Daily Writing
| Shepherds of Christ Daily Writing |
|
April 13, 2009
|
April 14th Holy
Spirit Novena |
The Novena Rosary
Mysteries |
The church needs to have the stucco replaced
and also the community building.
It is about $38,000 to repair it.
People pray in the church 24 hours a day.
We have prayed in there for 11 years.
The archdiocese gave the church to us
for this purpose for a small price.
Can you help us?
Available for $10.00 plus postage
1-888-211-3041
The Monstrance turned during the prayer service.
April 13, 2009
The rainbow appeared in China at 6:30pm during the prayers.
5 Years Ago
April 13, 2004
After we prayed 6 years this is what happened --
snowflakes the size of a silver dollar.
15 Years Ago
Introduction
April 13, 1994
Words of Jesus. Read before the Tabernacle.
Jesus: How, child, do I, Jesus, tell you I love you? You hold on to silly things when God is in your midst and is ardently loving you. I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I am writing to each precious child this day. I am on fire for love of you. I remain in the Eucharist to be with you with My ardent love. I did not want to leave My beloved ones at the Last Supper. I love you so, My dear and ardently loved children. I remain with you this day in the Blessed Sacrament, the same Jesus Who died a brutal death on the Cross.
Do you know I am truly present there? Do you know that God waits every day for you in the tabernacle? Do you comprehend even a minute amount of My love? You will never know of how I love you on earth.
I, Jesus, truly the Son of God, came to earth a man and suffered a brutal death for love of you. I love you so much! I remain with you this day. I long for your love. I want you to come and be with Me in front of the tabernacle. I wait, I yearn for you to come and whisper your love to Me. I am a person and I love you this day, with such an ardent on-fire love! No human could ever compare a speck to My love for you.
I wait, little ones, in the tabernacle. I wait for you to come and receive Me in Communion. I want you to want Me so much you cannot wait to come and receive Me. I want to be the love, the center of your life!
I am Jesus. I am the Son of God. I am writing to you this day. I want to possess your very soul and live in you. I have all you need, sweet ones. Oh, you are so blind! I long for your union with Me. I wrote the book of love. I instituted it, yet you go to the world for your love and do not even come to Me! Oh, I love you, little ones. Little ones, beloved of the Father, loved by the Holy Spirit, mothered by My very own mother! What more can I say? The rest is up to you!
I give you your will with such love and I want your love freely given. I am God. What do you think you could ever need that I do not give you? I am the Savior of this world. I am Jesus, the Son of God. I am waiting for you. I am longing for you. I am yearning for you. I am God. I have all you ever will need!
Surrender this life to Me. Pray My Prayer for Union with Me. I want to possess your soul and operate from your very being. I am Jesus. I am the Son of God. I am the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I am Who am. I died and rose on the third day.
Harken to My call, harken to My pleading. Spend your days in love with Me. Nothing matters unless it is rooted in Me and rooted in My love. I am the Son of God. I am the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I love you with the tenderest love. I am waiting this day for just you, My beloved one. Come to Me for I am the tenderest of all hearts. I am the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
- God's Blue Book,
Volume 2 April 13, 1994
April 13, 2009
The Feast of the Ascension
is 40 days from Easter —
The Feast of Pentecost is 50
days from Easter
Easter is the greatest feast in
the Church's calendar.
Alleluia means "Praise the Lord"
Augustine said
"We are Easter men and Alleluia
is our song"
The first week of Easter is the
Octave of Easter and is so
special —
This is Easter Week —
Every Mass is to have that oneness
with Easter itself.
Every Gospel is an appearance
of the risen Lord —
We are this Easter week to
especially think of
our Baptism —
Psalm 116
Thanksgiving
Alleluia!
I am filled with love when Yahweh listens
to the sound of my prayer,
when he bends down to hear me,
as I call.The bonds of death were all round me,
the snares of Sheol held me fast;
distress and anguish held me in their grip,
I called on the name of Yahweh.Deliver me, Yahweh, I beg you.
Yahweh is merciful and upright,
our God is tenderness.
Yahweh looks after the simple,
when I was brought low he gave me strength.My heart, be at peace once again,
for Yahweh has treated you generously.
He has rescued me from death, my eyes from tears,
and my feet from stumbling.
I shall pass my life in the presence of Yahweh,
in the land of the living.My trust does not fail even when I say,
"I am completely wretched."
In my terror I said,
"No human being can be relied on."
What return can I make to Yahweh
for his generosity to me?
I shall take up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of Yahweh.I shall fulfil my vows to Yahweh,
witnessed by all his people.Costly in Yahweh's sight
is the death of his faithful.I beg you, Yahweh! I am your servant,
I am your servant and my mother was your servant;
you have undone my fetters.
I shall offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of Yahweh.I shall fulfil my vows to Yahweh,
witnessed by all his people,
in the courts of the house of Yahweh,
in your very heart, Jerusalem.
Jesus appears to the women
I should think of how I can
live the life of resurrection and
bring it to others.
I must think of my own stone
that keeps me locked in —
sin and spiritual laziness —
Jesus will help us to be more
holy if we ask Him —
I should be like fresh bread —
ready to rise in the spiritual
life —
I should get rid of vices,
spiritual laziness,
pride
jealousies —
all my ugly attachments —
that lead me to rebellion —
being impure — power seeking —
manipulative etc.
Let go of things that decay me —
so I can be renewed in the
risen Christ —
Jesus died and rose —
We should be strengthened by
Jesus' death and resurrection —
Ponder the gift of Baptism —
By the waters of Baptism —
. . .
We receive a sharing in His life —
Sing: Come to the Water
Peter said
Acts 2: 38-41
‘You must repent,’ Peter answered, ‘and every one of you must be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise that was made is for you and your children, and for all those who are far away, for all those whom the Lord our God is calling to himself.’ He spoke to them for a long time using many other arguments, and he urged them, ‘Save yourselves from this perverse generation.’ They accepted what he said and were baptised. That very day about three thousand were added to their number.
John 20: 18-19
So Mary of Magdala told the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord,’ and that he had said these things to her.
In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you,’
We are to especially celebrate Easter
every day of Easter week —
"Christ has become our pascal
sacrifice"
We are to live the life of resurrection
in our daily lives —
we are to bring this life of resurrection
to others by our behavior and
unity with the resurrected Lord.
JOY, JOY, JOY
Jesus has risen from the dead —
Joy for we want eternal life —
Peter healed the paralytic
Praise God —
Think of the Scripture about
the road to Emmaus —
They recognized Jesus in the
breaking of the bread —
Each day of Easter week we
majorly celebrate Easter —
The risen Lord appeared to
the 11 and explained His
death and resurrection and
He tells them to preach the
Gospel —
Jesus appeared out of no where —
Peter and John were arrested for
proclaiming the Resurrection —
Jesus is called the stone the
builders rejected
Jesus appears at the Lake of
Galilee —
Jesus wanted these men to
catch men
We are on the torrential waves
of life —
We stir up the waters with
our disobedience and disorder —
One day we want to be on solid
land — home with Jesus in
heaven
John and Peter were arrested for speaking
of the resurrected Lord
Mark 16: 9-15
Having risen in the morning on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary of Magdala from whom he had cast out seven devils. She then went to those who had been his companions, and who were mourning and in tears, and told them. But they did not believe her when they heard her say that he was alive and that she had seen him.
After this, he showed himself under another form to two of them as they were on their way into the country. These went back and told the others, who did not believe them either.
Lastly, he showed himself to the Eleven themselves while they were at table. He reproached them for their incredulity and obstinacy, because they had refused to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. And he said to them, ‘Go out to the whole world; proclaim the gospel to all creation.
We have thought about our
baptism all week —
What a gift baptism is —
First Sunday after Easter
The resurrection should bring
unity of heart —
1 John 5: 1-6
Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ
is a child of God,
and whoever loves the father
loves the son.
In this way we know
that we love God’s children,
when we love God
and keep his commandments.
This is what the love of God is:
keeping his commandments.
Nor are his commandments
burdensome,
because every child of God
overcomes the world.
And this is the victory
that has overcome the world—
our faith.Who can overcome the world
but the one who believes
that Jesus is the Son of God?
He it is who came by water and blood,
Jesus Christ,
not with water alone
but with water and blood,
and it is the Spirit that bears witness,
for the Spirit is Truth.
2nd
Sunday of Easter
April 23, 2006
(Acts 4, 32-35; 1 John 5, 1-6; John 20, 19-31) The chief rabbi in Jerusalem contacted the Holy Father and invited him to a game of golf. He thought it would be a good gesture for improved Jewish-Christian relations. The Holy Father agreed with the idea but said he wasn’t a good golfer, so he asked if he if he could send a high level prelate to be his substitute. That was agreeable with the chief rabbi. He consequently asked around among his cardinals whether any of them were good golfers so they could stand in as his representative. None of them felt they could do the job, but one of the cardinals suggested Jack Nicklas. He told the Holy Father that Jack Nicklas was a good Catholic and perhaps the Holy Father could make him a cardinal. So that’s what the Holy Father did. He made Jack Nicklas a cardinal and he was the Holy Father’s representative for this big inter-religious golf game. When it was over Cardinal Jack Nicklas called the Holy Father and the Holy Father asked how it went. Jack answered "I’ve got good news and bad news for you." The Holy Father said "Well, start with the good news." So Jack told him: "it was the best game I ever played. I felt like God was right there with me on every stroke. It couldn’t have been better." "Well," asked the Holy Father, how could there be bad news after that?" Jack Nicklas answered "I lost by two strokes to Rabbi Tiger Woods."
In some corners of the world this is known as holy humor Sunday. It’s a day for laughter, because the devil got defeated by Jesus’ resurrection. So I had to tell you something that would give you a laugh.
Some of you might also know this Sunday as "Divine Mercy Sunday," when Jesus forgave his apostles for abandoning him and offered them "peace." He also commissioned them to bring his mercy and salvation to others by giving them the power to forgive sins.
The gospel talks to us too about Jesus giving the apostles the gift of the Holy Spirit and the apostle Thomas and his doubts and, more importantly, his profound expression of faith. There are so many ideas my homily could develop.
What I want to focus on is Jesus’ greeting to the apostles: "peace be with you." When we read the gospels, the normal greeting was "Χαίρε” which means “rejoice!” Jesus obviously meant “peace” because he repeated it.
This gospel has a great deal of meaning for me personally and I’m going to tell you why. I was ordained almost 42 years ago, just as the Vatican Council was finishing up its work. People had high hopes for all the changes that the Vatican Council might bring. Perhaps they envisioned a Church such as we read about in today’s first reading, where there was great unity and peace and love for each other. Vatican II did great work, but about five or ten years after the Council was over, it was obvious it didn’t do everything people expected. Most people were happy with the changes it brought about. But there were some who liked the old ways and they were disgruntled. Some stopped going to Church and some broke away from the Church and began their own Church. Others were upset because there weren’t more changes and they turned away from the Church also.
It was a difficult time for me as a priest too. Priests I knew and admired resigned. Some of the pastors I had to serve under didn’t like the changes from the Vatican Council and they saw me as a wild liberal they had to try to keep in line. I was thirty years old by then and I was told when to come in at night, how to dress, who to have as friends, and for my weekly "day off" I was permitted to visit my parents on Friday night after I had finished my day’s chores. By 30 years of age I thought I knew everything and resented someone telling me how to live my life. Our seminary professors assured us that if we studied our theology we could handle any situation. I guess it was troubling to find out that I still had a lot to learn.
I’m not looking for sympathy. I’m just trying to give you a picture of my own internal distress. I had no inner peace. At that time I felt restless, depressed and disturbed. At charismatic prayer meetings I heard people give testimony of how God answered their prayers. Yet I was so troubled and when I prayed I felt as if God wasn’t listening. Perhaps I wasn’t listening well enough. But one day I listened as someone read today’s gospel. It was one of those moments when I knew God was speaking to me. I heard it loud and clear: "Peace be with you." It didn’t come all at once, but hearing those words of the risen Jesus gave me hope. It assured me "peace" was something God wanted for us, and I prayed for it with greater conviction that it would come. I knew it would come because Jesus desires us to have it. Just knowing that was the beginning of a feeling of peace. As I prayed for it, the Lord guided me as to how to find it. I tell you this story so that you might know that God wants peace for us. It was what he promised at the Last Supper: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid."
That is my prayer for all of you this second Sunday of Easter: may you know and experience Christ’s peace, a peace which the world cannot give. Amen.
John 20: 19-31
In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you,’ and, after saying this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Lord, and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.
‘As the Father sent me,
so am I sending you.’After saying this he breathed on them and said:
Receive the Holy Spirit.
If you forgive anyone’s sins,
they are forgiven;
if you retain anyone’s sins,
they are retained.Thomas, called the Twin, who was one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, ‘We have seen the Lord,’ but he answered, ‘Unless I can see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe.’ Eight days later the disciples were in the house again and Thomas was with them. The doors were closed, but Jesus came in and stood among them. ‘Peace be with you,’ he said. Then he spoke to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; look, here are my hands. Give me your hand; put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving any more but believe.’ Thomas replied, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him:
You believe because you can see me.
Blessed are those who have not seen
and yet believe.There were many other signs that Jesus worked in the sight of the disciples, but they are not recorded in this book. These are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing this you may have life through his name.
The New Life of the Resurrection
I am the resurrection and the life:
whoever believes in me,
though he should dies, will come to
life;
and whoever is alive and believes in
me
will never die (Jn 11: 25-26).
Dying to our non-authentic self is rising to the self we are really meant to be
by Edward Carter, S.J.
Jesus' entire life was centered in His death and resurrection: His entire life was also contained or summed up therein. These two key events comprised His paschal or passover mystery. The word passover has a very basic and literal meaning. The word contains the idea of religious transition. While upon earth, Jesus was always experiencing such transition. He was always in a process of passing over, passing back to the Father. He was gradually achieving a new state of existence for His own humanity and for the entire human race. That new life was the state of resurrection.
As His mortal life beautifully and poignantly unfolded. He was in process to the definitive point of death. His death, in turn, was the passageway to resurrection. This death marked the final mortal act of Jesus. It was the final act of His earth-bound life in which He would conform His will in love to His Father's will. His death was an act of final pouring-out of Himself. It was His final libation, His final kenosis—His final Self-emptying in love. All the acts of His life previous to Calvary participated in this culmination of final kenosis which was His death. All through His life Jesus was undergoing this emptying out, this giving of Himself. He was always giving of Himself, always concerned about others, always loving, even though this meant great suffering and hardship at times. Yet Jesus always viewed suffering and hardship very positively. He always saw it as leading to greater life. He suffered as no one else ever has or ever will, yet He suffered with dignity, with a perduring optimism, with a basic peace of spirit, with a happiness which could not be extinguished despite the pain.
This, briefly described, is the concept of Christ's passover or paschal event. In all this He was bringing to fulfillment the passover event of the Jewish people in Old Testament times. Their passover occurred in experiencing religious transition as they escaped Egyptian slavery and were formed into Yahweh's people under the leadership of Moses. They were, then, passing to a higher type of religious existence—one of closer union with God—and the process was stamped with the pattern of death-resurrection.
The Church, which is the earthly and visible continuation of Jesus and His mission, centers her life in the paschal mystery also. It can be no other way. The Church has no other pattern for existence except that which Jesus Himself established by the way He lived, died, and rose. The Church is always meant to be dying with Jesus so that she might more and more rise with Him. The Church, like the Jesus who preceded her, is in a process of passing over, passing back to the Father under the guidance of the Spirit. The Church's passover will continue to the end of time, when there no longer will be an earthly Church.
As individual Christians we, too, possess a life focused in death-resurrection. At baptism we are incorporated into Jesus and His paschal mystery. St. Paul tells us: "Are you not aware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Through baptism into his death we were buried with him, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live a new life" (Rom 6:3-4).
As the People of God collectively experience the death and resurrection of Jesus, so each of us individually is meant to be living death-resurrection, not sporadically, but consistently. It is true that our share in Christ's resurrection will achieve its final culmination only in eternal life, but we also possess a very real share in Jesus' resurrection here below. Our life of baptism, our grace-life, our Christ-life, is now our life of resurrection. We live realized eschatology. In a certain sense we are already living the final things. We are already living eternal life. There is no sharp break between this life and the life we will eternally enjoy in heaven's beatific vision. Whatever we experience here below in Christ—loving union with God and with one another, enjoyment of material creation, and the rest—all this will be brought to perfect and deepened fulfillment in eternal life. And we will then be fulfilled to the degree we have died and risen with Jesus here upon earth.
Each of our acts is meant to be a kenosis or self-emptying for God and others as we embrace in love the Father's will. Each of our acts is meant to be a preparation for, and a participation in, the act of physical death. That time of our lives will be our final kenosis, the final self-emptying. This final act of physically dying is aimed at life, at resurrection, just as are all the acts of mystical dying which precede it. While such acts of mystical dying bring us closer to Christ and to His life of resurrection, the act of physically dying prepares us for the state of full union with Christ and full sharing in His resurrection.
Every Christian act, consequently, has imprinted upon it the image of Jesus' death and resurrection. Whether we laugh or cry, work or play, love or open ourselves to be loved, leap with joy or feel weighted down with anguished suffering—whatever we do in Christ is an act of death and resurrection. It might seem strange to say that Christian acts of joy, of laughter, or of love, are characterized not only by resurrection but also by death. There are various ways of seeing how this is true. For example, joyfully to love another and to be loved by another is a happy experience, sometimes ecstatically so. But even these joyful moments of love involve their own kind of dying. For to relate to the other properly in selfless love makes me die to my selfish self. Also, in the act of experiencing love, I am reminded, sometimes very gently, sometimes with a sharp and penetrating pain, that there will always be a certain suffering in loving during this life. I can never be as closely united to the loved one as I desire. Only in eternal life will this wish be fulfilled.
We should be aware that the suffering aspect of our share in Jesus' paschal mystery is directed toward the discovery of the true self. It is aimed at resurrection. We die with Jesus in order to really find ourselves in Him. We die to the self which is not the authentic self in order to rise to the self we are really meant to be. What Thomas Merton says of asceticism can also be applied to any form of dying with Jesus. For Merton, asceticism is that active self-purification aimed at "the recovery of our true self, man's true 'nature,' created for union with God. It is the purification, and liberation of the divine image in man, hidden under layers of 'unlikeness'" (from The Silent Life, published by Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1957).
The Christian is meant to undergo an on-going conversion. The Christian life is an on-going process of turning away from the non-authentic self to the authentic self. The Christian achieves this authentic selfhood the more he died to his selfish ego, to his non-Christic self, and increasingly becomes Christ, becomes more assimilated to Jesus. This process of conversion to the authentic self in Christ can also be viewed as a process of self-liberation. The more the Christian dies and rises with Christ, the freer he becomes. As he grows in Christ he achieves a greater freedom to become what he is meant to be. A person's freedom is a gift through which he achieves his true identity, his true self, the authentic fulfillment of his personhood. When the Christian abuses his freedom, he becomes less his true self. He diminishes the process of self-fulfillment. The abuse of freedom is a turning away from the authentic self to the false self. The more one turns in this direction, the more enslaved he becomes to his selfish ego. In the abuse of freedom a person becomes less free.
The process of on-going conversion through death-resurrection is a self-liberation which enables us to relate in greater freedom to God, to one another, to all reality. The life of the authentic self in Jesus has structured within it relationships to God, to one's neighbor, to the world with its various temporal values, to all dimensions of God's creation. As we achieve on-going conversion and its concomitant self-liberation, we also increase in the capacity to relate properly to reality. We have a greater capacity to live resurrection. We have a greater freedom to open ourselves to God's love and to relate more authentically in love to one another. We have a greater freedom to love the world and its values as we should. It is interesting to note, then, that the one who can love the world more and therefore, is more capable of promoting its true growth, is the one who is more free relative to its values. On the other hand, the person who is enslaved to the world's values, and in a certain sense, then, seems to love the world, is really loving his selfish self, and is less capable of contributing to the real progress of man's world.
There are various ways we live the death-resurrection of Jesus in our daily existence. There is the practice of self-discipline which extends to a person's entire makeup. There is the doing of penance. There is also the practice of renunciation. There is the proper endurance of passive sufferings—sufferings which we do not actively choose, but which come into our lives, and then it is our task to relate to them properly and thereby become more mature and loving Christians, Christians who have grown in resurrection.
There is, finally, a kind of death-resurrection which embraces both everything we have said concerning ways of experiencing the paschal mystery, and all we have left unsaid. We are speaking of a general attitude of Christian selflessness. This selflessness is the true self, the divinized self, the Christic self. This selflessness is present in all we do and experience in Jesus. It is present in every Christian act. Whether we eat or drink, shed tears of joy or sorrow, work or play, bask in success or feel the weight of failure—whatever we do in a Christian manner—demands this stance of selflessness.
Sometimes life with its diversified experiences makes us more aware of the joyful dimension of the human condition; at other times life makes us more aware of the difficult aspect of being human. But in either case, if we relate to life properly in a Christian fashion, we are exercising selflessness. This selflessness is love of God and love of neighbor. This selflessness is death-resurrection. This selflessness is losing non-authentic life in order to find true life in Jesus.
___________________________________
Scripture quotations
are from the New American Bible, ©1970 by
the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.
Edward Carter, S.J. is the author of Response in Christ (Pflaum)
and Everyday and Its Possibilities (Abbey).
Betty is a handmaid who has prayed in the
China Church for 11 years. To get from her
house to the church she uses a walker and
must go over a creek and a little bridge.
We wanted a little place she could rest
by the Church. We need about $1,000 to
make this happen. Can you help us?
We are trying to get
Response to God's Love
and the Mass Book out.
Anybody who wants to help us
with a donation to get these 2 books
out in the Priestly/hierarchy mailing —
Please call Kathleen 1-888-211-3041
July 31, 1994
Words of Jesus to Members of
Shepherds of Christ Associates:"My beloved priest-companion, I intend to use the priestly newsletter, Shepherds of Christ, and the movement, Shepherds of Christ Associates, in a powerful way for the renewal of My Church and the world.
"I will use the newsletter and the chapters of Shepherds of Christ Associates as a powerful instrument for spreading devotion to My Heart and My Mother's Heart.
"I am calling many to become members of Shepherds of Christ Associates. To all of them I will give great blessings. I will use them as instruments to help bring about the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart. I will give great graces to the members of Shepherds of Christ Associates. I will call them to be deeply united to My Heart and to Mary's Heart as I lead them ever closer to My Father in the Holy Spirit."
- Message from Jesus to Father Edward J. Carter, S.J., Founder, as given on July 31, 1994,
feast of Saint Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus (The Jesuits)
The China Church is over 140 years old
and we pray in there 24 hours a day.
It needs stucco and so does
the community building.
Can you please help us?
Call Kathleen 1-888-211-3041
Likewise the priest house
is 150 years old.
Jesus told us to repair it
which we have been doing.
We need $13,000.00 for this work.
You can help put the Blue Book V
in the hands of 1,000 people
we need $1,200 postage for this
It is ready to go
Call Kathleen
1-888-211-3041
You can help put Fr. Joe's homily
book in the hands of
1,000 priests — it costs $1,100
This can help 1,000 parish priests
talk about Covenant for Lent
Please help us
It is ready to go
Call Kathleen 1-888-211-3041
Call Kathleen to Order any of the items below
1-888-211-3041
