October 14, 2002

Messenger:          Jesus comes to us in the Blessed
                                Sacrament.

                             He is the Mighty Medicine for the
                                sickness in the world.

                            The Power is in the Eucharist.

October 14, 2002 message continues

Jesus speaks:         To those who come to Me in front
                            of the tabernacle and fervently
                            pray to Me, I will outpour My
                            grace to them.

                                I will fill them with My life.

                            I long for you to come and to be
                                with Me.

                            I am longing for you.

                            Oh tell My people to come to Me
                                before the tabernacle and 
                                to come to Mass.

                            I will outpour My grace upon
                                them.

                            Oh My Heart is consumed and full with
                                love for you.

                            Be an Apostle of the Eucharistic Heart
                                of Jesus.

                                Here is the message I gave to
                                    Fr. Carter.

October 14, 2002 message continues

Jesus speaks:      Please send your form to Shepherds of Christ.

                             I love you so very much.

                             Message April 13, 1994 —

                                give this message to all

    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

October 14, 2002 message continues

Jesus speaks:      Please help Me print My

                                Blue Books so all will

                                have My Intimate love letters.

                                I love you so much.

                                I am Jesus your beloved Spouse —

                                I love you so much —

Matthew 11: 28-30

The gentle mastery of Christ

‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.’

October 14, 2002 message continues

Jesus speaks:     "Feed the hungry"

                            "Feed the hungry"

Prayer for Union with Jesus

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

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

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

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

-God's Blue Book, January 17, 1994

October 14, 2002 message continues

Jesus speaks:      My heart is consumed
                                with love for you.

                            I love My precious
                                souls so very much.

                            I wanted to write to you today.
                            This is a message to the world from Me.

                            Your mother appeared at Fatima October 13, 1917 and
                                tremendous signs were given of the authenticity
                                of this meeting.
  
     

October 13, 1917

    On October 13, 1917, there were more than 70,000 people gathered in the Cova da Iria in Fatima, Portugal. They had come to observe a miracle which had been foretold by the Blessed Virgin to three young visionaries: Lucia dos Santos, and her two cousins, Jacinta and Francisco Marto. (1) Shortly after noon, Our Lady appeared to the three visionaries:

    As the Lady was about to leave, she pointed to the sun. Lucy excitedly repeated the gesture, and the people looked into the sky. The rain had ceased, the clouds parted, and the sun shone forth, but not in its usual brilliance. Instead, it appeared like a silver disc, pale as the moon, at which all could gaze without straining their eyes. Suddenly, impelled by some mysterious force, the disc began to whirl in the sky, casting off great shafts of multicolored light. Red, green, blue, yellow, violet—the enormous rays shot across the sky at all angles, lighting up the entire countryside for many miles around, but particularly the upturned faces of those 70,000 spellbound people.

    After a few moments the wonder stopped, but resumed again a second and a third time—three times in all—within about 12 minutes. It seemed that the whole world was on fire, with the sun spinning at a greater speed each time.

    Then a gasp of terror rose from the crowd, for the sun seemed to tear itself from the heavens and come crashing down upon the horrified multitude.... Just when it seemed that the ball of fire would fall upon and destroy them, the miracle ceased, and the sun resumed its normal place in the sky, shining forth as peacefully as ever.

    When the people arose from the ground, cries of astonishment were heard on all sides. Their clothes, which had been soaking wet and muddy, now were clean and dry. Many of the sick and crippled had been cured of their afflictions. ⁽²⁾

---

NOTE:

2. 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). pp.7-8.
  

end of excerpts from The Spirituality of Fatima and Medjugorje

October 14, 2002 message continues

Jesus speaks:     Oh so many, 85 years later, ignore this great gift
                                given to you.

                            Her wishes Mary has made very clear.

                            I ask you to ask yourselves—
                                "Do you want peace in the world?"

                            Mary is the Queen of Peace.

                            She has given the world her peace plan.
  

1. Consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary—until a sufficient number of people make and live the consecration, we will not have peace in the world.

2. Praying the rosary.

3. Observing the First Saturday Devotion.

4. Making reparation to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

October 14, 2002 message continues

Jesus speaks:     So few even help with the distribution
                                of the rosaries.

                            In the month of October the rosary factory
                                in Clearwater, Florida will remain closed.

                            There are not monies for rosary makers
                                to make rosary beads.

                            I tell you clearly many must pray
                                the rosary in the world —
                                you speak of wanting peace,
                                but you have ignored My
                                Mothers wishes at Fatima to
                                pray the rosary.

                            On October 13, 2002 I called my apostles to Tom's
                                Farm to recommit to help do what
                                I have asked—to spread the Shepherds
                                of Christ Movement in the world.

                            The devil has pressed in —

                            After Mary has appeared now for over 6 years
                                so few people come to the image site
                                in Clearwater, Florida to pray.

October 14, 2002 message continues

Jesus speaks:      I want to clearly state what I desire —
                                (Jesus lists these as special points
                                later in the message, but He added)

                                Satan can work over and over again to
                                tell people why they should not help —

                                What do you want for the world?

                                Do you think in all the confusion I
                                    would not send messages to help?

                                Why do you think Mary appears on
                                    the building?

                                Because one tries to block the work
                                    I desire be done, should you
                                    continue to give into a nagging
                                    desire planted in your own
                                    heart to abandon My Mission.

                            I called you to be My Apostle.

                            Fr. Carter worked so hard he gave his
                                life to the Movement he founded.

                            My mission is clear

                                1) I so desire the Blue Books be reprinted immediately
                                        and circulated.

                                2) I desire the store to be stocked with all the

                                        materials as I have requested ——

                                        all of the books —

                                        Prayer Manuals -

                                        Holy Spirit Novena books -

                                        Rosary Videos (Rosary Aves)

                                            Rosary Discs —

                                        Rosary Aves in different languages

                                            circulated

                                        I desire My Image and My Mother's
                                            Image to be in the store in Florida

                                        I want you to see the pictures of My

                                            Sacred Heart from afar.

                                        I want the image rosaries to be a
                                            main focus in the store

                                        I want the videos widely displayed.

                                    I want attention given to the Nursing home

                                        Ministry.

                                    It should be made clear the Movement

                                        exists to circulate the Priestly

                                        Newsletter and begin prayer

                                        chapters praying for the priests,

                                        the Church and the world.

                                3) I further desire a store be started in

                                        China, Indiana. I want so many

                                        apostles in outreach centers to help

                                        by printing wallet pictures, making

                                        key rings, printing the main

                                        prayer cards.

                                        These must be neatly done.

                                            Prayer for Union.

                                            Prayer for Priests

                                            Prayer before the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

                                            Prayer for Intimacy with the Lamb.

                                        I want these prayer cards circulated
                                            in Churches all over the world.

                                    4) I want the store to focus on spreading

                                            materials and pictures so people who

                                            go there will consecrate their

                                            homes to the Sacred Heart and

                                            Immaculate Heart.

                                    Prayer cards with the pictures

                                        should say in foreign languages
  

                                    Consecrate your homes and your hearts

                                            to the Sacred Heart and the

                                            Immaculate Heart.
  

                                      SIMPLY SAY

                                            I CONSECRATE my home to the
                                                Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart

                                            I consecrate myself to
                                                the Sacred Heart and
                                                Immaculate Heart.

                                        Signs should always be on the materials

                                            from Shepherds of Christ Ministries
                                                    P.O. Box 193 Morrow, OH 45152
                                                    Toll Free 1-888-211-3041
                                                    Local 1-513-932-4451
                                                    www.sofc.org
                                                    info@sofc.org

                                      
                       4 MAIN CENTERS

                       Subcenters

October 14, 2002 message continues

Jesus speaks:     I request strongly that all subcenters help Me.

                            I request further that you pray for grace to

                                be able to deal with emotions that block

                                My mission.

                            Pray for vocations to all 7 categories.

                            Pray that someone comes forward to help

                                with the Blue Book printing immediately.

                            Pray for the funds to mail the retired bishops

                                the Priestly Newsletter Book II.

                            Here is the message I gave

                                October 13, 1996 at the beginning of the

                                    rosary.

Excerpt from the beginning of the October 13, 1996 Rosary

Jesus speaks:
    I am calling you, My special apostles, to this farm on this day of October 13th, 1996. I will fill your hearts with the fire of My love, and the fire of this love will spread across the earth and many hearts will know My love and be touched through you. Open wide your heart during this rosary that I may speak to you and tell you of My burning love for you. I am giving to you an abundant sharing in My life. Open your heart. I am knocking at the door of your heart. You must not close your heart. Open wide that I can come in and fill you with My divine love.

end of excerpt from October 13, 1996 Rosary

October 14, 2002 message continues

Jesus speaks:     Here is the message I gave to Fr. Carter

                                October 13, 1994.

~ October 13, 1994 ~ 

    "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.'

end of October 13, 1994 message given to Fr. Carter

October 14, 2002 message continues

Jesus speaks:     Here is the message My Mother

                                gave at Fatima October 13, 1917.

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

October 14, 2002 message continues

Jesus speaks:     Here is the messages I gave to

                                Fr. Carter.

        from Tell My People

October 14, 2002 message continues

Jesus speaks:     My People I tell you —

                                Wednesday is a special day

                                October 16, 2002 —

                                please celebrate the Feast

                                of St. Margaret Mary

Talk by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.
given to the Apostles in the 
Shepherds of Christ Movement
   

February 1, 1998
   

    Well, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen all of you at once in the same place. It’s a tremendous treat for me. So praise be the Lord. Let’s start with the Holy Spirit Prayer.

    Come, Holy Spirit, almighty Sanctifier, God of love, who filled the Virgin Mary with grace, who wonderfully changed the hearts of the apostles, who endowed all Your martyrs with miraculous courage, come and sanctify us. Enlighten our minds, strengthen our wills, purify our consciences, rectify our judgment, set our hearts on fire, and preserve us from the misfortunes of resisting Your inspirations. Amen.

    ...So after I talk here I will have to depart and leave the praying to you at this place. I’ll be praying with you as I drive away...  

    ...I’m spending much more time on the newsletter now. Our Lord had been calling me to do that for months but it was when I was fully active it was very, very hard to get the time to really spread it around the world like He wanted to, although we had been working with the English edition trying to get that in more and more countries. We are in about eighty or more countries with the English edition... 

    And in cases where it needs translation, for instance, the Spanish edition we translate that up here, we print it up here and we bulk mail it.

    [Note: He talks about the spread of the Newsletter to priests and bishops in Central, South America in Spanish, Africa, India, French speaking, England, Scotland, New Zealand, Australia]

    ...It is Our Lord’s wish along with the prayer chapters that this be considered our primary ministry, the Newsletter. So please, please, please, please pray for it’s continued success and expansion. It is so extremely important because as you know, if you can change the heart of one priest, he is in a position to do so, so much good with even thousands of people. And we have received extremely encouraging letters over the years that the newsletters been published from priests, how it’s helped them out on their own spiritual life but in their ministries, giving them homilies and so forth. And from bishops which are highly encouraging commending us on the quality and the worthwhileness of the newsletter.

        

• Dear Father Carter,
  
      For years I have received Shepherds of Christ Newsletter; I do not know who put me on your mailing list, but I’m grateful to you both. Since I first began to receive the newsletter I have been assigned as the Director of Formation Advising for the Pontifical North American College in Rome.
  
      I would like to know if it would be possible to make a bulk order so that our seminarians could benefit from the newsletter as well. I will make sure they are distributed to our seminarians. At present we have about 200 seminarians and student priests on our campus, all eager for good spiritual reading!
  
      Please let me know if we can make an arrangement for the delivery of the newsletter here at the college.
  
      Please keep our faculty and seminarians in your prayers.
  
  Sincerely yours in Christ,

Rev. J. Mark Williams
Director of Formation Advising
Pontifical North American College
00120 Vatican City State

     

[He then talks about funds for the Newsletter.]

    I think I came to speak to you today because I think we’re at a very, very significant point of the Shepherds of Christ Movement as it marches into the new era of which was promised by Our Lady of Fatima. And I think the Movement is basically strong, basically healthy but I think we need a recommitment of ourselves to the Movement precisely because much more is being asked of us. We have three centers to staff not only with people but with materials.

    So as we go on in what Our Lord wants us to do, we just need a deeper commitment to the Movement just like the spiritual life in general. You never stand still on the spiritual journey. I mean spiritual masters have always told us this, you either go back or you go forward.

    And so it is with the Movement, we just don’t stand still. We have to keep on deepening our commitment to the Movement individually and collectively or it’s not going to move forward obviously. So I guess you can say that’s the main reason I thought it was very important that I come here today to speak to you to ask you to renew your commitment to Our Lord in the Movement. And to put some thoughts before (you) which hopefully will help you to renew your commitment.

    I’ll begin by reminding all of us of the great, great privilege it is to have been called to this Movement. I’ve said this before, I say it now even with deeper conviction, I really believe that this will go down in history as one of the great Movements in the history of the Church. And if you reflect upon what we’ve been called to do, I don’t think it’s hard to come to that conclusion. I don’t know of any just taking our ministry to the priests with the newsletter and with the prayer chapters whose primary duty is to pray for the priests as well as the whole human race. But I am unaware of any other Movement in the history of the Church which has tried to reach all priests the world over with the newsletter and the prayer chapters to the extent that we are trying to do so. So just those two ministries in themselves I think point to the greatness of this Movement. Then our many other ministries: the rosaries, the consecration of the schools, the nursing home, prison ministries are all our various publications. So much wonderful literature, rosary in the homes, one of our newest ministries, the couples rosary and the spirituality which comes out of that and we hope to work more and more nationally to strengthen marriage and family life through working with couples as couples.

    So if you look at what we are doing with the tremendous amount of materials which are being distributed from the Florida site and through orders from this site and through other sites.  

    So again I think this is one of the great, great Movements in the history of the Church. And we have to pinch ourselves every once in awhile and nudge ourselves and realize the great calling we have been given to work in this Movement. I think there has been a certain, despite all the great work which is being done, I think there is a certain stagnation which has set in to a certain degree and we have to jolt ourselves out of that and recommit ourselves.

    St. John of the Cross in one of his writings says—of course he is one of the greatest mystical theologians in the history of the Church and in one of his writings he says, “What does it profit you to give God one thing if He wishes for another? Consider what it is God wants and then do it.”

    Let’s read that again together “What does it profit you to give God one thing if He wishes for another? Consider what it is God wants and then do it.”

    [Father Carter is speaking to Servants and Handmaids of the Good Shepherd—]

  

  

    [Apostles who dedicate themselves completely to the Shepherds of Christ Ministries—]

  

   

  

   

    Applying that to our calling to Shepherds of Christ—there’s more work to this Movement than any of us, individually or all put together can ever attend to properly. What I am getting at, if you really feel you’ve been called to this Movement and especially to the apostle's level, I am suggesting to you very fervently and hopefully, persuasively, the Shepherds of Christ Ministries can use all the spare time, all the ministerial time you have to give to the work of the Kingdom. You don’t have to go around looking for other ministries to contribute your time to. You are free to do that, you are free to leave the Movement at any time. We are not forcing anyone to stay, we hope everybody stays but we have had people leave.

    So there should always be that, that sense of freedom if you want to lessen off your commitment or hopefully it would never happen, but if you would chose to leave the commitment, Jesus respects your freewill.

    But looking at it again positively I’m suggesting to you—there is so much work to be done in the Movement. So this first day of February which happened to be the month of the feast of St. Claude de la Columbiere, February the 15th, who has been one of the greatest apostles to the devotion to the Heart of Jesus in the history of the Church, so in a certain sense it’s a type of month of the Sacred Heart because of his feast, so I ask that all of us renew our commitment to the Movement. And again realize the great privilege, that’s one of the first ways to persevere in the Movement and to grow in the Movement, everyday to thank God for the great graces He has given you in the Movement.

    And I ask you just briefly to look back over your lives, now compared to when you joined the Movement. Has not Our Lord through Our Lady drawn you so, so, so much closer to Them. And He in turn has led you so much closer to the Father and the Spirit. The chairman of our theology department, the first departmental meeting when he took over, he said Xavier has been very good to me, now I feel it’s payback time and I think I should serve the University being chair of the Theology department. Being chair of a department, it’s really a pain of any department. But those words stick in my mind, he says now it is payback time. I should payback Xavier for all the good Xavier has done to me. I suggest we keep that in mind in reference to Jesus in His Movement. It’s always payback time. He does not give us graces and gifts in the Movement just for ourselves. Every gift of Jesus has a social dimension, it’s meant not only for my own spiritual growth, but for growth of the Kingdom. And so if we find ourselves becoming somewhat complacent in our gifts received through the Movement and not properly using them at least to the full extent that we could and helping to spread the Movement, helping to spread the Kingdom, then let us resolve here and now to do better.

    Perseverance in the Movement—all vocations, all callings need perseverance. I pray for perseverance as a Jesuit every day of my life. I pray for perseverance. I’m suggesting to all of us that we pray for perseverance in the Movement and not just a status quo type of perseverance, but pray for a perseverance which will allow us to dynamically grow and be greater apostles in the Movement. And we have to take the means to persevere.

    First of all, of course, is Mass and communion, then our visit to the Blessed Sacrament, saying the rosary and listening to at least five minutes a day to a live rosary which Rita receives, praying the hourly prayers without feeling overburdened. If you begin to feel overburdened by the hourly novena just make a 30 second prayer, say Jesus, say the three invocations, “Lord ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you, through the intercession of Mary, thy most holy mother I knock, I seek, I ask that my prayer be granted” and just say we pray for all needs of the Shepherds of Christ Movement and the other two invocations. You can do that in about 30 seconds. And then at times of course when you have the time and you feel moved bring in the specific intentions. But that hourly prayer has great power to keep our motivation up but it should not on the other hand feel burdensome to you. If it feels burdensome to you for any length of time, just use the short form for quite a while.

    [Note: servants and handmaids and apostles of the Good Shepherd of the Shepherds of Christ Movement go to daily Mass and spend one hour before the tabernacle and pray hourly for the priests, the Church and the world.]

    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. Included in that renewed love and commitment I think should be a resolution that we don’t bad mouth the Movement, certainly not to those outside the Movement, certainly not even to those within the Movement. We have problems, we always have had some, we always will, the universal Church has monumental problems. But we have to learn how to handle the problems responsibly. If you have a significant problem please contact John or Rita, talk it over with them, with me if you feel so called. They usually report problems to me. I’m in constant contact with them. Currently I talk to them each day about the Movement, what’s going on, strong points, weak points and so forth. If you have problems with the Movement, don’t spread your problem with the problems to somebody else who starts to think negatively also.

    I mean go to Jesus, of course, first of all, but then bring your problem to somebody who has the authority in the Movement to handle it. That’s very, very important, 'cause our loyalty and love for the Movement, I think are significantly harmed when we don’t take that approach. Obedience in the Movement is going to become more and more important as the Movement grows. Any organization needs a certain structure, a hierarchy of command, obedience to legitimate authority. When John asks you to do something, please try to answer his request. If you can’t, just tell him I can’t do it now. When he directs you to do something, which is stronger than a request, don’t give him a hard time. Jesus wants obedience in the Movement. No Movement can survive or progress without obedience, without a structure of command. John has a terrifically difficult job. Don’t make it more difficult for him by, as I say, giving him a hard time or by never answering his request for help.

    I understand that the level of volunteerism here at the center has gradually slackened off over recent months, and it is very difficult to get people together to do our mailings. We can’t keep depending on just a few people all the time. Here again it’s payback time. I mean everyday is payback time. You can never fully repay Jesus for what He has done for us or what He continues to do for us. Now we have to use Christian prudence in all this, we’ve got family duties; we’ve got other duties that’s God’s will for us. We have to take care of those. But granting all those other calls on our time and our energy, if Jesus has called you to this Movement, He’s called each and every one of you, then He expects you to live up to your commitment. And if it’s always looked upon, if you feel it’s always more of a burden than a privilege, then I think a person has to consider, 'Shall I stay in the Movement?' Jesus loves a cheerful giver. Suffering is involved, is it not? Any following of Christ involves suffering. Any non following of Christ brings suffering, and a greater suffering—those who don’t believe, who don’t have any religious faith or conviction. They end up suffering much more than we who suffer in the following of Christ.

    I would like to read you something that I’ve written on suffering that will appear in the next newsletter—

   

FATHER CARTER'S VOICE WAS VERY SAD
and VERY LOVING.

      

        Excerpt from Priestly Newsletter 1998 Issue 1

Suffering

To follow Jesus entails a willingness to suffer for Him and His cause. The furthering of any worthwhile cause demands a spirit of sacrifice, a willingness to endure a variety of hardships and difficulties. We cannot expect it to be otherwise regarding the cause of Christ. To help further the process of ongoing redemption demands a price.

There is an almost endless variety of pains, sufferings, and difficulties which can arise in following Jesus and promoting His cause. At times seeing few, if any, visible results of our labors, feeling unappreciated, experiencing opposition, sometimes comprehending that we are being hated precisely by some of those whom we are striving to help, at times being laughed at and ridiculed—these are some of the ways we experience the sufferings of an apostle.

The suffering involved in contributing to the process of ongoing redemption is not, however, the complete picture. The happiness resulting from commitment to Christ and His mission far outweighs the hardships. To be aware that one is so intimately loved by Jesus, to experience the satisfaction that one is contributing to a cause that cannot fail, to play a role in helping to bring to others the love and peace of Jesus—all of this makes for a life that has no equal. The committed follower of Christ, experiencing what it means to be closely associated with Jesus, realizes why St. Peter said, Lord,…it is wonderful for us to be here. (Mt. 17:4). 

  

Father Carter's talk continues

    So in God’s plan in the following of Christ, suffering is always meant to lead to greater life here and hereafter, not only greater life for us as we grow in Jesus through the proper handling of suffering, but also greater life in the sense that we become more apt instruments for channeling His life to others, as we are purified by His suffering, so that we may more and more allow Him to live in and through and for us. One of the greatest Apostles of all times of suffering showing us the place of suffering in the Christian dispensation is St. Paul. He brings out this theme of death-resurrection of Jesus and our participation in it in various places in his writing. I think one of the most dramatic of those places is in

   

2 Corinthians 4: 7-11

         The hardships and hopes of the apostolate

But we hold this treasure in pots of earthenware, so that the immensity of the power is God’s and not our own. We are subjected to every kind of hardship, but never distressed; we see no way out but we never despair; we are pursued but never cut off; knocked down, but still have some life in us; always we carry with us in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our body. Indeed, while we are still alive, we are continually being handed over to death, for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our mortal flesh.

    

Father Carter's talk continues

    So we suffer with Jesus, so that here below and in eternity, so that we may live more with Him, and that we may become more fit instruments for helping to channel His life to others. We have a particular way of doing that, a magnificent way within the Shepherds of Christ Movement. He hung upon a cross on a hill called Calvary. He had already suffered so much, had He not? He had been brutally scourged at the pillar, crowned with thorns, laughed at, ridiculed, without sleep. He had to carry the heavy cross up the hill, upon reaching the hill He was mercilessly nailed to the cross. He hung there in that agonizing suffering until death came. His side was pierced and from His pierced Heart flowed blood and water, symbols of sacramental life in the Church, Baptism and the Eucharist. And as He hung on that cross nearing death in that brutalized suffering, St. Francis de Sales, who was a Doctor of the Church—a Doctor of the Church means that the Church recognizes not only the great holiness of the person, but the great learning, the great wisdom—in one of his classic works, St. Francis de Sales, his work Treatise on God's Divine Love, he says, “As Jesus hung upon the cross there in that brutal suffering each of us was present to Him. He knew each of us intimately and the perfect one gave His last drop of blood for you and for me.” So if we ever have problems with our motivation in the Movement, I suggest that we come to the foot of the cross and we realize what Jesus has done for me and continues to do. It is payback time. St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, has left us this beautiful prayer, “Lord teach me to be generous, teach me to serve you as you deserve, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for reward save that of knowing that I do your will.”  

      

    Now I will give the blessing. May the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit descend upon you and remain forever. Amen.

end of Father Carter's talk February 1, 1998

Christmas cards available

From September 5, 2002
during the special prayer service
in Clearwater, Florida
during the 6:20 prayers.

The images looked exactly like this.

This was taken without a flash.

There have been physical healings
on the 5ths and at other times.

Excerpt from September 17, 2002

                                I wish the store to carry the Christmas
                                    materials immediately, coloring
                                    books, Blue Books, Spanish Coloring
                                    Books.

                                I wish image rosaries be made available in
                                    the store and on Tom's farm.

                                These must also be ordered, it takes
                                    months for their delivery, the requirement
                                    has been made the materials are covered
                                    before the order.

                                I ask you to have Christmas presents that
                                    reflect Mary's image.

                                What a gift I give to the earth, you
                                    should tell people about this especially at
                                    Christmas.

end of excerpt from September 17, 2002

Please pray for the Cardinal
Our Lord has asked us to pray for.

We desperately need funds.

We need funds desperately.

We need funds to send out
the retired Bishop's mailing.
  

Please pray for the Cardinal
Our Lord has asked us to pray for.

It is difficult for us every month to make the
Virgin Mary payment.

We cannot keep the store stocked
because of the shortage of money.

Our Lord has asked us to stock the store
for Christmas.

He has asked all to come and buy
Christmas presents from the store.

Can you help us in any way?

       
Credit card donations accepted.

  Shepherds of Christ Ministries
P. O. Box 193
Morrow, Ohio 45152
1-888-211-3041

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