Today's Readings

1 Peter 5: 1-4

I urge the elders among you, as a fellow-elder myself and a witness to the sufferings of Christ, and as one who is to have a share in the glory that is to be revealed: give a shepherd's care to the flock of God that is entrusted to you: watch over it, not simply as a duty but gladly, as God wants; not for sordid money, but because you are eager to do it. Do not lord it over the group which is in your charge, but be an example for the flock. When the chief shepherd appears, you will be given the unfading crown of glory.

 

 

Psalm 23
The good Shepherd

Yahweh is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
In grassy meadows he lets me lie.

By tranquil streams he leads me
    to restore my spirit.
He guides me in paths of saving justice
    as befits his name.

Even were I to walk in a ravine as dark as death
I should fear no danger, for you are at my side.
Your staff and your crook are there to soothe me.

You prepare a table for me
    under the eyes of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
    my cup brims over.

Kindness and faithful love pursue me
    every day of my life.
I make my home in the house of Yahweh
    for all time to come.

 

 

Matthew 16: 13-19

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ ‘But you,’ he said, ‘who do you say I am?’ Then Simon Peter spoke up and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied, ‘Simon son of Jonah, you are a blessed man! Because it was no human agency that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my community. And the gates of the underworld can never overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven: whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’

  

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. The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ!

                Holy Mother the Church helps us go
                    to happiness.

                Loving imitation of Christ!

                We were created to know, love & serve God.
 

Excerpt from the Priestly Newsletter 1999 Issue 2

Chief Shepherd of the Flock

His Body, the Church

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep. The hired man, since he is not the shepherd and the sheep do not belong to him, abandons the sheep and runs away as soon as he sees a wolf coming, and then the wolf attacks and scatters the sheep; this is because he is only a hired man and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep. (Jn 10:11-15¹)

Yes, the Good Shepherd has laid down His life for us. He gave His life so that we might have life in Him. This life we gloriously possess in Christ, we live within the Church. The Church herself came forth from the pierced side of Jesus. Vatican II tells us: "For it was from the side of Christ as He slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth the wondrous sacrament which is the whole Church."²

There follow various thoughts concerning the Church.

• St. Paul speaks to us concerning the Church as the Body of Christ: For as with the human body which is a unity although it has many parts—all the parts of the body, though many, still making up one single body—so it is with Christ. We were baptised into one body in a single Spirit, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as free men, and we were all given the same Spirit to drink. (l Cor 12:12-13)
  
  Now Christ’s body is yourselves, each of you with a part to play in the whole (1 Cor 12:27).

• The Church considered as Body of Christ certainly emphasizes the sense of corporateness that should permeate the consciousness of the Church’s members. We must think in terms of both what is good for the entire Church and, through this Church, what is good for the total human community. Even when we disagree among ourselves, we do so not because we want to glory in having the upper hand, but because we believe that to disagree here and now is necessary so that the truth might emerge for the good of the community. St. Paul speaks to us about this sense of corporateness: So if in Christ there is anything that will move you, any incentive in love, any fellowship in the Spirit, any warmth or sympathy—I appeal to you, make my joy complete by being of a single mind, one in love, one in heart and one in mind.
  
  Nothing is to be done out of jealousy or vanity; instead, out of humility of mind everyone should give preference to others, everyone pursuing not selfish interests but those of others. (Phil 2:1-4)
  
  In our sense of corporateness, that is, as we are motivated by a common purpose and a common good, we should learn to rejoice in the gifts and achievements of others. These are not isolated gifts and achievements. Rather, they redound to the good of the whole body. We all probably know of numerous instances of jealousy and a false sense of competition that have harmed the work of the Church. If the work of Christ is being accomplished, and if I am striving to do my part, does it really matter whether I or someone else is responsible for this or that particular accomplishment? Does it matter whether this or that group, or organization receives credit?
  
  St. Paul again has words for us: For what is Apollos and what is Paul? The servants through whom you come to believe, and each has only what the Lord has given him. I did the planting, Apollos did the watering, but God gave growth. (1 Co 3:5-6)

• The Church continues the work of the Incarnation. With Christ as the Head of His Body, the Church, she continues the life and the work of Jesus according to the pattern and characteristics of Christ Himself. Because Christ’s existence was centered in death-resurrection, so also is the Church’s existence centered in death-resurrection.

• Fr. Avery Dulles, S.J., tells us: "The Church therefore is…a sign. It must signify in a historically tangible form the redeeming grace of Christ. It signifies that grace as relevantly given to men of every age, race, kind, and condition."³
  
  God in His love was in a pre-eminent manner signified by Jesus in His incarnation.
  
  Pope John Paul II says: "Making the Father present as love and mercy is, in Christ’s own consciousness, the fundamental touchstone of his mission as the Messiah…"⁴
  
  Because the Church continues the mission of Jesus, she also must above all signify, or give witness to, love. The Church must give witness to God’s merciful love for us and our response of love, a response which includes love of God, neighbor and self.

• Vatican II points out to us: "…the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the fountain from which all her power flows. For the goal of apostolic works is that all who are made sons of God by faith and baptism should come together to praise God in the midst of His Church, to take part in her sacrifice, and to eat the lord’s supper." ⁵

• The community which is Church is a terrestrial reflection of the ultimate and absolute community—The Blessed Trinity. The Trinitarian community is a community of profound relationships. Because the Church reflects Trinitarian community, we, her members, are intended to have relationships not only with the persons of the Trinity, but likewise with one another. Authentic interpersonal relationships not only unite in a deeper knowledge and love the persons directly involved. They also make a person more capable of loving all others more deeply and, therefore, more capable of helping to deepen the bonds of community.

• Speaking to us concerning the maternal role of the Church regarding us, Henri de Lubac says: "Whether it is a question of the entire history of the human race or each of our individual lives, it can never be said that Christ is completed in any of us. In consequence, the maternal action of the Church towards us never ceases…Her mission of giving birth always remains. We do not cease to draw life from her…
  
  "One consequence resulting from this is of great significance. We know Saint Paul teaches that since the fullness of time has come to pass we are no longer children, enslaved by the elements of the world or imprisoned under custody of the law. For us the time of pedagogues is past. According to the logic of our faith, we must become adults in Christ. On the other hand, Jesus said, In truth I tell you, unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Mt 18:3). At first glance, these two instructions might appear contradictory. But they are not at all. Nor will we merely say that it is possible to reconcile them, that the Christian can become an adult and still preserve a childlike spirit. Such language would be completely inadequate. In reality, we must speak, not of reconciliation, but of correlation. The more the Christian becomes an adult in Christ, as Saint Paul understands this, the more also does the spirit of childhood blossom within him, as Jesus understands it. Or, if you prefer, it is in deepening this childlike spirit that the Christian advances to adulthood, penetrating ever deeper, if we can put it this way, into the womb of his mother."⁶

• Fr. Gerald Vann, O.P., speaks movingly about our life in the Church:
  
  "If you live in the Church and try to use the power of the Church to increase the life of the Church, then the power of the Church will make you yourself whole; and in your wholeness you will help to make your family and make your world. But you will be building for a more than earthly beatitude because you will be building the city which is eternal. Here you build in shadow, you build for a future which is invisible, and so you can only build in hope. And often your plans will be wrecked and your dreams come crashing about your ears, and you will need the strength of the Rock which is Christ to give you patience and fortitude…
  
  "…And when death has come to you…the Church will bless you for the life you have added to it, and there will be men to heed you better than they did when you were here…
  
  " But you, for your part, will be no longer in the shadow but in the glory of the Light inaccessible; you will be in the City that is yours because you helped to build it; you will see Him at last as He is, and be wholly with Him; and you will have no more any mourning or weeping or any other sorrow, for all these former things will have been transmuted into happiness and peace, and you will walk with Him—together with all those you have helped to bring to Him, even until the end of the world—you will walk with Him in happiness for ever, in the cool of the eternal evening."⁷

NOTES:

1. Scripture quotations are taken from The New Jerusalem Bible, Doubleday.

2. The Documents of Vatican II, "Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy," America Press Edition, No. 5.

3. Avery Dulles, S.J. Models of the Church, Doubleday & Co., p. 63.

4. Pope John Paul ll, Encyclical Letter, Rich in Mercy, United States Catholic Conference, No. 3.

5. The Documents of Vatican II, "Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy", America Press Edition, No. 10.

6. Henri de Lubac, The Motherhood of the Church, Ignatius Press, pp. 71-72.

 

Through Him, With Him, In Him

 

Shepherds of Christ

A Spirituality Newsletter for Priests

May / June 1997

• Incarnational Perspectives

• Scriptural Reflections

• The Priest and the Universal Church

• The Priest and the Eucharist

• The Heart of Christ, the Heart of Mary

• Thoughts on Prayer

• The Hidden Pain

• The Trinity in Our Lives

• Act of Consecration

• Notes

• Masthead
   

Chief Shepherd of the Flock

Incarnational Perspectives

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep. The hired man, since he is not the shepherd and the sheep do not belong to him, abandons the sheep and runs away as soon as he sees a wolf coming, and then the wolf attacks and scatters the sheep; this is because he is only a hired man and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep. (Jn 10:11-15¹)

The Son of God be-came man for our salvation. Yes, He became incarnate. He took to Himself a real human nature. Because Jesus possessed a real human nature, He could die for us. As the Good Shepherd, He has laid down His life for us, His sheep.

There are many thoughts which come to us when we reflect upon the truth that the Son of God took to Himself a human nature and dwelt among us. Some of these are as follows:

• The Word Was Made Flesh. St. John puts it very simply in his Gospel: "The Word was made flesh, he lived among us..." (Jn 1:14). Yes, John states it so succinctly, yet these few words contain a wealth of meaning and mystery. We should expect nothing else, since this brief statement of the fourth Gospel points out the central event of all human history. These words sum up God's creative and redemptive activity. They sum up God's process of Self-communication to us. Let us briefly examine some of the implications of the Son of God becoming man.
  
  Adequately to explain the intimacy of the way of redemption which is the Incarnation is beyond the human powers of articulation. Jesus is Emmanuel-God with us. How tremendously more approachable God is to us because we have Jesus. The more the mind dwells on the meaning of the Incarnation, the more one is stricken with wonder at this unfathomable mystery of love. And yet, for one reason or the other, we are tempted to allow the mystery of the Son becoming man to be a fact we take for granted. Our sense of appreciation becomes dulled, and our feeling of enthusiasm about Jesus becomes so tragically mediocre. If our enthusiasm concerning Jesus is less than it should be, what are the reasons? We are speaking of a deep-rooted penetrating kind of enthusiasm centered in our graced wills. Some-times this enthusiasm has deep emotional overtones. If properly controlled, this enthusiasm involving the human emotions can be a tremendous asset in one's commitment to Jesus. But we just do not have it within our power to turn the emotions on whenever we wish. The more fundamental enthusiasm for Jesus which is rooted in the human will can and should always be substantially with us.

• Realizing Jesus' Love for Us. One reason our commitment to Jesus can lose its ardor is that the realization of how much Jesus loves each of us becomes a kind of peripheral or notional assent. We intellectually assent to the fact that Jesus loves us, but at times such an assent does not have much more effect on our lives than admitting that Caesar crossed the Rubicon.
  
  We are meant to assent with our entire being to the fact that Jesus loves each of us so uniquely, so intimately, so unreservedly. This truth of Jesus' love for us is supposed to transform our lives. It is supposed to so grip our imagination so that we can say in the spirit of St. Paul: "For I am certain of this: neither death nor life, no angel, no prince, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power, or height or depth, nor any created thing, can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rm 8:38-39)
  
  Giving ourselves over to Jesus' love does not remove pain and suffering from life. But, through the prism of Jesus' love for us, suffering is seen in proper perspective. We see the pain and suffering as being able to lead to something greater, just as it did in Jesus' life. His suffering led to resurrection. We realize that if we relate to suffering properly, we become persons with a deepened capacity to love God and man - persons sharing more fully in Jesus' resurrection. With such an attitude, this pain dimension of life can at times become hardly noticeable because we are so taken up with Jesus and His cause.

• The Cause of Christ. What is this cause? Some two thousand years ago Jesus walked this earth preaching His Father's message, healing the sick, forgiving sins, extending His kindness and mercy, training the apostles. In all His varied activity, Jesus was accomplishing the redemption. Today, Jesus still walks the earth. He teaches the Father's truth. He is concerned with the sick and the ignorant. He administers the sacraments. He manifests the Father's love in many different ways. But, unlike that time of two thousand years ago, Christ Himself is not visible. He is visible only through us, His members. He extends to us the great privilege-and responsibility-of assisting Him in the continuation of His redemptive work. The total Christian community and each individual Christian are, then, certain extensions and continuations of the Incarnation. So close is this union between the Christian and Christ that St. Paul speaks very strikingly that it is more Christ than Paul who now lives: "I have been crucified with Christ, and I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives in me. The life I now live in this body I live in faith: faith in the Son of God who loved me and who sacrificed himself for my sake." (Ga 2:19-20)
  
  Each of us has the privilege of offering Jesus his or her own unique person, one's own humanity, one's own human existence. As with St. Paul we are asked to allow Jesus to live within us. Each Christian has the opportunity to allow Jesus to live through the uniqueness which is this particular Christian. To the extent the Christian does offer himself to Jesus in this manner, to that extent Jesus has a unique opportunity of continuing His redemptive work. To the extent the Christian holds back and does not allow Jesus to live in oneself, to that degree Jesus loses this unrepeatable opportunity.

• Historical and Cultural Awareness. If we are to carry forth the salvific mission of Jesus properly, the People of God, individually and collectively, must be aware of the Incarnation's principle of historical and cultural awareness. Jesus, through His enfleshment, became situated within an historical situation. He lived at a particular stage of history, in a particular geographical locale, amid a particular kind of culture. Jesus respected this historical conditioning. Without compromising His Father's message, Jesus was aware of His historical milieu. He lived like a good Jewish man of the time. He talked in language which respected the linguistic idiom and thought patterns of the then existent Jewish culture. He accepted the Jewish people as conditioned by a certain historical and cultural milieu, and dealt with them accordingly.
  
  The members of the Christian community must follow the example of Jesus. In living and proclaiming the Gospel message, the People of God must be aware of the particular historical and cultural milieu in which they find themselves. But, also after the example of Jesus, they must strive for this awareness without compromising the Gospel. We immediately see that the Christian community is consequently open to a double danger. On the one hand, there is the danger that the People of God will not read the signs of the times properly. On the other hand, in the effort to be aware of their historical setting there is the danger of compromising the Gospel message. But the Christian community has to face these dangers and not surrender to them.

• The Temporal Order. Another truth connected with the Incarnation - another incarnational perspective - leads us to a discussion of the Christian's responsibility toward the secular or temporal order of things. Through His enfleshment Christ has assumed, or united to Himself, not only the human race but the entire world or temporal order. The world literally belongs to Christ. The Christian's attitude toward authentic temporal values should therefore be obvious. He or she should love the world as redeemed by Jesus more than does the non-believer. The Christian should be the first to love all authentic human values. He or she should be the first to promote these values. Obviously, the real progress of these values must be according to their Christic design, however hidden this design may be at times. Very importantly, the Christian should be the first to be willing to suffer for the authentic progress of the world. And why? We reiterate-because it all belongs to Christ.
  
  The Christian should grieve because all is not well with the temporal order. He or she should be duly disturbed that there is so much violence, murder, social injustice, lust for power, drug peddling, pursuit of hedonism, increasing Godlessness. These and other evils sadly mar the name and image of Jesus which He imprinted upon the universe through His life, death, and resurrection. The Christian should grieve because the face of Christ is thus so often covered by the sinful dust of the market place.
  
  But the market place, the temporal order, is not all evil. Far from it. It is basically good with the creative goodness of God. It's basic goodness and beauty have been deepened by the grandeur of Jesus' redemptive effort. There is so much good in so many human hearts. This goodness manifests itself in countless ways. There are so many ways that many allow us to see their love for neighbor. There are those who selflessly give of themselves for the good of others in the field of medicine and nursing, in the political arena, in education, in science and technology, in laboring for justice for the consumer, in striving for pollution control. The list only be extended indefinitely. Some of these services of so many for the good of neighbor command national attention. Many, many more services are so hidden, hardly noticed.
  
  Each Christian, grieving at the world's evil, but rejoicing in its goodness and potential for greater good, must be inspired to action. He or she should deeply love the world because it belongs to Christ. He or she should deeply love the people who cover the face of this world, because they too belong to Christ. His blood has touched them and redeemed them. The love of the Christian for others must be an operative, an efficacious love. It must be willing to do, to accomplish, and, in rare cases, to die. Whatever one's state of life, be it activist or cloistered contemplative, this is the privilege and the responsibility of the Christian. He or she cannot be committed to Jesus in love without concomitantly being dedicated to the human family and the temporal order. Through the Incarnation, all this is interlinked.
  
  If the Christian is to promote the good of the temporal order, one must be free in regards to it. One must be free, even to the extent that he or she is willing to renounce certain temporal values, good in themselves, for the service of others. The one who really loves the world is the person who is willing to forego its use at times. To love the world and to love the things of the world are not always one and the same. A person can love the things of the world- selfishly - and consequently, not love the world in itself. This selfishness is an obstacle to helping the temporal order to progress as it should.

• The Human Condition. As we continue a survey of some of the truths or perspectives connected with the Incarnation, we notice that Jesus has taught us that redemption occurs within the human condition. The Father could have redeemed us in a number of ways. He chose that setting which was the Incarnation of His Son. Jesus saved us by being fully man, a man who exercised His manhood perfectly in the self-libation which was His. Although His mission led Him to give up certain human values, He saved us through real human acts. He saved us by loving Mary and Joseph, by eating with friends, by teaching, by loving the little children, by thrilling to the beauty of nature, by bearing properly insult and abuse, and, of course, by dying and rising. Summarily, Jesus saved us by living that kind of human life which was in harmony with His Father's will.
  
  Jesus did not rebel because He found the human condition less than perfect. He had come to change things, to give a new release to the goodness of man. He was a revolutionary in the best sense. His effort was to turn things around, to reorientate the human race toward God. But Jesus was by no means always the recipient of the goodness He had come to preach. Although He taught that one should love his or her neighbor, He himself was not always loved. He suffered, and He suffered mightily, because of the mean streak, the sinful streak in others. He Who had done nothing wrong, Who had showed His love for others in so many different ways, this man was the one they beat, insulted, scourged, crowned with thorns, and nailed to the cross.
  
  Jesus redeemed us within the human condition. We receive His redemption, and help channel it to others, within that same human condition. We are redeemed by living the authentically human in the way indicated by the Father's will. Although we are led by that will to renounce various human values at various times in various ways, we are saved by living a human existence, or we are not saved at all. We have often heard that grace does not destroy nature. But, perhaps, we do not too often penetrate the depths of this theological truth. Perhaps we do not very often have a firm realization that grace elevates nature, gives it a deepened capacity for fulfillment, and that grace needs nature. Grace must work through nature if it is to save. Consequently, we are not saved and sanctified by becoming less human. We are saved and sanctified by being very human-by allowing grace to perfect the various dimensions of our human nature. Grace inspires us to the fullest exercise of our humanity. Grace inspires to a Spirit-directed way of living, of eating and drinking, of working and playing, of enjoying sense pleasure, of experiencing joy and suffering.
  
  Participation in the human condition, then, offers us a marvelous opportunity of developing all our human capacities in the work of ongoing redemption. Yet the human condition is not by any means a completely pleasant situation. As Jesus before us suffered because of the human condition, so also must we. The human condition can be the occasion of suffering in so many different ways. For instance, a person can suffer because others treat him or her unjustly. One can suffer also precisely because someone loves him or her and he or she loves in return. This love makes one vulnerable to pain, not because the other intends it, but merely because to love within the human condition means a certain amount of inevitable suffering. We suffer also because we are to a certain extent pilgrims in exile. We have not yet arrived at our final destiny, a destiny which will be achieved only in eternity. Because we are still on the way, we are not yet completely alive, completely fulfilled. And because all this is so, we suffer, and sometimes deeply so. But, again looking to Jesus, we must learn how to encounter suffering properly. He encountered the human condition perfectly, whether it meant great joy or deep anguish. The Spirit asks us to live by the same attitude.

• Bodily Values. Another perspective very close to the heart of the Incarnation is the concept of bodily values. The connection is obvious. The Son of God assumed a human nature with its bodily dimensions. He has given a great new dignity to the human body. Any attitude which deprecates the body is consequently totally un-Christian. There have been numerous such attitudes which have influenced Christian thought and practice, unofficially, of course. There have been Manichaeism, Gnosticism, Neo-Platonism, and Jansenism, to name some. Each of these has in one manner or other failed to see the beauty, dignity, and purpose of the human body.
  
  The body, despite its basic goodness and grandeur, still has sinful tendencies, tendencies toward laziness, lust, unbridled pursuit of all kinds of sense pleasure. If the body is to achieve its purpose, it must obviously be properly disciplined. The one who loves his body the most is, quite obviously, not the one who gives to it all its desires. He or she is the one who takes the necessary means, however painful, to ensure that the body serves its wonderful and God-given purpose.

• Incarnationalism and Transcendence. In a quick survey of some of the important truths consequent upon the Son of God becoming man, certainly one to be mentioned is the fact that Incarnationalism leads to transcendence - to that which is invisible, to that which is above material limitation. At the offertory of the Mass, as the priest adds a drop of water to the wine to be offered, he says: "By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity." The Son has come to draw us to God - to the ultimate Transcendent Reality.
  
  Even though we would not have been given a supernatural destiny, we would have had a thrust toward the transcendent. Our graced nature has an even greater thrust toward transcendence. The ultimate Transcendent is God, and, as St. Augustine said long ago, our hearts will not rest until they rest in God.
  
  Christ, in His human nature, points to that which is beyond His humanity and everything else created. Christ ultimately points to God alone. Through His enfleshment, the Son was marvelously immanent in this world. But this very immanence of God pointed to the otherness, the transcendence of God. Jesus taught us that there is something beyond the material, something beyond marriage, and riches, and culture, something beyond all earthly values.
  
  Jesus told us to relate to these values in so far as they lead to God. He told us to renounce them in so far as this would be more conducive to union with God. Jesus told us something which we all have experienced - the created in itself cannot radically satisfy us. Only God can, and the created takes an ultimate meaning, and renders authentic satisfaction, only when it leads us to God. The Son became man to lead us to transcendence-indeed, to ultimate Transcendence, God Himself.
   

Scriptural Reflections

• Life and Death. "When this perishable nature has put on imperishability, and when this mortal nature has put on immortality, then the words of scripture will come true: Death is swallowed up in victory. Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?" (1 Cor 15: 54-55)
  
  Death is a certainty. It cannot be wished away. It cannot be avoided by pretending it is an event overtaking all people but oneself. It is a sign of maturity, then, that a Christian fully and meaningfully accepts the reality of his or her own death, and lives with this realization holding proper perspective in one's consciousness.
  
  God does not intend that a morbid fear of death poison the beauty of our days. He does not intend that the thought of death diminish our enthusiasm to be and to accomplish. He does not intend that the prospect of death become an obstacle to our fulfilling our potential here below. God rather intends that we see the profound union which is meant to harmonize the reality of life with the reality of death.
  
  If we have the proper attitude toward life, we will have the proper attitude toward death.If we live the life-event properly, we will be prepared to live the death-event properly. Death is the final event of our earthly sojourn. If we live life generously, we shall be oriented to live death generously. If we have tried lovingly to conform ourselves to God's will throughout the course of life, we will be disposed to accept His will in meeting death.
  
  The attitudes and virtues which comprise a good Christian life are, then, the same attitudes and virtues which will assure a good Christian death. The best preparation for a successful Christian death is a successful Christian life. To live each day as it comes with a deep love of God and neighbor is simultaneously to prepare properly for the inevitable event of dying. To live each day according to God's designs is to enable one to say, "Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?"

• Idols Which Should Not Be.
  
  "When Israel was a child I loved him,
  and I called my son out of Egypt.
  But the more I called to them, the further they went from me;
  they have offered sacrifice to the Baals
  and set their offerings smoking before the idols.
  I myself taught Ephraim to walk,
  I took them in my arms;
  yet they have not understood that I was the one looking after them.
  I led them with reins of kindness,
  with leading-strings of love." (Hos 11:1-4)
  
  God loves us tenderly, mightily. He watches us grow, guiding our steps with a loving concern so deep that we can never fully fathom it. He constantly showers us with his varied gifts, all signs of His love. Reflecting upon how much God loves us and how tenderly He cares for us, we wonder how we could ever wander very far from His loving truth. But we know there are numerous idols which can usurp His place in our lives if we fail to resist their specious attractiveness.
  
  Selfishness, greed, pride, laziness, gluttony, manipulation of others for personal gain, a hedonistic pursuit of pleasure, abuse of power and authority-these are some of the idols we can focus on rather than God Himself. It is amazing that the false glitter of such idols, which but thinly covers layers of ugliness, can tempt us to reject in varying degrees the loveliness of our God, our God who, infinite in all perfections, has consistently and overwhelmingly, and so mercifully, shown how much He loves us.
  
  Pursuing false idols will eventually leave us feeling empty, frustrated, disgusted. How would it be otherwise? For to pursue false idols in the place of God is to expect fulfillment and happiness from that which lacks the capability to satisfy the human nature God has created. God makes us for Himself. He alone can fulfill the fundamental longing we have for complete happiness. He made our hearts to seek Him, and in Him alone do they find the love, the peace, and the security they so deeply desire.

• The Way We Talk. Jesus tells us: "Make a tree sound and its fruit will be sound; make a tree rotten and its fruit will be rotten. For the tree can be told by its fruit. Brood of vipers, how can your speech be good when you are evil? For a man's words flow out of what fills his heart. A good man draws good things from his store of goodness; a bad man draws bad things from his store of badness. So I tell you this, that for every unfounded word men utter they will answer on Judgment day, since it is by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words condemned." (Mt 12:33-37)
  
  The above scriptural passage tells us that the faculty of speech is indeed a mighty one. It can accomplish much good. It can produce much that is evil. Consequently, to use speech in a Christlike manner is a sign that grace has taken deep hold of a person. On the other hand, a noticeably un-Christlike mode of speech is a sign that the way of Christ has not yet deeply penetrated the heart.
  
  Our speech is laden with numerous and varied possibilities for good. There is the sympathetic word. Words which convey a sense of "I understand and I care", can be a soothing balm to the troubled heart. As insignificant as such words may seem at times to the one offering sympathy and understanding, to the recipient they can be one of the most precious gifts possible. Especially is this true at moments of deep anguish. Only one who has been spoken to with sincere sympathy at such a time can fully appreciate the healing power of the kind and understanding word.
  
  We should also highly value our words of affirmation and encouragement. These can contribute significantly to the development of a person's potential. One person needs more affirmation and encouragement than another, but we all need some. Actually, we can be overcome with awe as we reflect on the powerful role words of affirmation can assume in helping a person to be and to to become. To help a person to be and to become what God destines him or her to be-what a privilege this is-and yet we have numerous, even daily opportunities to be such a catalyst. The right word at the proper time can help change the orientation of a person's life. On a more moderate scale, words of affirmation can be a sustaining force in a person's quest for continuing growth.
  
  We have discussed a few ways in which our words can be a very positive force. However, the faculty of speech which can be a source of constructive good, can also be the source of destructive evil. There is the uncalled-for word which is so unkindly cutting. Always uncharitable, it is especially so when it tends to crush the already bruised reed-the heart already burdened with paralyzing sadness, or discouragement, or grief. There is also the unjust word which can so suddenly and so decisively ruin a reputation. There is the word which spreads unjust criticism concerning a person who perhaps is performing marvelously in an almost impossible situation. There can also be the word which needlessly divides people. The different forms of community we must often build rather slowly, and with much effort, pain and selflessness. Then comes the divisive word which need not be.
  
  We can so often be tempted to look for the more grandiose opportunities to promote the cause of Christ. Such times, however, occur for most of us only at rather rare intervals. It is the more ordinary setting for accomplishing good that is usually ours. But the ordinariness of our opportunities does not detract from their inherent greatness. One of those ordinary possibilities for good, one which is constantly present, is the proper use of our God-given power of speech.

• To Pay the Price. "All the runners at the stadium are trying to win, but only one of them gets the prize. You must run in the same way, meaning to win. All the fighters at the games go into strict training; they do this just to win a wreath that will wither away, but we do it for a wreath that will never wither. That is how I run, intent on winning; that is how I fight, not beating the air. I treat my body hard and make it obey me, for, having been an announcer myself, I should not want to be disqualified." (1 Cor 9:24-27)
  
  Long hours of practice, the physical weariness, the mental pressure of competitiveness, the at-least-occasional sting of defeat, the discipline of regular hours and diet-these are some of the factors involved in the striving for athletic success. Some never do succeed; they never make the team. Some achieve only moderate success. A few achieve top glory. However, there are always numberless individuals who keep trying. Win or lose, the price must be paid even to have the chance at victory and success.The athlete knows unequivocally that to achieve a cherished goal one must be willing to extend the necessary effort-one must be willing to pay the price.
  
  Obviously, it is not only the athlete who must pay the price for achievement. Any worthwhile human endeavor demands effort and a type of discipline commensurate with the envisioned goal.
  
  The medical student, for example, must endure long years of demanding and competitive study. His or her friends, engaged in less demanding academic programs, have many more leisure hours for social events and other interests. The medical student is tempted at times to wonder if the demanded price is not too great, as one watches one's peers travel considerably easier paths. The overriding desire to be a doctor, however, is etched deep within the spirit. It resides there constantly, sometimes as a quiet glow, sometimes as a burning flame, always, however, as a persistent force thrusting the young man or woman onward toward a medical career.
  
  Our goal as followers of Jesus is to be committed Christians. If we are committed Christians, Jesus is the center of our existence. Jesus sums up all for us. In Him, and through Him, and with Him, we, as committed Christians, try to relate properly to all reality-to God, our fellow human beings, the temporal order, and all else. In order to be committed Christians, however, we have to be willing to pay the price-just as the athlete and the medical student.
  
  Sometimes, as we so well know from our past experience, we aren't willing to pay the price. We turn a deaf ear to the voice of Jesus, which quietly but persistently calls us to higher things, to a more mature living of the Christian life. Sometimes we refuse Him because of fear, sometimes because of laziness, sometimes because we simply don't take the time to listen. There are other reasons too, but whatever the cause, we are poorer because of our refusal. In the moments of honesty we admit this to ourselves. We know that to refuse Jesus is to refuse growth. It is to refuse more vital living. It is to refuse greater happiness. It is to refuse a greater capacity to love our neighbor. It is to refuse a greater love-union with Jesus himself.
  
  At other times, we respond to the voice of Jesus. Whatever the inconvenience involved, we are not deaf to His whisperings. Whatever the pain involved, we tell ourselves that He suffered much, much more for us. Whatever the fear involved, we are thoroughly convinced that Jesus will never fail us. We are open to the way He is leading. We pay the price-and how happy we are that we do. Jesus draws us closer to Himself. We feel more intimately the warmth and security of His loving touch. In these moments we wonder how and why we ever refuse His voice. We wonder how and why we ever refuse to pay the price.
   

The Priest and the Universal Church

The Directory on the Ministry and Life of Priests tells us: "The command of the Lord: go to all the nations (Mt 28:18-20) definitively expresses the place of the priest in front of the Church. Sent-missus-by the Father by means of Christ, the priest pertains 'in an immediate' way to the universal Church, which has the mission to announce the Good news unto the 'ends of the earth' (Acts 1:8).

"The spiritual gift received by priests in Ordination prepares them for a wide and universal mission of salvation. In fact, through Orders and the ministry received, all priests are associated with the Episcopal Body and, in hierarchical communion with it, according to their vocation and grace, they serve the good of the entire Church. Therefore, the membership to a particular church, through incardination, must not enclose the priest in a restricted and particularistic mentality, but rather should open him to the service of other churches, because each church is the particular realization of the only Church of Jesus Christ, such that the universal Church lives and fulfills her mission in and from the particular churches in effective communion with her. Thus, all the priests, must have a missionary heart and mind and be open to the needs of the Church and the world."²

  

The Priest and the Euchrarist

The Directory now speaks to us concerning the priest and his relationship with the Eucharist:

"If the services of the Word is the foundational element of the priestly ministry, the heart and the vital center of it is constituted, without a doubt, in the Eucharist, which is, above all, the real presence in time of the unique and eternal sacrifice of Christ.
"The sacramental memorial of the death and Resurrection of Christ, the true and efficacious representation of the singular redemptive Sacrifice, source and apex of Christian life in the whole of evangelization, the Eucharist is the beginning, means, and end of the priestly ministry, since 'all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate are bound up with the Eucharist and are directed towards it.' Consecrated in order to perpetuate the Holy Sacrifice, the priest thus manifests, in the most evident manner, his identity.

"There exists, in fact, an intimate rapport between the centrality of the Eucharist, pastoral charity, and the unity of life of the priest, who finds in this rapport the decisive indications for the way to the holiness to which he has been specifically called.
"If the priest lends to Christ, Most Eternal High Priest, his intelligence, will, voice and hands so as to offer, through his very ministry, the sacramental sacrifice of redemption to the Father, he should make his own the dispositions of the Master and, like him, live those gifts for his brothers in faith. He must therefore learn to unite himself intimately to the offering, placing his entire life upon the altar of sacrifice as a revealing sign of the gratuitous and anticipatory love of God."³

  

The Heart of Christ, the Heart of Mary

Pope John Paul II speaks to us movingly concerning the Heart of Christ: "The Heart of the Redeemer enlivens the whole Church and draws men who have opened their hearts 'to the inscrutable wealth' of this unique Heart....

"I desire in a special way to join spiritually with all those who inspire their human hearts from this Divine Heart. It is a numerous family. Not a few congregations, associations and communities live and develop in the Church, taking their vital energy in a programmed way from the Heart of Christ. This spiritual bond always leads to a great reawakening of apostolic zeal. Adorers of the Divine Heart become people with sensitive consciences. And when it is given to them to have a relationship with the Heart of our Lord and Master, then need also reawakens in them to do reparation for the sins of the world, for the indifference of so many hearts, for their negligence.

"How necessary these ranks of vigilant hearts are in the Church, so that the love of the Divine Heart shall not remain isolated and without response! In these ranks, special mention deserves to be made of all those who offer up their sufferings as living victims in union with the Heart of Christ pierced on the cross. Transformed in that way by love, human suffering becomes a particular leaven of Christ's saving work in the Church...

"The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus reminds us, above all, of those moments when this Heart was 'pierced by the lance,' and, thereby, opened in a visible manner to man and the world. By reciting the litany and venerating the Divine Heart in general, we learn the mystery of the Redemption in all its divine and human profundity."

And the Pope also speaks to us about the heart of Mary: "The Immaculate Heart of Mary was open to the word, 'Woman, there is your son.' It went to meet spiritually the Heart of the Son opened by the soldier's lance. The heart of Mary was opened by the same love for man and for the world with which Christ loved man and the world, offering up himself on the cross, even to that lance stroke from the soldier.

"Consecrating the world to the Immaculate heart of Mary means approaching the same Source of Life, through the Mother's Intercession, that life which flowed forth from Golgatha, the source which gushes out ceaselessly with redemption and grace. Reparation for the sins of the world is continually being accomplished in it. It is ceaselessly the font of new life and holiness.
"Consecrating the world to the Immaculate Heart of the Mother means returning under the Cross of the Son. More: it means consecration of this world to the pierced Heart of the Savior, by bringing the world back to the very source of its Redemption. Redemption is always greater than man's sin and 'the sin of the world.' The power of Redemption infinitely surpasses the whole range of evil in man and in the world.

"The Heart of the Mother is aware of it, more than anyone in the whole cosmos, visible and invisible. This is why she calls. She does not call only to conversion; she also calls upon us to let ourselves be helped by her, the Mother, to return to the source of the Redemption."⁴

  

Thoughts on Prayer

• Archbishop Joseph M. Raya of the Byzantine rite, speaks to us about prayer: "The Fathers can tell us how to fast and abstain, or how to recite and sing psalms. They can give some guidelines to the soul reaching out to touch the Lord. But they know that prayer is essentially an experience of a person-to-person relationship, a realization where mere information becomes life, where the soul reaches out to touch a deeper life. They know that it is ultimately God, and God alone, who teaches one how to pray. The cry of the apostles - 'Lord, teach us how to pray'-is not the expression of a desire for a new method. Rather, it is man's basic longing for a personal relationship and encounter with God."⁵

• A well-known spiritual writer of our times, Don Humbert van Zeller, reminds us that prayer is meant to unite us, not only with God, but also with each other: "Not only is there a law in our members which wars against the spirit and tempts to sin, but there is a law too which appears to be on the side of the spirit but which in fact wars against it. This is the law in us which tempts to personal autonomy. Pleading detachment from human affection and the avoidance of distraction, this spurious law is the enemy of the one thing, namely individual wholeness, which it claims to be preserving. We are whole only when we are one with everyone else. This unity of outlook has to be universal in application, because by being selective it fails in an essential quality.
  
  "Christ died for all, and not merely for an elect percentage...
  
  "So we must be on our guard against the temptation which disguises itself as a grace: the instinct which shrinks from closeness to our fellow human beings. Psychologists have one name for it, theologians another. By refusing to break down the barriers and by clinging to our independence, we are not only being proud and uncharitable, but are also defying the law of our nature-and a good law this time, not the kind of fallen law which tempts. Whatever the call to contemplation, it can never be the call...to contract out from mankind and live on a lonely peak.
  
  "Somehow an exchange must be assured which means more than mutual toleration. It means welcome, consideration, the crossing over from self to another self. This is why Christianity, the law of love, alone brings completeness..."⁶

• A modern master of prayer, Thomas Merton, tells us: "In the 'prayer of the heart' we seek first of all the deepest ground of our identity in God. We do not reason about dogmas or faith or 'the mysteries'. We seek rather to gain a direct existential grasp, a personal experience of the deepest truths of life and faith, finding ourselves in God's truth. Inner certainty depends on purification. The dark night rectifies our deepest intentions. In the silence of this 'night of faith' we return to simplicity and sincerity of heart. We learn recollection which consists in listening for God's will, in direct and simple attention to reality. Recollection is awareness of the unconditional. Prayer then means yearning for the simple presence of God, for a personal understanding of his word, for knowledge of his will and for capacity to hear and obey him."⁷

  

The Hidden Pain

There formerly was a popular song that talked about smiling on the outside, crying on the inside. The song touched upon a very real human experience. During the journey of life all of us come to turns in the road where heartache awaits us. It is impossible, given the human condition, to avoid all such turns. There are no detours available. For the most part, we have to bear the pain within the confines of our inner selves. There may be another, or a few others, who know about the pain. It can help some to talk to them about the suffering. But this by no means takes away all the pain. The greater part of the suffering remains there, lodged firmly in the center of the heart. And we wonder if it will ever leave. Obviously, we have to go on living, but the heaviness of the days caused by the heaviness of the heart, makes us feel as if we have lived, oh, such a long time, since the heartache began. We try to put up a cheerful front, and with God's help we even surprise ourselves at the degree of success we achieve with this smiling on the outside. But the few who know us well, and who may know of the pain, realize the price we are paying to appear the way we do.

During times of hidden pain, there is present a unique opportunity for spiritual growth. We have to ask Jesus to allow us to see the pain in proper perspective. We have to ask Him to help us grow through the experience-grow into persons who increasingly project Christ to the world. We have to be aware that Jesus is with us in His tender and consoling love, this love which soothes the hidden pain within, this love which allows us to be in basic peace.

  

The Trinity in Our Lives

St. Athanasius tells us: "Even the gifts that the Spirit dispenses to individuals are given by the Father through the Word. ...and so the graces given by the Son in the Spirit are true gifts of the Father. Similarly, when the Spirit dwells in us, the Word who bestows the Spirit is in us too, and the Father is present in the Word."⁸

  

Act of Consecration

Lord, Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the Flock, I consecrate my priestly life to Your Heart, pierced on Calvary for love of us. From Your pierced Heart the Church was born, the Church You have called me as a priest, to serve in a most special way. You reveal Your heart as symbol of Your love in all its aspects, including Your most special love for me, whom you have chosen as your priest-companion. Help me always to pour out my life in love of God and neighbor. Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in you.

Dear Blessed Virgin Mary, I consecrate myself to your maternal and Immaculate Heart, this Heart which is symbol of your life of love. You are the Mother of my Savior. You are also my Mother. You love me with a most special love as this unique priest-son. In a return of love I give myself entirely to your motherly love and protection. You followed Jesus perfectly. You are His first and perfect disciple. Teach me to imitate you in the putting on of Christ. Be my motherly intercessor so that, through your Immaculate Heart, I may be guided to an ever closer union with the pierced Heart of Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the Flock, Who leads me to the Father in the Holy Spirit.

 

NOTES:

1. Scriptural quotations are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, Doubleday & Co.

2. Directory on the Ministry and Life of Priests, as in special supplement, Inside the Vatican, No. 15.

3. Ibid., No. 48.

4. Pope John Paul II. Prayers and Devotions, edited by Bishop Peter Canuis Johannes Van Lierde, Viking, pp. 449-451.

5. Archbishop John M. Raya, The Face of God: An Introduction to Eastern Spirituality, God With Us Publications, p. 199.

6. Don Hubert van Zeller, More Ideas for Prayer, Templegate, pp. 119-120.

7. Thomas Merton, Contemplative Prayer, Doubleday Image Book, p. 67.

8. St. Athanasius, as in The Liturgy of the Hours, Catholic Book Publishing Co., Vol. III, pp. 584-585.

 

                Excerpt from the Priestly Newsletter 2001 Issue 1

Father Carter’s Mission: Newsletters, Prayer Chapters, and Spiritual Renewal A primary purpose of the Shepherds of Christ movement is to distribute this newsletter to priests and to begin prayer chapters praying for the priests throughout the world in all their needs and praying for the renewal of the church and the world. A coequal purpose is to provide a spiritual way of life for people interested in the spiritual life. The Shepherds of Christ Newsletter is currently being translated into Spanish, French and Portuguese. The prayers the people pray in prayer chapters were given by Fr. Edward Carter S.J. They can be found in the Shepherds of Christ Associates prayer manual which is enclosed and in this newsletter. They have been translated into Spanish, French, and Portuguese. All these prayers have the Imprimatur. Prayer manuals are available free of charge. Newsletters and tapes of Father Carter delivering the newsletter are available free of charge. The English and Spanish newsletter goes to approximately 75,000 priests and 8,500 religious. Internationally, over 245 bishops and 4 cardinals have requested it for their diocese. Funds are needed to help us distribute the newsletter to 90 foreign countries in the world. The second Newsletter Book is completed and ready for publication. This includes the newsletters of Father Carter from September/October 1996 to Issue 5, 1999. This too will be distributed worldwide to priests and bishops and others interested in the spiritual life. A Spanish version of 12 (July/August 1997 to Issue 5, 1999) of the newsletters in book form will soon be available. Please help us in anyway you can to distribute the newsletter. Help us by beginning prayer chapters, praying for the priests and the renewal of the Church and the world. For more information to order tapes or prayer manuals call or write us at : Shepherds of Christ Ministries  PO Box 193 Morrow, Ohio 45152-0193  Tel: (toll free) 1-888-211-3041 or (513) 932-4451.

 

Chief Shepherd of the Flock

I Lay Down My Life for My Sheep

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. The hired man, since he is not the shepherd and the sheep do not belong to him, abandons the sheep as soon as he sees a wolf coming, and runs away, and then the wolf attacks and scatters the sheep; he runs away because he is only a hired man and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep. (Jn 10:11-15)¹

Yes, the Good Shepherd laid down His life for us. And it is in this that we must lay down our lives daily in the Morning Offering, offering all we do as a sacrifice united to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and great grace will be released for souls. We can identify with Him in this that we offer everything we do in trying to please Him and serve Him as a sacrifice united to the Mass. The more we tell others to pray the Morning Offering, the more people will lay down their lives for souls and the more grace will be released for the troubled hearts.

Jesus’ Heart is pure and holy, our hearts are tainted.

Mary’s Heart is pure and sinless. The more we unite our offering with Their pure and holy Hearts, the more pure our offering and the greatest grace will be released for the troubled souls.

Souls, it is souls He came to save. Do we want to identify with our beloved Savior? Then we must not miss an opportunity to lay down our lives as a sacrifice for His precious souls.

Oh, how His Heart burned with love for the souls when He mounted the cross, covered with Blood and gave Himself as a sacrifice for souls.

Yes, the Good Shepherd laid down His life for His flock and we as His faithful shepherds must lay down our lives for His flock today.

There are millions of elderly that cry out daily, "Oh, God why am I here today?" In giving them a small card as simple as the ones that follow, they can offer their lives for souls which can help bring down great grace for the souls of this earth.
 

Say daily God, I give you my life in union with the Mass as an offering for the souls, the Church and the priests Help us!

      

Your life is so important for souls,  you can help bring down great grace.

      

Morning Offering My dear Father, I offer you this day all my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings in union with Jesus in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in the Holy Spirit.  I unite with our Mother Mary, all the angels and saints, and all the souls in purgatory to pray to the Father for myself, for each member of my family, for my friends, for all people throughout the world, for all the souls in purgatory, and for all other intentions of the sacred Heart. I love You, Jesus, and I give You my heart. I love you, Mary, and I give you my heart. Amen. Imprimatur: Most Reverend Daniel E. Pilarczyk, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, January 22, 1997. (applies to this prayer only)

 

Offering Our Lives to God

Written May 29, 2000:

When we come to Mass we make an offering of ourselves, all our sorrows, wounds, joys, our complete selves. We see our lives and we put ourselves in Mary’s Heart, ask to make the offering in greatest purity. In His Heart we offer the sacrifice IN HIM and WITH HIM.

We become one with Him as deeply as possible. We dwell in His most perfect Heart offering sacrifice to God for our sins and the sins of men. Our whole being is very active in the Mass as we realize more the power of this Sacrifice most worthily offered. We want to give ourselves as completely as possible, our past, all of ourselves, now become so one in the moment of sacrifice as we become one in Him pleading and begging to our God for purification, for help, for love of Him and all others. We give thanksgiving, worship and honor to Him, our whole being given as a sacrifice on the altar IN His pure and holy Heart. Being in the Immaculate Heart of our Mother, we offer sacrifice for the Church and the world.

We offer every precious moment of our lives, united to the Masses around the world, being one in Jesus. Every moment is a moment of sacrifice united to God. This is what we do in the Morning Offering.

The pages of the book of our lives are being written. These moments of our lives are so dear to God, for we offer our lives as a sacrifice for souls.

Are we spending the precious moments of our lives offering sacrifice to God for His honor and glory and giving our lives as a sacrifice for souls?

Write a short page every day or the following day, similar to an examination of conscience, seeing the good (so much good we accomplish we overlook, so many precious moments of joy we forget) and the times we were troubled.

The devil tries to keep us focused on the problems. We are His shepherds, helping to shepherd His flock, there is so much good we can accomplish every day. We should write a short page every day, date it, read over it when we are troubled, keep it in a book, see how many joyful moments we have every day. Give them to God as a bouquet of flowers placed at His feet on that last day, the pages of the life of our book. We will want all pages to be done in love, all for the honor and glory of God.

Through Him, With Him and In Him

We should pray the prayer from Jesus before His bitter passion.

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. (Jn 17: 20-26)

Jesus’ Heart is on fire for love of us.

God the Father loves us so much, give Him the moments of our lives as a sacrifice.

Peace, Love, Oneness – One Body In Him.

Our prayers are answered. We must pray from the depth of our hearts. Giving ourselves in consecration to Jesus, consecrating our hearts to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Offer sacrifice.

Put the flowers as gifts beneath the throne of God.

Plead and beg for souls.

Offer sacrifice. Be united as a body.

And the bell tolls.

Do you hear the bells toll?

The moments of our lives we cannot live again.

We are here to love and honor God and to serve Him, to prepare ourselves for the life hereafter and to help others get there.

He is the Son of God.

He showed us how to be children of the Father.

He laid down His life for His flock.

He is the Good Shepherd.

We lay down our lives in our Morning Offering.

We lay down our lives and unite to the perfect Sacrifice of the Savior.

The moments go by with such swiftness and now here is the day, the kids are grown, the grandchildren have come, and we still say, "TOMORROW I will be about my union with God."

There are so many precious moments that could have been united as a sacrifice for special grace for ourselves and others.

When He was here on earth, He merited grace by His life and death.

We need to tap into this grace our Divine Savior came to earth to gain for us.

We must tap into this sacrifice.

The moments of our lives tick away. There are millions of souls in nursing homes that could be offering up their lives for souls. We have to unite ourselves and reach them, all the souls that will hear us and unite to this Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. He is the Head, we are the members of His body, the Church. We must be united in the Mass, praying every moment together, being one in Him in this Holy Sacrifice so that great grace will be released.

All our most difficult trials, when we endure them with love, can help to bring down great grace.

The moment is now.

The bell is tolling.

I can only live in this moment.

I must unite it to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, praying for souls.

Every moment, whether of joy or suffering, can be a moment of grace being released for our needs, for the salvation of souls, to make reparation to God, to honor and love Him and obey Him.

OUR LIVES ARE INDEED PRECIOUS, every moment, a moment that our Father gave us as a child of God for His honor and glory.

Alleluia – God, help us unite as a body.

Alleluia – God, help us to see ourselves all one as the family of the Father with Mary our loving Mother.

How will the page of our book look for the Father? Whether we write or not, we lived it as He willed or we lived it against His will.

Were our moments, moments to give Him honor and glory, to help promote the kingdom, to help save souls and lead others to God? Did the moments help us have a higher place in heaven? Did we mature more in our love relationship with God?

Here are the flowers over the bed where Father Carter died. Before he died he requested these news-letters be continued with his writings. Father Carter wrote 17 books and 33 newsletters in the 33 years he wrote during his life. Father Carter very carefully helped prepare this writing in those last days so his writings will continue. THE MISSION given to him by God to reach the priests was twofold.

His mission was to reach the priests with these newsletters centered in consecration and to begin prayer chapters centered in consecration to pray for the priests and the renewal of the Church and the world.

His desire being that his writings be published in future newsletters and along with other articles, that prayer chapters be begun praying these prayers.

Tapes are available with this newsletter and Father Carter, himself, prays these short prayers he gave to us in the prayer manual for this purpose. A prayer manual is enclosed. Also on the tapes, another priest reads the powerful writing of Father Carter on Grace.

In the last three months of his life, he firmly directed how he desired the newsletter to be continued.

Our precious moments are to be petals of flowers we give to our Father for that last day.

The moments of our lives are being written. He has them all recorded in our book of life.

August 8, 1946.

Today is the day I was born into the world.

What a glorious day it was, for I came and had the opportunity to gain heaven and help others do likewise.

The bell tolls.

The long night will soon be over.

A new spring day buds forth.

In the fall, the leaves give way to winter and soon we see the days are gone and past. How did we love and serve the Lord?

The trees are barren, the trees are in full bloom – the years go by, the seasons change, a small sore, a big blockage in the heart, soon the long hard nights come to a close and the glory of the long days waited, arrives. God gives His people what is their due.

How did we love and serve our God? How did we promote the kingdom on earth?

How did we live?

How did we follow in the Good Shepherd’s footsteps and lay down our lives for our friends?

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. The hired man, since he is not the shepherd and the sheep do not belong to him, abandons the sheep as soon as he sees a wolf coming, and runs away, and then the wolf attacks and scatters the sheep; he runs away because he is only a hired man and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep. (Jn 10: 11-15)

 

This rosary was received live and
transcribed from a live rosary tape.

May 24, 1998
Morrow, Ohio

Song: I love you, Jesus

Glorious Mysteries

Song: I will be with you

Jesus: My dear beloved ones, I have called you to this place this day that you will hear the messages that I deliver to you. For I am the Bridegroom of your soul. Do not be afraid. Open wide your heart and let Me come into your heart and possess your soul.

And so we say to you, Prayer for Union with Jesus

R. And so we gather this day, May 24th, 1998 as Our Lord has called us to come to this place in Morrow, Ohio to do a special rosary, to feed our souls with His precious love. We are here because He has called us and it is indeed a great gift that He gives to us.

Song: Come Holy Spirit

R. And so we come to You in one mind and one heart and we say together, I give you my heart, Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. I give you my heart my Blessed Mother. And I unite in oneness with all gathered here in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary in great love.

Jesus: Put aside all of the anxiety, the fear, all of those things in your heart that will hold you back from this intense union with Me. For I have called you to My Heart and it is there that you will be a major intercessor in order to help to bring the Reign of My Sacred Heart and the Triumph of My Mother’s heart to this world.

R. And so I say to You Father, by the precious Body and Blood of Your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, we cast satan into hell. We wish to be free, to be united in the deepest union with our Master and our Lord. He is the Bridegroom of our soul.

Song: I am with you.

R. And so we pray this rosary for the following intentions and we cast the devil into the fires of hell away from us and we ask for the protection of St. Michael and for all the angels to be with us. And now we say to You Father, in the name of Your Son Jesus in the Holy Spirit with all the angels and all the saints and the souls in Purgatory, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, come and possess our soul.

    We ask God for forgiveness for all of those things inside of our hearts that we know that we have done and that we have failed in being like You. And we want to be free at this moment and put aside everything. That we can just be one in You. That we can be the great intercessor pleading in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. So before my eyes I see somewhere in this world at this moment the priest raising the Host at the consecration of the Mass and I want to be there in the deepest union united in the heart of that priest, united in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary in such oneness with Jesus in that Sacrifice that God the Father is in such oneness in me. I feel as one. I feel the union of myself in the Sacrifice with the priest. I feel the union of myself in this Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with Jesus that I am one in this Sacrifice offering myself to the Father and in this I feel the oneness of myself to the Father for He has united my soul to my Beloved Jesus, to God the Father, to the Holy Spirit in such union that I am one with God. And I know that in this great oneness that the petitions that we pray here will be heard. Can I ask everyone here to see themselves united in this Holy Sacrifice of the Mass wherever it is being offered at this moment uniting in oneness to Jesus in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Father in that oneness that we know exists between Jesus and the Father in the Holy Spirit. And with all our hearts realizing that the prayers that we pray here, despite our sinfulness, when we go to the Immaculate Heart of our Mother which we wish to be in the Immaculate Heart of our Mother, that the prayers that we pray here will make a difference to this world. That He is leading all of us here especially in the Shepherds of Christ into such intimacy with Him that we exist in Him in an elevated state that when we intercede to Him that great grace will be released no matter where we are. We know because He has taught us of the great grace that is released in the Mass when we attend.

    But it is wherever I am in that quietness that whatever is going on around me, that may be disturbing to me or I feel the need to pray, that I can go to this place and be united in the deepest union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and intercede in this oneness with the Father. Do you feel the presence of God within you? For He lives and dwells within our hearts when we are in the state of grace. Do you feel that oneness between the Father and Jesus and the Holy Spirit within our feeble hearts? I feel very united to God and I know that when I pray that those prayers are answered, for with my whole heart as Jesus said in the Scriptures, if we pray to the Father in the name of Jesus that He will answer those prayers, because He knows that we love Jesus, and we do love Jesus. He knows our faults, we are sinners. We cry within our heart for the Reign of the Sacred Heart and the triumph of Mary as Queen of our hearts. And this is what I have found. It is so beautiful because the more that I go to the Holy Eucharist that there is this intimate time I know with Him after I receive the Eucharist when He imprints knowledge of Himself on my soul. And that knowledge of Himself is that I become more one with Him and I want what He wants and what He wants is to be the King of our hearts.

    What He wants is the salvation of souls. And what is so beautiful is that we do not even know this is happening inside of our soul. But because we are united to Him, our Bridegroom, in this intimate way, His desires become our desires. Not an exchange of words that may occur when I receive Him at the Eucharist, it is: we become more one in Him. And His desires are the desires of our heart. His love for His Mother is helping us to love His Mother more because we are becoming one in Him.

    And more than the things of the earth that we used to crave, since we are becoming intimately united to Him, the things in our heart that we crave, are the things that God wants for this earth. Now look at yourself. He wants us to be interceding to the Father for the graces that we need for our family. We pray united to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. So before my eyes I see somewhere in this world at this moment the priest raising the Host at the Consecration of the Mass and I want to be there in the deepest union united in the heart of that priest, united in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary in such oneness with Jesus in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass pleading to God the Father for grace.

    I feel the union of myself in the Sacrifice with the priest. I feel the union of myself in this Sacrifice with Jesus that I am one in this Sacrifice offering myself to the Father and in this I feel the oneness of myself to the Father for He has united my soul to God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I am one with God. And I know that in this great oneness that the petitions that we pray here will be heard.

    We are one in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass going on right now. The prayers that we pray here, when we go to the Immaculate Heart of our Mother, will make a difference to this world. That He is leading us here, especially in the Shepherds of Christ into such intimacy with Him. That when we intercede to Him that great grace will be released, pray united.

    I pray for the Reign of the Sacred Heart and the triumph of Mary’s heart and for the souls. We pray united to the Mass. I want the Father’s will on earth as it is in heaven. This is His message. We consecrate our hearts to Jesus and Mary. We are becoming more one in Him and He is living in us in a more intimate way. We have put on Christ and we can say more and more as St. Paul says,

...I have been crucified with Christ and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but Christ living in me. Galatians 2: 19-20

    I would like to read what He gave to me on Ascension Thursday but I’ll wait until that mystery. And then I would like to read what I got this Ascension Thursday, three years later from Him shouting out loud “I am alive. I am alive. I am alive.” And He is treated as a dead object in many cases. We have gone to Him in the openness. We have laid ourselves bare. We have shown Him our faults. We have shown each other our faults in this Movement. We have skinned our knees. But it is in the desire to please God, we have tried to let God work within us to change us.

    We are merging more in oneness as we die to our imperfections. We can all lay our arms open as Christ did on the cross and say, “We are sinners but we want to be like Him.” We come here to serve. We come here to love. We know that we are imperfect indeed. We know that we can go deeply into the heart of our Mother and then go into the Heart of Jesus. We have been trained by Christ that we can say,

...I have been crucified with Christ and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but Christ living in me. Galatians 2: 19-20

Song: Be Not Afraid

R. And so we really know that what we do here, our prayers, our fervor, our love of God is making a difference to this whole world. And last night Joe and I went to church and I went to the back of the church and here’s the usher, he’s laying flat on the ground and I’m looking over there and they’re wiping blood away from him. I don’t know what happened but it held up the Mass about 8 or 9 minutes. Do we know when the time would be? And you see this all through the Old Testament that these people are doing these horrendous things and God has to do something to get them back in line. They don’t even think about the sin. Look at what is on the television that’s being piped into our children’s minds, the murdering of little babies. What you do today as far as your seriousness with striving more and more to live as Christ is alive in us, will make the difference to the whole world. And I hear Him say, “My shepherds you are making the difference.” And Mary says, “His hand is raised and you are making a difference.” I know this. I went to church last night and I have experienced this over and over again. And I consecrate the people’s hearts to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. And then pray and consecrate the priests as far as I am able. And then pray that the Holy Spirit will come upon the priests so that when he does the homily, that the Holy Spirit will work through him. And then I pray that the Holy Spirit works in all the singers and all the readers.

    Pray to the Father in the name of Jesus through the intercession of the Virgin Mary in the Holy Spirit and we can help change things. We go to the heart of Mary, we are sinners. This is what it says in John, when you pray to the Father in the name of Jesus, He will help us. I got the Father’s Prayer. And they were going to lock the church and I had to go out into the car. And I went out into the car and I’m getting this and Joe’s sitting there and he’s tapping and I said, “Joe, I’ve got to do this.” So then I was going to go over and sit on the steps. So he finally realized that I was really serious. So I wrote this prayer and it took less than 15 minutes. This is how Jesus wants us to live. He wants us to live this prayer in our daily life. Realizing that our union with Christ at every moment to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will make the difference to the peace in the world, in helping to bring about the Reign of the Sacred Heart and the triumph of Mary’s heart. It will make the difference in begging for mercy. And so we all unite to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass wherever it is going on around this world, at the Consecration of the Mass. We unite in oneness. The Father looks and sees His Son in the Holy Sacrifice and we are one with Him.

    I know that oneness now between the Father and Jesus so intent in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. And everything was one at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at the Consecration. Everything was one, all the angels, all the saints. Everything was united. I was one with Jesus, but I was so one with the Father, that I knew that He would hear these prayers. That’s what we have to realize in the Shepherds of Christ, the power is in Him. And so let us pray this prayer together: Now get to that place, that place of union with Jesus in the Mass and united to the Father and pray to Him because this prayer was given to me and I heard it very clear.

May 16, 1998 - Prayer to the Father

My Father,

    With my whole heart I desire to consecrate the whole world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I wish with my whole being for the salvation of souls and that man live according to Thy Holy Will. I pray my Father that we may be one in You and Your Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit that we may intercede to You for this cause.

    It is this burning desire within my soul to spread the consecration to the far ends of the earth, that the cries of Your children are cries of glory and honor and adoration, praising God as their God.

    My Father, at this moment a soul hangs on the edge of death. For all eternity they will go to a place. It is not the plot of this soul as it trods this barren land to decide on the edge of death. You created us that we would grow in our oneness with God, that we would mature more and more in our image and likeness to God.

    And so My Father, I pray with every cell in my body for this earth. In the name of Your Son Jesus I consecrate all the souls of this earth to the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the Holy Spirit in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with all the angels and saints and the souls in Purgatory.

    I beg You Father for mercy.

    I beg You Father for assistance.

    I beg You Father to help us to spread this consecration to the far ends of the earth.

    Please help us. We are helpless little ones coming in the heart of our Mother, bleeding from our wounds and our sins. Your Son, Jesus Christ, shed the last drop of His Blood for the salvation of mankind. We wish to unite in this sacrifice, sacramentally made present in the Mass all over the world at every moment. Help us to make reparation to You for the sins of men.

    Please my Father, help us. Held in the heart of Mary and the Heart of Jesus we come as the children of Eve to beg for the Reign of the Sacred Heart and the Triumph of Mary’s heart. Look upon our love, Your shepherds in the Shepherds of Christ, our sacrifices and devotion to You Our Beloved Father. Come by the means of the Holy Spirit and sanctify us and make us whole, that we are one in Your Son Jesus, praying to You, Father, in the name of Your Son Jesus in the Holy Spirit united with all the angels and saints, in the heart of Mary. We beg for help for special intentions concerning the Movement.

    We beg for help to reach the Churches to give these prayers of Jesus to them, to reach the schools and the family. Help we cry as poor banished children of Eve. Help us Father to do this work the Good Shepherd has entrusted to us. Help us to be one in You that we act as intercessors to help this world to be turned to God as their God, loving, honoring and adoring Him as the Lord of Host is truly present on His throne.

    We are Your children Father, we implore You to answer our prayer.

    We love You, we worship You, we adore You, we thank you and we sing from the bottom of our hearts.

Song: Holy God we Praise Thy Name Alleluia end of prayer

R. And so we pray Father for all the intentions that we have all prayed for all day, all the intentions that are on the list, the intentions in Fr. Carter’s heart, all the intentions in all the hearts of all the people here and for special intentions. We ask Father, in the name of Jesus, for special intentions. Thy will be done Father, in the name of Jesus through the intercession of Mary, in the Holy Spirit, united with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We offer our prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this whole day for all these intentions in the Shepherds of Christ Movement and all that we have just mentioned. We love You so much and we thank You for the great gift that You have given to us, that You have given us a sharing in knowing You most intimately and in knowing so much about Jesus in the Eucharist. We love You. We love You. We love You. Amen.  This is the key to be one in our hearts. And this is what our whole role is in the Shepherds of Christ, to be one, that we have to put these people that we have any kind of problem with into the heart of Mary, that we cannot feel division in our hearts, that we have to turn problems we can’t solve over to Him, putting them in the heart of Mary and wanting to be united even with our enemy. That doesn’t mean that we have to go after them. Put them in the heart of Mary and love them as Christ loved them and pray for them. This is what we are all about here. As it was in the gospel today. This is truly our day and I know why Our Lord called this rosary here that they will all be one, the Prayer of Jesus.

    We lay in bed at night and it is a great time to be alive in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, bringing all of our problems and all the people we love and our children and anybody that was in the Movement before, all of them, bringing them in the heart of Mary and seeing them filled with love and doing the Father’s will. And then going to sleep and just being immensely united to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and the Blessed Mother and all the angels and saints and to one another. For there is a great gift that God has given to us that we do have this family. And satan may try to divide us in our hearts to think things about each other. But we have a great gift for we truly have family members that we are united to in the depth of the Heart of Christ. And this is how it’s going to be all over the world. We must see ourselves as so one with the pope.

    He dwells in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Let us see ourselves as one with him, one with all these priests that we pray for. See them doing the Father’s will. See them holding up the Host and loving God with the deepest love. And put them in the heart of Mary and the Heart of Jesus. We will know oneness in our heart as the Father wants it to be, oneness in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. And that is our prayer. Amen.

Song: The Rosary Song

Our Father - (We pray for the pope.)

Song: Be Not Afraid

 

The Resurrection of Jesus from the Dead

l. Hail Mary

2. R. I think I should read this now. This is from May the 25th of 1995. And that Ascension Day, I just love the Ascension because of these experiences that I had. Joe was born on Ascension Thursday. May 25, 1995, I had just so many experiences. I had a lot of experiences at Mass, Jesus’ whole life was one inside in this experience in the Mass. I just can’t even describe what happened. And I could hardly walk after I got out of the Church because I was just so weak from what I had gone through.

    But it was like I saw all the mysteries of the rosary all as one. And I knew the Jesus I knew in the Eucharist as one, the Jesus that I know now and everything I ever knew about Jesus all in one. And it was all one in vivid detail which is what ends up happening when the shade goes up and He gives me a light like this. I just know so much of all this and it’s not even in a split second, it just is. You’re knowing all this. So I know the baby Jesus, I know Him ascending into heaven, Jesus dying on the cross, Jesus in the Eucharist. I just had the knowledge of knowing God in this intense illuminated state, all as one. And that was during Mass. And then when I walked out of the place I could hardly walk and I remember that I got in my car and I drove down and I bumped some guy at the stop sign. And then it shook me and I was going on because he got out of the car and luckily he didn’t do anything.

    And then I went home and then I started having these other experiences. And at that time I wasn’t real connected to the Father. I had these experiences of really knowing that when you pray to the Father and I was crying because I was overwhelmed with the love of the Father which at that time of the stage my union was deeper with Jesus, I existed in God the Father and Son. It was different from what I knew. It was a more mature relationship of what I had at that time and so I just had this overwhelming love of the Father and I was crying because I knew the light that He gave me that when I prayed to the Father that it could really change the course of things. And so I was just crying because I was so filled with the love of the Father and this light that He gave me about knowing the Father really, really answers the prayer. We can affect the things that are going on, in the earth, by the fact that we pray. This was the writing that I got.

May 25, 1995

R. Prayer is a lifting up of our minds and hearts to God. Who am I that I can change any event that is occurring in the lives of another, that I can affect the outcome of any event? I am a child of my Father. My Father is the Almighty God. How I love my dear Father. He is God and He has created me in His own image and likeness. My beloved, dear Father, how I love You that You give me such gifts - that You allow me to share in Your life!

    You are the Father of Jesus and You are My Father. Thank You, My Father, for all Your gifts and for Your life. Who am I that I can affect the life of any person?

    I am a child of God. I call on my dear Father and He loves me so, He listens to me. end of excerpt

R. I’m writing this and that’s the thing when I write it’s like my hand goes over the page. So if I just ever had to rewrite something it would take me so long to rewrite it because it’s like I’m really not writing this when I’m writing. I’m crying all over this page sometimes while I’m writing it, so you know that it’s unbelievable that it comes out like this because I’m in this elevated state. I am gliding over this page and I am crying sometimes in this elevated state. So the way that this came out is:

May 25, 1995 continues

R. I lift my heart to You, my dear beloved Father and You listen to little me and You care for me so much. I call upon God and the Almighty God cares for me with such love that He listens. end of excerpt

R. So then I had this experience and I don’t know where it splits. But then after I was elated in this immense love with the Father, then He started giving me this immense suffering and I was buckled over as He was calling out, “I am alive. I am alive. I am alive.” And that suffering that He allowed me to experience, for the fact that He’s alive but then He’s treated the way He’s treated.

Jesus: Such truths have been given to you from My Father because of His great love for you. You are far more precious than the finest pearls, My beloved child. The Father so loved you He gave His Son so that you would have life. He gave His Son as a sacrifice for you. The Father gives to you His life through Jesus, His Son. You partake in His Divine life. I am Jesus, Son of the Living God. My life I give to you, I live in your being, My beloved, I impart to you My Divine life. How many turn their backs on the great gift of this life given from the Father. To know this life and to know all those who have rejected this great gift!

    I am the Almighty God, My power is endless.

R. This is another thing. I keep being taught about His power so this is something that I think He’s going to give us more insight into this mystery of His power. And it’s His power that’s going to do it all through this intercessory prayer. It’s His power. We do as He acts in us, but it’s His power.

May 25, 1995 continues

Jesus: The power and might you felt within yourself is only a small sampling of My immense power.

    I am God and I am allowing you to experience what you are experiencing to spread My love to others. Your immense understanding into these mysteries will help you speak and write them for others.

    I have chosen you as an instrument to touch many hearts and bring them to My divine love. Great gifts and understandings into these mysteries I am giving to you. You will lead many priests to the love of God. end of excerpt

R. Now He said when He gives these messages He’s speaking to us. So in this message we are His messengers. And that was one thing too with me being removed. It was so that the people here would assume this responsibility that they realize that these messages are given to them. And they’re the messengers.

May 25, 1995 continues

Jesus: I am alive. I am God. I long to be loved by man and many have turned their backs on Me and forgotten Me. You must tell them all I am allowing you to experience, these sufferings and understandings into My deep love.

    This is the beginning of many days when I will allow you to experience the rejection I felt from those I loved. Your heart is in immense pain for the souls who reject Me despite My love for them. end of excerpt

R. So all of us should identify with this writing because this is how its been for all of us.

May 25, 1995 continues

Jesus: I beg you to speak and write. Make reparation for souls that have forgotten My love. Spread the love of My Sacred Heart and My Mother’s heart, throughout the world. I love, I love, I love My beloved souls. I beg you to tell them. I beg Fr. Carter to tell every soul on this earth of My love. You will continue to suffer such pain and anguish in your heart. Suffer in silence for souls. I love so deeply and am so gravely offended!

    I am Jesus, My dear, little child. I am alive and in this world. I live in the hearts of men, I live in the consecrated Host, I am forgotten and ignored and treated with such dishonor. end of excerpt

3. May 25, 1995 continues

Jesus: Speak for Me, I beg you to spread this love throughout this earth. I am sending you as missionaries into this world.

    On this Ascension Thursday, I have given you great sufferings and great joy. I have allowed you to experience the highest ecstasies in My love and plunge you into deep pain in your heart for those who reject Me.

    You, I send as missionaries to carry out the work I have begun. Be fearless and pray to the Spirit. This day I am giving you abundant graces to speak, and through this speaking, others are sent into this world as My apostles. end of excerpt

4. May 25, 1995 continues

Jesus: It is through the Shepherds of Christ Movement My love will be spread. Circulate My messages and rosary meditations. The love of the two Hearts will be known throughout this world through these messages and rosary meditations.

    You will be fearless, everyone I send to you is a messenger to carry out My love. Circulate these letters with FIRE for I am delivering them to you in FIRE.

    I am Jesus Christ, the Living God. I am allowing you to experience My life, alive in you and giving you these emotions to spread My love. end of excerpt

5. May 25, 1995 continues

Jesus: On this Ascension Thursday, I beg you to carry out the message to this world. Live My life in your life, every moment My life living within you.

    I am the Way, I am the Truth, I am the Life. I have commissioned you to go out and to carry this message - the message of My immense love for ALL mankind, including My burning love for My priests and religious. Souls will turn their hearts to Me from these letters. This is the mighty medicine to turn a sick, cold world to hearts filled with the love of God. end of excerpt

6. May 25, 1995 continues

Jesus: Prayer, My beloved ones, is the lifting up of your minds and hearts to God. When you intercede to Me through My Mother’s heart, I will pour out My greatest mercy.

    I will not refuse hearts begging for grace for their loved ones. Pray from your whole being. Let My life live in you. You can pray and ask God to send help. You do not know the power of a heartfelt prayer. I listen to your prayers. The Father and Holy Spirit are listening to your prayers. The more you unite with God, the greater your intercessory prayer. I am Jesus. I am alive this day. I ask you to spread My messages to the world. end of excerpt

7. May 25, 1995 continues

Jesus: I am crying out in your heart on this Ascension Thursday. I ascended into heaven and I have left behind you to carry out what I began. I am with you. I am alive this day. I will unite with you and the earth will know the power of the Almighty God. I am Jesus Christ, Chief Shepherd of the flock. Lead My little ones home - home to the burning embers of My Most Sacred Heart, through My Mother’s heart. end of excerpt

8. May 25, 1995 continues

R. I cried so hard, I have never been so immersed in heartache. I heard Him shout, “I Am Alive, I Am Alive.” I cried so hard, I could hardly write. end of excerpt

9. May 25, 1995 continues

R. I know Him. He is alive in my being. My soul is filled with His love. I live the life of Jesus and Mary in my life. I love His life, her life - Their presence forever with me. From this great gift, these rosary meditations, His life has become one with mine. I feel His life in the Mass. I hear Mary under the cross. I hear the cries for the souls going to hell for their willfulness and sins. I hear the laments of Jesus in the tabernacle - how He longs and thirsts for souls and is neglected and ignored. I hear Him tell of the sacrileges committed against the Holy Eucharist. end of excerpt

10. May 25, 1995 continues

R. I heard Him this day. I felt His presence and the presence of the Almighty God as He cries out, “I am alive, I am alive, I am alive.”

    He is alive. We have the Mass. He gives us Himself in the Eucharist. Mary is appearing, we are given this rosary. We are sent as soldiers by Him in the Shepherds of Christ. We are thirsting for union with Him, sent by Him, apostles to go out to this world and spread His love, one with the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, one with the Trinity. He will light this earth with hearts on fire for love of Him. end of excerpt

Song: A Song from Jesus

 

The Ascension of Jesus

1. May 25, 1995 continues

Jesus: I come to you with greatest love, I am your loving Savior, I am your God, I died for you, I come to you this day.

    The earth shakes and the Son of Man appears. I want hearts on FIRE for love of Me. I want vibrancy and love from My beloved ones. Hold not back My love from this world.

R. I adore you, Oh Lord, I praise you, I worship you, I bless Him with my whole soul. My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and holy, holy is His name! Jesus wants souls that are holy, on fire with the love of Jesus. Make novenas to the Holy Spirit to have hearts on FIRE with the love of God. Sound the trumpet, sound the gong - Jesus LIVES - He lives this day! Alleluia.

    Sunday is a special day to praise Him, to love Him, to pray to Him - His day to be honored and worshipped in a special way. Pray from a pure and holy heart, a heart that sings for love of the Lord. Pray from your whole being. end of May 25, 1995

R. This is from the Apostles Manual, May 25th, 1995, pp. 418-421. I Am Alive.

2. R. My God told me to write to Him. After searching for a pen that writes, I write, thus as He stated.

Ascension Day, May 21, 1998

Jesus: (with great emotion) COME OUT OF YOUR

    TOMBS, COME OUT I CALL YOU!!!! I have imparted to you knowledge of myself, transforming your heart and soul to be more likened to Mine.

    I give you messages after the reception of the Eucharist for it is then I am most one with you. Put aside the thoughts of burgers and what have you in your minds and listen to Me you earthly beings. end of excerpt

R. It’s just the way He said it and then He started hollering.

Ascension Day, May 21, 1998

Jesus: Come out of your tombs, come out I call to you who slumber and sleep and do not hear the voice of the Mighty One. You are like the dead that need to be raised. A trumpet horn blaring would not waken a man who is blind from birth. Only the Lord will unlock the minds of the senseless men, so foolish, but oh how I do indeed love them so.

3. R. And then He continued to shout, and He was shouting.

Ascension Day, May 21, 1998 continues

Jesus: Come out I tell you, I call you, in your sleepy state with scales in your eyes you do not see. If these scales were removed and a fresh lense graphed on the already existing eye, the men may see then clearly that I speak in these messages to bring about the Reign of My Heart and the triumph of the wailing woman’s Heart on the earth. I came, I gave the gifts and the world slept. My little ones, the apostles slept in the garden when my hour was at hand. Oh my shanty little town, you are stuck indeed, in your ways. You walk the streets as blindmen and I shout to you. My earth, come out of your tombs, come out and live a life rooted deeply in My Heart.

4. Ascension Day, May 21, 1998 continues

R. I was in the cage, it was a prison held on all sides by bars, I cried, I screamed, I felt no way to escape and low and behold I turned and where I had thought I was totally enclosed, a whole wall was not even there and I gaily walked into the free night and the sun followed me as I walked. end of excerpt

R. So I thought I was enclosed with bars. And then all of a sudden I turned around and there was a whole wall that wasn’t even there. So it was like you thought you were in these bars but you really weren’t in these bars. There was a whole wall that was out. You just had to turn around and look.

Ascension Day, May 21, 1998 continues

R. And I gaily walked into the free night and the sun followed me as I walked.

5. R. And Jesus speaks and He says.

Ascension Day, May 21, 1998 continues

Jesus: Your earth is enclosed in a wall of their own making. They have put up walls to enclose themselves. They have traveled around in their little boxes and spit at the freedom that I wished to give them.

    Freedom is in living according to God’s will. Freedom is in Me.

    Talk of chains, for you have some. You have bars and are enclosed in your stone or brick houses. A mighty fortress is your dwelling, you think. A mighty fortress is in the walls of My Heart. I am the gateway that leads to freedom. I am the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Holy One of the Virgin Israel. I am the gateway to heaven. I am God!

6. R. Then I speak.

Ascension Day, May 21, 1998 continues

R. As I unite with Him in the most intimate experiences in the Eucharist, I become one in His desires and what He wants, I become more as He is. He is the life, He is the resurrection, He is God.

    I become more in Him, His desires are my desires, the Father’s Plan is imprinted in my soul during the Mass and the reception of the Eucharist and before the tabernacle. I am transformed immensely in those moments after Communion to being alive in Him.

7. R. Then the Father spoke and He said.

Ascension Day, May 21, 1998 continues

God the Father: I am God, you are man, I have given My Son Jesus to you to unite your soul to Me. I am the Father, He is the First Born from the dead. Life will abound in heaven and on earth.

    God has visited His people and now He Reigns. He has ransomed them with the Blood of the Lamb.

8. Ascension Day, May 21, 1998

Jesus: Your earth is enclosed in a wall of their own making. They have put up walls to enclose themselves. They have traveled around in their little boxes and spit at the freedom that I wish to give them.

9. Ascension Day, May 21, 1998 continues

Jesus: Freedom is in living according to God’s will, Freedom is in Me.

    Talk of chains, for you have some. You have bars and are enclosed in your stone or brick houses. A mighty fortress is your dwelling, you think. A mighty fortress is in the walls of My Heart.

    I am the gateway that leads to Freedom. I am the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Holy One of the Virgin Israel. I am the gateway to heaven. I am God.

    Come out of your tombs, I am alive, I am treated as a dead object. Sing a new song, the dead shall be raised. They conquered the devil with the Blood of the Lamb. Pray to the Holy Spirit to come mightily on you.

10. Song: A Song from Jesus

R. And so I kept hearing Him call this out over and over again. He kept saying, “Come out of your tombs. Come out. I call you.” And He kept saying that, “Come out, I tell you, I call you.” And He kept saying this all through this to come out of our tombs.

Song: Glory, Glory, Glory Lord

 

The Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles

l. R. And then it reminded me of this, I read this, this morning.

This is from Ezekiel.

Reference Ezekiel 37: 1-14

2. R. And this is from the Psalm this morning.

Reference Psalm 97: 1-2, 6-7, 9

R. The Lord is King, the most high over all the earth.

3. R. And the second reading from Revelation.

Revelation 22: 10, 12-14

This, too, he said to me, ... Look, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me, to repay everyone as their deeds deserve. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Blessed are those who will have washed their robes clean, so that they will have the right to feed on the tree of life and can come through the gates into the city.

4. Revelation 22: 16-17, 20

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to attest these things to you for the sake of the churches. I am the sprig from the root of David and the bright star of the morning. The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come!’ Let everyone who listens answer, ‘Come!’ Then let all who are thirsty come: all who want it may have the water of life, and have it free. The one who attests these things says: I am indeed coming soon. Amen; come, Lord Jesus.

5. Song: A Song from Jesus

Jesus: Come out I tell you. Come out of your tombs.

6. Jesus: I am alive. I am alive. I am alive.

Song: Glory, Glory, Glory Lord - verse 1

7. Song: Glory, Glory, Glory Lord - verse 2

8. Song: Glory, Glory, Glory Lord - verse 3

9. Song: Glory, Glory, Glory Lord - verse 4

10. Song: Glory, Glory, Glory Lord - refrain

A reading of the Holy Gospel.

John 17: 20-26

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.

R. This is the gospel of the Lord.

Praise to You Lord Jesus Christ.

Song: Glory, Glory, Glory Lord

 

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven

l. R. Mary appeared on July 5th of 1994 and towards the end they had moved the Sorrowful Mother statue and put her into the Sorrowful Mother chapel. On March the 21st the understanding was that the Shepherds of Christ would go in there and do the rosary and Jesus said, “I don’t want you doing the rosary in there. You have to pray in front of the Pieta.” So this is in the Rosary book. On March the 21st.

    “This rosary was said by candlelight during the Tuesday Shepherds of Christ meeting. Jesus told me to pray this rosary in front of the Pieta statue in the back of the Rosary chapel. Rita was in an ecstatic state. Some present at the rosary saw Jesus alive in the statue and blood running from His wounds. During the Crucifixion His face was white and Mary was seen crying.”

    So the time was not right then on March the 21st. She appeared at Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Center in the Rosary chapel on July 5th, 1994 and continued to appear every day until I believe it was this March 30th of 1995. So when they thought that I would go into the Sorrowful Mother chapel Jesus said “no, you have to pray in here.”

    Then the next Tuesday we prayed in front of the Pieta again because the time wasn’t right. So then on this March 30th there were three of us there. It was me and Marty and Jenny. “And the Blessed Mother appeared over two hours. So this is what it says in here about this. Mary appeared in the Sorrowful Mother chapel for 2 hours. The whole corner was adorned in the most brilliant celestial light with a pink hue. Marty and I will never forget the experience of this evening, Jesus illuminated in the Sacred Heart statue during the litany and the promises in the Sacred Heart. Jesus requested this rosary be given to all.”

R. (I was having a lot, a lot of opposition at the time and He wanted it given to everybody. So Fr. Carter says, “Well, we’ll just publish it, and you can put it out like that on the paper.” So I said all right. But when I received the rosary the Blessed Mother was like hollering through me with this force that I had never heard before. I mean it was just so forceful. And Mary sounded mad and I never knew the Blessed Mother to be mad. And I’ve never heard the Blessed Mother like that since.

    But she was so strong and it was like it was just flowing out of my mouth with all this force. She said there were going to be these sufferings and the children and so forth. (Well then that April 19th was when they had that Oklahoma bombing out there and those children, something happened to them out there.) But the point that I want to make here is that it was that night on that March 30th that I started to do the rosaries in the Sorrowful Mother chapel. And I had done one, once before at noon on a Friday. But we hadn’t gone in and done any of the rosaries until then.

    Mary was appearing to me. Who am I to just decide I’m going to go some place else just because they decided to move the statue. Am I suppose to follow the statue? Or stay in the place? I mean what am I suppose to do? So I stayed in there because Our Lord told me to. It was about (and I’m not saying this exactly) 267 days I believe that she appeared everyday. The average length that it takes to have a baby it says, in the encyclopedia, is about 265 days.

    Mary appeared to me in the Rosary Chapel everyday for 267 days. Then on the 30th I was told to go down there in that other chapel. And the birthing of the Shepherds of Christ Movement there, that’s us, we were brought forth like little babies. And learning to mature more in His life with the message alive in our hearts. And then we went down there and then Mary told me in this rosary on March 30th, Mary said that we should go into that Mother of Sorrows chapel the next night, then at 6:20. I felt like when I was praying the rosary last night when I realized this, I felt like she was the wailing woman that was bringing forth the children at the end of that 267 days. We were the first children of Light that she was bringing forth in the Shepherds of Christ Movement.

2. R. And so I want to read this from Revelation 12 in the light of that.

Revelation 12: 1-2

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.

3. R. And then there’s things in the Scriptures that talk about one year, two years, and two years and one-half. And Mary first appeared on July 5th of 1994 and then Mary appeared on all the fifths except one. And then on December the 5th of 1996 which was exactly two and one-half years later instead of Mary appearing after all these fifths, Jesus appeared on the cross at the point of death.

4. Revelation 12: 13-14

As soon as the dragon found himself hurled down to the earth, he sprang in pursuit of the woman, the mother of the male child, but she was given a pair of the great eagle’s wings to fly away from the serpent into the desert, to the place where she was to be looked after for a time, two times and half a time.

5. Revelation 12: 10-12

Then I heard a voice shout from heaven, ‘Salvation and power and empire for ever have been won by our God, and all authority for his Christ, now that the accuser, who accused our brothers day and night before our God, has been brought down. They have triumphed over him by the blood of the lamb and by the word to which they bore witness, because even in the face of death they did not cling to life. So let the heavens rejoice and all who live there; but for you, earth and sea, disaster is coming-because the devil has gone down to you in a rage, knowing that he has little time left.’

6. R. The sinking of the Titanic was in 1912 and that was to be this boat that was the biggest boat I believe that they ever made. It was to be unsinkable. They thought that nothing could ever do anything to this boat. And so that’s why I passed out that picture. It kind of looks like the people that went on that boat, all decked out and all focused on their worldly things and they’re going on the boat. And this boat is absolutely secure. And then I hear Jesus say in this January 18th message of 1994 that nothing is solid. Maybe He didn’t say it there but He has said it before. That you know, what is it that puts both of our feet on solid ground because there could be any earthquake. So anyhow now look at this. So you see all these people going on this boat in 1912 and they’re all focused and they look like those people in that picture. They really do and there’s Christ tied to the pillar. That’s 1912 and then that boat was sunk. And then there’s 1917 which is five years later. And then Our Lady who is the Ark she appears at Fatima. So I thought this was interesting. On December 12th of 1996 it was 7 days after Jesus appeared dying on the cross, after Mary appeared for two and one-half years, almost except less one month because Jesus appeared. So then after that, 7 days afterwards, then on December 12th I’m told to make this Mary’s message tape. Then on December 17th, they discovered Mary on that building and that was 5 days later. To me it was like the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 and then in 1917 Mary comes, the Queen of Peace, we need to consecrate our hearts to Jesus and Mary. I just want to read you something out of the October 8th message.

7. Hail Mary

8. R. This is from the October 8th, 1997 message. He’s talking about Mary.

Jesus: ...you will still shine as a beacon light, a light of intense brightness no matter how dark the night. You will not die for your refuge is the fire of the Sacred Heart and you gave your heart to the New Eve, the pure and Immaculate One and she took you to the Heart of your Savior. She took you home and you dwelt within the chamber of My Heart and you were protected from the evil one in these last days. You tried to spread this consecration. It is the key that leads to the place of refuge. So many camps the devil told men to prepare and they labored in vain, for the Word was had in dwelling in Our Hearts. You would find refuge and they missed the message and busied themselves with the work of the evil one.

    I say to you what refuge survived when Noah built his ark? Only those on the ark survived the great flood. You prepare your earth. When My Word was to prepare your hearts. Then again, they worshipped the church building, the grounds and the wood and their hearts were left as cold vaults. end of excerpt

R. In the Titanic they ran into an iceberg and He called their hearts as cold vaults on October 8, 1997.

October 8, 1997 continues

Jesus: I beg you, My beauteous ones, to beg the men to prepare their hearts before it is too late. Only the Ark of the Covenant will be the means of survival in this dark age. When the moon turns to blood they will run away frightened and their buildings will be like cold vaults - only the hearts consecrated to Our Hearts will survive. end of excerpt

9. Jesus: And so it is that I say to you. I give to you My beloved Mother and I ask you, My treasured friends to come to the heart of My Mother. For she will take you into My Heart. It is there you will find peace and you will be conformed to the will of the Father. It is there the Holy Spirit will give you great lights and you will know God most intimately. And so I say to you as you lay in your bed at night go to the heart of My Mother and dwell forever in Our Hearts. I give to you the place of refuge in this dark cold world. You will have peace. You will have strength. You will survive all of the trials that are in your way. Come to the Ark. Come to the heart of My Mother.

10. R. This is from the October 8th, 1997 message:

Jesus: You were willful and too busy to know the story. The story is this: There is but one home; it is the Heart of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. My Mother is the gatekeeper. It is through her Immaculate Heart you enter. She is the singular vessel, a New Eve, a Woman Clothed as the Sun, a doorway to the everlasting abyss of Light, end of excerpt

R. She appears on this window.

October 8, 1997 continues

Jesus: a doorway to the everlasting abyss of Light, the Light of the World, end of excerpt

R. And that’s what she wants. She wants the Eucharist exposed behind her image on the window. So it says here

October 8, 1997 continues

Jesus: a Woman Clothed as the Sun, a doorway to the everlasting abyss of Light, the Light of the World, the Sacred Eucharistic Heart of the Son of Man.

    There was not room for Me in the Inn and there is not room for Me in the hearts of many and what can I say - they will die. I gave them the book of life. I gave them the Man who hung on a tree to save them. I gave them Myself, truly present in the Eucharist, the Eucharist and My Word I gave them. I gave to them My Mother - the way to enter into My Heart and they were haughty and proud. I was born in a stable in Bethlehem for you, My men. I am the Light of the World. The foolish virgins had no oil for their lamps and they went out. And you could hear the wailing cries of her children being slaughtered in the dark night. Oh, the Lady Clothed as the Sun warned them to come to her heart and the Heart of her Son (the Light of the World) and they went to the molten calf and they died a brutal death. end of excerpt

Luke 2: 34-35

‘Look, he is destined for the fall and for the rise of many in Israel,...and a sword will pierce your soul too’

 

The Coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth

l. Song: Hail Holy Queen

2. Song: Immaculate Mary

3. Mary’s Message - from the Rosary of August 27, 1996

Mary: I stood beneath the cross of my Son, and my Heart was in such pain for I saw Him before my eyes. I saw Him covered with blood. I saw Him die. My Heart, my children, my Heart to watch my Son, but my Heart, my Heart, how I suffered for my little children of the world that give in to this world and give up the love of my Son. O my little children of light, I give you this message. Carry this light into the darkness for your Mother Mary, for I stood beneath the cross and I cried. I cried for the little ones. I cried for the young ones, the ones that do not care and will lose their souls. How do I make you see for you will not listen to me? What can I do? I come. I appear. I beg. I plead. I give you these gifts from my Son, and you reject me. I do not deliver messages very often anymore for I have been ignored. The message is the same. You do not read the messages I have given to you. Please help me. Help the little children. I appear. I appear. I appear, and I am ignored. I stood beneath the cross, and I cried. I cried, and my Heart was in such anguish for my little children, for I am searching for them this day as I searched for the Child Jesus. Please, please help me. I cannot hold back the hand of my Son any longer. I am Mary, your Mother. I ask you to help my children. You are my children of light. end of excerpt

4. R. This was the last time she appeared on the 5th. She appeared once quite awhile later on the July 5th anniversary. But she didn’t appear anymore until I went to Florida on May 5th and she appeared on the building as Our Lady clothed as the sun with a pulsating red circle in her neck. It was like bulging. And then the whole building went away and all I saw was Mary appearing like she was in the sky.

October 5, 1996

Mary: I am Our Lady of the Rosary. The Fatima message will unfold around the Shepherds of Christ Movement. I am begging you, please, publish these Rosaries from the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. I appeared daily for 14 months and delivered rosaries for the world. Why have these rosaries been held back from this world? Souls are dropping into hell. Do you comprehend the importance of these rosaries to the Fatima message?

    I have appeared as Our Lady of Light and Our Lady of Sorrows delivering these rosaries.

    I am now delivering this message as Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. end of excerpt

5. October 5, 1996 continues

Mary: A great mission I give to you, my beloved apostles in the Shepherds of Christ Movement is to live these rosaries and spread the messages to the world. You must reach the world with these teachings I am giving in the rosary.

    On this October 5, 1996, I beg you as your heavenly Mother to not ignore the importance of these rosaries. I have appeared, I have begged, I have warned you. I cannot hold back the hand of my Son any longer. His hand is struck with power.

    Today is the 5th of the month, first Saturday. I beg all to study this message and to tell all that come on October 13th, 1996 the importance of these live rosaries and the completion of the Fatima message.

    I am Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. This is the key to watching the Movement spread. I am assisting you in publishing and circulating these rosaries. Anyone who stops the rosary messages and meditations will deal with my Son, Jesus! end of excerpt

6. October 5, 1996 continues

Mary: Souls are at stake and souls have been lost because of the delays to hold back the messages in God’s Blue Book and Rosaries from the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Any negative references in the Movement to these messages displeases my Son for you have been given the greatest gifts in these revelations. I am asking all to help in the circulation of these rosaries and messages. We are communicating to the world majorly in these messages. The completion of the Fatima message is greatly dependent on these messages. Do not give into Satan any longer to block these messages. You are dealing with my Son, Jesus. This is a great gift given to the world. It would please my Son greatly if you expressed to Him your great thanks for the gifts He has given to you. Your answers are found in these messages. They must be studied and recognized for the great gift they are. You were chosen by God to deliver this message to the world. The ingratitude of many displeases my Son greatly. It is now time for the leaders of the Movement and all apostles to support these messages. It is now time to study the content in its entirety. You are missing the key directions because you do not even read the messages.

    I am Mary, your Mother. You will be rewarded with the funds needed when you publish these messages and rosaries. end of October 5, 1996

7. Excerpt from December 6, 1996

R. As the Shepherds of Christ Movement spreads (as well as other movements focused on spreading consecration to Their Hearts) the tree is covered with more hearts and the earth becomes more lighted.

    The tree is covered with hearts consecrated to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. The tree is illuminated. end of excerpt

8. December 6, 1996 continues

R. As the Shepherds of Christ apostles spread the consecration to the Church, the family, and the school, the tree is covered with lights and the earth is covered with the fire of His love.

    The Father looks to the earth now. He is displeased with the hearts of men. The Father wants us to love God and love each other. He wants us to live according to His will in love. end of excerpt

9. December 6, 1996 continues

R. Mary appears at Fatima. She tells us that we are offending God.

    She tells us what we must do. Mary’s peace plan:

1. Until a sufficient number of people have consecrated their hearts to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, we will not have peace in the world.

2. Mary has requested all to pray the daily rosary.

3. We must observe the First Saturday devotion.

4. We must make reparation to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. end of excerpt

10. R. I think it is very interesting that in a late date in May of 1994 the first Blue Book went out. And at the same time we think it was Fr. Carter’s Fatima Medjugorje book and the two of us signed these books down at Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Center. I didn’t really understand the word Fatima at that time. And when He used to talk about the Hearts I didn’t get it. And I think it’s really something that here we are sitting in the hall signing these books. I am signing God’s Blue Book I and Fr. Carter is signing the Spirituality of Fatima Medjugorge. And I didn’t really understand Fatima, when he’d get up and talk about the Hearts I never understood what he was saying very much then. Until Our Lord gave me the light to know, unlocked my mind and know so that it would be in the writings. He didn’t want it in those first two Blue Books obviously. I just thought that was really interesting. That we’re sitting here today and we don’t know what we’re doing today. But what we’re doing today is going to make a big difference tomorrow. And I had no idea about the Fatima mission then. I just didn’t really understand it. With His light it just takes a second. It doesn’t even take that.

Song: Glory, Glory, Glory Lord

Mary: My little children, I am your Mother Mary and I have called you to this rosary that you will know more the plan of the Father to help in the salvation of souls. I ask you to pray the prayer that the Father has given to you and to live this prayer in your lives. That your daily life be lived in order to bring about the Reign of the Sacred Heart and the triumph of my Immaculate Heart. I ask you to go to my Son Jesus in the Eucharist and to faithfully spend the twenty minutes after Communion that He can imprint on your soul great knowledge of Himself that you will know and love more as He knows and loves. My Son Jesus, the Father, the Holy Spirit and myself, your Mother, is greatly pleased with the work of the Shepherds of Christ Movement. It is through your intercessory power that many will be touched and will know God. I beg you to continue to work with the greatest fervor for I am Mary, your Mother and I have called you. You have greatly pleased my Son Jesus and the Father in heaven. I love you. You are the Spouse of the Lamb of God.

R. This is a reading from the Book of Revelation.

Revelation 22: 10, 12-14, 16-17, 20

This, too, he said to me, ... ‘Look, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me, to repay everyone as their deeds deserve. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Blessed are those who will have washed their robes clean, so that they will have the right to feed on the tree of life and can come through the gates into the city.

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to attest these things to you for the sake of the churches. I am the sprig from the root of David and the bright star of the morning. The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come!’ Let everyone who listens answer, ‘Come!’ Then let all who are thirsty come: all who want it may have the water of life, and have it free. The one who attests these things says: I am indeed coming soon. Amen; come, Lord Jesus.

Song: A Song from Jesus

John 17: 20-21

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.

 

 

 

                Given February 20, 2020

                R. All the years at the site we had precious
                    statues made by two Portuguese
                    brother-in-laws.
                    A while ago they went back to
                    Portugal and one brother was
                    bit by an Asian wasp and died.

                We have a limited number of these
                    precious painted statues that
                    we will not have again.
                    These statues come with the glass
                    from the Virgin Mary's image face
                    destroyed March 1, 2004.

                The 16th Anniversary of this will be
                    March 1, 2020.

                We will send the little statues, but
                    wish to sell the few left
                    that are 24 inches from the
                    Florida site.

                There is a very limited number
                    for this anniversary.

                March 5, 2020 6:20
                    Mary and Jesus have
                    asked that you come
                    to the Florida site for
                    the prayer service.

                    This is a miracle building,
                many have received graces and
                blessings of healing and
                particular needs both spiritual
                and physical.