                R. We need to pray and spray now in these
                days before the inauguration. God
                is calling us so firmly to say this prayer
                all through the day.

February 12, 2017

Vigil of Pentecost

May 26, 2007

HOMILY: If you happen to look for today’s readings anywhere, you would be very confused. Between the Vigil Mass this afternoon and today’s feast, thirteen different readings are offered for our use. And these thirteen readings hardly touch all the references to the Spirit in the Scriptures. All these optional readings, some for the Vigil and some for today, tell us this is not an ordinary Sunday. And we have a sequence, a poem about the Spirit, before the Gospel. The only other feast that has a required sequence that I can think of is Easter. Corpus Christi has an optional one. The fact that there are a lot of people in church wearing red also tells us there is something special about today. Special indeed! It’s the third most important feast of the entire year. Without the Holy Spirit nothing would have happened. The apostles would have remained a frightened bunch of guys who would have been afraid of their own shadow. They certainly wouldn’t have risked their lives to preach about the Risen Christ. Without the Holy Spirit the gospels would not have been written. We would probably still be worshipping plants or animals or inanimate objects as our gods if we were worshiping anything at all.

I came across an interesting illustration that might help us understand the Holy Spirit and thus the place of Pentecost in our lives. The Flemish artist, Rubens, like other artists of his time, had a group of aspiring artists working with him. As he watched them at work, he would sometimes pause for a moment as he looked over their shoulders, then he would take the paint brush from the hands of his pupil and would add the finishing touches. It was those touches which brought the painting to life. After referring to this practice of Rubens, a modern scripture scholar noted that until the day of Pentecost the disciples, our Lord's pupils, (for disciple means learner) had been clumsily trying to be like their Master, "but on that day the Spirit finished the painting."

It is a neat way of summarizing the effects of the first Pentecost. It explains why Pentecost is spoken of as the Church's birthday, the day when the Church truly sprang to life; the day when it was made ready for its mission of taking the Good News to the ends of the earth. Although the mighty wind, which shook the house where the disciples had gathered, soon grew still; the flames of fire which hovered over their heads, soon disappeared. But the Holy Spirit, whose coming had been announced by wind and fire, came to stay and came to be with the Church until the end of time: to be its very soul, its life principle.

Our first reading today is one of my favorites. At the time of Ezekiel there was no understand of the Trinity nor was there any idea of individual resurrection. Ezekiel here is referring to the nation of Israel that was at that time in Exile in Babylon. They had given up hope of ever returning home or of ever being a nation again. Ezekiel is telling them God would bring them back from exile and raise them up. But here the function of God’s Spirit as a life giving Spirit is already apparent.

Paul in the second reading tells us the Spirit has come to us, but the fullness of life the Spirit brings is still in the process of formation within us. And the Spirit is there to help it come to be.

Jesus in today’s gospel compares the Spirit to water. Why water? Because water brings life. Without it life cannot exist.

When most people think of the Spirit, they think of the personal gifts the Spirit brings them. Before I studied Scripture in the Seminary, the only time I ever thought of the Spirit was when I had to pass an exam. But that’s only one of the functions of the Spirit, the Spirit of truth, a term for the Spirit that Jesus uses. But there are many other gifts the Spirit brings. The Spirit helps us in our prayers, St. Paul tells us. (Rom 8, 26) In the letter to the Galatians St. Paul names a variety of blessings the Spirit brings to each of us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5,22). Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have all those qualities? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all the people we associate with, if all people in the world, had all these qualities. The Spirit has a lot of work to do.

But the Spirit is interested in more than blessing each of us personally. The Spirit is also a source of life for the Church. Paul tells us the Spirit gives many special gifts to the faith community so it might be well served. Among these gifts are wisdom, faith, healing, the gift of speaking God’s word, the gift of discernment, the gift of helping others, the gift of administration and the gift of being able to council others. (I Cor 12). What gifts has the Spirit given us and how do we use them to serve others. The Spirit helps people do more than pass exams. The Spirit is the “Lord and giver of life” as we profess each week in the Creed. The Spirit is the giver of our spiritual life which will endure forever as well as the giver of life to the Church. There would be no Church without the Spirit.

On this Pentecost, I pray may the Holy Spirit put the finishing touches to our small efforts, to follow Christ faithfully and to bring about a miniature Pentecost in our midst and so renew the face of the earth.

                John Dunn
                    "No man is an island entire of itself,
                    a piece of the continent, a
                    part of the main."

R. My soul doth magnify the Lord (Luke 1: 46)

R. Mary is the perfect handmaid of
the Lord.

The Church is the Body of Christ.

1 Corinthians 12: 12-31

The analogy of the body

For as with the human body which is a unity although it has many parts – all the parts of the body, though many, still making up one single body – so it is with Christ. We were baptised into one body in a single Spirit, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as free men, and we were all given the same Spirit to drink. And indeed the body consists not of one member but of many. If the foot were to say, 'I am not a hand and so I do not belong to the body,' it does not belong to the body any the less for that. Or if the ear were to say, 'I am not an eye, and so I do not belong to the body,' that would not stop its belonging to the body. If the whole body were just an eye, how would there be any hearing? If the whole body were hearing, how would there be any smelling?

As it is, God has put all the separate parts into the body as he chose. If they were all the same part, how could it be a body? As it is, the parts are many but the body is one. The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you,' and nor can the head say to the feet, 'I have no need of you.'

What is more, it is precisely the parts of the body that seem to be the weakest which are the indispensable ones. It is the parts of the body which we consider least dignified that we surround with the greatest dignity; and our less presentable parts are given greater presentability which our presentable parts do not need. God has composed the body so that greater dignity is given to the parts which were without it, and so that there may not be disagreements inside the body but each part may be equally concerned for all the others. If one part is hurt, all the parts share its pain. And if one part is honoured, all the parts share its joy.

Now Christ's body is yourselves, each of you with a part to play in the whole. And those whom God has appointed in the Church are, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers; after them, miraculous powers, then gifts of healing, helpful acts, guidance, various kinds of tongues. Are all of them apostles? Or all prophets? Or all teachers? Or all miracle-workers? Do all have the gifts of healing? Do all of them speak in tongues and all interpret them?

The order of importance in spiritual gifts
Hymn to Love

Set you mind on the higher gifts. And now I am going to put before you the best way of all.

R. We need community –

The Individual needs the Church.

God intends us to be united to the Church.

Christ is the Head of the Church.

Church is the Body of Christ!

We all have our individual role
in the life of the Church.

                When one does not carry out
                    their role in the Church
                    the whole body suffers!

                We look at a team of basketball
                    players – what happens to
                    the team if one is selfish and
                    playing for their own vain glory.

The Movie Mighty Macs was so good for
this.

                What happens in a family when one
                    person acts up – is rebellious
                    and tears the family down –
                    every gathering –
                    pulling secret tricks –
                    is untrustworthy

Whatever we do that is good
resounds for the whole body.

                We can see in an orchestra what
                    happens if somebody is
                    mad and does their own thing –

God intends us to be like a body
working together.

A family, a basketball team is to
work together!

                There should be a Christic pattern
                    to the Church – as we live
                    the pascal mystery of death,
                    resurrection –
                    as we live the life of Jesus in
                        our life –

It's not there is too much suffering,
but so much is wasted!

                    God calls us to live the Christian
                existence in the framework of the
                Church, Jesus established.
                The Church helps us grow in the
                spiritual life.

                    The Church is the Body of Christ.
                The community of the Church is
                to help us build up the bigger
                community of our country,
                the world!!

                    There are millions and millions
                that make up the world community.
                These people are to have a basic
                love for each other! They are
                to support and help each other –
                even as they live independently in their
                vocation. God created us as social
                beings – We are not intended to cut
                an isolated path through life.
                We are meant to walk hand-in-hand
                with each other, to live in a
                social structure, to help each other.
                We are to recognize and see how
                we are dependent on one another
                and be filled with love and gratitude
                for what is given to us. We must
                always focus on how it is God's
                will we live community in our
                lives. There is so much inhumanity
                to man in our lives!

                    We as human beings are to pray to
                God to help us as members of the
                human race and ask for forgiveness
                of the offenses of the human race
                toward God. We pray to God and
                make sacrifices for the sins
                of the human race. We are not
                independent.

                    We see the love of some: families
                and Churches and neighbors,
                in businesses and how some
                have grown, loving and pleasing
                God in living united as brothers.

                    We as members of the Body of Christ,
                must pray for our brothers to live
                in unity and not division and
                cooperate with God's grace.

                    Jesus gave Fr. Carter these Shepherds
                of Christ Prayers and told us to spread
                the prayer chapters all over the world!!

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July 31, 1994

Words of Jesus to Members of
Shepherds of Christ Associates:

"My beloved priest-companion, I intend to use the priestly newsletter, Shepherds of Christ, and the movement, Shepherds of Christ Associates, in a powerful way for the renewal of My Church and the world.

"I will use the newsletter and the chapters of Shepherds of Christ Associates as a powerful instrument for spreading devotion to My Heart and My Mother's Heart.

"I am calling many to become members of Shepherds of Christ Associates. To all of them I will give great blessings. I will use them as instruments to help bring about the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart. I will give great graces to the members of Shepherds of Christ Associates. I will call them to be deeply united to My Heart and to Mary's Heart as I lead them ever closer to My Father in the Holy Spirit."

- Message from Jesus to Father Edward J. Carter, S.J., Founder, as given on July 31, 1994,
feast of Saint Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus (The Jesuits)

Apostles of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus

My dear fellow Associate Members,

Jesus is calling special apostles to join a new division of the Shepherds of Christ Movement. Here is a message from Jesus given to Father Carter:

    My beloved priest-companion, I am requesting that a new prayer movement be started under the direction of Shepherds of Christ Ministries. I am asking for volunteers who are willing to pray before the Blessed Sacrament for one hour, twice-weekly. Members of the Shepherds of Christ prayer chapters, as well as others, are to be invited to join this movement.

    These apostles are to pray for the intentions I am giving you. For part of the hour they are to use the prayers of the Shepherds of Christ Associates Handbook. They may spend the rest of the hour as they so choose.

    I will use this new prayer movement within My Shepherds of Christ Ministries in a powerful way to help in the renewal of My Church and the world. I will give great graces to those who join this movement. The name, Apostles of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, is to be given to this movement.

    I am inviting My beloved Rita Ring to be coordinator for this activity.

    I pour out the great love of My Sacred Heart to all. I am Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the flock.

This is indeed a special calling for us to unite in one heart with His Eucharistic Heart and pray for the following intentions:

    1. For the spread of the devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary culminating in the reign of the Sacred Heart and the triumph of the Immaculate Heart.
    2. For the Pope.
    3. For all bishops of the world.
    4. For all priests.
    5. For all sisters and brothers in the religious life.
    6. For all members of the Shepherds of Christ Movement, and for the spread of this movement to the world.
    7. For all members of the Catholic Church.
    8. For all members of the human family.
    9. For all souls in purgatory.

end of Apostles of the Eucharistic Heart message

                R. The Christian community is
                    a great channel of grace
                    that deepens this Christic
                    image of the world society!

Matthew 13: 33

He told them another parable, ‘The kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through.’

1 Peter 2: 4-6

He is the living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen by God and precious to him; set yourselves close to him so that you, too, may be living stones making a spiritual house as a holy priesthood to offer the spiritual sacrifices made acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. As scripture says: Now I am laying a stone in Zion, a chosen, precious cornerstone and no one who relies on this will be brought to disgrace.

Through Him, With Him, In Him

From The Priestly Newsletter Book III by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.

The Church

We live out our spiritual lives within the Church. The Church is a multi-splendored reality. Let us reflect upon some of the key ideas connected with the Church.

Henri de Lubac states: "The Church is a mysterious extension in time of the Trinity, not only preparing us for the life of unity but bringing about even now our participation in it. She comes from and is full of the Trinity. She is for us – in a favourite phrase of Bossuet – ‘Jesus Christ … communicated’. She is ‘the Incarnation continued.’ She is, as Dietrick Bonhoeffer used to say, ‘the presence of Christ on earth’ –- she speaks with ‘the authority of Christ living and present in her.’… St. Paul applies to her this same word ‘mystery’ which he had first used of Christ. She is after all, the spouse of Christ and his body." ¹⁹

Fr. Bruno Forte tells us: "The Church comes from the Trinity, reflects in itself the Trinitarian communion—oneness in diversity—and journeys toward the Trinity, to the final handing over of all things to Christ, so that he might hand them over to the Father and God might be all in all. As ‘a people gathered in the unity of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,’ the Church is the Church of the Father. In his universal salvific plan, God has willed it to be a sign and instrument of the unity of people among themselves and with him. It is the Church of the Son, who through his incarnation and the paschal mystery has placed it in history as His Body. It is the Church of the Spirit, who makes the Risen Christ present in human history and enriching the people of God with charisms and ministries, leads it toward the promised future goal." ²⁰

The fact that the Church is here on earth a reflection of the Trinitarian Community easily leads us to reflect upon the Church as the Body of Christ, since this name given to the Church also emphasizes the communal aspect of the Church. St. Paul tells us: For as with the human body which is a unity although it has many parts – all the parts of the body, though many, still making up one single body – so it is with Christ. We were baptised into one body in a single Spirit, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as free men, and we were all given the same Spirit to drink. And indeed the body consists not of one member but of many. If the foot were to say, ‘I am not a hand and so I do not belong to the body’, it does not belong to the body any the less for that. Or if the ear were to say, ‘I am not an eye, and so I do not belong to the body’, that would not stop its belonging to the body. If the whole body were just an eye, how would there be any hearing? If the whole body were hearing, how would there be any smelling?

Now Christ’s body is yourselves, each of you with a part to play in the whole. And those whom God has appointed in the Church are, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers; after them, miraculous powers, then gifts of healing, helpful acts, guidance, various kinds of tongues. Are all of them apostles? Or all prophets? Or all teachers? Or all miracle-workers? Do all have the gifts of healing? Do all of them speak in tongues and all interpret them? (1 Cor 12:12-17; 27-30)

Some two thousand years ago Christ walked the earth teaching, healing the sick, forgiving sins, extending His mercy and kindness. By such a life which culminated in death and resurrection, Christ redeemed the world. This objective redemption was accomplished by Christ alone. Through it, He won for people of all time the necessary graces for their salvation and sanctification.

However, it is necessary that such graces be distributed to each individual as one plays out his or her part in the drama of human existence. Such a distribution of grace is the work of subjective redemption.

Jesus still walks the earth as the work of redemption continues. However, He now walks the earth according to a different type of existence. He does not walk the earth in His physical body, but rather in His Mystical Body, the Church, the People of God. Through the members of His Church, Christ continues to be present as He teaches, administers the sacraments, extends His mercy – all done through the members of His Body, the Church. This mystical Christ, in turn, derives all supernatural power from Christ, the Head, who reigns gloriously with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

The Church, therefore, is the earthly continuation of Christ’s redemptive Incarnation. This mission which the Church has, although a great responsibility, is also a great privilege. In proportion as each Christian offers and commits himself or herself to Christ, the Church in her entirety more and more mirrors forth Christ to the world. This Christ, whom the Church portrays to the world, is the Christ who is Prophet, King and Priest.

We now reflect upon the Church as Spouse of Christ. Fr. Joseph Murphy, S.J., tells us: "John Paul II always quotes the rich doctrinal and patristic traditions of the Church which refer to Christ as the Spouse of the Church and the Spouse of souls, given to both in the Eucharistic mystery. For him the key to understanding the sacramentality of marriage, not to mention the nature of humanity, is the spousal love of Christ for the Church demonstrated in Ephesians 5. Christ is the Head of the Church as Savior of His Body. The Church is exactly that Body which receives from Him all that through which it becomes and is His Body. As Head and Savior of the Church He is also Bridegroom of His Bride…" ²¹

The Church is a mother to us. Henri de Lubac speaks concerning this beautiful truth:

"The Church is my mother because she brought me forth to a new life. She is my mother because her concern for me never slackens, any more than do her efforts to deepen that life in me, however unenthusiastic my cooperation. And though in me this life may be a fragile and timid growth, I have seen its full flowering in others...

"Happy those who from childhood have learnt to look on the Church as a mother! Happier still those whose experience, in whatever walk of life, has confirmed its truth! Happy those who one day were gripped by (and whose appreciation of it ever grew) the astonishing newness, richness and depth of the life communicated to them by this mother!" ²²

Avery Dulles, S.J., the well-known theologian who has written much about the Church, observes: "The Church, as I have already contended, is essentially a mystery of grace, a wonderful encounter between the divine and the human. Even in its visible structures, the Church is not a mere organization to be judged on grounds of efficiency, but a sacrament of God’s saving deed in Jesus Christ. From this it follows, in my judgment, that the Church’s forms of speech and life, and indeed its entire corporate existence, must be such as to mediate a vital communion with Christ the Lord. The Church must be a place of prayer and worship, praise and witness. Any institutional change in the Church must be carefully assessed for its effect on the spiritual life of the members. Does it intensify their faith, their hope, their charity? Does it help them to center their lives on Christ and to ground their existence in the God who raised him from the dead?"²³

Fr. Gerald Vann, O.P., speaks movingly about our life in the Church:

"If you live in the Church and try to use the power of the Church to increase the life of the Church, then the power of the Church will make you yourself whole; and in your wholeness you will help to make your family and make your world. But you will be building for a more than earthly beatitude because you will be building the city which is eternal. Here you build in shadow, you build for a future which is invisible, and so you can only build in hope. And often your plans will be wrecked and your dreams come crashing about your ears, and you will need the strength of the Rock which is Christ to give you patience and fortitude...

"And when death has come to you...the Church will bless you for the life you have added to it, and there will be men to heed you better than they did when you were here...

"But you, for your part, will be no longer in the shadow but in the glory of the Light inaccessible; you will be in the City that is yours because you helped to build it; you will see Him at last as He is, and be wholly with Him; and you will have no more any mourning or weeping or any other sorrow, for all these former things will have been transmuted into happiness and peace, and you will walk with Him–together with all those you have helped to bring to Him, even until the end of the world–you will walk with Him in happiness for ever, in the cool of the eternal evening." ²⁴

Henri de Lubac, S. J., The Church: Paradox and Mystery, translated by James R. Dunne, Alba House, p. 24.

Fr. Bruno Forte, He Loved Them to the End, St. Paul Books & Media, p. 74-75.

The Thoughts of Pope John Paul II: A Collection of Essays and Studies, John M. McDermott, S. J., Editor, Editrice Pontificia Universita Gregoriana, p. 135.

Henri de Lubac, S.J., The Church: Paradox and Mystery, op. cit., pp. 2-4.

Avery Dulles, S.J., The Resilient Church, Doubleday & Company, p. 39.

Gerald Vann, O.P., The Heart of Man, Longmans, Green and Co., pp. 151-152.

From The Priestly Newsletter Book III by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.

Prayer and Self Identity

Here are words which unite prayer and one’s quest to grow in an awareness of one’s self-identity. “Since the only real identity we have is our relationship with God in Christ — we are in God’s image mediated by Christ — we grow in achieving true self-identity through growth in the awareness that each of us is a unique reflection of God, that we live by His life — indeed, we participate in his life through grace...

“Prayer plays a profound role in achieving self-identity. In the loving quiet of prayer God reveals both Himself to us and us to ourselves. These aspects are intimately connected. As God communicates knowledge concerning Himself, He also gives insight into ourselves, we who are in His image. As prayer grows, this insight concerning God and ourselves deepens. We become more aware of what is involved in living by the life of God, in living according to the divine image, in living a Christ-like existence. All these expressions point to the same reality — that we are finite expressions of the infinite, and each of us uniquely so, and that growth in self-identity means an increased lived awareness of this sublime truth.

“When this awareness reaches a certain consistency, we have arrived at a change in consciousness. This stage of the spiritual journey is of the utmost importance. If one goes forward after this change in consciousness, one’s life will never again be the same. One has achieved a new way of comprehending the answer to the mystery of human existence.

“Before this change in consciousness occurs, even the committed Christian can ask at times, ‘Is this all there is to life?’ This question can nag at the human heart even as one enjoys significant accomplishments, experiences the joy-dimension of the human condition, and feels a sense of love and security emanating from personal relationships.

“ ‘Is this all there is to life?’ For the Christian, this question and the manner in which he or she confronts it, is of critical importance. It is not as though the Christian who faces this existential challenge has not previously possessed the key to life’s mystery. The vision of faith has already provided this key. The vision of faith, however, operates on different levels. The more spiritually mature person, the one further advanced in prayer, has a better grasp on how to live the mystery of life than does one less spiritually advanced...

“Confronting properly, then, the haunting question ‘Is this all there is to life?’, will lead to this deeper Christian existence which will manifest that, yes, indeed, there is more to life than one had previously known. If one follows the lead of grace, if one grows in the life of prayer and consistently lives on the level where the Christ-like self is dynamically operative, one will never again be haunted by the feeling that life is not yielding a sufficient sense of fulfillment.” 17

17. Edward Carter, S.J., The Mysticism of Everyday, Sheed & Ward, pp. 44-46.

1 Corinthians 3: 9-13, 16-17

After all, we do share in God’s work; you are God’s farm, God’s building.

By the grace of God which was given to me, I laid the foundations like a trained master–builder, and someone else is building on them. Now each one must be careful how he does the building. For nobody can lay down any other foundation than the one which is there already, namely Jesus Christ. On this foundation, different people may build in gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay or straw but each person’s handiwork will be shown for what it is. The Day which dawns in fire will make it clear and the fire itself will test the quality of each person’s work.

Do you not realise that you are a temple of God with the Spirit of God living in you? If anybody should destroy the temple of God, God will destroy that person, because God’s temple is holy; and you are that temple.

Excerpt from Response in Christ by Fr. Edward Carter, S.J.

e) Relationship with Members of the Church

There is but one true Church of Christ. Yet this one Church has three different states of existence. There is the pilgrim Church, the Church of this world, composed of members who have received the grace of Christ and strive for its development. They have not yet obtained the goal of their efforts, as have the members of the heavenly Church, who enjoy God in eternal happiness. The Church suffering is an intermediate state of existence necessary for those who had not achieved the required purification as members of the pilgrim Church. Although there are these three phases of the Church’s existence, there is a profound union existing between all the members. All these members possess the same basic life of grace in Christ, and this common life establishes the most intimate bonds of love. In our preceding chapter, we discussed the pilgrim Church. Let us now consider the Church suffering and the heavenly Church.

The members of the Church suffering are those who have departed from this life in an incomplete state of Christian development. Their development is incomplete in the sense that grace has not fully taken possession of them, and, as a result, they are yet closed in upon themselves to a greater or lesser degree. They as yet cannot open themselves out in complete love to the Triune God in the beatific vision. They must undergo a further purification, a purification which could have been achieved upon earth with merit. Now the purification must be achieved with no merit attached. The pain of this purification is mixed with the certain expectation of achieving the vision of God. We can hasten the advent of this vision for this people by the offering of prayers and other good works. Scripture itself refers to our action on behalf of those in purgatory in Chapter 12 of the Second Book of Maccabees beginning with verse 38.

The members of the heavenly Church are those in whom the life of grace has taken full possession and has reached its completion in the life of glory. Faith now is unnecessary, as the light of glory gives the human intellect a new strength and capacity for seeing God face-to-face. While the Christian was a wayfarer, he received the imprint of the indwelling Trinity as he shared in God’s own life. Now in heaven that grace-life and possession of God reaches its completion—the absolute completion is not achieved, however, until the resurrection of the body. The divine persons give Themselves to the beatified in a profound union far surpassing that of the indwelling of the Trinity experienced here below.

This life of heaven is still the Christ-life, for just as we possess a share in Trinitarian life here below as mediated by Christ, and exercise this grace-life as structured by Him, so also in heaven is the mediation of Christ present. In the words of Rahner, "One always sees the Father through Jesus. Just as immediately as this, for the directness of the vision of God is not a denial of the mediatorship of Christ as man."¹⁴ And not only does the humanity of Christ unite the blessed to God, but also, in some way, to the whole of creation. This is merely a completion of what is begun here below, namely, the union with Christ in His humanity establishing the Christian in a special relationship with God, with other men, and with the whole of creation. We have a glimpse, therefore, of the fullness of life which members of the heavenly Church possess.

The heavenly Church, as St. Thomas says, is the true Church.¹⁵ The Church of this earth and the Church of purgatory are, each in its own way, reaching out in loving hope for the heavenly Jerusalem. Vatican II puts it very simply: "The Church, to which we are called in Christ Jesus, and in which we acquire sanctity through the grace of God, will attain her full perfection only in the glory of heaven."¹⁶

The members of the heavenly Church can help us in living our life of grace until we too share its fullness with them. Their power of intercession on our behalf is but another ramification of the communal aspect of Christianity. We are meant to help others grow in Christ. We, in turn, are intended by God to receive aid from others—yes, from members of the heavenly Church, as well as from those with whom we dwell here below.

Not only can we be aided by the saints’ intercession, but the example of the canonized saints can also be of great value to us. They have concretely proved that full holiness is possible. Such an inspiration is of real worth when we are tempted to think that Christian sanctity in its higher degrees is impossible of attainment. Moreover, the canonized saints, in their diversity, teach us that there are many authentic versions of Christian holiness. They can be innovators in showing us that there are numerous possibilities in assimilating the mystery of Christ, although the basic assimilation remains the same for all Christians of all times. In the opinion of Rahner this is one of the chief roles the canonized saints exert in the life of the Church.¹⁷

NOTES:

¹⁴Karl Rahner, Theological Investigations, Vol. III (Baltimore: Helicon, 1967), p. 44.¹⁵Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, In Ad Ephes., c. 3, Lect. 3.
¹⁶Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the Church, No. 48.
¹⁷Cf. Karl Rahner, Op. cit., pp. 100-101.

October 1, 1994

I Feed the Hungry Soul

Jesus: Another person cannot feed your hungry soul. You search, you seek. Your starved soul craves only that which I can give. When your heart is searching for love, come, My sweet dear child, into My Heart. My Mother will take you to the deepest recesses of My Heart. There you will know such comfort - in My Heart on fire for love of you this day.

    You are a child of dignity. You are precious to Me. You are the creation of the Father. I gave the last drop of My blood for you. This is love - you need grace to realize the immenseness of God's love. You are so special to God, all three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Mary loves you so much.

    You can never be satisfied on this earth. If you find the dearest mother, father, lover, friend, they will not fill you with the love your soul craves. To find Me is to seek Me. You will not be satisfied on this earth.

    You, My child, experience longing for My intense love. I love you to want Me. This is how I long for love of each precious soul. I long for them with the most tender Heart, beating and breathing with fire. I never falter. I never grow dim. I am the same, with the same burning love. Come to Me and jump into My precious Heart. I love you so much.

From Fr. Carter's Priestly Newsletter Book I - September/October 1994

St. John Eudes On Union With 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. We, as priests, have the special privilege and responsibility of seeking this union with Christ in the highest degree:

“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 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, so that these words may be fulfilled in you: Glorify God and bear him in your body, that the life of Jesus may be made manifest in you.

“You belong to the Son of God, but more than that, you ought to be in him as 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. He must be both the source and the purpose of your life, so that you may fulfill these words: None of us lives as his own master and none of us dies as his own master. While we live, we are responsible to the Lord, and when we die, we die as his servants. Both in life and death we are the Lord’s. That is why Christ died and came to life again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

“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.”⁴

4. 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.

From the Priestly Newsletter Book III - 2000 Issue 3 p. 44-47

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.

"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.

"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

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

^{^{Given

October 29, 2016}}

                R. Please spread blessed holy water
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Vigil of Pentecost May 26, 2007

The Church

St. John Eudes On Union With Jesus

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

Vigil of Pentecost

May 26, 2007