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 9, 2002

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

Please pray with us from March 12th thru March 13th for the priests, the Church and the world.

There will be a special prayer service on the 13th. This will also be broadcast, for details call Morrow:  1-888-211-3041.

Beginning around 12 noon and ending around 5:00

Messenger:        Also Friday March
                                15th we will do a
                                rosary near San Antonio
                                Texas.

                            This WILL BE BROADCAST.

                            Call Morrow for details!!  1-888-211-3041.

We will pray united for the priests, the Church and the world
in a special broadcast system.

April 5, 6, 7, 2002

come to FLORIDA.

Easter week

  
March 3, 2002 message continues

Messenger:        There will be a special gathering the
                              weekend of April 5, 6 and 7 First Friday—
                              of Easter week, First Saturday of Easter week
                              and Divine Mercy Sunday. This will end with 
                              the Divine Mercy being said Sunday at 3:00 P.M.
                              under the image.
                            The Divine Mercy novena will be prayed every
                               day at the site.

---

      

Excerpt from August 15, 2001

Messenger:  Father Carter was very sick as you can

                        see from this photo taken August 8, 2000.

 

August 8, 2000

  

     

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.

  

March 9, 2002 message continues

Messenger:   We have a talk Fr. Carter delivered
                 February 1, 1998.  4 YEARS AGO

                            One can see the wide vision Fr. Carter had of the
                            Shepherds of Christ Movement he founded
                                and how he wanted to implement
                                what Jesus told him to do.

                            He began in 1994 doing what Our Lord told
                            him to do.

                            He told me the Blue Books were as much
                            his as mine.

March 9, 2002 message continues

Messenger:      He saw the Blue Books were published
                            and people began spending time before
                            the tabernacle using the Blue Books and
                            attending daily Mass praying for the priests,
                            the Church and the world.

                         At the end of the summer August 1994 we began
                            praying the prayers in the prayer manual.

March 9, 2002 message continues

Messenger:       Here are excerpts from his talk February 1, 1998
                            4 years ago, given at Morrow, Ohio,
                            our center there picked by Fr. Carter.
                            He went there and told us immediately 
                            Jesus wanted us to buy that property.

                        It had a barn on it that we used as
                            our prayer barn when the house 
                            became too small.

                        So from the barn in Morrow, he gave this
                            talk to a packed audience that
                            came to hear him.

Talk by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.
given to the Apostles in the 
Shepherds of Christ Movement
   

February 1, 1998
   

    Well, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen all of you at once in the same place. It’s a tremendous treat for me. So praise be the Lord. Let’s start with the 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.

    ...So after I talk here I will have to depart and leave the praying to you at this place. I’ll be praying with you as I drive away...  

    ...I’m spending much more time on the newsletter now. Our Lord had been calling me to do that for months but it was when I was fully active it was very, very hard to get the time to really spread it around the world like He wanted to, although we had been working with the English edition trying to get that in more and more countries. We are in about eighty or more countries with the English edition... 

    And in cases where it needs translation, for instance, the Spanish edition we translate that up here, we print it up here and we bulk mail it.

    [Note: He talks about the spread of the Newsletter to priests and bishops in Central, South America in Spanish, Africa, India, French speaking, England, Scotland, New Zealand, Australia]

    ...It is Our Lord’s wish along with the prayer chapters that this be considered our primary ministry, the Newsletter. So please, please, please, please pray for it’s continued success and expansion. It is so extremely important because as you know, if you can change the heart of one priest, he is in a position to do so, so much good with even thousands of people. And we have received extremely encouraging letters over the years that the newsletters been published from priests, how it’s helped them out on their own spiritual life but in their ministries, giving them homilies and so forth. And from bishops which are highly encouraging commending us on the quality and the worthwhileness of the newsletter.
  

  

February 5, 2001

        

• Dear Father Carter,
  
      For years I have received Shepherds of Christ Newsletter; I do not know who put me on your mailing list, but I’m grateful to you both. Since I first began to receive the newsletter I have been assigned as the Director of Formation Advising for the Pontifical North American College in Rome.
  
      I would like to know if it would be possible to make a bulk order so that our seminarians could benefit from the newsletter as well. I will make sure they are distributed to our seminarians. At present we have about 200 seminarians and student priests on our campus, all eager for good spiritual reading!
  
      Please let me know if we can make an arrangement for the delivery of the newsletter here at the college.
  
      Please keep our faculty and seminarians in your prayers.
  
  Sincerely yours in Christ,

Rev. J. Mark Williams
Director of Formation Advising
Pontifical North American College
00120 Vatican City State

     

[He then talks about funds for the Newsletter.]

    I think I came to speak to you today because I think we’re at a very, very significant point of the Shepherds of Christ Movement as it marches into the new era of which was promised by Our Lady of Fatima. And I think the Movement is basically strong, basically healthy but I think we need a recommitment of ourselves to the Movement precisely because much more is being asked of us. We have three centers to staff not only with people but with materials.

    So as we go on in what Our Lord wants us to do, we just need a deeper commitment to the Movement just like the spiritual life in general. You never stand still on the spiritual journey. I mean spiritual masters have always told us this, you either go back or you go forward.

    And so it is with the Movement, we just don’t stand still. We have to keep on deepening our commitment to the Movement individually and collectively or it’s not going to move forward obviously. So I guess you can say that’s the main reason I thought it was very important that I come here today to speak to you to ask you to renew your commitment to Our Lord in the Movement. And to put some thoughts before (you) which hopefully will help you to renew your commitment.

    I’ll begin by reminding all of us of the great, great privilege it is to have been called to this Movement. I’ve said this before, I say it now even with deeper conviction, I really believe that this will go down in history as one of the great Movements in the history of the Church. And if you reflect upon what we’ve been called to do, I don’t think it’s hard to come to that conclusion. I don’t know of any just taking our ministry to the priests with the newsletter and with the prayer chapters whose primary duty is to pray for the priests as well as the whole human race. But I am unaware of any other Movement in the history of the Church which has tried to reach all priests the world over with the newsletter and the prayer chapters to the extent that we are trying to do so. So just those two ministries in themselves I think point to the greatness of this Movement. Then our many other ministries: the rosaries, the consecration of the schools, the nursing home, prison ministries are all our various publications. So much wonderful literature, rosary in the homes, one of our newest ministries, the couples rosary and the spirituality which comes out of that and we hope to work more and more nationally to strengthen marriage and family life through working with couples as couples.

    So if you look at what we are doing with the tremendous amount of materials which are being distributed from the Florida site and through orders from this site and through other sites.  

    So again I think this is one of the great, great Movements in the history of the Church. And we have to pinch ourselves every once in awhile and nudge ourselves and realize the great calling we have been given to work in this Movement. I think there has been a certain, despite all the great work which is being done, I think there is a certain stagnation which has set in to a certain degree and we have to jolt ourselves out of that and recommit ourselves.

    St. John of the Cross in one of his writings says—of course he is one of the greatest mystical theologians in the history of the Church and in one of his writings he says, “What does it profit you to give God one thing if He wishes for another? Consider what it is God wants and then do it.”

    Let’s read that again together “What does it profit you to give God one thing if He wishes for another? Consider what it is God wants and then do it.”

    [Father Carter is speaking to Servants and Handmaids of the Good Shepherd—]

  

  

    [Apostles who dedicate themselves completely to the Shepherds of Christ Ministries—]

  

   

  

   

    Applying that to our calling to Shepherds of Christ—there’s more work to this Movement than any of us, individually or all put together can ever attend to properly. What I am getting at, if you really feel you’ve been called to this Movement and especially to the apostle's level, I am suggesting to you very fervently and hopefully, persuasively, the Shepherds of Christ Ministries can use all the spare time, all the ministerial time you have to give to the work of the Kingdom. You don’t have to go around looking for other ministries to contribute your time to. You are free to do that, you are free to leave the Movement at any time. We are not forcing anyone to stay, we hope everybody stays but we have had people leave.

    So there should always be that, that sense of freedom if you want to lessen off your commitment or hopefully it would never happen, but if you would chose to leave the commitment, Jesus respects your freewill.

    But looking at it again positively I’m suggesting to you—there is so much work to be done in the Movement. So this first day of February which happened to be the month of the feast of St. Claude de la Columbiere, February the 15th, who has been one of the greatest apostles to the devotion to the Heart of Jesus in the history of the Church, so in a certain sense it’s a type of month of the Sacred Heart because of his feast, so I ask that all of us renew our commitment to the Movement. And again realize the great privilege, that’s one of the first ways to persevere in the Movement and to grow in the Movement, everyday to thank God for the great graces He has given you in the Movement.

    And I ask you just briefly to look back over your lives, now compared to when you joined the Movement. Has not Our Lord through Our Lady drawn you so, so, so much closer to Them. And He in turn has led you so much closer to the Father and the Spirit. The chairman of our theology department, the first departmental meeting when he took over, he said Xavier has been very good to me, now I feel it’s payback time and I think I should serve the University being chair of the Theology department. Being chair of a department, it’s really a pain of any department. But those words stick in my mind, he says now it is payback time. I should payback Xavier for all the good Xavier has done to me. I suggest we keep that in mind in reference to Jesus in His Movement. It’s always payback time. He does not give us graces and gifts in the Movement just for ourselves. Every gift of Jesus has a social dimension, it’s meant not only for my own spiritual growth, but for growth of the Kingdom. And so if we find ourselves becoming somewhat complacent in our gifts received through the Movement and not properly using them at least to the full extent that we could and helping to spread the Movement, helping to spread the Kingdom, then let us resolve here and now to do better.

    Perseverance in the Movement—all vocations, all callings need perseverance. I pray for perseverance as a Jesuit every day of my life. I pray for perseverance. I’m suggesting to all of us that we pray for perseverance in the Movement and not just a status quo type of perseverance, but pray for a perseverance which will allow us to dynamically grow and be greater apostles in the Movement. And we have to take the means to persevere.

    First of all, of course, is Mass and communion, then our visit to the Blessed Sacrament, saying the rosary and listening to at least five minutes a day to a live rosary which Rita receives, praying the hourly prayers without feeling overburdened. If you begin to feel overburdened by the hourly novena just make a 30 second prayer, say Jesus, say the three invocations, “Lord ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you, through the intercession of Mary, thy most holy mother I knock, I seek, I ask that my prayer be granted” and just say we pray for all needs of the Shepherds of Christ Movement and the other two invocations. You can do that in about 30 seconds. And then at times of course when you have the time and you feel moved bring in the specific intentions. But that hourly prayer has great power to keep our motivation up but it should not on the other hand feel burdensome to you. If it feels burdensome to you for any length of time, just use the short form for quite a while.

    [Note: servants and handmaids and apostles of the Good Shepherd of the Shepherds of Christ Movement go to daily Mass and spend one hour before the tabernacle and pray hourly for the priests, the Church and the world.]

    Reading the Blue Book messages, at least just a few minutes a day, can do wonders to help us persevere in the Movement. Renew your love and commitment to the Movement. Included in that renewed love and commitment I think should be a resolution that we don’t bad mouth the Movement, certainly not to those outside the Movement, certainly not even to those within the Movement. We have problems, we always have had some, we always will, the universal Church has monumental problems. But we have to learn how to handle the problems responsibly. If you have a significant problem please contact John or Rita, talk it over with them, with me if you feel so called. They usually report problems to me. I’m in constant contact with them. Currently I talk to them each day about the Movement, what’s going on, strong points, weak points and so forth. If you have problems with the Movement, don’t spread your problem with the problems to somebody else who starts to think negatively also.

    I mean go to Jesus, of course, first of all, but then bring your problem to somebody who has the authority in the Movement to handle it. That’s very, very important, 'cause our loyalty and love for the Movement, I think are significantly harmed when we don’t take that approach. Obedience in the Movement is going to become more and more important as the Movement grows. Any organization needs a certain structure, a hierarchy of command, obedience to legitimate authority. When John asks you to do something, please try to answer his request. If you can’t, just tell him I can’t do it now. When he directs you to do something, which is stronger than a request, don’t give him a hard time. Jesus wants obedience in the Movement. No Movement can survive or progress without obedience, without a structure of command. John has a terrifically difficult job. Don’t make it more difficult for him by, as I say, giving him a hard time or by never answering his request for help.

    I understand that the level of volunteerism here at the center has gradually slackened off over recent months, and it is very difficult to get people together to do our mailings. We can’t keep depending on just a few people all the time. Here again it’s payback time. I mean everyday is payback time. You can never fully repay Jesus for what He has done for us or what He continues to do for us. Now we have to use Christian prudence in all this, we’ve got family duties; we’ve got other duties that’s God’s will for us. We have to take care of those. But granting all those other calls on our time and our energy, if Jesus has called you to this Movement, He’s called each and every one of you, then He expects you to live up to your commitment. And if it’s always looked upon, if you feel it’s always more of a burden than a privilege, then I think a person has to consider, 'Shall I stay in the Movement?' Jesus loves a cheerful giver. Suffering is involved, is it not? Any following of Christ involves suffering. Any non following of Christ brings suffering, and a greater suffering—those who don’t believe, who don’t have any religious faith or conviction. They end up suffering much more than we who suffer in the following of Christ.

    I would like to read you something that I’ve written on suffering that will appear in the next newsletter—

   

FATHER CARTER'S VOICE WAS VERY SAD
and VERY LOVING.

      

        Excerpt from Priestly Newsletter 1998 Issue 1

Suffering

To follow Jesus entails a willingness to suffer for Him and His cause. The furthering of any worthwhile cause demands a spirit of sacrifice, a willingness to endure a variety of hardships and difficulties. We cannot expect it to be otherwise regarding the cause of Christ. To help further the process of ongoing redemption demands a price.

There is an almost endless variety of pains, sufferings, and difficulties which can arise in following Jesus and promoting His cause. At times seeing few, if any, visible results of our labors, feeling unappreciated, experiencing opposition, sometimes comprehending that we are being hated precisely by some of those whom we are striving to help, at times being laughed at and ridiculed—these are some of the ways we experience the sufferings of an apostle.

The suffering involved in contributing to the process of ongoing redemption is not, however, the complete picture. The happiness resulting from commitment to Christ and His mission far outweighs the hardships. To be aware that one is so intimately loved by Jesus, to experience the satisfaction that one is contributing to a cause that cannot fail, to play a role in helping to bring to others the love and peace of Jesus—all of this makes for a life that has no equal. The committed follower of Christ, experiencing what it means to be closely associated with Jesus, realizes why St. Peter said, Lord,…it is wonderful for us to be here. (Mt. 17:4). 

  

Father Carter's talk continues

    So in God’s plan in the following of Christ, suffering is always meant to lead to greater life here and hereafter, not only greater life for us as we grow in Jesus through the proper handling of suffering, but also greater life in the sense that we become more apt instruments for channeling His life to others, as we are purified by His suffering, so that we may more and more allow Him to live in and through and for us. One of the greatest Apostles of all times of suffering showing us the place of suffering in the Christian dispensation is St. Paul. He brings out this theme of death-resurrection of Jesus and our participation in it in various places in his writing. I think one of the most dramatic of those places is in

   

2 Corinthians 4: 7-11

         The hardships and hopes of the apostolate

But we hold this treasure in pots of earthenware, so that the immensity of the power is God’s and not our own. We are subjected to every kind of hardship, but never distressed; we see no way out but we never despair; we are pursued but never cut off; knocked down, but still have some life in us; always we carry with us in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our body. Indeed, while we are still alive, we are continually being handed over to death, for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our mortal flesh.

    

Father Carter's talk continues

    So we suffer with Jesus, so that here below and in eternity, so that we may live more with Him, and that we may become more fit instruments for helping to channel His life to others. We have a particular way of doing that, a magnificent way within the Shepherds of Christ Movement. He hung upon a cross on a hill called Calvary. He had already suffered so much, had He not? He had been brutally scourged at the pillar, crowned with thorns, laughed at, ridiculed, without sleep. He had to carry the heavy cross up the hill, upon reaching the hill He was mercilessly nailed to the cross. He hung there in that agonizing suffering until death came. His side was pierced and from His pierced Heart flowed blood and water, symbols of sacramental life in the Church, Baptism and the Eucharist. And as He hung on that cross nearing death in that brutalized suffering, St. Francis de Sales, who was a Doctor of the Church—a Doctor of the Church means that the Church recognizes not only the great holiness of the person, but the great learning, the great wisdom—in one of his classic works, St. Francis de Sales, his work Treatise on God's Divine Love, he says, “As Jesus hung upon the cross there in that brutal suffering each of us was present to Him. He knew each of us intimately and the perfect one gave His last drop of blood for you and for me.” So if we ever have problems with our motivation in the Movement, I suggest that we come to the foot of the cross and we realize what Jesus has done for me and continues to do. It is payback time. St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, has left us this beautiful prayer, “Lord teach me to be generous, teach me to serve you as you deserve, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for reward save that of knowing that I do your will.”  

      

    Now I will give the blessing. May the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit descend upon you and remain forever. Amen.

end of Father Carter's talk February 1, 1998

March 9, 2002 message continues

Messenger:     At the end of his talk, he left with tears in
                            his eyes.

                         He was focusing a larger amount of his
                            time on the Priestly Newsletter and the
                            spread of it to priests and bishops
                            all over the world.

                        Fr. Carter founded the Shepherds of Christ
                            Movement.

                        He received these three main messages
                            from Our Lord.

The Birth of the Full Ministries
of the Shepherds of Christ

    "I wish to share with you part of a message which Jesus gave us on October 13, 1994. The message tells us about the expansion of the Shepherds of Christ movement:

    'My beloved priest-companion, today I come to you with another mission. I am asking you to establish Shepherds of Christ Ministries. At My request you have already begun the priestly newsletter, "Shepherds of Christ", and the prayer chapters, Shepherds of Christ Associates...

    'I am giving you this message on this day, the 77th Anniversary of the Great Apparition at Fatima, because of the close connection between the Shepherds of Christ movement and the Fatima message. The Fatima message is centered in devotion to My Heart and My Mother's Heart, especially in consecration to Our Hearts. Shepherds of Christ Ministries is also centered in devotion to Our Hearts. I will use Shepherds of Christ Ministries as a great instrument in helping to bring about the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart. When this occurs, My Church and the world will be experiencing the great era of peace promised by My Mother at Fatima.

    'Today, then, October 13, 1994, the 77th Anniversary of the Great Apparition at Fatima, marks the birth of Shepherds of Christ Ministries. I pour forth the great love of My Sacred Heart to all. I am Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the flock.'

    "Jesus has told us that Shepherds of Christ Ministries includes: the priestly newsletter, Shepherds of Christ, Shepherds of Christ Associates prayer chapters, various publications, including books, whatever else Our Lord directs us to undertake.

    "As members of Shepherds of Christ Associates, you are an extremely important part of Shepherds of Christ Ministries. You have given great joy to the Heart of Jesus by responding to His invitation to become members of Shepherds of Christ Associates. As He draws you closer to His Heart and to His Mother's Heart as Associates members, He will fill you with an ever-increasing experience of His love, peace, and joy."

- From In the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Newsletter of Shepherds of Christ Associates
by Fr. Edward J. Carter S.J., Volume 1, No. 1, 1995. p. 2.

end of October 13, 1994 message given to Fr. Carter

 

Apostles of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus

My dear fellow Associate Members,

Jesus is calling special apostles to join a new division of the Shepherds of Christ Movement. Here is a message from Jesus given to Father Carter:

My beloved priest-companion, I am requesting that a new prayer movement be started under the direction of Shepherds of Christ Ministries. I am asking for volunteers who are willing to pray before the Blessed Sacrament for one hour, twice-weekly. Members of the Shepherds of Christ prayer chapters, as well as others, are to be invited to join this movement.

These apostles are to pray for the intentions I am giving you. For part of the hour they are to use the prayers of the Shepherds of Christ Associates Handbook. They may spend the rest of the hour as they so choose.

I will use this new prayer movement within My Shepherds of Christ Ministries in a powerful way to help in the renewal of My Church and the world. I will give great graces to those who join this movement. The name, Apostles of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, is to be given to this movement.

I am inviting My beloved Rita Ring to be coordinator for this activity.

I pour out the great love of My Sacred Heart to all. I am Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the flock.

    This is indeed a special calling for us to unite in one heart with His Eucharistic Heart and pray for the following intentions:

1. For the spread of the devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary culminating in the reign of the Sacred Heart and the triumph of the Immaculate Heart.
2. For the Pope.
3. For all bishops of the world.
4. For all priests.
5. For all sisters and brothers in the religious life.
6. For all members of the Shepherds of Christ Movement, and for the spread of this movement to the world.
7. For all members of the Catholic Church.
8. For all members of the human family.
9. For all souls in purgatory.

end of Apostles of the Eucharistic Heart message

March 9, 2002 message continues

Messenger:     He prayed fervently, daily at Mass for 
                            the publication of this book. 

March 9, 2002 message continues

Messenger:    It left the publisher December 17, 1996,
                            the same day Mary appeared on the
                            building.

                        On December 17, 1996, Mary appeared 
                            on the building in Clearwater.

July 5, 2000

March 9, 2002 message continues

Messenger:     We were permitted to circulate the Newsletter
                            and Prayer Manuals, rosaries,
                            rosary meditations, Apostles of the
                            Eucharistic Heart of Jesus Material,
                            Blue Books, Consecration Materials
                            and Rosary meditation materials
                            with the Imprimatur to people
                            all over the world from beneath
                            Mary's image in Florida.

                             Fr. Carter prayed fervently every day we could
                        acquire the Virgin Mary building to do this.

                             In early July, 1998 we were able to lease the
                        building and on July 5, 1998 Fr. Carter
                        consecrated the world (in as far as he was 
                        able) from beneath Mary's image to the
                        Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate
                        Heart of Mary. He consecrated the building
                        to the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate
                        Heart and we placed the statue of Jesus
                        on the property beneath Mary's image.

March 9, 2002 message continues

Messenger:         I saw Our Lord come down from above and
                        go into the Statue of Jesus as Fr. Carter
                        consecrated the image building and grounds
                        in Florida to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
                        and the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

From that day on, we had daily prayers beneath                         the image July 5, 1998, rain and shine                         praying for the priests, the Church and the                         world, united in our hearts with people praying                         at our other centers and subcenters and people                         praying before the Blessed Sacrament and in                         homes and prayer groups. We united then at                         6:30 using the materials Fr. Carter gave us,                         the red prayer manual and the rosary                          meditations (all discerned very carefully                         and prepared by him).

                            I began traveling to Florida on the 5ths of
                        each month conducting prayer services
                        under Mary's image since July 5, 1998. We 
                        had gathered on the 5th of each month in
                        Cincinnati since July 5, 1994 praying as
                        follows, so it was nothing new for us.

                            We prayed to God the Father to forgive us as a
                        people for offending Him and prayed to make
                        reparation to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary for
                        the offenses against Them.

                            On February 23, 1999 we started the prayers
                        at 6:20 including the Holy Spirit Novena (it was
                        10 minutes earlier) praying for oneness in the
                        world and healing, praying for the Holy Spirit to
                        outpour His special graces on the priests, the
                        Church and the world and Spreading the Blood
                        of Jesus on us and our families, the priests, the
                        Church and the world. We prayed all over the
                        world united as a family for this special outpouring
                        of grace. This Holy Spirit Novena is now available
                        in 4 languages with the Imprimatur so we can
                        all pray together in different languages.

March 9, 2002 message continues

Messenger:         We pray as a body united every day in our
                        Morning Offering and we see ourselves as One
                        body pleading for grace to be outpoured on the
                        Church and the world and our priests.

                            We circulate this direction to people
                        praying at 6:20 so we all are united in our
                        hearts at the time praying united for special
                        grace for the priests, the Church and the world.

                            Father Carter leads the prayers on a tape and
                        disc. He prayed the prayers daily before the
                        Blessed Sacrament united to all our prayers.

                            Fr. Carter guided us and discerned this
                        material, all prayers have the Imprimatur.

                            Fr. Carter prayed fervently for us to keep the
                        building for this purpose—to spread the Shepherds
                        of Christ material, the Priestly Newsletter and
                        Prayer Manuals.

                            I traveled to Florida every 5th and people
                        gathered all over the world praying with us
                        begging for grace for the priests, the Church
                        and the world.

                            At first when I went to Florida on the 5ths
                        at dark I could barely see Mary's outline of the 
                        image on the window.

                            Then on the anniversary of Mary's appearance
                        December 17, 1999, Mary's image appeared gold
                        and beautiful all night even in the dark all through
                        the anniversary prayer service. Fr. Carter prayed
                        united with us at home. We were unable to
                        photograph Mary in gold on the building on
                        December 17, 1999.

                            Every 5th when I went down to pray for 
                        4-5 hours beginning at 6:20 Mary appeared
                        in gold on the building.

                            On July 5, 2000 Fr. Carter went to Florida
                        the last time. He celebrated Mass that day
                        in the building in a private Mass with permission.
                        He was sick, but he was able to celebrate Mass.

July 5, 2000

March 9, 2002 message continues

Messenger:        That night he was sick in the motel.

                            Mary appeared on the building in gold,
                        here are those pictures. It was the first time we

July 5, 2000	July 5, 2000

March 9, 2002 message continues

Messenger:     were able to photograph Mary gold at night 
                        July 5, 2000 when he was down in Florida. He
                        didn't see her, he was sick in the motel.

                            Then every month after that Mary would appear in 
                        gold on the 5th during the prayer service and we could
                        photograph her.

                            On December 17, 2000 we celebrated the 4th
                        anniversary of Mary on the building. Mary was
                        gold and beautiful.

                            On December 18, 2000 after the 6:20 prayers
                        at 7:10 Fr. Carter died at Columbiere in Michigan.

March 9, 2002 message continues

Messenger:         On the last business day of the second
                        millennium we received the loan on the building.
                        Fr. Carter prayed for this at every Mass and hourly,
                        he said we should keep the building in Shepherds
                        of Christ's name, it was Jesus' wish. He said this
                        was major to helping to bringing about the
                        completion of the mission Mary began at Fatima.

                            We were able to buy the building with a big
                        loan one week after Fr. Carter's funeral.

                            Our main focus of the Movement is to
                        circulate the Priestly Newsletter to
                        priests and begin prayer chapters all over
                        the world and for spiritual renewal.

                            On March 5, 2002 a few days ago I went
                        to Florida and did the prayers as always.

March 9, 2002 message continues

Messenger:     6:20 Holy Spirit Novena

                        6:30 Shepherds of Christ Prayers
                            followed by rosary.

                        We begged the Father for mercy and grace for
                            the world.

March 9, 2002 message continues

Messenger:     We consecrated all the souls of the earth,
                            as far as we are able, to the Sacred Heart
                            and Immaculate Heart.

                        We prayed all night for the priests, the
                            Church and the world.

                            We broadcasted the prayer service to
                        8 states where people gathered live
                        and prayed with us. We broadcasted it to
                        our Eucharistic Center in China, Indiana
                        where they pray hourly before the Blessed
                        Sacrament and every night for several
                        hours at 6:20. We do this "hook up" every
                        month on the 5ths.

                            A priest that helps us unites with 
                        us in prayer.

                            Here is what we saw under the
                        image as we prayed the 6:20 prayers
                        and the Prayer Manual.

                            Mary's image was so gold and
                        blue, it was awesome and ever
                        changing until it was all gold.

                            We take these pictures without
                        flash or lights. The pictures do not
                        take with a flash.

                            On February 5, 2001 I began seeing
                        Jesus in the lower two left windows.
                        Here is how He appeared.

February 5, 2001

March 9, 2002 message continues

Messenger:         Here are the pictures we took
                        March 5, 2002 as we prayed for the
                        priests, the Church and the world.
                        These were taken without a flash.
  

All the Blue-gold to all gold beginning pictures
were taken during the Holy Spirit Novena 
and the Shepherds of Christ prayers.

(message continues after pictures)

Pictures from March 5, 2002

March 9, 2002 message continues

Messenger:         We also pray united as a body for about 5-6
                        hours every 13th before the Exposed Eucharist
                        in our church in China.

March 9, 2002 message continues

Messenger:     For years we have prayed from noon on the 12th
                        of each month until noon on the 14th of each 
                        month for the priests, the Church and the world.

                            Fr. Carter would say Mass on the 12th at 12 noon
                        and expose the Eucharist. He would then repose
                        it on the 14th.

                            His homilies of these days during the year 2000
                        were taped and transcribed.

                         They are on the internet.

                            Here is the one he gave March 12, 2000
  

Fr. Carter's Homily

March 12, 2000
   

Mark 1: 12-15

Testing in the desert

And at once the Spirit drove him into the desert and he remained there for forty days, and was put to the test by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and the angels looked after him.

Jesus begins to proclaim the message

After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee. There he proclaimed the gospel from God saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the gospel.’

       Today’s Gospel presents us with Jesus’ desert experience, and the desert experience of Jesus had been very vividly foreshadowed by the Jewish people in Old Testament times, as they wandered through the desert from Egypt to the Promised Land for 40 years. A great part of Jesus’ desert experience, of course, was prayerful solitude, as He prayed from the depth of His humanity to the Heavenly Father. And His desert experience reminds us that the desert experience must be in the lives of all of us, really day in and day out, sometimes with very, very special periods, but the heart, the essence of desert experience must always be with us. And certainly one of the great notes of the desert experience is this prayerful communion with the Father, through Christ, in the Holy Spirit, with the assistance of Mary our Mother.

       Silence is one of the great foundational stones of the spiritual life. In silence, if we properly use it, so much happens to us. We are made aware once again of how much the Father loves us in Christ Jesus, and we just sit in awe trying to realize, with greater insight, what it means that the Father sent His Son to die for each of us. We can never comprehend the love contained in that, that the Son of God becomes incarnate for our redemption. In silence we should make a response with our whole hearts as we realize this great love of God for us in Jesus, and pledge that each day of our lives we will respond with the deepest faith, hope, and love, despite the trials, despite the sufferings, despite the persecutions, and aided on the more bright side by success and joyfulness and happiness in the Lord.

       During the time of Lent we have a special opportunity to deepen this desert experience, so I encourage you to build – I know all of you have very, very busy days – but try to build at least a little bit more time, set aside time for prayerful silence as we imitate the desert experience of Jesus. We know that not only during these forty days did He go aside in solitude in the desert, but He would often go aside and pray in solitude to His Heavenly Father. So we have to learn how to build the desert experience into our daily lives, and this can be done even in the midst of activity. The more we do away with the clutter, the needless anxiety and worry and so forth within us, the more we are experiencing desert silence even in the midst of activity. Especially during Lent try to build into your days a little bit more time before the Blessed Eucharist to deepen your desert experience. Thomas Merton, certainly one of the most insightful spiritual writers of our times, has some very meaningful words about the place of silence in the spiritual life. He says, "Silence does not exist in our lives merely for its own sake. It is ordered to something else. Silence is the mother of speech. A lifetime of silence is ordered to an ultimate declaration, which can be put into words, a declaration of all we have lived for.

       "Life and death, words and silence, are given us because of Christ...In Him we die to illusion and live to truth. We speak to confess Him, and we are silent in order to meditate on Him and enter deeper into His silence, which is at once the silence of death and of eternal life-the silence of Good Friday and the peace of Easter morning.

       "We receive Christ's silence into our hearts when first we speak from our heart the word of faith. We work out our salvation in silence and in hope. Silence is the strength of our interior life. Silence enters into the very core of our moral being, so that if we have no silence we have no morality. Silence enters mysteriously into the composition of all the virtues, and silence preserves them from corruption.

       "If we fill our lives with silence, then we live in hope, and Christ lives in us and gives our virtues much substance. Then, when the time comes, we confess Him openly...and our confession has much meaning because it is rooted in deep silence. It awakens the silence of Christ in the hearts of those who hear us, so that they themselves fall silent and begin to wonder and to listen. For they have begun to discover their true selves." ¹

Note:

1. A Thomas Merton Reader, Thomas Mr Donnell, editor, Doubleday, p. 459.

end of Fr. Carter's Homily

Fr Carter's Homily

March 14, 2000
  

        In today’s Gospel, Jesus puts before us that beautiful prayer which He Himself has given us: the Lord’s Prayer. And a very key phrase in that prayer is, we pray:
  

Matthew 6:10

“...your will be done, on earth as in heaven.”
  

        This Gospel is taken from Matthew 6 which is part of the Sermon on the Mount - that great Sermon on the Mount which comprises Chapters 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew - and towards the end of that same Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says to us,
 

Matthew 7:21

‘It is not anyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," who will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven.’
  

        So He repeats what is a very key line in the Lord’s Prayer, God’s will, the Father’s will, in love. This was a key of Jesus’ life wasn’t it? Jesus tells us in another place in the Gospel:
  

John 8:29

“...for I always do what pleases him.”
   

        God’s will is our happiness. Every human person desires happiness; it’s built into our nature. But sad to say, many throughout human history have sought happiness in a wrongful way, but even in their sinfulness people are actually seeking happiness. But of course in their sinfulness they cannot find that happiness, because it’s only adherence, loving adherence to God’s will, to the Father’s will which gives happiness. And so people have sought, according to their own willfulness, this or that way to achieve happiness. But the further that way, that willful way was from God’s will, the less happy they became and the more miserable they became. God’s will is our only way to happiness, hard as it is at times. During this time of Lent, let us deepen our desire to do God’s will in all things, and one of the chief ways we have of deepening this determination is to purify our prayer life and to enter it with this attitude among others, this attitude which was Samuel’s as it’s recorded in the Old Testament. From the book of Samuel, first book:
  

1 Samuel 3: 9-11

So Samuel went and lay down in his place. Yahweh then came and stood by, calling as he had done before, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ Samuel answered, ‘Speak, Yahweh; for your servant is listening.’
   

        This should be the way we approach prayer, with other attitudes of course, but this is a very key attitude. Often we rush into prayer and we, as it were, start the dialogue with God. “Jesus, Father, Holy Spirit, I need this, I want this, etc., etc.” We should always open our prayer, continue our prayer and end our prayer with this basic idea of openness: “Lord, what do you want of me? Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”

This is Father Carter delivering homily

        Jesus - as we're soon going to see as we approach Holy Week and Good Friday, His Passion and death - Jesus sought the Father's will in everything, and He did it perfectly in perfect love in everything, even to the brutal death on the cross.

        And so, when we find it hard to do God's will, let us look upon our Master Who has gone before us, Who has suffered as no one else with a human nature ever has, ever will - He has suffered more. And He tells us: I have gone before you to show you at what lengths you must go to do the Father's will. I have suffered much more than you will ever suffer, and when you find it most difficult to do the Father's will, come to Me and I will help you shoulder the burden. Because I have also told you in My Gospel this thought: Come to Me you who are weary and find life burdensome and I will refresh you. My yoke is easy, My yoke is sweet and My burden light, My burden light.

        So no matter how hard it is to do God's will in the objective order of things, it becomes relatively light if we seek out the strength of Jesus. And of course it's in the Eucharist where we most meet up with that strength. Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, we place our trust in You, help us to live by these words more and more. Thy Father's will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

        And also I'd like to bring to your attention, that an aspect of the Father's will for you is that very, very special mission He has given to each of you. During Lent, deepen your resolve to fulfill your mission in Christ Jesus. No one else can do that.

        If anyone has a problem with a poor self-image or a poor self-identity, they are not building their existence upon this truth that we, each of us, is in the image of God. Each of us has been given a very, very, very special mission to fulfill, something no one else can accomplish. So God in His will for you has put you here for a very, very, very special reason. So when it's hard to do God's will, especially at those times, remember that the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, the Church and the world is depending upon you to fulfill your mission in life which no one else can fulfill. Yes, let us pray that each of us does the Father's will in all things including accomplishing the very special role each of us has been given.
   

Matthew 6:10

“...your will be done, on earth as in heaven.”