Mary has requested that the daily message be given each day to the world. It is read nightly at the prayer service from her Image Building in Clearwater, Florida, U.S.A. This is according to her request. All attempts will be made to publish this daily message to the world at 11 p.m. Eastern time, U.S.A. We acknowledge that the final authority regarding these messages rests with the Holy See of Rome.

March 6, 2002

Come to China, Indiana March 13, 2002 
           Rosary - 12:00 PM
            Exposition - March 12, 2002 (noon) thru
                                  March 14, 2002 (noon)

Note from the President:           

    With the permission of the donor, we reallocated funds which were intended for reprinting 50,000 God's Blue book II to make the building payment on time. Within two weeks, we need to replace these funds which total approximately $10,000 or we will not receive the Blue Books which help so many souls to draw closer to God. Please help us with funds or by any means available.

    

---

    

Isaiah 40: 1-5; 9-11

‘Console my people, console them,’ 
says your God. 
‘Speak to the heart of Jerusalem 
and cry to her 
that her period of service is ended, 
that her guilt has been atoned for, 
that, from the hand of Yahweh, 
    she has received 
double punishment for all her sins.’ 

A voice cries, ‘Prepare in the desert 
a way for Yahweh. 
Make a straight highway for our God 
across the wastelands. 
Let every valley be filled in, 
every mountain and hill be levelled, 
every cliff become a plateau, 
every escarpment a plain; 
then the glory of Yahweh will be revealed 
and all humanity will see it together, 
for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.’

Go up on a high mountain, 
messenger of Zion. 
Shout as loud as you can, 
messenger of Jerusalem! 
Shout fearlessly, 
say to the towns of Judah, 
‘Here is your God.’ 

Here is Lord Yahweh coming with power, 
his arm maintains his authority, 
his reward is with him 
and his prize precedes him. 
He is like a shepherd feeding his flock, 
gathering lambs in his arms, 
holding them against his breast 
and leading to their rest the mother ewes.

   

2 Peter 3: 8-14

    But there is one thing, my dear friends, that you must never forget: that with the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not being slow in carrying out his promises, as some people think he is; rather is he being patient with you, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody to be brought to repentance. The Day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then with a roar the sky will vanish, the elements will catch fire and melt away, the earth and all that it contains will be burned up.

Fresh call to holiness. Doxology

Since everything is coming to an end like this, what holy and saintly lives you should be living while you wait for the Day of God to come, and try to hasten its coming: on that Day the sky will dissolve in flames and the elements melt in the heat. What we are waiting for, relying on his promises, is the new heavens and new earth, where uprightness will be at home. So then, my dear friends, while you are waiting, do your best to live blameless and unsullied lives so that he will find you at peace.

  

   

Mark 1: 1-8

The proclamation of John the Baptist

The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is written in the prophet Isaiah: 

    Look, I am going to send my messenger 
        in front of you 
    to prepare your way before you. 
    A voice of one that cries in the desert: 
    Prepare a way for the Lord, 
    make his paths straight. 

John the Baptist was in the desert, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. All Judaea and all the people of Jerusalem made their way to him, and as they were baptised by him in the river Jordan they confessed their sins. John wore a garment of camel–skin, and he lived on locusts and wild honey. In the course of his preaching he said, ‘After me is coming someone who is more powerful than me, and I am not fit to kneel down and undo the strap of his sandals. I have baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.’

   

This picture was taken 4 days before Father Carter's death
in his priests residence house in Cincinnati, December 14, 2000
at his departure for Columbiere in Michigan.

 March 6, 2002

These two writings were written about
the same time.

The first writing was written by
Father Carter for the Newsletter
at the end of 1996.

September/October 1996
 

Aquinas on the Eucharist

    St. Thomas Aquinas has left us these inspirational words on the Eucharist, the source and summit of the Christian life: "Since it was the will of God's only begotten Son that men should share in his divinity, he assumed our nature in order that by becoming man he might make men gods. Moreover, when he took our flesh he dedicated the whole of its substance to our salvation. He shed his blood for our ransom and purification, so that we might be redeemed from our wretched state of bondage and cleansed from all sin. But to ensure that the memory of so great a gift would abide with us forever, he left his body as food and his blood as drink for the faithful to consume in the form of bread and wine.

    "O precious and wonderful banquet, that brings us salvation and contains all sweetness! Could anything be of more intrinsic value. Under the old law it was the flesh of calves and goats that was offered, but here Christ himself, the true God, is set before us as our food. What could be more wonderful than this? No other sacrament has greater healing power; through it sins are purged away, virtues are increased, and the soul is enriched with an abundance of every spiritual gift. It is offered in the Church for the living and the dead, so that what was instituted for the salvation of all may be for the benefit of all. Yet, in the end, no one can fully express the sweetness of this sacrament, in which the spiritual delight is tasted at its very source, and in which we renew the memory of that surpassing love for us which Christ revealed in his passion.

    "It was to impress the vastness of this love more firmly upon the hearts of the faithful that our Lord instituted this sacrament at the Last Supper. As he was on the point of leaving the world to go to the Father, after celebrating the Passover with his disciples, he left it as a perpetual memorial of his passion. It was the fulfillment of ancient figures and the greatest of all miracles, while for those who were to experience the sorrow of his departure, it was destined to be a unique and abiding consolation."⁸

   

Pope John Paul II on the Priesthood

    Pope John Paul II speaks on the relationship of the hierarchical priesthood and the common priesthood of the faithful: "We must consider down to the smallest detail not only the theoretical meaning but also the existential meaning of the mutual 'relation' that exists between the hierarchical priesthood and the common priesthood of the faithful. The fact that they differ not only in degree but also in essence is a fruit of a particular aspect of the richness of the very priesthood of Christ which is the one center and the one source, both of that participation which belongs to all the baptized and of that other participation which is reached through a distinct sacrament, which is precisely the sacrament of Orders. This sacrament, dear brothers, which is specific for us, which is the fruit of the special grace of vocation and the basis of our identity, by virtue of its very nature and of everything that it produces in our life and activity, serves to make the faithful aware of their common priesthood and to activate it: the sacrament reminds them that they are the People of God and enables them 'to offer spiritual sacrifices' through which Christ Himself makes us an everlasting gift to the Father. This takes place, above all, when the priest 'by the sacred power that he has' in the person of Christ (in persona Christi) effects the Eucharistic Sacrifice and offers to God in the name of all the people,' as we read in the conciliary text quoted above.
  

  

  

  

   

    "Our sacramental priesthood, therefore, is a 'hierarchical' and at the same time 'ministerial' priesthood. It constitutes a special ministerium, that is to say, 'source,' in relation to the community of believers. It does not, however, take its origin from that community, as though it were the community that 'called' or 'delegated'. The sacramental priesthood is truly a gift for the community and comes from Christ Himself, from the fullness of His priesthood. This fullness finds its expression in the fact that Christ, while making everyone capable of offering the spiritual sacrifice, calls some and enables them to be ministers of his own sacramental Sacrifice, at the Eucharist-in the offering of which all the faithful share-in which are taken up all the spiritual sacrifices of the People of God.

    "Conscious of this reality, we understand how our priesthood is 'hierarchical', that is to say, connected with the power of forming and governing the priestly people and precisely for this reason 'ministerial.' We carry out this office, through which Christ Himself unceasingly 'serves' the Father in the work of our salvation. Our whole priestly existence is and must be deeply involved with this service, if we wish to effect in an adequate way the Eucharistic Sacrifice in persona Christi.

    "This priesthood calls for a particular integrity of life and service, and precisely such integrity is supremely fitting for our priestly identity. In that identity, there are expressed, at the same time, the greatness of our dignity and the 'availability' proportionate to it. It is a question of the humble readiness to accept the gifts of the Holy Spirit and to transmit to others the fruits of love and peace, to give them that certainty of faith from which derive the profound understanding of the meaning of human existence and the capacity to introduce the moral order into the life of individuals and of the human setting.

    "Since the priesthood is given so that we can unceasingly serve others, after the example of Christ, the Lord, the priesthood cannot be renounced because of the difficulties that we meet and the sacrifices asked of us. Like the apostles, we have left everything to follow Christ: therefore we must persevere beside Him also through the cross."⁹

end of excerpt from Newsletter Sept/Oct 1996

      

From the Mass Book
  

PRIESTS AND CONSECRATION

    Besides the messages associated with the major Fatima apparitions, there were other revelations given by Our Lady. Before Jacinta died, she told of other messages given her [during her illness] by Mary: "…Priests must be pure, very pure. They should not busy themselves with anything except what concerns the Church and souls. The disobedience of priests, to their superiors and to the Holy Father, is very displeasing to Our Lord.'"²

    There is the connection between the priest and Christ: how "one" the priest is with Christ.

    Christ is the principal Priest. The priest, in his union with Him, must pray for the greatest union with Christ. Christ is the Chief Priest. The priest puts on Christ, Christ is offering the sacrifice through the priest.

    We unite proportionally to Christ depending on our degree of holiness. Mary told Jacinta that priests must be pure and holy.

    We must forever strive to offer the most holy sacrifice to the Father, being one with Christ. It is in the offering of this holy sacrifice that enormous amounts of grace flow. The priest must be pure and one with Christ in offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
   

    The oneness of the body of Christ depends on the oneness of His holy priests with Him. It is in the Eucharistic Sacrifice, when God gives to us His Body and Blood, that we are most united in Him. The Church is the body of Christ. He feeds us with His Body. We are one in Him.

    I receive Jesus in the Eucharist; I become one in Him.

    You receive Jesus in the Eucharist; you become one in Him.

    We are one, proportionally, according to how we give ourselves to Him.

    Highest holiness, greatest oneness, is achieved by being one in Him.

    The body of Christ will be one, in the deepest unity, depending on the degree of oneness of the priest with Christ and the oneness of the people with Him.

    We are to be one body in Him. When He gives us His Body, we are most one in Him.

    The priest is the key for an enormous amount of grace to be released.

    Mary told Jacinta, "…that the Heart of Jesus wishes to be venerated together with the Immaculate Heart of Mary."³ Mary also said that priests must be pure. Priests must give their hearts to the one, pure and sinless one, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It is in this union with Mary that we unite deeply with Christ.

    Priests will not reach the degree of purity she refers to unless they give their hearts to her. It is in this purity, they become one with Christ and offer a holy sacrifice. It is in this oneness with Christ that an enormous amount of grace and mercy flows when a holy priest administers the Sacraments and celebrates the Mass. Oh, the people are hungry. Oh, the people are thirsty for an outpouring of His abundant life. The world longs for this outpouring of His grace.

    Mary tells us we must consecrate our hearts to her. To go deeply into the Heart of Christ, we must give our heart to Mary.

    What of the starving faithful, those attending Mass, wishing to partake more fully in the Holy Sacrifice? There must be a strong union between the priest and Christ.

People——>

Priest——>

Christ Chief Priest

    The priest must strive to be so one with Christ. The people receive a great connection to be mystically united with Christ through the priest.

    It is a most intense, mystical union - this great connection between priest, faithful, and Christ. It is the oneness that Christ wants for His body, the Church. He wants this mystical union to be very strong between the priest and Him, and the priest and the faithful.

    Oneness is greatly achieved in the Eucharistic Sacrifice. The priest must be pure to be one with Christ. The priest must consecrate his heart to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. There is a fountain of life flowing from the pierced Heart of Jesus. He is giving us the grace to be deeply united to His Heart. He is giving us the grace to help spread the consecration to the priests. In order to have immense union in a parish, both priest and people must consecrate their hearts to Jesus and Mary. There must be this connection of the priest to Their Hearts. The priest must be pure to be one with Christ. He cannot reach this degree of purity unless he gives himself to the pure heart of Mary. There is a fountain of life flowing from His pierced Heart. The fountain pours forth His divine grace more abundantly when the priest is united to Their Hearts.

    Mary gave the message to Jacinta that the priests must have pure hearts. We are tainted by original sin. The priest is tainted by original sin. He must go through Mary to be pure enough to unite in the deepest union with Christ.

    Love is in the heart. Many priests recite the words without love in their hearts. The grace flows copiously depending on the degree of the connection between the priest's heart and Christ's Heart.

    The heart is the way we connect to God. The Church was formed from the pierced Heart of Christ. The Church is the body of Christ. His life flows in the Church.

    The heart is the life of the body. The Heart of Christ is the life of the body of Christ. From His pierced Heart, the Church was born. Our life flows through the Heart of Christ.

    We cannot be one body without the Heart of Christ pumping its life to its members. If they are cut off from the Source of life, they wither and die.

    A priest celebrating the Mass must be united in his heart to Christ. It is from the Heart of Christ that His divine life flows. A Mass that is celebrated in which the priest speaks words and is not united in his heart to Christ is a Mass in which a lesser amount of His life flows from His pierced Heart.

    In order for the priest to be connected in the deepest union to the Heart of Christ, he must consecrate his heart to Jesus' Sacred Heart and the heart of Mary. Because of our sins and our fallen, human nature, we must go through the one, pure, Immaculate one, Mary. Then, we can be deeply united in His Heart.

    How can impurity unite deeply to purity? How? We go through the pure one, she holds us in her heart and we go deeply into the Heart of Christ. She is the only sinless human person.

    So the devil has waged a war against the priests and Mary. The priest will not achieve great holiness without giving his heart to Mary. He cannot unite deeply in the Heart of Christ without her pure and sinless heart.

    The grace will not flow abundantly, to feed the people, without this connection to Mary.

    Life flows in the heart. Priests must love God with their hearts. A priest celebrating the Mass who is not united deeply in his heart with Christ lessens the flow of great grace from the fountain of His divine life.

    It will be open, flowing at full force, according to how deeply the priest has united to the Heart of Jesus. This does not happen without the priest giving his heart first to Mary.

    Union of the body of Christ is centered around this consecration and the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice by these holy and pure priests.

    Our home is the Heart of Christ. When we consecrate our hearts to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, we dwell within Their Hearts. This is our little heaven on earth.

    As Fr. Carter states:

This last message offers us an excellent opportunity to summarize the Fatima message. It tells us "that the Heart of Jesus wishes to be venerated together with the Immaculate Heart of Mary."⁴

At the center of the veneration for which Our Lord calls is the act of consecration to His Sacred Heart and to Mary's Immaculate Heart…As such, consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary summarizes the Fatima message.⁵

    Ezekiel 34: 11-16:

For the Lord Yahweh says this: Look, I myself shall take care of my flock and look after it. As a shepherd looks after his flock when he is with his scattered sheep, so shall I look after my sheep. I shall rescue them from wherever they have been scattered on the day of clouds and darkness. I shall bring them back from the peoples where they are; I shall gather them back from the countries and bring them back to their own land. I shall pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the inhabited parts of the country. I shall feed them in good pasturage; the highest mountains of Israel will be their grazing ground. There they will rest in good grazing grounds; they will browse in rich pastures on the mountains of Israel. I myself shall pasture my sheep, I myself shall give them rest- declares the Lord Yahweh. I shall look for the lost one, bring back the stray, bandage the injured and make the sick strong. I shall watch over the fat and healthy. I shall be a true shepherd to them.

    It is through the consecration that the strayed ones will be led to His Heart. Mary told Jacinta that we must venerate His Heart next to hers. It is through the consecration that the strayed ones are led to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. We must spread this consecration to the world. It is in the heart of Mary that the Holy Spirit works to sanctify us and to give us insights, lights, into the divine mysteries. Consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary is a great aid to growth in holiness. As we all give our hearts to Jesus and Mary, we will be one flock with one Shepherd. The Good Shepherd will rescue us on the day of clouds and darkness. He will feed us on good grazing ground. He will look for the lost ones and bring back the strays. He will bandage the injured and make the sick strong.

    What follows is the consecration that we pray many times a day to bind us in one heart. It is very important to pray the Holy Spirit Prayer and the consecration prayers before Mass to join us in one heart in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Priests should pray this consecration with the people before Mass. Our Lady has asked us at Fatima for devotion to her Immaculate Heart. She told Jacinta, "Tell everybody that God gives graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Tell them to ask grace from her, and that the Heart of Jesus wishes to be venerated together with the Immaculate Heart of Mary."⁶ What follows is the Holy Spirit prayer and the consecration prayers used by our members of Shepherds of Christ Associates. 

 

          

HOLY SPIRIT PRAYER

    Come, Holy Spirit, almighty Sanctifier, God of love, who filled the Virgin Mary with grace, who wonderfully changed the hearts of the apostles, who endowed all Your martyrs with miraculous courage, come and sanctify us. Enlighten our minds, strengthen our wills, purify our consciences, rectify our judgment, set our hearts on fire, and preserve us from the misfortunes of resisting Your inspirations. Amen.⁷

    

   

ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE SACRED HEART
OF JESUS AND THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

    Lord Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the flock, I consecrate myself to Your most Sacred Heart. From Your pierced Heart the Church was born, the Church You have called me, as a member of Shepherds of Christ Associates, to serve in a most special way. You reveal Your Heart as a symbol of Your love in all its aspects, including Your most special love for me, whom You have chosen as Your companion in this most important work. Help me to always love You in return. Help me to give myself entirely to You. 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 a member of Shepherds of Christ Associates, a movement created by your Son as a powerful instrument for the renewal of the Church and the world. 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.⁸

end of January 10, 1997 from Mass Book

Excerpt from February 15, 2002 message 

February 15, 2002 message continues

end of excerpt from February 15, 2002

         

February 7, 2002

  

To whom it may concern,
  

    We circulate the Priestly Newsletter that goes to 75,000 priests in the world. This has been circulated since 1994 at the direction of Fr. Edward Carter, S.J. who had a doctorate in Theology and taught at Xavier University for over thirty years and author of eighteen books on the spiritual life and many other various publications.

    Our primary purpose is to circulate this Newsletter. We are now sending three years of Newsletters in a book of 342 pages to 75,000 priests in the United States and 90 foreign countries. A special Newsletter is enclosed with Father Carter's powerful writing on Grace (2001 issue 1). This writing is also available on tape and on disc.

    Our coequal purpose is to circulate prayer manuals Father Carter compiled for prayer chapters praying for the priests, the Church and
the world.

    All of our printing and postage costs so much money.

    We operate from the Virgin Mary building in Clearwater, Florida, pictures are enclosed. We use the building to spread materials and rosaries
to encourage people to pray for the priests, the Church and the world.

    We also have a church we received from the diocese in China, Indiana where we distribute our materials and pray before the Blessed Sacrament hourly and about two hours or more at 6:20 every day. Monthly adoration before the exposed Eucharist is held for our members for 48 hours on the 12th of each month to the 14th.

    We have a third center in Morrow, Ohio which is our communication center and mailing address.

    We circulate rosaries handmade to Catholic schools all over the United States and meditation sheets and consecration cards. We try to send scapulars too when we have them. We supply many beads to our rosary makers for this.

    We had difficulty all last summer securing funds for beads for our rosary makers. We were not able to send the 100,000 or more rosaries we usually send in October and May because of funds.

    We need $10,000 every month for the loan on the Virgin Mary building. We pray nightly there usually for about two hours or more at 6:20. We pray all through the day there, hourly, many times before the image. A big prayer meeting is held on the 5th of the month. Prayers are prayed for about 4 hours for the priests, the Church and the world. We broadcast to at least 8 states and all join in the prayers, including Morrow and China.

    We have a nursing home ministry and a prison ministry. We supply coloring books of the rosary mysteries and the Mass to children.

    We desperately need funds for the printing and the rosary making operation and all the postage. Bishops from foreign countries beg for rosaries and prayer sheets with the Shepherds of Christ Prayers.

    Now we are struggling with the monthly rent on the building and the postage for the foreign mailing of the Priestly Newsletter Book II.

    We always need money for the rosary beads for the schools and the Virgin Mary building.

    We also do a Holy Spirit Novena, but the little book has been out of print for some time because of lack of funds. Teachers like to use it for confirmation. We have prayer chapters using it daily all over the world.

    We want to circulate pictures of the crucifix and Mary's image on the building, we are unable to do this because of lack of funds. Enclosed are pictures of the crucifix and the Virgin Mary building.

    A very important part of our Movement is trying to get people to say the Morning Offering. Here is a card we distribute extensively, especially to Nursing Homes and school children.
   

  

  
    Here is a short form of consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary that we circulate extensively.
  

  

   
    Can you help us. It is a real shame to not even have rent on the building Mary appears on.

    We need to tell the world about the Mass. This is another important aspect of our ministry. We have so many writings about the Mass. Mass Book I with the Imprimatur—and all Fr. Carter's writings and many other writings discerned by Fr Carter before his death. 

    It is a shame with all the money in the world not to be able to get the rosary beads to the rosary makers for school children who want them to pray the rosary.

    Our movement is trying to do what Our Lady told us to do at Fatima for peace in the world.

    Can you help us?
  

                            Rita Ring
                            Shepherds of Christ Ministries

    

      

Messenger:  Jesus wishes that we give our hearts to Him and Mary. 

The following Valentine can be given to Jesus and Mary any day of the year. It is an act of love that would greatly please Him.

Use the following Valentine to fill in your name and the date you gave it to Him.
  

MY VALENTINE FOR JESUS AND MARY AND THE WORLD I _________________ give my heart to You Jesus and Mary on this day _________________ I promise to help spread the devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.