Use Your Talents

October 3, 1993
Chicago Marian Conference 11:30a.m.

Jesus: I am your Savior, Son of the Living God. I come to you that you might have life, not as the world gives you life, but My life which is life eternal. I carved you from My special carving and made you little less than an angel. I love you and cherish all the moments when you, My special child, come to sit with Me. I wait here and I hope you will choose to come, but I never force you. Your will is totally free and I give it to you because of My love and the will of the Father. I inform you in numerous ways. You do not have to guess and wonder. Come be with Me in this silence and all you need to know will be told to you. Your life is unfolding as a beautiful rose. Each petal falls and you plant My odors about as I so desire. I make your life full and sure as you trust in Me. No need for worrying, My little flower. My ways give you freedom if you listen to your heart. I am a personal God and you know Me as giving you fullness and life. You know there is some magnetism to Me and the way you crave to be part of Me. This is the work of the one, true God Who created you with a thirst that can only be quenched by Me. All roads that lead to Me give you fullness, worth, peace and joy, not as the world thinks, but as you yourself know true peace and joy. When I really touch you, you do not remain the same. I shed My Blood for you that you will have the life only I can give. What friend in this world would die for you? You, My child, were worth My dying for. I came that you will have life eternal and the gift I give is My Precious Blood for your sins. Come to Me in trouble and when you are bowed down. Come to Me in joy. Come to Me every day that you live and I will give you all you need. Seek to know Me more and more. Knowledge of Me, being with Me, are the only way to perfect peace. They lead to eternal life.

I have a divine plan for you. I created you with special gifts and talents to be used to do My work. They are not for your own self-promotion. You, My child, are nothing except as I created you. Why try to promote yourself? It is none of your own doing. I gave you the talents you are using. You had nothing to do with it. These talents were given to you to do My work. To use these talents to make yourself feel better than your brother is indeed a sin. You must realize they are loaned to you to work for Me. As you give someone a car, or loan them a place to stay, I loan you your talents to use to work for Me. If you do not work for Me and use them to make yourself better than your brother, you are offending Me. Likewise, if I give you talents and you do not use them because you think you are not as good as your brother, you are not being thankful to Me for My gifts to you. You are not using My gifts and that offends Me greatly. Each person was created by Me to do My work. Each person has all he needs to do My work. To be envious of others is fruitless. They have their job. You have yours. You are not supposed to do their work. That is why you were not given their talents.

Do your own work. Don't be envious of your brothers. Don't hide your talents. You did not earn them. I gave you your talents. You must sing because I will it. Others must do as I will them to do. It displeases Me to give you a gift and watch you hide it and make light of it. I give the gift. You must use all your gifts. They were given to you to do My work. Your brother has his gifts. Be grateful for your brother and he should be for you. You are all chosen by Me for a special mission. You know what to do. It feels right. I plant little seeds in your heart and all you do that is for you in the end feels right. You are not to be doing your brother's work or he yours. Talk to Me that you might know just what your work is and do it.

Do not hide your talents. Praise your God Who gave you these talents. Embrace and use them. This is not pride. This is My plan. I love you. I give to each of you, My precious children, as a mother who buys special Christmas gifts for each child. To buy gifts all the same for all your children is not to respect their specialness, their individuality.

Oh, I love you, little ones, so much. Please come to Me. I am so good and I wait to be with you and share My love with you. Come now. This is your top priority. All else will work when you come to Me first. I love you. You are My chosen children. Come and be filled and I make your loads light and I fill you with the Spirit of Salvation.

All roads that lead to Me are the right roads. Praise Me for I am good and I love you, little dear ones.

 

        September 30, 2023

The Agony in the Garden

1. This is a rosary from the
    Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
    Let us join in one mind and
    one Heart. Let us give our
    Hearts to Jesus and Mary,
    and let us ask the Holy
    Spirit to come and fill us
    with the fire of God’s love.
2. It is in the rosary that we
    meditate on the lives of
    Jesus and Mary. It is in
    meditating on Their lives
    that we live Their lives in
    our lives.
3. Jesus wants us to be so
    close to Him. He wants to
    live in our life.
    As we go about our day,
    Jesus wants to touch those
    we touch in our lives.
    We must open up our
    hearts, and let Jesus work
    in this rosary that we may
    be drawn closer and closer
    to Jesus’ Heart.
4. We want to live His life in
    our life, so we meditate on
    Jesus' passion and think
    about how we can do God’s
    will in love, living each
    mystery.
5. Envision ourselves with
    Jesus in the Garden.
    See Jesus in such agony,
    stooped over. Look at His
    face, see the anguish in His
    face. Look at His tense
    body, He is in anguish as
    you see Him, all alone.
6. We can identify our
    suffering with Jesus’ in the
    Garden.
7. Jesus had so much
    anguish He sweat blood.
    When we think of Jesus’
    suffering, we can deal
    better with our suffering in
    life.
8. We live Their lives in our
    lives.

9. Sing: A Song from Jesus

10. Luke 22: 39-46

The Mount of Olives

He then left to make his way as usual to the Mount of Olives, with the disciples following. When he reached the place he said to them, ‘Pray not to be put to the test.’

    Then he withdrew from them, about a stone’s throw away, and knelt down and prayed. ‘Father,’ he said, ‘if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, let your will be done, not mine.’ Then an angel appeared to him, coming from heaven to give him strength. In his anguish he prayed even more earnestly, and his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood. When he rose from prayer he went to the disciples and found them sleeping for sheer grief. And he said to them, ‘Why are you asleep? Get up and pray not to be put to the test.’

The Scourging at the Pillar

1. Matthew 27: 24-26

Then Pilate saw that he was making no impression, that in fact a riot was imminent. So he took some water, washed his hands in front of the crowd and said, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood. It is your concern.’ And the people, every one of them, shouted back, ‘Let his blood be on us and on our children!’ Then he released Barabbas for them. After having Jesus scourged he handed him over to be crucified.

2. Jesus was the innocent
    Lamb led to the slaughter.
3. In His Divine knowing,
    Jesus knew death was near.
4. And Jesus endured the
    bitter passion for our sins,
    so we could seek forgiveness.
5. Jesus paid the price for our
    sins.
6. Sins of jealousy, pride,
    anger, envy, gluttony, lust,
    slothfulness -- Jesus was
    beaten for our sins.
7. Sins of rebellion,
    willfulness
    that some deny, life-long
    and Jesus paid the price.
8. Jesus’ Heart was overflowing
    with burning love for us
    despite our sins.
9. Jesus was punished for
    our sins.
10. God created us in love.
    He is love. God wants us
    to love Him.
    The Blue Books are Love
    Letters from Jesus, to us.

The Crowning with Thorns

1. Matthew 27: 27-31

Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus with them into the Praetorium and collected the whole cohort round him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet cloak round him, and having twisted some thorns into a crown they put this on his head and placed a reed in his right hand. To make fun of him they knelt to him saying, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ And they spat on him and took the reed and struck him on the head with it. And when they had finished making fun of him, they took off the cloak and dressed him in his own clothes and led him away to crucifixion.

2. Jesus was derisively
    crowned with thorns.
3. Jesus was so weak, they
    beat Jesus.
4. They mocked Jesus as
    King of the Jews.
5. Jesus was brutally abused
    and His suffering so great.
6. Jesus’ Heart was
    overflowing for love of
    His Father and us.
7. Fr. Carter says it’s not
    there is too much suffering,
    but so much is wasted.
8. Jesus was spit on.
    They hit Jesus' head,
    pounding on the crown of
    thorns. Angry men.
9. Jesus endured this for
    sins of pride.

10. Sing: A Song from Jesus

 

The Carrying of the Cross

1. Jesus: How do you carry
    the cross?
2. Jesus: I am the way, the
    truth and the life. I call you
    to carry a cross, in your
    lives, sometimes.
    How is your lives identified
    with Mine?
3. Jesus: Do you put down
    the cross and then tell
    yourself, you are right?
4. Jesus: I carried the heavy
    cross laden with sins of
    pride, jealousy, hatred for
    My Father’s Plan.
5. Jesus: Some never admit
    they sin, despite all I
    suffered.
6. Jesus: Pray for the grace
    to be truthful about the sins
    that offend God and hurt
    your spiritual life, if you
    continue to deny the truth.
7. Jesus: You will not grow
    spiritually when you refuse
    to be sorry for sins you
    commit and continue bad
    habits of the deadly sins.
    Sin, unrepented, is hatred
    for oneself.
8. The devil tempts the sinner
    to sin, then he tells them
    the wrong they did was
    right. Satan wants to show
    right is wrong and wrong
    is right.
9. Satan is the Father of
    lies. Satan keeps tempting a
    man of pride to be prideful;
    he tempts a person who is
    jealous to hurt others with
    their jealousy.
    Satan is relentless, if he can
    get away with it.
10. Sin hurts the sinner,
    when they refuse to admit
    and repent of their sin.
    Bad habits that are habits,
    blind the sinner to their
    sins, more and more. You
    are to examine your
    conscience every day,
    examine your actions.

Act of Contrition

"O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace to confess my sins, to do penance and to amend my life. Amen."

 

The Crucifixion

1. From the Priestly Newsletter - Suffering: A Source of Life

"Those who share in Christ’s sufferings have before their eyes the paschal mystery of the cross and resurrection, in which Christ descends, in a first phace, to the ultimate limits of human weakness and impotence: Indeed, he dies nailed to the cross. But if at the same time in this weakness there is accomplished his lifting up, confirmed by the power of the resurrection, then this means that the weaknesses of all human sufferings are capable of being infused with the same power of God manifested in Christ’s cross. In such a concept, to suffer means to become particularly susceptible, particularly open, to the working of the salvific powers of God offered to humanity in Christ. In him God has confirmed his desire to act especially through suffering, which is man’s weakness and emptiness of self." ²

2. Pope John Paul II, On The Christian Meaning of Human Suffering, United States Catholic Conference, Nos. 19 and 23.

2. Luke 23: 32-47

Now they were also leading out two others, criminals, to be executed with him. When they reached the place called The Skull, there they crucified him and the two criminals, one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.' Then they cast lots to share out his clothing.

The people stayed there watching.  As for the leaders, they jeered at him with the words, 'He saved others, let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.'  The soldiers mocked him too, coming up to him, offering him vinegar, and saying, 'If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.'  Above him there was an inscription: 'This is the King of the Jews'.

One of the criminals hanging there abused him: 'Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us as well.'  But the other spoke up and rebuked him.  'Have you no fear of God at all?' he said.  'You got the same sentence as he did, but in our case we deserved it: we are paying for what we did.  But this man has done nothing wrong.'  Then he said, 'Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.'  He answered him, 'In truth I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.'

The veil of the Sanctuary was torn right down the middle. Jesus cried out in a loud voice saying, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.' With these words he breathed his last. When the centurion saw what had taken place, he gave praise to God and said, 'Truly, this was an upright man.'

3. From the Priestly Newsletter - Suffering: A Source of Life continues

• Dom Hubert Van Zeller observes: "Men and women who might be turning their afflictions over to God, who have only to unite themselves in spirit with Christ’s passion, are found so often to stop short, and even to make of their trial further matter for selfishness. Even if we do not rebel positively against God’s providential will, we can become so preoccupied with our troubles as to leave God out of account.

4. From the Priestly Newsletter - Suffering: A Source of Life continues

"Instead of making us compassionate for others we can squander compassion on ourselves. Suffering is meant to enlarge our hearts, not shrink them. With suffering goes the grace of patience, peace, fortitude, penitence and love. All this can be missed if we make the mistake of turning in upon ourselves as the result of our trials.

5. From the Priestly Newsletter - Suffering: A Source of Life continues

"To the Jews the cross was a stumbling block, and to the gentiles foolishness. What is it to us? Often it can be an emblem merely, the significance of the symbol forgotten. The cross is something in which we are, by reason of our Christian inheritance, inextricably involved. Do we yield to it or harden ourselves against it? The cross is not just two planks fitted together on a certain day in the history of the world, and of all the relics which we venerate the most sacred, but a fact of our human experience which may or may not be sacred according to what we do about it." ³

3. Dom Hubert Van Zeller, More Ideas for Prayer, Templegate, p. 112.

6. From the Priestly Newsletter - Suffering: A Source of Life continues

• Contrary to what many think, Fr. Edward Leen reminds us that suffering is compatible with happiness: "If men are prone to err in conceiving the nature of happiness, they will necessarily err in judging of its opposite. They commonly think that a man cannot possibly be happy if he is a prey to constant sickness; if he is condemned to experience habitual poverty and to be buried in obscurity; if he fails to take an important part on the world stage; if he is unsuccessful in his enterprises; if he is deprived of the opportunities of intellectual or aesthetic development; and finally, if he fails to gain the applause and the esteem of his fellows. Now though all these things mean grievous sufferings for men, neither singly nor in combination have they the power to rob him of essential happiness.

7. From the Priestly Newsletter - Suffering: A Source of Life continues

"Apart from the consideration of the life of the Redeemer, certain undeniable facts of history justify this contention. The saints, in all ages, have been persons whose lot it was, generally speaking, to undergo greater trials and sufferings than others are called upon to endure. Yet they were habitually happy, buoyant and joyous human beings…

"The saints were not violently wresting words from their literal meaning when they proclaimed themselves happy. For the happiness they enjoyed was that which is proper to, and satisfying for man…

8. From the Priestly Newsletter - Suffering: A Source of Life continues

"God planned an unbroken life of happiness for man. The Fall modified, but did not prevent the realization of this plan. Suffering, but not unhappiness, becomes the condition of the earthly portion of men’s existence. God does not make unhappiness here to be the price to pay for happiness hereafter. To be happy, in the minds of all men, is to fare well, that is, to live excellently... The Saviour Himself suffered intensely, but He lived the highest life possible for men. He was, therefore, happy. He assured men that He could share His own blissful experience with them. It may appear paradoxical to associate happiness with the mental image of One Who is called the Man of Sorrows. But an analysis of the nature of happiness will show that it was fully realized in the earthly life of the Saviour…" ⁴

4. Edward Leen, C. S. Sp., Why the Cross?, Sheed & Ward, pp. 246-247, 255, 285.

9. From the Priestly Newsletter - Suffering: A Source of Life continues

• Caryll Houselander writes with great sensitivity regarding the second station of the Way of the Cross: "They put His own garments on Him again, and Jesus comes out from the judgment hall of Pilate to receive His cross.

"He comes to it gladly! This is a strange thing, for the cross is a symbol of shame, and it is to be His deathbed. Already He sees the very shape of His death in the wide-spread arms. From this moment He will be inseparable from it, until He dies on it. He will labour and struggle under the weight of it… Yet Christ welcomes the cross. He embraces it. He takes it into His arms. He lays His beautiful hands on it tenderly, those strong hands of a carpenter that are so familiar with the touch of wood." ⁵

            5. Caryll Houselander, The Way of the Cross, Sheed & Ward, p. 21.

10. From the Priestly Newsletter - Suffering: A Source of Life continues

• Henri Nouwen tells this story: "I would like to tell you the story of a middle-aged man whose career was suddenly interrupted by the discovery of leukemia, a fatal blood cancer. All his life plans crumbled and all his ways had to change. But slowly he was able to ask himself no longer: ‘Why did this happen to me?’ but instead: ‘What is the promise hidden in this event?’ When his rebellion became a new quest, he felt that he could give strength and hope to other cancer patients and, that by facing his condition directly, he could make his pain a source of healing for others. To this day, this man not only does more for patients than many ministers are able to, but he also refound his life on a level that he had never known before." ⁶

            6. Henri Nouwen, Out of Solitude, Ave Maria Press, p. 57.

   
Prayer for Intimacy with the Lamb the Bridegroom of the Soul

Oh Lamb of God, Who take away the sins of the world, come and act on my soul most intimately. I surrender myself, as I ask for the grace to let go, to just be as I exist in You and You act most intimately on my soul. You are the Initiator. I am the soul waiting Your favors as You act in me. I love You. I adore You. I worship You. Come and possess my soul with Your Divine Grace, as I experience You most intimately.

Fr. Carter, our founder said:
Kneel before the crucifix and
    ask yourself
    What have I done for Christ?
    What am I now doing for Christ?
    What ought I to do for Christ?

Song: A Song from Jesus