| Shepherds of Christ Daily Writing |
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| Shepherds of Christ Daily Writing |
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November 7, 2017
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November 8th Holy Spirit Novena |
The Novena Rosary
Mysteries |
Healing Prayer Service
Tuesday November 7th - 12:30pm
Please tune in!
Please pray for Dan.
Please pray for Dennis serving our country.
Please pray Fr. Joe's book & cover & all involved.
Prayer for Grace for our Country
Dear Father united to Jesus in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Sacrifice of Calvary sacramentally made present, celebrated around the world, in the Holy Spirit. We offer up all we do united to the Mass. We unite in one mind and one heart as members of the mystical body of Christ, with Christ our head in the pure and holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary, through the powerful intercession of Mary with all the angels and saints and souls in purgatory, and we beg for the saving grace, for our country, the United States. Please help us. We further pray for unity to always do the will of God in love. We spread the Blood of Jesus on the leaders and people of the United States and cast the devil into hell. We consecrate our country to the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart and all our dioceses, and beg for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. God help us. We pray for our families, the priests, the Church and the world. In the Name of Jesus please hear us, we pray. We pray for our new president as he takes office. We pray that we are united as one nation under God to work together in love as God wants.
November 7, 2017
Today's Readings
Romans 12: 5-16
in the same way, all of us, though there are so many of us, make up one body in Christ, and as different parts we are all joined to one another. Then since the gifts that we have differ according to the grace that was given to each of us: if it is a gift of prophecy, we should prophesy as much as our faith tells us; if it is a gift of practical service, let us devote ourselves to serving; if it is teaching, to teaching; if it is encouraging, to encouraging. When you give, you should give generously from the heart; if you are put in charge, you must be conscientious; if you do works of mercy, let it be because you enjoy doing them. Let love be without any pretence. Avoid what is evil; stick to what is good. In brotherly love let your feelings of deep affection for one another come to expression and regard others as more important than yourself. In the service of the Lord, work not halfheartedly but with conscientiousness and an eager spirit. Be joyful in hope, persevere in hardship; keep praying regularly; share with any of God’s holy people who are in need; look for opportunities to be hospitable.
Bless your persecutors; never curse them, bless them. Rejoice with others when they rejoice, and be sad with those in sorrow. Give the same consideration to all others alike. Pay no regard to social standing, but meet humble people on their own terms. Do not congratulate yourself on your own wisdom.
Psalm 131: 1-3
Yahweh, my heart is not haughty,
I do not set my sights too high.
I have taken no part in great affairs,
in wonders beyond my scope.
No, I hold myself in quiet and silence,
like a little child in its mother's arms,
like a little child, so I keep myself.
Let Israel hope in Yahweh
henceforth and for ever.
Luke 14: 15-24
On hearing this, one of those gathered round the table said to him, 'Blessed is anyone who will share the meal in the kingdom of God!' But he said to him, ‘There was a man who gave a great banquet, and he invited a large number of people. When the time for the banquet came, he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, "Come along: everything is ready now." But all alike started to make excuses. The first said, "I have bought a piece of land and must go and see it. Please accept my apologies." Another said, "I have bought five yoke of oxen and am on my way to try them out. Please accept my apologies." Yet another said, "I have just got married and so am unable to come."
‘The servant returned and reported this to his master. Then the householder, in a rage, said to his servant, "Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame." "Sir," said the servant, "your orders have been carried out and there is still room." Then the master said to his servant, "Go to the open roads and the hedgerows and press people to come in, to make sure my house is full; because, I tell you, not one of those who were invited shall have a taste of my banquet." ’
R. In this parable we know we
are to put the Kingdom of God
first in our lives. If God is not first
in your life, why do you worship
idols? You need to attend to those
things you have put before God in
your life, that can interfere with your
eternal salvation and pray for the
grace to not give into anything you
put before God.
We have duties because we are called by
God to go out and spread the Good News.
We are to serve as Christ would do – in
living in family and community, it is
to help the family and community to grow –
to be united – to live in a way that is
a family of the heavenly Father – pleasing
to the heavenly Father who created us
in the image and likeness of God –
We are to openly show love to others –
We come to the Mass and pray as one giving thanks
to our heavenly Father for such a great
gift given to us. We are one in this – giving
ourselves united to Jesus, offering ourselves
to the heavenly Father. Love should abound.
The Church is one body in Christ – with
Christ the head. The Church is ONE –
HOLY – CATHOLIC – and APOSTOLIC –
worshipping God, loving God, showing
God we adore Him and are under Him.
We are the people –
He is our God –
We unite as one body –
The Word of God is read –
There are prayers and songs and
we share at this heavenly meal
where Jesus gives Himself to us.
Our whole manner should be united
in love – in this –
We come with such joy to unite with
others – to be holy and giving of ourselves
in this offering to the Father –
Romans 3: 8-10
In this case, the slanderous report some people are spreading would be true, that we teach that one should do evil that good may come of it. In fact such people are justly condemned.
R. We are called by God to grow in the
image of God. This is how we
were created – to have everlasting
love with God in heaven.
Satan is strong. Satan works to
oppose whatever God wants –
A person has a free will to love and
serve God as he is commanded in the
commandments or
to oppose God, to serve satan, to
disobey the commandments of God,
rebel against God and grow – not
as God commands us, but he can
grow in darkness, rebellion,
disobedience and this is in
opposition to the commandments of God.
Love is giving – one that loves
goes out to meet the beloved –
Love is giving – when one loves like Christ
there is the vibrancy of passion –
of the desire to give – not hold
back –
It is in the person -- open – who
sees through the eyes of God –
Who loves with the heart of Christ –
Whose holiness is to grow ever
holy for his focus is Christ –
Christ is the prize –
His life is lived to serve Christ –
His life is lived to not offend
God with the slightest sin –
He is not filled with SELF –
but filled with Christ –
Do you meditate on the giving of Christ –
The giving of the Eucharist at Mass –
The giving of Adoration when Christ
is exposed –
Giving in love becomes the person
as God fills the person
more and more with Himself –
Giving in love – is giving –
Definition of Love
The definition of love used by Father Carter is as follows.
R. One needs not be prompted or told
to give to serve –
Christ gave –
Christ served –
God is love –
When we study and meditate on the
incarnation – we can truly
say – it is the gift of
giving –
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took
flesh and came a little baby
to save us from our sins –
Because Jesus wanted us to be
with Him eternally in heaven –
Love GIVES –
By the nature of love – it goes
out to others –
God first loved us and
it is our response to God's love!
Fr. Carter's books our founder
Response to God's Love
Response in Christ
R. Our Movement is founded on
LOVE
Giving
Unity
Response
Jesus: I am Love
You were created by
My heavenly Father in
My image and likeness
to LOVE
God is Love
Love gives
Love goes out to the beloved –
Love gives and keeps on
giving –
Satan is the opposite
Satan is hate
Satan is lies
Satan is selfishness
Priestly Newsletter Book II - September/October 1997
In all this Mary offers an example. Selfishness was totally foreign to her. She did not belong to herself. She belonged to God. She was not closed in upon herself. She was completely open to God. When God spoke, she listened. When God pointed the way, she followed. She realized that life is not a process a person masters by carefully mapping out one's own self-conceived plans of conquest, but a mystery to be gradually experienced by being open to God's personal and loving guidance.
Selfishness, then, did not close Mary off from God's call. Neither did fear. God asked her to assume a tremendous responsibility. He asked her to be the Mother of Jesus. Mary did not engage in a process of false humility and say that such a great role was above her. She did not say that she did not have the proper qualifications for this awesome mission. Briefly, she did not waste time looking at herself, making pleas that she was not worthy, telling the angel he had better go look for someone else. No, Mary did not look at herself. Her gaze was absorbed in God. She fully realized that whatever God asked of her, His grace would accomplish. She fully realized that although she herself had to cooperate, this work was much more God's than hers.
Mary's words, then, truly sum up what is the authentic Christian response at any point of life, in any kind of situation: "I am the handmaid of the Lord," said Mary, "let what you have said be done to me".
November 6, 2017
R. Jesus came in the womb of Mary –
Jesus is with us in the Holy Eucharist
today in His Divinity and humanity –
I love Him so much.
We long to know God's truth –
In us is a desire to know insight
into the hidden mystery more
and more.
The Power is in the Eucharist –
Life is in Him –
God is with us –
We have a free will to love and honor
God – or reject Him for our
search for power outside of God.
Mastery over God for our dominion
is a fight constantly, fighting
what God wants to be Master over
God's Plan –
We can plant God's seeds of love –
We can plant seeds of satan, of hate,
of wanting power for power over,
of attention – even greater than God –
Jesus is the vine and we are the
branches –
Remember the blind man – he
could not see –
God gives us the Eucharist –
God wants us to know He is
in this world in this
Eucharistic presence –
no less present then when He
walked the earth –
Jesus healed the lepers –
remember?
Jesus rose Lazarus from the dead.
God has all the power –
We are to adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament
and we are shaped into being
more and more as God desires –
We see through the eyes of God –
Eucharist means – Thanksgiving –
Jesus is the Bread of Life
Luke 22: 17
Then, taking a cup, he gave thanks and said, ‘Take this and share it among you, because from now on, I tell you, I shall never again drink wine until the kingdom of God comes.’
R. God made us to know, love and
serve Him!
He created us out of love –
We must be grateful because
what God gave us –
God gave us life!
Gratitude is owed to God.
Thankfulness to God is
so major –
Am I faithful to God who
is the Creator and I am
the creature?
Am I grateful in my ways
in general?
Dear God we have offended Thee
we are sorry. We love
You.
Revelation 5: 13-14
Then I heard all the living things in creation-everything that lives in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and in the sea, crying:
To the One seated on the throne and to the Lamb, be all praise, honour, glory and power, for ever and ever.
And the four living creatures said, 'Amen'; and the elders prostrated themselves to worship.
Matthew 22: 34-40
But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees they got together and, to put him to the test, one of them put a further question, 36 ‘Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’ Jesus said to him, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets too.’
1 John 4: 19-21
Let us love, then,
because he first loved us.
Anyone who says ‘I love God’
and hates his brother,
is a liar,
since whoever does not love the brother
whom he can see
cannot love God whom he has not seen.
Indeed this is the commandment
we have received from him,
that whoever loves God,
must also love his brother.
R. Change is an act of the will –
When your life is out of control because
of your behavior –
doing the same thing only harder –
makes it even worse –
To get over an addiction to power, control,
manipulation one must stop it –
THE TWELVE STEPS OF AA
Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery:
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol,
that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than
ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives
over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human
being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all
these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed,
and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible,
except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we
were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our
conscious contact with God as we understood Him,
praying only for knowledge of His will for us and
the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps,
we tried to carry this message to alcoholics,
and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
THE PROBLEM
CHILDREN OF
ALCOHOLICS: These are the characteristics we seem to have in
common
due to having been brought up in an
alcoholic household:
1. We became
isolated and afraid of people and authority figures.
2. We became approval seekers and lost our
identity in the process.
3. We either become alcoholics, marry them or
both or find another
compulsive personality such as a workaholic
to fulfill our sick
abandonment.
4. We are frightened by angry people and any
personal criticism.
5. We live life from the viewpoint of helping
and seeking victims,
and are attracted by that weakness in our
love and friendship
relationship.
6. We have an overdeveloped sense of
responsibility, and it is easier
for us to be concerned with others rather
than ourselves.
This enables us not to look closely at our
faults, etc.
7. We get guilt feelings when we stand up for
ourselves instead we
give in to others.
8. We become addicted to excitement.
9. We confuse love with pity and tend to "love"
people we can pity and rescue.
10. We have stuffed back our feelings from our
traumatic childhoods and have
lost the ability to feel or express our
feelings. It hurts so much (denial).
11. We judge ourselves harshly and have a very low
sense of self-esteem,
sometimes compensated for by trying to
appear superior.
12. We are dependent personalities who are
terrified of abandonment.
We will do anything to hold onto a
relationship in order not to experience
the pain of abandonment. We are conditioned
to these types of relationships.
13. Alcoholism is a family disease and we became
para-alcoholics.
We took on the characteristics of that
disease even though
we did not pick up the drink.
14. Para-alcoholics are reactors rather than
actors.
R. If you want to stop – you have to surrender
to do the will of God.
If you want to stop – you have to tell
the truth about your offenses
against others (unless it would
further harm them) and make
amends for the wrong done –
Self-destructive patterned behavior
has to stop –
If you really want to stop what you're
doing you will do it.
God can move the mountain.
You get in touch with your heart –
not live in your head.
When your life is out of control,
you must want to change it –
see changes in your life
through new beginnings –
God intended us to work with others
to co-operate – to work in community
of love and relationship. There must be
this desire to change destructive behavior
and listen and work with others –
There must be commitment, taking
responsibility for one's actions,
accountability – helping to improve
things that are mistakes promptly –
Surrendering to a power greater than
oneself –
Facing up to consequences for
one's actions
I cannot change the home
experiences I had as a child –
A person has to accept what
went on and learn to move
out of it –
A person needs to admit the truth
about pain inside of them they have
and not use addictions to power,
control etc. to numb the
pain and deal with life-long
stuffed feelings.
I am loveable – I must learn
that – realize God loves me
and others love me and
they can love me for who I am –
Numbing oneself because of pain
and living out of reality –
out of body – in denial
is not living at all –
it's existing like a stone!
We must turn our will and our
life over to God – Surrender
God has all the Power –
I don't have to have what I
expected – I can still be
safe –
In many things we are powerless –
Serenity Prayer
God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change...
Courage to change the things I can
and Wisdom to know the difference.
R. We can build a new life of
love – giving and receiving
love in our lives –
We don't have to manipulate,
and try to have control
over innocent others because
we are afraid of authority –
I can build my life today,
but I can't close the
door on my past life –
Is my life lived in sadness because
I can't have an illusion?
Letting Go –
Song: Little Child
Song: Why Do We Hurt the Ones we Love
Song: Live This Day
R. Let Go and Let God –
Am I controlled by fear –
1 John 4: 17-21
Love comes to its perfection in us when we can face the Day of Judgement fearlessly, because even in this world we have become as he is. In love there is no room for fear, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear implies punishment and no one who is afraid has come to perfection in love. Let us love, then, because he first loved us. Anyone who says 'I love God' and hates his brother, is a liar, since whoever does not love the brother whom he can see cannot love God whom he has not seen. Indeed this is the commandment we have received from him, that whoever loves God, must also love his brother.
R. Addiction is used to numb pain –
addiction brings chaos
addiction brings confusion
addiction brings division
We can only live in the moment.
From a Lenten Homily, March 24, 2000
Live in the Moment
Today’s Gospel in its story certainly points ahead to Jesus in His Passion and death. And as we read passages such as this during the Lenten season, we are reminded once again that the Church in her Liturgy of the Word gives us an opportunity to undergo a purification, an ever deepening cleansing of ourselves so that we may be a more fit instrument for receiving the great graces which are to be given to us at the time of the Resurrection memorial on Easter. And so all in all, Lent is a time of purification to prepare us for ever-greater gifts of the Lord. It’s a time of self-discipline, a time to renew our efforts to be self-disciplined in the service of the Lord. Self-discipline is an aspect of purification. And I suggest that one of the most difficult acts of self-discipline in the spiritual journey is to concentrate on the present moment. We have a very strong tendency to disregard the importance of the present moment by focusing in a wrong way on the past or in a wrong way on the future. There are proper occasions for thinking of the past and the future. For example, we have to learn from the past and we have to prepare for the future, but our great emphasis has to be upon the present. There is a Latin axiom which says, age quod agis, age quod agis, which means: do what you are doing, concentrate on the present. And of course we are familiar with that term in the history of spirituality: the sacrament of the present moment. And so the discipline of Lent certainly encourages us to include in a deeper self-discipline a greater determination to get as much as we can out of the present moment. People with a terminal illness have an opportunity as they prepare for death for increased prayer, contrition, love of God. However, some are taken very, very quickly. But for those who have the opportunity of knowing with some certainty the time of their death, I’m sure as they look back on their lives, they are saddened by the many times they did not use time and opportunities for the service of the Lord properly, and are overjoyed at those times in which they did use the present opportunity properly. A great means we have of living in the present properly is a greater focus upon our Lord. For if I have that awareness of the fact I am united with Jesus here and now, why should I be concerned so much about the future or the past? Yes, a great help in living in the present and deriving all the good we can from it for ourselves and others is an ever greater focus upon Jesus, because the more I focus upon Jesus and the more I live with Him in the present moment, the more I am satisfied with the present moment. And so let us in our Lenten activity resolve to grow in that self-discipline - which is very difficult at times - to really live in the presence with the fullness of our being as much as is possible, with the help of God’s grace. Now is the day of salvation. Now is the day of salvation.
end of Father Carter's homily
R. ONE - DAY at a time.
25 Years Ago
October 5, 1992 - 3:30am
R. Dear Jesus, Give me Your hand to write this book for you. I am your servant. I want to be Your hand to this world. If you, Lord Jesus, would write a book, what would you say?
Jesus: My dear children,
Today I come to deliver a message to each of you. I want to tell you of each person's dignity, of their beauty and their self-worth. Each child is, oh, so uniquely precious to My Most Sacred Heart. Each child is full of the talents I have given to them. Each person is divinely created by God and given all these gifts to be happy and love one another.
The problem comes when you feel you will be left out. That you will be left by another who has trodden on you and will do it again. I see you all as My most precious children. I watch your every move and know all pain and anguish in your heart. My Heart aches, you have insecure feelings about yourself. I came to this earth I died for you. I felt cold, hungry, lonely on this earth. You need not worry that no one knows the pain and anguish in your heart. God created you with such special gifts and talents. It is important for you to raise above your wound and forgive those who hurt you.
You need only turn your will and your life over to Me and I will guide you in all your ways. I have all the Power. Many are not of My ways. The key to life is to recognize your faults, but still know you are this precious gift of My Father a gift to this world. This world is in need of your strength. Running yourself down, blaming others hurting them can cause you misery and pain. At this very moment, you are the precious creation of God!! You must operate with Me in your heart.
You need not run yourself down. I am with you every day guiding your ways, lest your foot stumble and you lose your way. You will not wander far from your path if every day you keep bringing your focus back to Me. If you dare let Me be at the helm, if you dare to really let Me run your life, I will do with you such wonders that you yourself would be amazed. But you will know with such ease when you did these things that you did not do them alone. You will know My power, moving the mountain, My power chipping at the stone, My power working on your hardest problem and you will be set free.
Oh yes, you will be set free and know a serenity that only comes from letting go and letting Me run your life. To you, My child, I have given all that is good. I made you My holy soldier, My warrior in a world of pain and hatred. You are the light that shines in the darkness, you are the coat to a cold child, you are the smile that warms a troubled and lonely heart. You are the comfort for everyone you meet, because My most precious Heart powers you, smiles through you, understands and loves through you.
Love your fellows for Me. There are so many troubled hearts that need to know My love. I can love through you if you let Me, I can be their friend through you if you let Me. I am He who comforts you and you are he who comforts them. My power is endless, it never runs out, there is not a power failure EVER. In your darkest hour, My light shines in the darkness and I say to you, "Oh blessed of My Father, look at yourself with awe, you are My creation, you are indeed so precious to Me, you are My light to this world, you are My hands and My feet and most of all My Heart."
Oh, you are My loving Heart, to those who are bowed down, to those who are lost in the darkness, you carry My smile and wear My armor in a world that is trying to tear one another down with hate and ugliness. There is gentleness, there is love, there is hope in you, if you open yourself up to Me. Be My knight to the world, wear My armor. I am your God and I will protect you from the darkness. Plug into My power, be not afraid, I go before you always and you can rest in My arms when you feel weary. You can put your head in My lap and weep, you will know, I am truly with you and you are My light to this world. I created you so special - to cast out fear in the darkness, to clothe the naked, to give hope to the oppressed, to be as I live in you and love through you and you are My smile and I touch My hurting ones through your love.
You are he who loves this world. You must stay plugged into My power-source This world is hungry for My love. It needs My love, I give to them through you. I am your God and I made you as a gift to the world. You are filled.
Focus on Me and your life will be abundant and whole, joy in suffering, freedom but you can take the knocks because you will know you do not go it alone, but with Me. I love you My precious child.
end of excerpt
R. Wisdom is what we need to direct
our actions!
With justice – treating men
as we should there is
peace and order –
In peace and order we can have
happiness –
A person living in disorder
isn't happy – really happy
Order is established by God –
In many of the struggles in the
world a person wants power
for power sake –
We are to live to worship God
From The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, by Louis J. Puhl, S.J. p.12
23. FIRST PRINCIPLE AND FOUNDATION
Man is created to praise, reverence and serve God
our Lord, and by this means to save his soul.
From The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius,
by Louis J. Puhl, S.J. p.1121. SPIRITUAL EXERCISES
Which have as their purpose the conquest of self
and the regulation of one's life in such a way that
no decision is made under the influence of any
inordinate attachment
Hail Mary
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
R. Do not be afraid –
Sing: Be Not Afraid
Luke 1: 29
She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean,
R. Listen to the humility of Mary
Luke 1: 38
Mary said, ‘You see before you the Lord’s servant, let it happen to me as you have said.’
John 1: 14
The Word became flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory, the glory that he has from the Father as only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
R. We should make ourselves
little – like a little child –
not pompous and angry –
Jesus came as a baby –
Jesus is love –
Jesus is the Son of God –
Jesus was born in poverty in
a cave –
Excerpt of Father Carter's Talk
February 18, 2000
Copyright
© 2014 Shepherds of Christ.