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December 25, 2015

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.

1 John 4: 7-11

The source of love

My dear friends, let us love one another, since love is from God and everyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. Whoever fails to love does not know God, because God is love. This is the revelation of God’s love for us, that God sent his only Son into the world that we might have life through him. Love consists in this: it is not we who loved God, but God loved us and sent his Son to expiate our sins. My dear friends, if God loved us so much, we too should love one another.

John 14: 21-31

Whoever holds to my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me; and whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I shall love him and reveal myself to him.'

Judas-not Judas Iscariot-said to him, 'Lord, what has happened, that you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?' Jesus replied:

Anyone who loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make a home in him. Anyone who does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not my own: it is the word of the Father who sent me. I have said these things to you while still with you; but the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you. Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you, a peace which the world cannot give, this is my gift to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You heard me say: I am going away and shall return. If you loved me you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I have told you this now, before it happens, so that when it does happen you may believe. I shall not talk to you much longer, because the prince of this world is on his way. He has no power over me, but the world must recognise that I love the Father and that I act just as the Father commanded. Come now, let us go.

                R. The unpredictability of events is immanent.
                There is disorder because of the fall of Adam
                and Eve. Disorder in the elements. Think of
                what it would be to get stopped by two
                feet of snow and unable to go anywhere –
                paralyzed by the fact it snowed so much
                and stopped. It can be a time when the
                weather stays so cold that shoveling the
                snow, or clearing it can cause so much
                additional problems as the clearing snow
                gets higher and higher.

                    I remember Dr. Schuller when he had
                written a book talked about snow and
                how it blocked things and then made
                reference to the snow plow coming to
                clear the road, that was once impassible.
                What a relief that was to clear the roads
                that were once impassible.

                    Snow can be so beautiful as I wrote on
                December 23rd, the softness, the beauty of
                a blanket covering the earth. Jesus woke me
                and dictated that message. He said it was
                so even, that the snow even fell on my
                eye lashes – what a beautiful writing.

                    So snow can be beautiful, snow can
                be a menace and stop us in our tracks –
                We live in this world and we cannot
                control the elements.

                    The other night it was storming, here,
                and the thunder bellowed in the sky
                and it poured and poured and there were
                tornado warnings – then in some places
                the tornadoes touched down and some
                were killed, some trees uprooted, houses
                where a wall was ripped off.

I think of the scripture –

Luke 17: 26-37

'As it was in Noah's day, so will it also be in the days of the Son of man. People were eating and drinking, marrying wives and husbands, right up to the day Noah went into the ark, and the Flood came and destroyed them all. It will be the same as it was in Lot's day: people were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but the day Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and it destroyed them all. It will be the same when the day comes for the Son of man to be revealed.

‘When that Day comes, no one on the housetop, with his possessions in the house, must come down to collect them, nor must anyone in the fields turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Anyone who tries to preserve his life will lose it; and anyone who loses it will keep it safe. I tell you, on that night, when two are in one bed, one will be taken, the other left; when two women are grinding corn together, one will be taken, the other left.’ The disciples spoke up and asked, ‘Where, Lord?’ He said, ‘Where the body is, there too will the vultures gather.’

                R. We just cannot control the weather. I
                could not control the thunder or the full
                moon or so it looked yesterday.

                    Do you know that heavenly angels
                surround the tabernacle and we all
                have a guardian angel and we can't
                see these things and yet they are there –
                We can't see them unless God gave us
                a grace and let us see them.

                    People see themselves with places to go
                and dead-lines to meet – and sometimes
                people planning even a wedding and traveling
                get stopped of their plans. These are not plans
                that any man has stopped, but the elements.

                    Yesterday our weather was so nice we
                opened our windows on Christmas and
                usually it can be so cold and snowy
                and icy, but it was like Florida
                weather – people loved it and they
                could go outside.

                    In Florida people can be swimming
                at the beach in southern Florida and in
                Maine or New Jersey they can be shoveling
                snow. So many movies have played where
                people are stuck and their plans for
                vacation were entirely altered.

                    I don't remember ever having such
                warm weather here on Christmas. We
                definitely don't control the weather.

                    Remember the Flood of Noah and
                the rainbow and the scripture God
                gave us with this –

Genesis 7: 11-24

    In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, and on the seventeenth day of the month, that very day all the springs of the great deep burst through, and the sluices of heaven opened. And heavy rain fell on earth for forty days and forty nights.

    That very day Noah and his sons Shem, Ham and Japheth boarded the ark, with Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons, and with them every species of wild animal, every species of cattle, every species of creeping things that creep along the ground, every species of bird, everything that flies, everything with wings. One pair of all that was alive and had the breath of life boarded the ark with Noah, and those that went aboard were a male and female of all that was alive, as God had commanded him.

    Then Yahweh shut him in.

The flood lasted forty days on earth. The waters swelled, lifting the ark until it floated off the ground. The waters rose, swelling higher above the ground, and the ark drifted away over the waters. The waters rose higher and higher above the ground until all the highest mountains under the whole of heaven were submerged. The waters reached their peak fifteen cubits above the submerged mountains. And all living things that stirred on earth perished; birds, cattle, wild animals, all the creatures swarming over the earth, and all human beings. Everything with the least breath of life in its nostrils, everything on dry land, died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out, people, animals, creeping things and birds; they were wiped off the earth and only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. The waters maintained their level on earth for a hundred and fifty days.

  Genesis 9: 8-17

    God spoke as follows to Noah and his sons, ‘I am now establishing my covenant with you and with your descendants to come, and with every living creature that was with you: birds, cattle and every wild animal with you; everything that came out of the ark, every living thing on earth. And I shall maintain my covenant with you: that never again shall all living things be destroyed by the waters of a flood, nor shall there ever again be a flood to devastate the earth.’

    ‘And this’, God said, ‘is the sign of the covenant which I now make between myself and you and every living creature with you for all ages to come: I now set my bow in the clouds and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I gather the clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, I shall recall the covenant between myself and you and every living creature, in a word all living things, and never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all living things. When the bow is in the clouds I shall see it and call to mind the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth, that is, all living things.’

    ‘That’, God told Noah, ‘is the sign of the covenant I have established between myself and all living things on earth.’

                R. We can set ourselves up for something and
                be stopped by unforeseeable events. We can
                frustrate ourselves by thinking the world
                revolves around us, when of course it
                doesn't.

                    We must believe that there is a power greater
                than ourselves at work. That there is
                much we do not know about how God
                works in our hearts and the Holy Spirit
                counsels us and gives us wisdom and
                understanding and can help us grow in
                greater holiness.

                    A person can hold so tight to what they think
                things ought to be, that they really live in an
                unreal way. Reality is found in seeking God's
                truth.

There are many things we accept automatically –
one is the weather.

                    I remember getting the Prayer for Union –
                January 17, 1994. I thought I would go to
                Mass that morning and the weather was
                so bad, I could not go.

                    I remember Fr. Carter's burial, it was
                December 23rd and it was almost 0° and it was
                so hard and the weather was so cold it
                added to the suffering.

                    This year the weather on December 23rd was
                actually nice. Nothing we could have done
                for Fr. Carter's burial could have improved
                the weather.

                    People are imperfect, we are imperfect,
                we wane in and out, but seeing ourselves
                in relationships with people God wants
                us to work with, can show us how blessed we
                are. How did things become so good,
                after a life time of people working together
                to pray as they do in the Church?

                    There are so many gifts God gives us,
                the gift of friendship and being in love
                with others who are working on their
                calling from God to do what He wants
                them to do. It is a blessing to let go
                and let the Holy Spirit work in all
                our lives and watch what happens.

                    There is a compulsive drive in some
                to control and they are working against
                what is real.

                    God has a plan. God created us. God
                keeps us in existence – God wants us
                to know and love and serve Him and
                He gives us so many gifts to learn His
                Plan and surrender to His Plan.

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

R. When we step back – we can see His plan at
work in our lives.

What a gift that God loves us so much.

Let go and let God.

God has a plan –

We are servants of God –

                We want to be plugged into His Might,
                    His plan, His power and unity working
                    in our lives –

                Despite all of our ways and imperfections –
                    when we embrace the plan of
                    God – God can make things happen
                    in the joys and sufferings of our lives.
                    God has a plan for our lives and the people
                    He puts in our lives.
                    A person being a compulsive controller
                    working against God's plan, God's will – we feel
                    can get in the way – trying to look perfect
                    a person wearing a mask and trying to control
                    those around him.

Happiness is in God.

Let go and Let God.

Who made us, who is the one in charge?

                It is a falsity to think we can run things.
                Other people, they think, are living their plan and
                God is directing them to do the work in
                serving as He wants them to do.

                All the prayers God has given us have helped
                us to know God more and to know how
                to pray.

A 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.

Morning Offering

My dear Father, I offer You this day all my prayers, works, joys and sufferings, my every breath, my every heartbeat, my every thought, all my actions, in union with Jesus in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in the Holy Spirit. I pray the Holy Spirit is with me every second today, enlightening me to do the Will of the Father and filling me with the fire of God's love.

I ask Jesus and Mary to be one in me in all that I do and I unite with all the angels and saints and souls in purgatory to pray continually to the Father for these intercessions, in this prayer, for this day.

For myself, I pray for grace-abundant grace, to know and love God more and more and to follow the Will of the Father. I pray to the Holy Spirit to transform me in the heart of Mary to be more and more like Jesus. I pray that I can forever dwell in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. I pray for conversion of all those I hold dear who need conversion. I pray for each member of my family that they will be filled with Your abundant grace to grow in their knowledge and love of God.

I pray for all my friends that they will receive abundant grace to carry out the great plan of the Father, that they will grow forever closer to Jesus' Heart through Mary's heart, that we will all be led by the Holy Spirit to do His work, that we will, together, carry out the plan of the Father as He intends us to, to spread the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary's heart to this world.

Jesus, I pray for myself so the Holy Spirit descends upon me and opens my heart to Your love so I will grow more and more deeply in union with You. I pray that I do not worry what other people think but try always to please the Father and do His Will. I pray that I may help lead many to Your burning love.

I pray for the following people in particular that they will be filled with the Spirit and grow deeply in their union with You, that they will receive abundant graces to know, love and serve You more. (Include special friends by name...)

I pray for priests the world over, for the success of the Priestly Newsletter, the Chapters and for the finances needed for the Newsletter. I pray for the circulation of the Blue Book messages, rosary meditations and tapes. I pray for all those involved in the publication of these messages.

I pray that You will shower Your abundant graces onto the priests reading the Newsletter the people reading and hearing the Blue Book messages and rosary meditations and all of Fr. Carter's publications.

We pray for the intentions we hold deep within our hearts, for our families and friends, for those requesting our prayers. We pray for children the world over and for the souls in purgatory. We ask God to shower His abundant grace on us and the members of our Shepherds of Christ Chapter so that we may grow more and more in our knowledge and love of God.

We consecrate ourselves to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. We pray for Father Carter, for Father Smith, for Rita Ring, and for John Weickert, for all leaders and helpers in the Shepherds of Christ Movement, for Shepherds of Christ Ministries, and Our Lady of Light Ministry. We pray for all those who are working in these ministries.

We bind ourselves and our children and our friends to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We place the precious blood of Jesus on ourselves, and all we touch, so that we will be protected from the evil one. We pray to St. Michael to cast the devil into hell.

We love You, God, we love You, we love You. We beg that we may receive the grace to love You more and more deeply. We adore You, we praise You, our beloved Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

end of excerpt

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                R. We need to admit that a Power, greater than
                    ourselves, is above us.
                    We cannot live our lives trying to
                    force another person to live like
                    we want or we can be opposing
                    God's plan working around us.

                We are powerless over many things,
                    if we can see how powerless
                    we are over the weather, we may be able
                    to recognize how many things are uncertainties
                    in our life, but if we entrust our lives
                    to God, if we offer our lives as God wants
                    us to know, love and serve Him, we
                    may not get in the way of His plan in
                    other peoples' lives.

                    Being addicted to control and trying
                to force others to do it our way can
                be as bad as an alcoholic who is
                addicted to alcohol.

                People can be addicted to control, negativism,
                    abuse, lying, work, and many
                    other things rather than dealing with
                    themselves and pain and anger and
                    hate inside.

What does the Greatest Commandment mean?

Matthew 22: 36-40

'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.'

R. God wants us to be holy –

To be more and more in the image and likeness
of God –

                I am given so many blessings from God
                    and I am to thank God for all He has
                    given to me –

I am to grow in my love of God and love
of neighbor as myself –

                God wants me to live a life of love today –
                    to go out, to do what He calls me to
                    do in my vocation today –
                    To let go and to let God move in
                    my life –

                    We have all made mistakes and gotten in
                God's way when He called us to let Him
                run the show. We have today, to live
                and to let God work in our lives, to help
                us to be more and more loving and holy
                and pure as He wants. To do the work
                God has called us to do in love of Him
                and others – to tell God and others we are
                sorry for our sins and be accountable
                and responsible for our actions before God
                and others.

                Life is to be lived to love and serve God.
                We are under – He is over – we cannot
                control God.

The definition of love used by Father Carter is as follows.

Love is the gift of self to promote the true good of those loved. He states the reception of love is the receiving of the gift of the other, so my good will be promoted.

R. Hate is twisted and is used to serve
darkness, not light.

                We can pray for an increase of faith,
                    hope and love in us – ask for
                    this grace and the grace of the
                    Holy Spirit to cooperate with the grace
                    given –

                    God is love – in Him there is no darkness.
                We must be willing to give – God has called
                us to give, to give generously, as He has
                given to us.

                    When I think of how a snowstorm
                can stop us in our tracks, like opening
                a door to snow so high it can
                cover the whole door and we must
                surrender and say – I am not in
                control, then begin to live with the
                repercussions of what that snowstorm
                does to stop us or slow us down –
                We can see maybe how our lives are
                not to be a rat-race of running down
                a road at a fever pitch, but are to be
                united to the Plan of God in our lives
                and those God has called us to love
                and work with in the building of His
                Kingdom – and when we step back and
                surrender we see how His Might
                working around us, in His plan – brings
                so much good in the world.

                    It is very interesting how God has
                given us animals to have as loving pets –
                horses and dogs and cats and how
                some animals are not pets but
                nuisances if they get in a house and
                can bring down suffering and diseases.

                    There are precautions even in
                bringing in a stray cat. Precautions
                must be taken.

                    We see rules and things we must observe
                for sound living and trying to protect us
                from harm, but we can't control
                everything so we won't have harm,
                we must use right reasoning,
                obey laws and then at some point let go
                or we can obsessively try to control and
                control and control and never live.

                    A person can be compulsive about anything,
                germs, dirt, but underneath it all, is
                fear and control and pain from something
                why they aren't living and enjoying
                life as they should.

                    God has given us rules and the greatest
                commandment - commands us to put
                God first – and then to love – to love –
                to love our neighbor as ourselves.

That says a lot –

Jesus: First to thine own self be true.

                Live to know and love and serve
                    your God with your whole heart,
                    your whole soul and your whole
                    being and to love your neighbor as
                    yourself.

Matthew 16: 24

Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Mark 8: 34

He called the people and his disciples to him and said, 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Luke 9: 23

Then, speaking to all, he said, 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me.

                R. We surrender ourselves to the Holy Spirit to be lifted
                up and to share more and more abundantly
                in the gifts God wants to give us.

                    In baptism our knowing and loving capacity
                is elevated. We want to know and love
                supernaturally.

                    When we seek knowledge in love –
                we grow to be more and more as God
                wants us to be.

                    Light follows love. The spirit is
                lifted high. If we love, we know more
                of what God is.

                    Love brings harmony, unity,
                Love is deeply in the soul – love
                penetrates heart and soul –
                When we love God and neighbor as
                God intends – we are united more
                and more deeply to God –
                Hate divides, anger, jealousy,
                    envy comes from a dark
                    place –

Galatians 2: 19-20

...I have been crucified with Christ and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but Christ living in me.

                    When we are one with God in love –
                we are deeply in touch with our own
                heart. The more we love, the more
                we know God.

We ask God to fill us more and more
abundantly with Himself –

Come Father, Son and Holy Spirit dwell
within my feeble heart and teach me to love.

                    Yesterday morning I went to McDonalds
                in the drive-in line and a person
                in front of me paid for my breakfast.

They didn't know me, they just did
it in love.

Love builds –

Hate is selfish and tears down –

Love unites hearts and souls because
Love is rooted in God.

                God is above – the more we love in
                    God – the more we are lifted
                    up.

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Holy Spirit Novena

Daily Novena Prayers

Opening Prayer

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Dear Father, we come to You in the name of Jesus, in union with Him in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in the Holy Spirit. We come to You united to the Child Jesus of Good Health and the Infant of Prague. We come to You in the perfect, sinless heart of Our Mother Mary, asking her powerful intercession, uniting ourselves to her holy tears. We come to You united to all the angels and saints, and the souls in purgatory.

Prayer for Holy Spirit

We pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on us, to be baptized by the Holy Spirit, that He will descend mightily on us as He did on the Apostles at Pentecost. That the Holy Spirit will transform us from fear to fearlessness and that He will give us courage to do all the Father is asking of us to help bring about the Reign of the Sacred Heart and the triumph of Mary's Immaculate Heart. We pray for the Holy Spirit to descend mightily on the Jesuits and the Poor Clares on the Shepherds of Christ leaders and members and on the whole Body of Christ and the world.

Protection by the Blood of Jesus

We pray that the Blood of Jesus will be spread on us, everyone in our families, and the Shepherds of Christ Movement, that we will be able to move steadfastly ahead and be protected from the evil one.

Healing

We pray for healing in body, mind, and soul and generational healing in ourselves, in all members in our families, and in all members of the Shepherds of Christ Movement, the Jesuit Community, the Poor Clares, the Body of Christ, and the world.

Prayer for Strength and Light

We adore You, oh Holy Spirit. Give us strength, give us light, console us. We give ourselves entirely to You. Oh Spirit of light and grace, we want to only do the will of the Father. Enlighten us that we may live always in the Father's will.

Eternal Spirit fill us with Your Divine Wisdom that we may comprehend more fully insight into Your Divine Mysteries.

Give us lights, Oh Holy Spirit that we may know God. Work within the heart, the spiritual womb of the Virgin Mary, to form us more and more into the image of Jesus.

Prayer to Be One with God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit

We long for You, Oh Spirit of Light, we long to know God, we want to be one with Him, our Divine God. We want to be one with the Father, know Him as a Person most intimately. We want to know the beloved One, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and live and dwell in Him at all times, every moment of our lives. We want to be one with You, Oh Spirit of Light, that You move in us in our every breath.

Prayer to Be One in Jesus

Let us experience life in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, so we can say as Saint Paul, "I have been crucified with Christ and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but Christ living in me...." Let us live, united to the Mass, all through the day being one in Him. Let us be able to love and know in this elevated state of oneness with our God. We long for Thee, oh beauteous God, we love You, we love You, we love You. We praise You, worship You, honor You, adore You, and thank You, our beloved God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Prayer to Dwell in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

We seek to be one in God, to live and dwell in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, our little heaven on earth, to experience life in the all perfect, pure, sinless heart of our Mother. We want the Holy Spirit to move in us and to be united to Jesus as the Bridegroom of our souls and be a most perfect sacrifice offered to the Father at every moment as we unite in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass around the world to help in the salvation of souls.

Prayer for the Holy Spirit and His Gifts

Come Holy Spirit, come, come into our hearts, inflame all people with the fire of Your love.

Leader: Send forth Your Spirit and all will be reborn.
All: And You will renew the face of the earth.

We pray for the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, we ask for perfection in our souls to make us holy, holy souls likened to God.

Dear Holy Spirit, we give ourselves to You soul and body. We ask You to give us the Spirit of Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord.

Prayer for the Word Alive in Our Hearts

We know, dear Holy Spirit, the Word in His human nature was brought forth within the womb of the woman. We pray that His word will be brought forth in our hearts as He lives and dwells in us. We want the incarnation to go on in our lives. Dear Holy Spirit, work in us.

Little Prayers to the Holy Spirit

Dear Holy Spirit, help us not to be ignorant or indifferent or weak, help us to be strong with the love of God.

Dear Holy Spirit, please pray for our needs for us.

Dear Holy Spirit, help us to respect God and to avoid sin. Help us to live in the Father's will.

Dear Holy Spirit, help us to keep Your commandments and to respect authority. Help us to love all things as You will us to love them. Help us to want to pray and always serve God with the greatest love. Help us to know the truth. Help us to have the gift of faith, hope, and love. Help us to know what is right and what is wrong.

A 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.

First Period
Meditations Nine Days

Romans 8:14-17

All who are guided by the Spirit of God are sons of God; for what you received was not the spirit of slavery to bring you back into fear; you received the Spirit of adoption, enabling us to cry out, 'Abba, Father!' The Spirit himself joins with our spirit to bear witness that we are children of God. And if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, provided that we share his suffering, so as to share his glory.

Romans 8:5-9

Those who are living by their natural inclinations have their minds on the things human nature desires; those who live in the Spirit have their minds on spiritual things. And human nature has nothing to look forward to but death, while the Spirit looks forward to life and peace, because the outlook of disordered human nature is opposed to God, since it does not submit to God's Law, and indeed it cannot, and those who live by their natural inclinations can never be pleasing to God. You, however, live not by your natural inclinations, but by the Spirit, since the Spirit of God has made a home in you. Indeed, anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

1 John 4:12-16

No one has ever seen God, but as long as we love one another God remains in us and his love comes to its perfection in us. This is the proof that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us a share in his Spirit. We ourselves have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as Saviour of the world. Anyone who acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. We have recognised for ourselves, and put our faith in, the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.

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.

1 John 4:7-11

My dear friends, let us love one another, since love is from God and everyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. Whoever fails to love does not know God, because God is love. This is the revelation of God's love for us, that God sent his only Son into the world that we might have life through him. Love consists in this: it is not we who loved God, but God loved us and sent his Son to expiate our sins. My dear friends, if God loved us so much, we too should love one another.

Acts of the Apostles 1:1-5

In my earlier work, Theophilus, I dealt with everything Jesus had done and taught from the beginning until the day he gave his instructions to the apostles he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken up to heaven. He had shown himself alive to them after his Passion by many demonstrations: for forty days he had continued to appear to them and tell them about the kingdom of God. While at table with them, he had told them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for what the Father had promised. 'It is', he had said, 'what you have heard me speak about: John baptised with water but, not many days from now, you are going to be baptised with the Holy Spirit.'

Acts of the Apostles 1:6-9

Now having met together, they asked him, 'Lord, has the time come for you to restore the kingdom to Israel?' He replied, 'It is not for you to know times or dates that the Father has decided by his own authority, but you will receive the power of the Holy Spirit which will come on you, and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judaea and Samaria, and indeed to earth's remotest end.'

As he said this he was lifted up while they looked on, and a cloud took him from their sight.

Acts of the Apostles 1:12-14

So from the Mount of Olives, as it is called, they went back to Jerusalem, a short distance away, no more than a Sabbath walk; and when they reached the city they went to the upper room where they were staying; there were Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Jude son of James. With one heart all these joined constantly in prayer, together with some women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

Acts of the Apostles 2:1-4

When Pentecost day came round, they had all met together, when suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a violent wind which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; and there appeared to them tongues as of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak different languages as the Spirit gave them power to express themselves.

Second Period
Meditations Nine Days

John 14:21-31

Whoever holds to my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me; and whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I shall love him and reveal myself to him.'

Judas-not Judas Iscariot-said to him, 'Lord, what has happened, that you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?' Jesus replied:

Anyone who loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make a home in him. Anyone who does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not my own: it is the word of the Father who sent me. I have said these things to you while still with you; but the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you. Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you, a peace which the world cannot give, this is my gift to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You heard me say: I am going away and shall return. If you loved me you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I have told you this now, before it happens, so that when it does happen you may believe. I shall not talk to you much longer, because the prince of this world is on his way. He has no power over me, but the world must recognise that I love the Father and that I act just as the Father commanded. Come now, let us go.

John 17:11-26

I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep those you have given me true to your name, so that they may be one like us. While I was with them, I kept those you had given me true to your name. I have watched over them and not one is lost except one who was destined to be lost, and this was to fulfil the scriptures. But now I am coming to you and I say these things in the world to share my joy with them to the full. I passed your word on to them, and the world hated them, because they belong to the world no more than I belong to the world. I am not asking you to remove them from the world, but to protect them from the Evil One. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world, and for their sake I consecrate myself so that they too may be consecrated in truth. I pray not only for these but also for those who through their teaching will come to believe in me. May they all be one, just as, Father, you are in me and I am in you, so that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe it was you who sent me. I have given them the glory you gave to me, that they may be one as we are one. With me in them and you in me, may they be so perfected in unity that the world will recognise that it was you who sent me and that you have loved them as you have loved me.

Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they may always see my glory which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Father, Upright One, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have known that you have sent me. I have made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and so that I may be in them.

I Corinthians 15:20-28

In fact, however, Christ has been raised from the dead, as the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep. As it was by one man that death came, so through one man has come the resurrection of the dead. Just as all die in Adam, so in Christ all will be brought to life; but all of them in their proper order: Christ the first-fruits, and next, at his coming, those who belong to him. After that will come the end, when he will hand over the kingdom to God the Father, having abolished every principality, every ruling force and power. For he is to be king until he has made his enemies his footstool, and the last of the enemies to be done away with is death, for he has put all things under his feet. But when it is said everything is subjected, this obviously cannot include the One who subjected everything to him. When everything has been subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to the One who has subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.

Revelation 3:1-3,12,16-19

'Write to the angel of the church in Sardis and say, "Here is the message of the one who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: I know about your behaviour: how you are reputed to be alive and yet are dead. Wake up; put some resolve into what little vigour you have left: it is dying fast. So far I have failed to notice anything in your behaviour that my God could possibly call perfect; remember how you first heard the message. Hold on to that. Repent! If you do not wake up, I shall come to you like a thief, and you will have no idea at what hour I shall come upon you.

Anyone who proves victorious I will make into a pillar in the sanctuary of my God, and it will stay there for ever; I will inscribe on it the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which is coming down from my God in heaven, and my own new name as well.

'...but since you are neither hot nor cold, but only lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth. You say to yourself: I am rich, I have made a fortune and have everything I want, never realising that you are wretchedly and pitiably poor, and blind and naked too. I warn you, buy from me the gold that has been tested in the fire to make you truly rich, and white robes to clothe you and hide your shameful nakedness, and ointment to put on your eyes to enable you to see. I reprove and train those whom I love: so repent in real earnest.'

Revelation 5:9-14

They sang a new hymn: You are worthy to take the scroll and to break its seals, because you were sacrificed, and with your blood you bought people for God of every race, language, people and nation and made them a line of kings and priests for God, to rule the world.

In my vision, I heard the sound of an immense number of angels gathered round the throne and the living creatures and the elders; there were ten thousand times ten thousand of them and thousands upon thousands, loudly chanting:

Worthy is the Lamb that was sacrificed to receive power, riches, wisdom, strength, honour, glory and blessing.

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.

Revelation 7:14-17

I answered him, 'You can tell me, sir.' Then he said, 'These are the people who have been through the great trial; they have washed their robes white again in the blood of the Lamb. That is why they are standing in front of God's throne and serving him day and night in his sanctuary; and the One who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. They will never hunger or thirst again; sun and scorching wind will never plague them, because the Lamb who is at the heart of the throne will be their shepherd and will guide them to springs of living water; and God will wipe away all tears from their eyes.'

Revelation 12:1-8

Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman, robed with the sun, standing on the moon, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant, and in labour, crying aloud in the pangs of childbirth. Then a second sign appeared in the sky: there was a huge red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and each of the seven heads crowned with a coronet. Its tail swept a third of the stars from the sky and hurled them to the ground, and the dragon stopped in front of the woman as she was at the point of giving birth, so that it could eat the child as soon as it was born. The woman was delivered of a boy, the son who was to rule all the nations with an iron sceptre, and the child was taken straight up to God and to his throne, while the woman escaped into the desert, where God had prepared a place for her to be looked after for twelve hundred and sixty days.

And now war broke out in heaven, when Michael with his angels attacked the dragon. The dragon fought back with his angels, but they were defeated and driven out of heaven.

Revelation 14:1-7

Next in my vision I saw Mount Zion, and standing on it the Lamb who had with him a hundred and forty-four thousand people, all with his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. I heard a sound coming out of heaven like the sound of the ocean or the roar of thunder; it was like the sound of harpists playing their harps. There before the throne they were singing a new hymn in the presence of the four living creatures and the elders, a hymn that could be learnt only by the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been redeemed from the world. These are the sons who have kept their virginity and not been defiled with women they follow the Lamb wherever he goes; they, out of all people, have been redeemed to be the first-fruits for God and for the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths and no fault can be found in them.

Then I saw another angel, flying high overhead, sent to announce the gospel of eternity to all who live on the earth, every nation, race, language and tribe. He was calling, 'Fear God and glorify him, because the time has come for him to sit in judgement; worship the maker of heaven and earth and sea and the springs of water.'

Revelation 19: 7-8

let us be glad and joyful and give glory to God, because this is the time for the marriage of the Lamb. His bride is ready, and she has been able to dress herself in dazzling white linen, because her linen is made of the good deeds of the saints.'

Revelation 21:1-10

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared now, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride dressed for her husband. Then I heard a loud voice call from the throne, 'Look, here God lives among human beings. He will make his home among them; they will be his people, and he will be their God, God-with-them. He will wipe away all tears from their eyes; there will be no more death, and no more mourning or sadness or pain. The world of the past has gone.'

Then the One sitting on the throne spoke. 'Look, I am making the whole of creation new. Write this, "What I am saying is trustworthy and will come true."' Then he said to me, 'It has already happened. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give water from the well of life free to anybody who is thirsty; anyone who proves victorious will inherit these things; and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the legacy for cowards, for those who break their word, or worship obscenities, for murderers and the sexually immoral, and for sorcerers, worshippers of false gods or any other sort of liars, is the second death in the burning lake of sulphur.'

One of the seven angels that had the seven bowls full of the seven final plagues came to speak to me and said, 'Come here and I will show you the bride that the Lamb has married.' In the spirit, he carried me to the top of a very high mountain, and showed me Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down out of heaven from God.

Revelation 22:20

The one who attests these things says: I am indeed coming soon.

Amen; come, Lord Jesus.

Scriptural quotations are taken from The New Jerusalem Bible, Doubleday & Co.
Imprimatur granted by Cardinal Hume.

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