Mary has requested that the daily message be given each day to the world. It is read nightly at the prayer service from her Image Building in Clearwater, Florida, U.S.A. This is according to her request. All attempts will be made to publish this daily message to the world at 11 p.m. Eastern time, U.S.A.


We acknowledge that the final authority regarding these messages rests with the Holy See of Rome.


I appear my children on this former bank building in Florida, Our Lady Clothed with the Sun.

March 15, 2002

March 16th Holy Spirit Novena
Scripture selection is Day 9 Period II.
The Novena Rosary Mystery
for March 16th is Glorious.

        

The 17th will be in China,
    Indiana. Special help will
    be needed. Try to come any
    time after 1:30 PM.

We will do 6:20 prayers
    before the Blessed Sacrament.

Celebrate birthdays

We are begging people to
    come Monday and help
    do the mailing.

    


   

March 15, 2002 After Mass

Messenger:          I just wanted to be alone with Him after communion. I wanted
                        intimacy with Him. I can go so deeply in an ecstatic experience
                        with Him. I want to be in such deep union with Him in my heart. When 
                        I am one with Him I feel so one with the souls of the earth.
                        I feel one with those in the Church. I feel one with His chosen priests.
                        I long for the deep oneness amongst the people of the earth, as
                        He desires. My oneness with Him is always in that deep connection
                        with the Universal Church. My oneness reaches such heights in these
                        ecstatic experiences where I am so one with the Father, knowing
                        Him so intimately as His little child and loving so deeply all souls,
                        wanting so deeply in my soul the Father's will for all souls of
                        the earth.
                            My very deep connection is in such oneness with God, Father,
                        Son and Holy Spirit, I exist so deeply in God in the Mass, I want
                        what He wants, my prayer so deep within me is for the will
                        of God on this earth.
                            And I cannot help but constantly, incessantly tell God of my
                        deep, deep, burning love for Him at Mass. I am so united to God, I
                        know each Person so deeply and so intimately, the depth of this
                        union so far beyond this pen and paper. It is in knowing each
                        Person so intimately, in loving God more deeply every moment
                        of my existence here on earth that I relate so deeply with Him in
                        this Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
                            My depth of union and my knowledge of the Father ever deepens
                        my desire for completeness with my God is the thirsting
                        within my soul.
                            My relationship with Jesus, my beloved Spouse, my Divine Bridegroom
                        takes on a deeper meaning every moment of my existence. My journey
                        into the spiritual life ever deepens. The flooding love within my
                        soul for God in the Mass I cannot ever explain. The Holy Spirit
                        fills my soul with the deepened presence of God's love.

  

    

March 15, 2002 message continues

Messenger:         I am one in God. I want a deeper fullness in His divine Life. 
                        I want completeness in Him. My heart longs for the beatific vision.
                            My God! I love Him so much. My deep love I cannot express.
                            I am taken into ecstasy in Him. My burning desire
                        for God in the Eucharist is so strong, I want Him, I 
                        love Him, I want His Body and His Blood. I want this
                        intimacy with my God.
                            My soul cries for mercy for all the souls of the earth -
                        "Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world 
                            have mercy on us."
                        "Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world
                            have mercy on us."
                        "Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world
                            grant us peace."

                        At the beginning of Mass, we beg for grace to be released,
                            with all my heart I cry to our God.
                        Oh my tongue is parched and my soul longing for God.
                        I cry the day long for grace to be outpoured on the hungry
                            souls.
                        I feel so much depth in my heart when I communicate with Him.
                        I pray for the souls of the earth and our priests and our
                            Church and I know He hears me.
                        This is the promise God gave to Fr. Carter for those who pray
                            the Shepherds of Christ prayers.

  


  

13th Promise

Jesus speaks: "...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."

— July 31, 1994

  


  

March 15, 2002 message continues

Messenger:      To those Churches who pray these prayers Jesus has given
                            so many promises.
                        Click on message November 4

                         Look at this my faithful ones.
                        Do you think God would give such a sign for no reason.

  

July 5, 2000

   

March 15, 2002 message continues

Messenger:         And He picked a priest in good standing, author of all
                                these books on the spiritual life to carry the
                                message.
                            It is intimacy we all crave and
                                God wants this intimacy with men.
                            This is the message.
                            The sickness is this: many seek intimacy, they
                                crave this, but they look in the wrong places.
                            Jesus promised Fr. Carter greater intimacy to those
   
                                     who pray the prayers.
                            This is about this ever deeper union with the Father, Son
                                and Holy Spirit our souls crave.
                            The following writing was written by Fr. Carter in 1967-
                                33 years before the end of the second millennium.
                            This has been translated in 3 other languages early in
                                the seventies.
                            Fr. Carter was called to deliver these messages.

 


           

~ July 31, 1994 ~
Feast of St. Ignatius

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)

end of July 31, 1994 message given to Fr. Carter

               


       

~ October 13, 1994 ~ 

The Birth of the Full Ministries
of the Shepherds of Christ

    "I wish to share with you part of a message which Jesus gave us on October 13, 1994. The message tells us about the expansion of the Shepherds of Christ movement:

    'My beloved priest-companion, today I come to you with another mission. I am asking you to establish Shepherds of Christ Ministries. At My request you have already begun the priestly newsletter, "Shepherds of Christ", and the prayer chapters, Shepherds of Christ Associates...

    'I am giving you this message on this day, the 77th Anniversary of the Great Apparition at Fatima, because of the close connection between the Shepherds of Christ movement and the Fatima message. The Fatima message is centered in devotion to My Heart and My Mother's Heart, especially in consecration to Our Hearts. Shepherds of Christ Ministries is also centered in devotion to Our Hearts. I will use Shepherds of Christ Ministries as a great instrument in helping to bring about the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart. When this occurs, My Church and the world will be experiencing the great era of peace promised by My Mother at Fatima.

    'Today, then, October 13, 1994, the 77th Anniversary of the Great Apparition at Fatima, marks the birth of Shepherds of Christ Ministries. I pour forth the great love of My Sacred Heart to all. I am Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the flock.'

    "Jesus has told us that Shepherds of Christ Ministries includes: the priestly newsletter, Shepherds of Christ, Shepherds of Christ Associates prayer chapters, various publications, including books, whatever else Our Lord directs us to undertake.

    "As members of Shepherds of Christ Associates, you are an extremely important part of Shepherds of Christ Ministries. You have given great joy to the Heart of Jesus by responding to His invitation to become members of Shepherds of Christ Associates. As He draws you closer to His Heart and to His Mother's Heart as Associates members, He will fill you with an ever-increasing experience of His love, peace, and joy."

- From In the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Newsletter of Shepherds of Christ Associates
by Fr. Edward J. Carter S.J., Volume 1, No. 1, 1995. p. 2.

end of October 13, 1994 message

              


     

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

          


        

March 15, 2002 message continues

Messenger:         Why do some not practice their Catholic Faith? Why
                                do they go to other religions?
                            We must tell them about the gift of the True Presence.
                            Jesus gave us the Blue Book messages Fr. Carter said
                                the Blue Book messages were as much his as mine.  
                            The Blue Book messages help lead the soul into a deeper
                                love union with God in the Eucharist.
                            We have the Eucharist in our Church.
                            The priest is a gift from God.

  

  

March 15, 2002 message continues

Messenger:         Jesus wants us to spread the Blue Book messages.
                            He is a Personal God.
                            He loves us so much.
                            He gives us Himself in the Eucharist.

  


          

Picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus   IntroductionGod's Blue Book II Cover

    April 13, 1994

    Words of Jesus. Read before the Tabernacle.

Jesus speaks:  How, child, do I, Jesus, tell you I love you? You hold on to silly things when God is in your midst and is ardently loving you. I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I am writing to each precious child this day. I am on fire for love of you. I remain in the Eucharist to be with you with My ardent love. I did not want to leave My beloved ones at the Last Supper. I love you so, My dear and ardently loved children. I remain with you this day in the Blessed Sacrament, the same Jesus Who died a brutal death on the Cross.
    Do you know I am truly present there? Do you know that God waits every day for you in the tabernacle? Do you comprehend even a minute amount of My love? You will never know of how I love you on earth.
    I, Jesus, truly the Son of God, came to earth a man and suffered a brutal death for love of you. I love you so much! I remain with you this day. I long for your love. I want you to come and be with Me in front of the tabernacle. I wait, I yearn for you to come and whisper your love to Me. I am a person and I love you this day, with such an ardent on-fire love! No human could ever compare a speck to My love for you.
    I wait, little ones, in the tabernacle. I wait for you to come and receive Me in Communion. I want you to want Me so much you cannot wait to come and receive Me. I want to be the love, the center of your life!
    I am Jesus. I am the Son of God. I am writing to you this day. I want to possess your very soul and live in you. I have all you need, sweet ones. Oh, you are so blind! I long for your union with Me. I wrote the book of love. I instituted it, yet you go to the world for your love and do not even come to Me! Oh, I love you, little ones. Little ones, beloved of the Father, loved by the Holy Spirit, mothered by My very own mother! What more can I say? The rest is up to you!
    I give you your will with such love and I want your love freely given. I am God. What do you think you could ever need that I do not give you? I am the Savior of this world. I am Jesus, the Son of God. I am waiting for you. I am longing for you. I am yearning for you. I am God. I have all you ever will need!
    Surrender this life to Me. Pray My Prayer for Union with Me. I want to possess your soul and operate from your very being. I am Jesus. I am the Son of God. I am the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I am Who am. I died and rose on the third day.
    Harken to My call, harken to My pleading. Spend your days in love with Me. Nothing matters unless it is rooted in Me and rooted in My love. I am the Son of God. I am the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I love you with the tenderest love. I am waiting this day for just you, My beloved one. Come to Me for I am the tenderest of all hearts. I am the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

- God's Blue Book,
Volume 2 April 13, 1994

            


  

March 15, 2002 message continues

Messenger:         Jesus told me to spread that message to the far ends of the 
                                earth to every soul, so they would know
                                how much He loves them.
                            Fr. Carter did everything he could to spread the Blue Book
                               
messages.
                            Fr. Carter lived the Blue Book messages.
                            Fr. Carter said

    "Reading the Blue Book messages, at least just a few minutes a day, can do wonders to help us persevere in the Movement. Renew your love and commitment to the Movement."

                            We must spread the Good News of Jesus Truly Present
                                in the Eucharist.

  

       

     

March 15, 2002 message continues

Messenger:         I love the Church so much.
                            The Church is so wonderful.
                            At Mass I have to keep letting God know how much I love
                                Him, I can't seem to show the love I 
                                want to, to Him.
                            I love God so much.
                            I long for completeness in Him in heaven.
                            I pray from the depth of my soul at Mass for the souls
                                of the earth, the priests, and the Church.
                            Oh God help us. Here is an important message I received
                                May 13, 1993 anniversary of the 1st Fatima vision and
                                the first message in Blue Book I.

  


        

Picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Cling to Me

God's Blue Book I CoverMay 13, 1993 

Jesus speaks: My dear child, if you stay close to Me, then I live in you and you live in Me. I am He Who created you and I love you with such an intensity that you will never know. My words are your truth. You must abide in My heart in all things. There is no room for doubt. My ways are steadfast, direct, and without error.

    You must stay rooted in Me to ward off the power of the evil one. His grip is paralyzing and crippling. His power is stronger every day.

    When you live in Me, I am in your heart and he has no power over Me. I am your God. I am your true lover. I want to protect you. I want to guard you from this force. Stay rooted firmly in Me and he will have no power.

    I am He Who comforts you. My hand is upon you. Hold tight to Me, My child. My eyes are fixed right on you. You are My most precious child. I love you as no other can. My arms are about you. My tenderness surrounds you. My love is in your heart. You go not alone. I walk with you.

    I share every aspect of your life with you. Cling to Me, feel My presence. It is warm and secure within your chest. There is no room for fear, for I cast out fear and bring you comfort and joy.

end of May 13, 1993 message

            


    

     

March 15, 2002 message continues

Messenger:         On this disc Fr. Mike Paraniuk reads the powerful 
                                    section on grace.

                                (also translated in Italian, Polish, Portuguese
                                 early in the seventies in Fr. Carter's Book
                                Response in Christ, but Father Carter told me
                                never to circulate those translations because
                                they hadn't gotten the Imprimatur, the
                                English edition of Response in Christ
                               
received the Imprimatur in 1968.)

  


    

Excerpt from Response in Christ - Chapter 3

The Christian Life of Grace

    In the pattern of death-resurrection, the Church continues the prophetic, kingly and priestly offices of Christ. She does not do this through a merely extrinsic activity, for her external action is an incarnation of a more fundamental reality, the life of grace, the Christ-life. Each member of the Church is called to develop this Christ-life to the fullest. In other words, each member of the People of God is destined for Christian holiness. Vatican II tells us this: "Thus it is evident to everyone that all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity. . . ."1 If all are not called upon to live out this life of Christian sanctity in exactly the same way, nevertheless all are called to the same essential holiness. Vatican II states: "In the various classes and differing duties of life, one and the same holiness is cultivated by all, who are moved by the Spirit of God, and who obey the voice of the Father, and worship God the Father in spirit and in truth. . . ."2

   All are called to the same basic holiness because the life of grace, which is the life of holiness, is essentially the same for all.

       1. WHAT IS GRACE?

    Grace is first and foremost the lavish self-giving or self-communication of God to man through the person Christ. This is the stress of St. Paul. Contemporary theology therefore is correct in describing grace first of all in terms of the special presence of the Triune God. The divine persons are present to give us a participation in their own life, to be a guide of our actions, and to be known and loved by us. This special presence is variously named: the divine indwelling, the indwelling of the Trinity, uncreated grace. "If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him." (Jn 14:23).

   Through this special presence, Father, Son and Holy Spirit unite themselves so intimately to us in personal love that their image is left upon us. This image of the Trinity is sanctifying grace. There are, then, two great realities of grace: God's personal self-communication, or uncreated grace, and created grace, or the life of sanctifying grace.

   As we have just mentioned, God's gift of Himself in a special loving presence is the aspect of grace which should be stressed. But the reality of created grace—the life God gives us—should also receive its due attention. Scripture so bids us. The eminent biblical scholar, John L. McKenzie, after commenting on numerous New Testament passages, observes: "Wide as may seem to be the range of these passages, they have in common the conception of grace as something given, received, a reality in the Christian and in the world in which the Christian lives."
3 Also, looking at the thought of St. Paul, we have the words of Rondet: "In First Corinthians, Paul's theology of grace takes a big step forward. He continues to speak of grace as a special mercy, a special goodness of God (1 Cor 1,3). But grace now also appears as a created gift, a permanent favor. It is a kind of supernatural power, and charisms in some way embody various aspects of it."4 Rondet speaks further about Paul's theology of grace: "In chapter 4 of Second Corinthians, grace appears clearly as an interior principle of spiritual life. It is no accident that Paul goes on to talk about the interior man, the 'inner nature which is being renewed every day' (4,16). . . ."5 Consequently, the reality of the life of sanctifying or created grace is very clear in the New Testament.

   Created grace, or the life of sanctifying grace, actually inheres in us. On the other hand, the persons of the Trinity specially present to us (uncreated grace), despite their mysteriously close union with us, never become a part of our natures. Although the special presence of the divine persons and sanctifying grace always coexist, these two realities are nevertheless distinct.

   Sanctifying grace is best described as a life. It is a sharing in divine life. This life is one of the great themes of St. John. In the theology of John the purpose of the Incarnation is precisely this—to reveal and communicate divine life to men.
6 "I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full." (Jn 10:10).

   God is bold and daring. Without God's revelation, who would dare to think that God offers man a share in His own divine life? In Their self-communication to us, and in their sharing of divine life with us, the Trinity truly offers us a daring challenge. They bid us to live life at its fullest, to live a life patterned after their own. Through the new powers which grace gives us, they inexorably call us to go out of our self-centeredness and live a life of dynamic love-relationships with Themselves and man. Through this life of love They ask us to continue the work of Their love, the work of creation and redemption. Through this life of love They ask us to help change the face of the earth. Summarily, our life in Christ is a call to the greatness of love.

   To talk of grace, then, is primarily to talk of the personal relationships in love which are established by our Christ-life. These personal relationships we wish to stress in our treatment of grace. First of all, however, we should briefly discuss basic ideas concerning the life of sanctifying grace, which is the foundation for ability to enter into these personal relationships. All things being equal, the more we know about sanctifying grace, the better we can understand and appreciate the nature of these personal relationships in Christ.

   Although the life of sanctifying grace is a reality distinct from our natural life, it is not something superimposed upon our nature as icing is added to a cake. Rahner states: "The nature of a spiritual being and its supernatural elevation are not opposed to each other like two things which lie side by side, so that they must be either kept separate or confused. The supernatural elevation of man is, though not due to him, the absolute fulfillment of his being. . . ."
7

   Our Christ-life permeates our persons completely. Nothing which is good is destroyed. All is elevated to a new level of existence, for through grace we enter a new life. St. Paul affirms: "And for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here." (2 Co 5:17)

   Why are we able to live on a new level of existence through grace? The answer lies in the fact that we receive a created sharing in the divine nature. Nature, we know, is a principle or capacity of operation according to a certain level of existence. An angel can perform acts of an angel because he has an angelic nature. A man can know intellectually because he has a rational nature. Likewise, through our Christ-life of grace we can perform God-like acts because we have received a new nature. Scripture speaks to us about our participation in the nature of God. In one of the most noted passages of the New Testament on the life of grace, we read: "By His divine power, he has given us all the things we need for life and for true devotion, bringing us to know God himself, who has called us by his own glory and goodness. In making these gifts, he has given us the guarantee of something very great and wonderful to come: through them you will be able to share the divine nature and to escape corruption in a world that is sunk in vice." (2 P 1:3-4).

   It is not sufficient that we possess this Christ-life, this new vital principle. Also we need the supernatural faculties through which this Christ-life can both express itself and grow. This is evident if we consider our natural life as an analogy. It is not sufficient to possess a human nature. The life of this nature has to express itself and grow through various sense and spiritual faculties. For instance, one expresses his life as a man when he uses his intellect or when he walks.

   What are the supernatural faculties through which my Christ-life expresses itself and grows? These faculties are the supernaturally infused virtues, chief of which are faith, hope and love. These virtues give the Christian the capacity to channel his Christ-life into the various areas of his total existence. Or to put it in a slightly different manner, we can say that these virtues allow the Christian to relate properly to God, man and the rest of creation. They are positive modifications of the person, allowing him to act with various Christian attitudes. The virtues, in turn, are activated by actual grace which affects both our intellects and our wills.

   God has given the Christian still another gift of grace. We refer here to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These gifts are capacities which allow the Christian in a special manner to be receptive to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit. These gifts, in turn, have as their purpose the perfecting of the infused virtues. Theologians teach that the virtues do not achieve a mature stage of development without the simultaneous activity of the gifts.

   Another important aspect of grace is that which is termed external. External actual grace is a person, place or thing which serves as an occasion for internal grace. We must realize the extreme importance of external grace, especially concerning persons. There are many examples. A wife can receive God's grace through the loving presence of her husband. The witness of a dedicated Christian can inspire us to greater things. The love and encouragement of a friend can spur us to a more generous self-giving in the work of Christ. Yes, persons are extremely important in God's plan.

   How does our Christ-life grow? This growth centers around the themes of love. Our Christ-life grows as we open ourselves up to God's love in the sacraments, especially the eucharist. We grow in Christ through the love of God and man which is expressed in various types of meritorious actions performed in the state of grace. We grow in Christ when God in His love graciously answers our prayers through which we have petitioned Him to take deeper possession of us through, for instance, an increase of faith, hope and love. In summary, we grow in our Christ-life through the various dimensions of loving relationships with God and others. Love is all important. The other virtues are important to the degree that they are influenced by love and serve love.

       2. THE GRACED CHRISTIAN AND VARIOUS RELATIONSHIPS

    Our life of grace establishes various relationships between the Christian, God and the rest of creation. The first to be considered is that between the Christian and the persons of the Trinity.

   We should first give brief attention to certain theological principles and truths which have a relevance to any discussion involving our relationship to the three divine persons. One of these theological principles is that of appropriation. This is a mode of predication by which the properties and activities common to the three divine persons are especially attributed to one of the persons because of a property peculiar to this particular person. For instance, because of His fatherhood, we refer to God the Father as our Creator, although all three persons equally create. Therefore, we really have no proper relationship to the Father as our Creator, but only one based on appropriation. The process of our sanctification is also an action common to all three persons. But because it is a work of God's love for us, and since the Holy Spirit is the love existing between Father and Son, we appropriate sanctification to the Holy Spirit.

   This principle of appropriation preserves the traditional Catholic teaching that all divine activities ad extra (outside of God) are common to the three persons. At the same time it manifests the differences between the divine persons and properties.

   Yet many contemporary theologians are not satisfied in appealing only to the principle of appropriation as they strive to explain the relationship between the Christian and each of the divine persons. They maintain that scripture does not always seem to speak in an appropriated sense in describing our union with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Consequently, while adhering to the above principle concerning God's activity outside Himself, contemporary theologians are discussing the question of proper relationships between ourselves and each person of the Trinity. They do this by appealing to other than efficient causality. For instance, certain theologians, such as Karl Rahner, appeal to a quasi-formal type of causality in explaining the theology of the indwelling of the Trinity in the justified man.
8 Such an explanation, not based on the principle of appropriation, allows for a proper and more personal relation between the justified man and the three distinct persons.

   Let us also note that in speaking of the Christian's union with Christ as man, there is the question of a proper and special relationship. This is true because among the divine persons only the Son possesses a human nature.

   We have constructed our framework of reference for discussing the role of Father, Son and Holy Spirit in our lives. Having once established it, we are consequently relieved of the burden of describing in each instance the type of relationship we are discussing, whether it is based on appropriation or not.

      a) Relationship with the Father

    The Heavenly Father has put each of us upon this earth because of His singular love for us as individuals. There is a countless number of merely possible human persons existing in the divine knowledge. Why has the Father given existence to me rather than to these "possibles" who will never exist? The ultimate answer lies in the mysterious free will of the Father. He has chosen to love me, to give me existence, to give me a grace-life.

   In His love for me the Father has entrusted me with a great purpose. I have a loving service to give to God, to the Church, and to the world—a service which no one else can render. Each of us has been put here to fulfill a mission, to use our lives, not only for ourselves, but to labor through these lives for the glory of the Father and the benefit of men.

   We tend to underestimate the value of our lives. Perhaps this is so because our faith is not what it should be. We would be astounded if we could see the potential of our lives as does our heavenly Father. We are great, not because of what we are in ourselves, but because of what our Father has already done for us, and because of what He wants to do for us—if only we allow Him.

   Perhaps we would not be constantly tempted to underestimate the worth of our lives if we more often reflected upon some of the great examples of what God can accomplish through the life of one person. There has been a St. Augustine, a St. Dominic, a St. Francis of Assisi, a St. Thomas Aquinas, a St. Elizabeth, a St. Ignatius Loyola, a St. Thomas More, a St. John Vianney and many others. In and through their various vocations they have contributed profoundly to the work of Christ. Coming closer to our own day we have the example of Pope John XXIII and Dr. Thomas Dooley. These two lives, have they not left an indelible imprint upon the world of men? Can one life make a great difference to Church and world? The answer is obvious.

   And yet, you might object, the examples just cited are lives of outstanding men and women. After all, how many are destined to walk across the stage of life in such dominant display before the eyes of men? We acknowledge, not very many. But there could well be numberless lives, almost completely hidden to the world, which have also contributed greatly to the cause of Christ. Perhaps, even, these hidden lives have at times given more to Christ and the world than have the lives of the canonized saints. God's ways are not always our ways, nor are His thoughts always our thoughts. Our heavenly Father can make use of the most obscure and insignificant life to accomplish great things.

   Each Christian must strive to grow in the realization that the Father calls him to greatness. He accomplishes this purpose by the gradual development of his Christ-life. Whatever our particular purpose or mission in life may be, it will be authentically accomplished in proportion to the development of our grace-life in Christ. For our destiny in Christ includes all else. Our life of grace, in turn, develops around the all-embracive theme of the Father's will. The Father's will for me is what gives unity to my life. If I embrace this will, it holds together all the multitudinous threads of my existence, weaving them into a meaningful pattern—the achievement of my life's purpose.

   Consequently, to grow in Christian holiness and to achieve my mission in life are supremely possible for me. Why? Because growth in the realization of my life's task is always commensurate with my Father's will for me here and now. His will for me is always proportionate to my present weakness on the one hand, and, on the other, to my present degree of spiritual maturity. Finally, His will for me always carries with it the necessary graces for accomplishing what He here and now asks.

   As I reach out for my Father's will in love day after day, I am thereby dynamically developing my Christ-life, achieving my destiny, making my very important contribution to the evolving redemptive work of Christ.

   The Father's will touches everything in my life. It wants to make all contribute to my growing maturity in Christ. Joy and sorrow, success and failure, work and play, ecstatic happiness and deep suffering, all of these are to be related to my Father's will. If I correspond to God's grace, His will as it permeates my total being and existence will unfailingly transform me.

   As the Father's will transforms me, it thereby makes my life a success for myself and others. The only true measure of a successful life, despite possible appearances to the contrary, is whether or not it is conformed in love to the Father's will. The degree of success depends upon the degree of conformity. " 'It is not those who say to me, "Lord, Lord", who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven. When the day comes many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, work many miracles in your name?" Then I shall tell them to their faces: I have never known you; away from me, you evil men!' " (Mt 7:21-23).

   The above described Christian life is certainly impossible without God's grace. We must be deeply aware that grace is a gratuitous gift which we cannot achieve by our natural efforts. But God offers grace in abundance. Our problem is that we do not respond to grace as we should. We tend to minimize the Father's great designs for us. We are tempted not to take His words at face value, those which tell us of the fathomless love He has for each one of us, and what that love can accomplish in us. To help ourselves maintain the proper perspective in these matters, we should often remind ourselves of these words of St. Paul: "We were still helpless when at his appointed moment Christ died for sinful men. It is not easy to die even for a good man— though of course for someone really worthy, a man might be prepared to die—but what proves that God loves us is that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. Having died to make us righteous, is it likely he would now fail to save us from God's anger?" (Rm 5:6-9).

   We have, therefore, an irrevocable and overwhelming testimony of the Father's love for us. Because of this love, the Christian can increasingly assimilate the Father's will in his own response of love. Through this mutual self-giving, God and the Christian are meant to be united in the deepest possible love.

   The above passage from St. Paul not only tells us of the Father's great love for us, but it also tells us that this love has come to us through Christ and continues to do so. There is no other way. This is the eternal design of the Father. Our grace-life as well as all creation takes its meaning from Christ: "He has let us know the mystery of his purpose, the hidden plan he so kindly made in Christ from the beginning to act upon when the times had run their course to the end: that he would bring everything together under Christ, as head, everything in the heavens and everything on earth." (Ep 1:9-10).

       b) Relationship with Christ

    Scripture, then, indicates the necessity of seeing our grace-life in its relationship with Christ. It is rather amazing that dogmatic theology in its treatment of grace has traditionally said so little about Christ. With a bit of sarcasm, Rahner says: "The tractate de Gratia is commonly entitled de Gratia Christi. Commonly it contains little else about Christ. And yet we only have a Christian understanding of grace when it is conceived of not only in the most metaphysical way possible, as a divinization, but rather as assimilation to Christ. And the existential transposition of this is the following of Christ. . . ."9

   How is this assimilation to Christ which Rahner speaks of initiated? Our life in Christ begins in a formal, ecclesial manner with baptism of water—notice, we are not saying that the grace of Christ cannot be had without baptism of water. As baptism marks us as members of the Church, it also indelibly imprints upon us the image of Christ.

   The life of the Christian, consequently, is a development of the image of the Incarnate Word given in baptism. The Christian, as he grows in grace, is being shaped more and more after this image of Christ: "We know that by turning everything to their good God co-operates with all those who love him, with all those that he has called according to his purpose. They are the ones he chose specially long ago and intended to become true images of his Son, so that his Son might be the eldest of many brothers." (Rm 8:28-29).

   The Christian requires motivation if he is to allow this Christ-likeness to permeate his existence more and more. The Christian must strive to catch a glimpse of that burning vision of St. Paul. For Paul, Christ was the fiery center of an intense existence: "Life to me, of course, is Christ, but then death would bring me something more; but then again, if living in this body means doing work which is having good results—I do not know what I should choose. I am caught in this dilemma: I want to be gone and be with Christ, which would be very much the better, but for me to stay alive in this body is a more urgent need for your sake." (Ph 1:21-24).

   Each Christian, according to the graces God gives him, can model his life after the example of Paul. Each of us also can make Christ the dynamic center of our existence. If we dare to live in this way, Christ will fulfill us; for in Christ we possess everything else. In Him we are deeply related in love to God, man and the whole of creation. To develop as fully as possible the image of Christ implanted through baptism is to exercise the only fully true life. So has the Father willed it.

   You will remember that we also spoke of the persons of the Trinity imprinting their image upon us as they communicate the life of sanctifying grace. What is the connection between the image of Christ and the image of the Trinity, both imprinted upon the Christian? The connection between the two lies in the fact that the life of grace, the image of the Trinity, comes to us through Christ and is to be lived according to the pattern established by Christ. Our life of grace is indeed a share in Trinitarian life. But we must live out this Trinitarian life according to the basic manner in which Christ lived out the grace-life in His own human nature. Here we emphasize the fact that Christ as man possessed His own life of sanctifying grace.

   Why must our life of grace be modeled on Christ's grace-life? We cannot give others sanctifying grace. But the man Christ, head of the human race, does give men a share in the life of sanctifying grace which He possesses within His human nature. Theologians call this grace to be given to His members the grace of Christ the Head. Our life of grace, consequently, since it is the grace of Christ, has been structured according to the modalities or characteristics implanted by Christ. Christ established this structure as He exercised His own life of grace in His human, historical existence. While not claiming to be exhaustive, we will now examine various characteristics of Christ's life of sanctifying grace. Through such a procedure we thereby understand various characteristics and thrusts of our own life of grace.

   First of all, Christ's life of grace was filial. The dynamism of this particular modality always led Christ to a perfect, loving service of His Father. His Father's will was all in all to Him. It was the guiding principle of everything He did, of everything He thought, of everything He spoke. Zeal for His Father's glory consumed Him. He would not rest until the work of the Father which he had been sent to accomplish was fulfilled in every detail. To love the Father's will was Christ's attitude towards life. He would cling to this principle even at the expense of a death of excruciating agony in body and soul. The words which Christ uttered in Gethsemane perfectly sum up His existence as man: " 'My Father,' he said 'if this cup cannot pass by without my drinking it, your will be done!' " (Mt 26:42).

   Christ's life of grace was also salvific. His life always had that very obvious dimension of being orientated in love to man's good. All of Christ's life as man, swelling up from the unfathomable depths of the most intense love, was redemptive. Everything He did was gradually accomplishing a change in man's stance before the Father. He was bringing man from a state of enmity to a state of friendship and sonship with the Father. Christ's life, then, was magnificently selfless. Guided by love of His Father's will, He gave Himself completely to men. He gave until there was nothing more to give. This is the poignant beauty of Christ's life.

   Christ's grace-life was also social, communal and ecclesial. His redemptive work was directed towards drawing all men together in a deep bond of love as brothers of a common Father. The establishment of His Church would perennially guarantee that there would be a visible source of grace for a growing sense of community among men. At the same time, this Church, the People of God, is intended to give a visible example of how the Lord desires men to be united in mutual bonds of love.

   Christ's life of grace tended toward an epiphany. That is, it tended toward sacramentality, toward a manifestation of divine realities in space and time. Christ's grace-life, working through His sacred humanity, used the ordinary events and conditions of human existence and the created things of man's world to reveal the Father and the Father's plan for men.

   Christ's life of sanctifying grace was also transfigurative. Christ did not come to suppress, but to elevate. He came to transform—to transfigure—man and his world. Anyone who considers Christianity to be a negative religion does not really understand the work of Christ.

   These are some of the chief modalities or dimensions of Christ's life of grace. These modalities, in turn, were concretely expressed through the various mysteries or events of Christ's human life. Central to these mysteries were His death and Resurrection. We will discuss these mysteries of Christ at greater length in the chapter devoted to the liturgy. For it is within the eucharistic liturgy that we encounter the mysteries of Christ in a very special manner.

   At this point we again remind the reader of the connection between Christ's life of sanctifying grace and our own. Rahner puts it very succinctly: "And yet every grace has analogously the same structure as its source, viz. the structure of the Word become man. . . ."
l0

   Consequently, as Christ's life of grace was filial, salvific, social, communal and ecclesial, so must be ours. As Christ's grace-life was sacramental (tending toward manifestation) and transfigurative, so likewise must be ours. Finally, let us remember that the Christian expresses these various dimensions of grace as he relives the mysteries of Christ, especially those of death-resurrection.

   We have briefly considered the relationship between the graced-Christian and Christ. As this relationship grows in mutual love, the Christian understands with maturing penetration what it means to be incorporated into Christ Jesus. He becomes more aware of the full implications of St. Paul's words: "I have been crucified with Christ, and I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives in me." (Ga 2:19).

       c) Relationship with the Holy Spirit

    After the glorified Christ was established in power and glory with the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit to sanctify the world. The task of the Holy Spirit is to imprint the mystery of Christ ever more deeply upon the whole of creation. The Holy Spirit gradually is leading man and his universe to a greater Christo-finalization. This Christo-finalization will reach its completion at the time of Christ's second coming. Then creation will receive its final transformation. Then the movement of creation to the Father, in Christ, by the Holy Spirit will be complete.

   As this process evolves, the Holy Spirit concentrates His action upon the Church of Christ; for this evolutionary movement of creation in Christ has as its dynamic center the evolution of the Church. The Church progressively evolves by assimilating more perfectly the mystery of Christ. The Holy Spirit guides this process. He is the soul of the Church because He constantly labors to unite the diversified elements of the Church into a more perfect image of Christ.

   The Holy Spirit as sanctifier not only guides the entire Church, but He also guides each member of the Church. Here again His task is basically the same. He strives to deepen the image of Christ which has been indelibly imprinted upon the Christian. He labors to Christo-finalize more radically all areas of the Christian's existence. In this regard we notice the biblical distinction of living according to the Spirit rather than according to the flesh. To live according to the flesh does not refer only to sins against chastity. It refers to anything in my life which is not according to the Spirit. Therefore, intellectual pride, something very "spiritual," would be living according to the flesh in the biblical sense.

   On the other hand, to live according to the Spirit can include the most intense involvement with material creation or use of the senses. All of this can be profoundly Christian as long as we are following the lead of the Holy Spirit. In this context we again emphasize that everything about the Christian has been elevated by grace, not merely his spiritual nature.

   To live fully according to the Spirit demands a growing realization of the manner in which the Holy Spirit leads the Christian to a greater Christ-likeness. This involves discernment of spirits. This concept will be developed at some length in a later chapter.

   In summary, the Holy Spirit promotes the process of our becoming sons in the Son. The Christian's response to the Spirit measures his degree of incorporation into the adoptive sonship of the Christ-life. "Everyone moved by the Spirit is a son of God. The spirit you received is not the spirit of slaves bringing fear into your lives again; it is the spirit of sons, and it makes us cry out, 'Abba, Father!' " (Rm 8:14-15).

       d) Relationship with Mary

    Karl Rahner tells us that devotion to Mary is one of the great signs of final perseverance.11 By such a statement Rahner emphasizes for us the great role Mary exercises in the life of the Christian. Really, the emphasis of Rahner is merely a continuation of the great importance attributed to Mary by the Fathers, doctors, and saints of the Church throughout the ages.

   Mary assumes such a concrete importance in the life of each of us because she is the mother of the Church and the mother of each Christian. She is a mother to all men, but in a special way to the Christian.
12

  
Mary's spiritual motherhood toward us had its beginnings at the time of the Incarnation. As Mary conceived Christ in a physical manner, she at the same time conceived us in a spiritual manner. In her holy womb she bore both Christ, the Head, and us, His members.

   The second great stage in Mary's maternal relationship toward us was accomplished upon Calvary. There, in extreme spiritual suffering, she offered Christ to the Father. From the pierced side of Christ the Church was born. Mary, in the extreme anguish of spiritual childbirth, brought us forth to supernatural life. "Seeing his mother and the disciple he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, 'Woman, this is your son'. Then to the disciple he said, 'This is your mother.' " (Jn 19:26).

   The third and final phase of Mary's spiritual motherhood is a continuing process. Under God, she gives us our life of grace. In her maternal love she protects and nourishes this life. She intercedes for all the graces necessary for its proper growth. As Mary cooperated with the Holy Spirit in first giving Christ to men, so she continues the same cooperation in regard to each Christian. Through the life of grace Christ is meant to take deeper and deeper possession of each one of us. Mary and the Holy Spirit continually labor to achieve this. Mary's only desire for us is that we grow more and more into the full stature of Christ. Her overwhelming love for us is evident. We manifest our love for her by committing ourselves to her maternal love and care so that she can achieve her desired purpose. That purpose, again, is to form Christ in us.

       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."13 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.
14 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."15

   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.
16

       f) Relationship with Man and His World

    The Christian's Christ-life also establishes a special relationship between himself and all other men and the world in which both are situated. This is so because of the basic nature of grace—the fact that it is a share in God's life. The object of life in God is not only Himself, but also His creation. The Christian, through his life of grace, shares in this double dimension of God's life. Just as God not only loves Himself, but also His creation, so also must the Christian love both God and His creation. The Christian is called in a special way to further the creative and redemptive work of God.

   This aspect of the Christian's grace-life is also mediated by Christ. Christ, through His human enfleshment, has immersed Himself into man's world. Through His humanity he unites all men and all authentic human and temporal values to Himself. Through His redemptive love Christ has elevated the Father's creation to a new level of existence. Christ has initiated a process of gathering up all of creation for the glory of His Father. This process will reach its completion at the parousia. Meanwhile the Christian labors with Christ to further this evolutionary process of creation and redemption. Consequently, in faith, hope and love, the Christian assumes a new responsibility and privilege toward man and his world.

   He must take this privilege and responsibility seriously. Men of our era such as Bonhoeffer and Teilhard de Chardin have strikingly placed this responsibility before Christianity. Christianity has to show the contemporary world that it is profoundly interested in all its authentic values and aspirations. Christianity must further demonstrate that the principles of Christ are the only ones which can guarantee the true progress of man's world. The world belongs to Christ and it is impossible for it to develop authentically outside of Christ.

   We have traversed a rather wide area in this chapter dealing with the life of Christian grace. Grace, in its inner reality, and in its various relationships and ramifications, is complex to a certain extent. But ultimately it has a profound simplicity and unity. Christ is the one who gathers up and unifies. He is the one who makes grace tangible, concrete and personal to the Christian. Radically, the life of grace is life in God as mediated by Christ. "We can be sure that we are in God only when the one who claims to be living in him is living the same kind of life as Christ lived." (1 Jn 2:5-6).

_______
   1Constitution on the Church, No. 40.
   2Ibid., No. 41.
   3John L. McKenzie, Dictionary of the Bible (Milwaukee: Bruce, 1965), p. 325.
   4H. Rondet, The Grace of Christ (Westminster, Maryland: Newman, 1966), p. 37.
   5Ibid., p. 39.
   6Cf. E. Fortman, The Theology of Man and Grace: Commentary (Milwaukee: Bruce, 1966), pp. 34-53.
   7Karl Rahner, Theological Investigations, Vol. IV (Baltimore: Helicon, 1966), p. 183.
  8Cf. Karl Rahner, Theological Investigations, Vol. 1 (Baltimore: Helicon, 1965), pp. 319-346.
  9Ibid., p. 199.
  10Karl Rahner, Theological Investigations, Vol. II (Baltimore: Helicon, 1960), p. 33.
   11Cf. Karl Rahner, Spiritual Exercises (New York: Herder & Herder, 1965), p. 283.
   12Cf. Edward Schillebeeckx, Mary, Mother of the Redemption (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1964), p. 128.
   13Karl Rahner, Theological Investigations, Vol. III (Baltimore: Helicon, 1967), p. 44.
   14Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, In Ad Ephes., c. 3, Lect. 3.
   15Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the Church, No. 48.
   16Cf. Karl Rahner, Op. cit., pp. 100-101.

end of excerpt from Response in Christ

  


  

March 15, 2002 message continues

Messenger:         In the Shepherds of Christ Movement we are doing much
                                of what Mary asked for at Fatima.
                           
Mary said Bishops need to consecrate their
                                dioceses to her Heart and the Heart of her
                                Son Jesus.
                            We are spreading the rosary meditations.
                            Here is the message Mary gave October 13, 1917 at
                                Fatima - we must pray the rosary.

   


  

Excerpt from the Spirituality of Fatima

by Father Edward Carter, S.J. 

            October 13, 1917

                In her message that day, Our Blessed Mother told the children:

    I am the Lady of the Rosary. I have come to warn the faithful to amend their lives and to ask pardon for their sins. They must not offend Our Lord any more, for He is already too grievously offended by the sins of men. People must say the Rosary. Let them continue saying it every day.(17)


NOTE:

17. For background material on Fatima, I am particularly indebted to 
    Our Lady of Fatima's Peace Plan from Heaven
(Rockford: TAN 
    Books and Publishers, Inc., 1983). p.7.

end of excerpts from The Spirituality of Fatima

     


  

March 15, 2002 message continues

Messenger:         Here is the book we circulate to the Catholic Schools
                                in the U.S. which talks about Fatima, the 
                                rosary meditations and the Real Presence.

   

     

March 15, 2002 message continues

Messenger:         The rosary aves - a single sheet has been
                                translated in French, Spanish and
                                Portuguese with the Imprimatur.

                            Here is an example of the coloring books for
                                little children to pray the rosary.

  

    

March 15, 2002 message continues

Messenger:         Also found in the Little People's 
                                Rosary book.
   
                         This was very carefully discerned by Fr. Carter
                                and also translated in Spanish.
                            The Coloring Books and Little People and Elderly book
                                do not have the Imprimatur.

   

   

March 15, 2002 message continues

Messenger:         Think of how English speaking and Spanish speaking 
                                children could learn about the rosary as Mary 
                                desires.

                            Mary said at Fatima, we must pray the rosary.
                            We must reach the little children.
                            Mary appeared to me everyday for 14 months
                                before she appeared on the building
                                in Clearwater.
                            She appeared in an old seminary.
                            A good number of the priests in Cincinnati
                                went through that seminary.
                            Before Mary appeared there 
                                one of 2 wings of the old seminary
                                fell off.

  

   

March 15, 2002 message continues

Messenger:         It fell off in minutes on Lucia's birthday
                                March 22, 1994.
                            Mary then began appearing to me July 5, 1994.
                            She appeared five months in the opposite
                                wing, crying out to reach the school
                                children with the rosary.
                            We put all these messages in a book Rosaries
                                from the Hearts of Jesus and Mary
,

  

  

March 15, 2002 message continues

Messenger:         The same day it left the publisher with the
                                rainbow on it December 17, 1996, Mary
                                appeared on the building in Clearwater.
                                She has been there on the building ever since.
                            Here is how Mary appeared March 5, 2002
                                while we did the Shepherds of Christ Prayers.

  

  

Pictures from March 5, 2002

    

 

  

  

 

  

  

  

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

  

 

       

 

 

 

 

  

 

  

  

  

  

 

        

  

  

  

 

  

  

     

March 15, 2002 message continues

Messenger:         The Shepherds of Christ Movement was born  
                                out of the old seminary.
                            Fr. Carter went daily to the apparitions
                                at the old seminary in 1994
                                for the first four months.
                                
                          


       

Excerpt from February 15, 2002 message 

Jesus speaks:      Make a list of things that are needed so people
                                can help if they so desire.

Messenger:           A small list is this
  
                            1) Priestly Newsletter Book II Foreign Mailing Postage

                            2) Mass Book II  

                            3) Rosary Meditations for Little People and Elderly

                            4) Blue Book I  printing 

                            5) Prayer Manuals printing  

                            6) Holy Spirit Novena Booklet printing 

                            7) Rosary beads 

                            8) Image rosaries to sell

                            9) Pictures (photo's) to make available

    

                           10) Blankets of Mary's image

  

                           11) Videos for nursing  home program

  Mary talks to the Nursing Homes
  Video Session #3

Shepherds of Christ Ministries

P.O. Box 193, Morrow, OH 45152
toll free 1-888-211-3041
fax: 1-513-932-6791
www.sofc.org
Rosary Meditations received before the exposed Eucharist
(Instruction for Leaders Included)

                           12) Little People's Mass Book

Little People's
Mass Book

                           13) Little People's Coloring Book of the Mass

     

February 15, 2002 message continues

Mary speaks:               I ask you to pray for these needs on the list. Those
                                who can, can pray hourly. 
  

end of excerpt from February 15, 2002

         


 

   

February 7, 2002

  

To whom it may concern,
  

    We circulate the Priestly Newsletter that goes to 75,000 priests in the world. This has been circulated since 1994 at the direction of Fr. Edward Carter, S.J. who had a doctorate in Theology and taught at Xavier University for over thirty years and author of eighteen books on the spiritual life and many other various publications.

    Our primary purpose is to circulate this Newsletter. We are now sending three years of Newsletters in a book of 342 pages to 75,000 priests in the United States and 90 foreign countries. A special Newsletter is enclosed with Father Carter's powerful writing on Grace (2001 issue 1). This writing is also available on tape and on disc.

    Our coequal purpose is to circulate prayer manuals Father Carter compiled for prayer chapters praying for the priests, the Church and
the world.

    All of our printing and postage costs so much money.

    We operate from the Virgin Mary building in Clearwater, Florida, pictures are enclosed. We use the building to spread materials and rosaries
to encourage people to pray for the priests, the Church and the world.

    We also have a church we received from the diocese in China, Indiana where we distribute our materials and pray before the Blessed Sacrament hourly and about two hours or more at 6:20 every day. Monthly adoration before the exposed Eucharist is held for our members for 48 hours on the 12th of each month to the 14th.

    We have a third center in Morrow, Ohio which is our communication center and mailing address.

    We circulate rosaries handmade to Catholic schools all over the United States and meditation sheets and consecration cards. We try to send scapulars too when we have them. We supply many beads to our rosary makers for this.

    We had difficulty all last summer securing funds for beads for our rosary makers. We were not able to send the 100,000 or more rosaries we usually send in October and May because of funds.

    We need $10,000 every month for the loan on the Virgin Mary building. We pray nightly there usually for about two hours or more at 6:20. We pray all through the day there, hourly, many times before the image. A big prayer meeting is held on the 5th of the month. Prayers are prayed for about 4 hours for the priests, the Church and the world. We broadcast to at least 8 states and all join in the prayers, including Morrow and China.

    We have a nursing home ministry and a prison ministry. We supply coloring books of the rosary mysteries and the Mass to children.

    We desperately need funds for the printing and the rosary making operation and all the postage. Bishops from foreign countries beg for rosaries and prayer sheets with the Shepherds of Christ Prayers.

    Now we are struggling with the monthly rent on the building and the postage for the foreign mailing of the Priestly Newsletter Book II.

    We always need money for the rosary beads for the schools and the Virgin Mary building.

    We also do a Holy Spirit Novena, but the little book has been out of print for some time because of lack of funds. Teachers like to use it for confirmation. We have prayer chapters using it daily all over the world.

    We want to circulate pictures of the crucifix and Mary's image on the building, we are unable to do this because of lack of funds. Enclosed are pictures of the crucifix and the Virgin Mary building.

    A very important part of our Movement is trying to get people to say the Morning Offering. Here is a card we distribute extensively, especially to Nursing Homes and school children.
   

  

  
    Here is a short form of consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary that we circulate extensively.
  

  

   
    Can you help us. It is a real shame to not even have rent on the building Mary appears on.

    We need to tell the world about the Mass. This is another important aspect of our ministry. We have so many writings about the Mass. Mass Book I with the Imprimatur—and all Fr. Carter's writings and many other writings discerned by Fr Carter before his death. 

    It is a shame with all the money in the world not to be able to get the rosary beads to the rosary makers for school children who want them to pray the rosary.

    Our movement is trying to do what Our Lady told us to do at Fatima for peace in the world.

    Can you help us?
  

                            Rita Ring
                            Shepherds of Christ Ministries

    

      


  

Messenger:  Jesus wishes that we give our hearts to Him and Mary. 

The following Valentine can be given to Jesus and Mary any day of the year. It is an act of love that would greatly please Him.

Use the following Valentine to fill in your name and the date you gave it to Him.
  

MY VALENTINE FOR JESUS AND MARY
AND THE WORLD

I _________________ give my heart to
You Jesus and Mary on this day

_________________
I promise to help spread the devotion to
the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

          

    


  

      

The Story of the Crucifix Video

If you have a good dialup connection, you should be able to watch the movie live.

Click Here for help with Videos

click here to download The Story of the Crucifix video

               


    

Nursing Home Mass Video

We updated the Nursing videos so that if you have a good dialup 
connection, you should be able to watch the movie live.

Click Here for help with Videos

click here to download the Nursing Home and Homebound Mass video (12.3 MB)

                


               

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SofC LogoCopyright © 2002 Shepherds of Christ.
Rights for non-commercial reproduction granted:
May be copied in its entirety, but neither re-typed nor edited.
Translations are welcome but they must be reviewed for moral and 
theological accuracy by a source approved by Shepherds of Christ Ministries 
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All scripture quotes are from the New Jerusalem Bible, July 1990, published by Doubleday.
Revised:
March 15, 2002

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