympathy they were capable of experiencing for Him in His different states. They felt in a certain measure what He felt, and what is true of Our Lord’s life considered as a whole must be true in no imperfect or limited manner of that which was the supreme and crowning mystery in that life—namely, the Resurrection. This must be, not merely a fact in Christian history, but a phase of Christian experience …We do not readily perceive that, in God’s plan, not only the Cross, but the Risen Life that followed it, is meant to be part of our terrestrial existence. Christ did not pass from the Cross straight to heaven. The Christian is not meant to do so either. In the case of Jesus the Cross preceded, prepared and prefaced a risen life on earth. In the case of the Christian the Cross is meant to play a somewhat similar role—that is, to be the prelude to a risen life, even here below.

(7) Sing: Little Baby Hands and Feet

                (8) Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

"The Cross cannot be completely understood except it is viewed in the full light of the Resurrection. It is the latter, not the former, that is the ultimate mystery for us…The Cross is a means, not an end; it finds its explanation only in the empty tomb; it is an entrance into life, not a mode of death. Any death that enters into God’s plan must necessarily issue forth in life. If He lays upon us the necessity of dying it is in order that we may live…In order that we may live as we ought, our rebellious nature must be crucified. Crucifixion always remains the only mode of salvation.

"God sends trials and crosses simply to deaden in us the activity of the forces that make for the decay of the spiritual life, in order that that spiritual life may develop and expand unimpeded. According as the life of perverse nature ebbs away from us on our cross united with Christ’s, the Divine Life that God has placed in all whom He has called begins to make itself more manifest and to display increased vigour and vitality…It is to that Resurrection, that life in death, that God directs all the circumstances of our life—it is the object He aims at in His dealing with us." ⁷

1. 7. Edward Leen, In the Likeness of Christ, Sheed and Ward, pp. 290-300.

 

                (9) Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

In his above words, Fr. Edward Leen, C.S.Sp., speaks about a special episode of our participation in the resurrection of Jesus. He speaks of our Christ-life, our life of grace, in the highly developed state. We should all strive for this state. We must realize, however, that all those who live in the state of grace are, in an essential way, living the life of resurrection. They are alive in Christ Jesus.

• The following words of St. John Eudes remind us of the glorious goal the Christian is called to: the most intimate union with Jesus.

"I ask you to consider that our Lord Jesus Christ is your true head and that you are a member of his body. He belongs to you as the head belongs to the body. All that is his is yours: breath, heart, body, soul and all his faculties. All of these you must use as if they belonged to you, so that in serving him you may give him praise, love and glory. You belong to him as a member belongs to the head. This is why he earnestly desires you to serve and glorify the Father by using all your faculties as if they were his.

"He belongs to you, but more than that, he longs to be in you, living and ruling in you, as the head lives and rules in the body. He desires that whatever is in him may live and rule in you: his breath in your breath, his heart in your heart, all the faculties of his soul in the faculties of your soul...

                (10) Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

"You belong to the Son of God, but more than that, you ought to be in him as the members are in the head. All that is in you must be incorporated into him. You must receive life from him and be ruled by him. There will be no true life for you except in him, for he is the one source of true life. Apart from him you will find only death and destruction. Let him be the only source of your movements, of the actions and the strength of your life.

"Finally, you are one with Jesus as the body is one with the head. You must, then, have one breath with him, one soul, one life, one will, one mind, one heart. And he must be your breath, heart, love, life, your all. These great gifts in the follower of Christ originate from baptism. They are increased and strengthened through confirmation and by making good use of other graces that are given by God. Through the holy eucharist they are brought to perfection." ⁸

1. 8. St. John Eudes, from a treatise on the Admirable Heart of Jesus, as in The Liturgy of the Hours, Catholic Book Publishing Co., Vol. IV, pp. 1331-32.

 

^{The Finding in the Temple}

⁽¹⁾   Luke 2: 41-50

Every year his parents used to go to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up for the feast as usual. When the days of the feast were over and they set off home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem without his parents knowing it. They assumed he was somewhere in the party, and it was only after a day’s journey that they went to look for him among their relations and acquaintances. When they failed to find him they went back to Jerusalem looking for him everywhere. 

    It happened that, three days later, they found him in the Temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them, and asking them questions; and all those who heard him were astounded at his intelligence and his replies. They were overcome when they saw him, and his mother said to him, ‘My child, why have you done this to us? See how worried your father and I have been, looking for you.’ He replied, ‘Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’ But they did not understand what he meant.

⁽²⁾ Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

• Here are words from St. Claude La Columbière, one of the great apostles of devotion to the Heart of Christ. Speaking to Jesus, Claude says:

You share my burdens,
You take them upon yourself.
You listen to me fondly when I tell you my troubles.
You never fail to lighten them.
I find You at all times and in all places.
You never leave me.
I will always find You wherever I go.

Old age or misfortune will not cause You to abandon me.
You will never be closer to me than
When all seems to go against me.
No matter how miserable I may be,
You will never cease to be my friend.

You tolerate my faults with admirable patience.
You are always ready to come to me, if I so desire it.

Jesus, may I die praising you!
May I die loving you!
May I die for the love of you.¹²

1.                     12. St. Claude de la Columbiere, as published by Apostleship of Prayer, Detroit Province of the Society of Jesus.

2.  

(3) Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

The Father's Will For Us - Our Source of Peace

• Pope John Paul II instructs us: "The Church, as a reconciled and reconciling community, cannot forget that at the source of her gift and mission of reconciliation is the initiative, full of compassionate love and mercy, of that God who is love (see 1 John 4:8) and who out of love created human beings (see Wisdom 11:23-26; Genesis 1:27: Psalms 8:4-8)…He created them so that they might live in friendship with Him and in communion with one another.

"God is faithful to His eternal plan even when man, under the impulse of the evil one (see Wisdom 2:24) and carried away by his own pride, abuses the freedom given to him in order to love and generously seek what is good, and (instead) refuses to obey his Lord and Father. God is faithful even when man, instead of responding with love to God’s love, opposes Him and treats Him like a rival, deluding himself and relying on his own power, with the resulting break of relationship with the One who created him. In spite of this transgression on man’s part, God remains faithful in love.

(4) Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

"It is certainly true that the story of the Garden of Eden makes us think about the tragic consequences of rejecting the Father, which becomes evident in man’s inner disorder and in the breakdown of harmony between man and woman, brother and brother (see Genesis 3:12 ff; 4:1-16). Also significant is the Gospel parable of the two brothers (the parable of the ‘prodigal son’; see Luke 15:11-32) who, in different ways, distance themselves from their father and cause a rift between them. Refusal of God’s fatherly love and of His loving gifts is always at the root of humanity’s divisions.

"But we know that God…like the father in the parable (of the prodigal son), does not close His heart to any of His children. He waits for them, looks for them, goes to meet them at the place where the refusal of communion imprisons them in isolation and division. He calls them to gather about His table in the joy of the feast of forgiveness and reconciliation.

(5) Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

"This initiative on God’s part is made concrete and manifest in the redemptive act of Christ, which radiates through the world by means of the ministry of the Church." ¹³

1. 13. Pope John Paul II, as in Celebrate 2000!, Servant Publications, pp. 140-141.

(6) Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

• In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you,’ and, after saying this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Lord, and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.’ (Jn 20:19-21).

The world needs peace. Individual nations need peace and families need peace. The Church needs peace. Each of us individually needs peace. We must work for peace through prayer, fasting, and other Christ-like activities.

And just what do we mean by peace? St. Augustine says peace is the tranquility of order. God has put order into His creation and this order must be respected and promoted if peace is to prevail. To the extent that the human family lives according to God’s will—lives according to the order or the plan God has established for creation—to that extent does peace exist in the various segments of human society. To the extent there are violations of God’s plan, of His will, to that extent peace is absent.

(7) Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

If we are to be instruments of peace, we ourselves must be at peace. Our personal peace is that tranquility of order which results from our doing God’s will. The more we are united through love with God in the doing of His will, the more we experience peace.

Sometimes the sense of peace we experience is so strong that we can "feel" it pulsating throughout our being. These are periods of what we may call the experience of extraordinary peace. This type of peace usually is not an everyday occurrence.

Most of the time we live immersed in a more subdued kind of peace which results from our daily attempts to do God’s will in love. It is that peace which is a welcome and sustaining companion as we walk the path of everyday life with its usual assortments of joys and disappointments, successes and failures, laughter and tears.

(8) Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

Occasionally, very deep suffering may enter our lives. It is during these times that we need special determination to preserve ourselves in a basic peace of spirit despite the very significant pain. One may wonder how a person can be at peace amidst the experience of great suffering. St. Francis de Sales in one of his writings—and I have not been able to locate the exact place—offers an analogy which I think is very helpful. He asks us to picture an ocean body of water at the time of a violent storm. The surface of the water becomes extremely turbulent. Francis asks us, as we use our imagination, to descend beneath the surface of the water into its depth. What do we find? The more deeply one descends away from the turbulent surface, the calmer the water becomes. Likewise, says the saint and doctor of the Church, should it be with us during times of profound suffering. Although the surface of the spirit may be very agitated, one can still maintain basic peace of spirit by going deep down to one’s center where God is more directly experienced. Here the person experiences a calm, a basic peace, although the suffering remains.

If we are trying to do God’s will in love, God intends us to be at peace. The more we conform to God’s will, the more we are living according to the order He intends for us. In turn, the more our lives are in harmony with the order established by God, the more we experience peace—peace being the tranquility of order. The more we ourselves live in this manner, the more fit instruments we become for promoting God’s order and consequent peace throughout the various segments of society.

(9) Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

• St. Dominic was an outstanding witness to the peace of the Lord: "Dominic possessed such great integrity and was so strongly motivated by divine love, that without doubt he proved to be a bearer of honor and grace. He was a man of great equanimity, except when moved to compassion and mercy. And since a joyful heart animates the face, he displayed the peaceful composure of a spiritual man in the kindness he manifested outwardly and by the cheerfulness of his countenance."¹⁴

• Shortly before he was to die from cancer, Joseph Cardinal Bernardin left us these inspiring words about peace: "It is the first day of November, and fall is giving way to winter. Soon the trees will lose the vibrant colors of their leaves and snow will cover the ground. The earth will shut down, and people will race to and from their destinations bundled up for warmth. Chicago winters are harsh. It is a time of dying.

"But we know that spring will soon come with all its new life and wonder.

"It is quite clear that I will not be alive in the spring. But I will soon experience new life in a different way…

"What I would like to leave behind is a simple prayer that each of you may find what I have found—God’s special gift to us all: the gift of peace. When we are at peace, we find the freedom to be most fully who we are, even in the worst of times. We let go of what is non-essential and embrace what is essential. We empty ourselves so that God may more fully work within us. And we become instruments in the hands of the Lord."¹⁵

14. "From the Various Writings of the History of the Order of Preachers," as in The Liturgy of the Hours, Catholic Book Publishing Co., Vol lV, p. 1302.
15. Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, The Gift of Peace, Loyola University Press, pp. 151-153.

 

(10) Excerpt from Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter Book III

• St. Teresa of Avila, one of the three women doctors of the Church, tells us how the spiritual life is summed up in loving conformity to the Father’s will:

"All that the beginner in prayer has to do -- and you must not forget this, for it is very important -- is to labor and to be resolute and prepare himself with all possible diligence to bring his will in conformity with the will of God. As I shall say later, you may be quite sure that this comprises the very greatest perfection which can be attained on the spiritual road."¹⁶

Again she states: "...love consists ... in the firmness of our determination to try to please God in everything." ¹⁷

1. 16. St Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, translated by E. Allison Peers, Doubleday and Co., "Second Mansions", p. 51.

2. 17. Ibid., "Fourth Mansions", p. 76.

 

 

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