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.

 I appear my children on this former bank building in Florida, Our Lady Clothed with the Sun.

April 17, 2003

April 18th Holy Spirit Novena
Scripture selection is Day 2 Period I.		 The Novena Rosary Mystery
for April 18th is Mysteries of Light.

    
  

We need about $5,000

more for postage for the

priest English mailing.

You can put it on your credit card,

call Morrow.

  

   

The Nursing Home Video

January 5, 2003 

will be available.

  

We urgently, urgently need

funds and volunteers for

the priestly mailing!

Please help us!

    

We still owe Banta 

$2,000 for shipping 

of the Blue Books

 

 

Here is the schedule for our web radio
April 17, 2003.

4:00 a.m. - Mass

4:37 a.m. - October 13, 1996 Live Rosary
               - Songs from Jesus

6:20 a.m. - 6:20 prayers led by Father Carter
                 Holy Spirit Novena
                 Shepherds of Christ Prayer Manual
                 Rosary

7:24 a.m. - Tell My People
                    read by Father Carter

8:55 a.m. - Newsletter 1999 Issue 4 
                    read by Father Carter

10:23 a.m. - Choose Life

11:25 a.m. - Grace by Father Carter
                    read by Father Mike Paraniuk

12:33 p.m. - August 20, 1996 Rosary
                    from the Mass Book

1:45 p.m. - Newsletter 2000 Issue 1
                    read by Father Carter

3:05 p.m. - Rosary of Light from November 15, 2002
                    led by Rita Ring

4:00 p.m. - Mass

4:37 p.m. - Blue Book Reading

                - Songs from Jesus

6:20 p.m. - 6:20 prayers led by Father Carter
                  Holy Spirit Novena
                  Shepherds of Christ Prayer Manual
                  Rosary

7:24 p.m. - Tell My People
                    read by Father Carter

8:55 p.m. - Love Songs and Messages
                    October 1, 1994

9:59 p.m. - Spirituality Handbook
                    read by Father Carter

11:33 p.m. - Mary's Message

12:30 a.m. - November 13, 1996 Live Rosary

1:50 a.m. - Messages from December 12, 2002 
                    feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

2:37 a.m. - August 20, 1996 Rosary
                    from the Mass Book

3:50 a.m. - Songs from Jesus

4:00 a.m. - Mass

    

  

    
April 17, 2003

Jesus speaks:     My dear people I want you to see
                                the video of January 5, 2003 and
                                the video of April 17, 1994,
                                9 years ago.

                            This can be viewed on Web TV

  

   

                            On this holy night this is My gift to you.
                                My Mother appears, the Lady
                                clothed as the sun in the
                                video January 5, 2003.

                            Oh please help Me with My mailing
                                to the priests.

                            Funds are needed.

   

A Prayer for Intimacy with the Lamb, the Bridegroom of the Soul

     Oh Lamb of God, Who take away the sins of the world, come and act on my soul most intimately. I surrender myself, as I ask for the grace to let go, to just be as I exist in You and You act most intimately on my soul. You are the Initiator. I am the soul waiting Your favors as You act in me. I love You. I adore You. I worship You. Come and possess my soul with Your Divine Grace, as I experience You most intimately.

  

  

Prayer for Union with Jesus

    Come to me, Lord, and possess my soul. Come into my heart and permeate my soul. Help me to sit in silence with You and let You work in my heart.

    I am Yours to possess. I am Yours to use. I want to be selfless and only exist in You. Help me to spoon out all that is me and be an empty vessel ready to be filled by You. Help me to die to myself and live only for You. Use me as You will. Let me never draw my attention back to myself. I only want to operate as You do, dwelling within me.

    I am Yours, Lord. I want to have my life in You. I want to do the will of the Father. Give me the strength to put aside the world and let You operate my very being. Help me to act as You desire. Strengthen me against the distractions of the devil to take me from Your work.

    When I worry, I have taken my focus off of You and placed it on myself. Help me not to give in to the promptings of others to change what in my heart You are making very clear to me. I worship You, I adore You and I love You. Come and dwell in me now.

-God's Blue Book, January 17, 1994

   

 


  

A Prayer before the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

    Let me be a holy sacrifice and unite with God in the sacrament of His greatest love.

    I want to be one in Him in this act of love, where He gives Himself to me and I give myself as a sacrifice to Him. Let me be a holy sacrifice as I become one with Him in this my act of greatest love to Him.

    Let me unite with Him more, that I may more deeply love Him. May I help make reparation to His adorable Heart and the heart of His Mother, Mary. With greatest love, I offer myself to You and pray that You will accept my sacrifice of greatest love. I give myself to You and unite in Your gift of Yourself to me. Come and possess my soul.

    Cleanse me, strengthen me, heal me. Dear Holy Spirit act in the heart of Mary to make me more and more like Jesus.

    Father, I offer this my sacrifice, myself united to Jesus in the Holy Spirit to You. Help me to love God more deeply in this act of my greatest love.

    Give me the grace to grow in my knowledge, love and service of You and for this to be my greatest participation in the Mass. Give me the greatest graces to love You so deeply in this Mass, You who are so worthy of my love.

                                                                           -God's Blue Book, December 27, 1995

   

April 17, 2003 message continues

Messenger:      Please pray for me.

                          Here is what Father Carter wrote in
                            synopsis form about the 
                            spiritual life.

   

Jesus speaks:    Help Me get My Spirituality Handbook 
                            to My priests and My prayer manual.

  

  

 

Shepherds of Christ Associates

SPIRITUALITY HANDBOOK

Contents

  

     

We recognize and accept that the final authority regarding these messages rests
with the Holy See of Rome, to whose judgment we willingly submit.

© Copyright 1995 Shepherds of Christ Publications
Rights for non-commercial reproduction granted:
May be copied in its entirety, but neither re-typed nor edited.

The Shepherds of Christ Spirituality Handbook is available from

Shepherds of Christ Ministries
P.O. Box 193
Morrow, Ohio 45152-0193

Telephone: (toll free) 1-888-211-3041 or (513) 932-4451
FAX: (513) 932-6791

       

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)

  

1

Introduction: How It All Began

During the summer of 1993, Father Edward J. Carter, S.J., Professor of Theology at Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio, began to receive mystical locutions (messages) from Jesus and Mary on a regular basis.

In a message given on May 31, 1994, Jesus asked Father Carter to begin the publication of a spirituality newsletter for priests. To be sent to more than 60,000 priests in the U.S.A., and also to priests in other countries, the newsletter is published by Shepherds of Christ Publications, an arm of Shepherds of Christ Ministries, and will be distributed bi-monthly. The title of the newsletter is Shepherds of Christ.

Jesus has asked that chapters be formed to pray for the needs of priests around the world. The chapters are to pray in a special way for the spiritual success of the priestly newsletter, as well as to aid in the financial support of this publication. The chapters and members are to be called Shepherds of Christ Associates.

Our Lord has stressed that Shepherds of Christ Associates become an international movement.

   

2

Chapter Guidelines for Shepherds of Christ Associates

  1. A primary purpose of the chapters of Shepherds of Christ Associates is to pray for all priests throughout the world in all their needs. A coequal purpose is to provide a spiritual way of life for members of the chapters. The chapters are to pray in a special way for the spiritual success of the priestly newsletter, Shepherds of Christ. Prayer for the acquisition of monetary funds to publish the letter is also in order. The chapters are to meet on a regular basis, with the members of each chapter to determine the exact frequency of meetings. All chapters are encouraged to meet on a weekly basis. If for various other reasons certain chapters cannot meet weekly, they should meet at least once a month.
      
  2. All persons--lay persons, diocesan clergy, and priests, brothers, and sisters in religious life--are invited to become members of Shepherds of Christ Associates. Those who are already committed to a certain way of spiritual life may adapt the spirituality of Shepherds of Christ Associates to their own particular spirituality.
      
  3. In addition to the purpose of the chapters as put forth above, the members of each chapter are encouraged to help raise money to defray some of the newsletter publication costs and some of the financial needs of the Shepherds of Christ Associates movement. One way for chapters to financially aid the newsletter is to pledge to pay for a certain number of newsletters each year. Our Lord has asked that the newsletter be sent to the priests free of charge, although donations may be requested in the newsletter itself.
     
  4. A further purpose of the chapters is to undertake those activities which Jesus, through the Spiritual Director, further reveals to be His will.
     
  5. The formation of as many chapters as is reasonably possible is to be encouraged. Multiple chapters may exist in the same city or area. Each chapter is to have its own local coordinator, and each country its own national coordinator.
     
  6. A periodic newsletter for associates will be published to help establish the desired bond or union between all chapters and all members.
     
  7. Members of Shepherds of Christ Associates pledge their loyal support to the Holy Father, the Pope, and to the teaching authority of the Church.
     
  8. Shepherds of Christ Associates exists under Church law as provided in canons 298 and 299.
     
  9. The existence and activity of all chapters is to be placed under the special protection and guidance of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Chapters exist so that they may, according to the mission of Shepherds of Christ Associates, help to establish the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the reign of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. All chapter members are strongly encouraged to consecrate themselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

  

3

A Way of Spiritual Life

The way of spiritual life proposed to the members of Shepherds of Christ Associates is centered in consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. All aspects of the spiritual life discussed below should be viewed as means to help members develop their lives in consecration to Christ, the Sacred Heart, and to Mary, the Immaculate Heart.

An Overview of the Spiritual Life

The Christian life is rooted in the great event of the Incarnation. We must consequently always focus our gaze upon Christ, realizing that everything the Father wishes to tell us has been summed up in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. It only remains for us, then, to strive to understand with greater insight the inexhaustible truth of the Word Incarnate: "In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days He has spoken to us by a Son, Whom He appointed the heir of all things, through Whom also He created the world." (Heb. 1: 1-2) (1)

What was the condition of the human race at the time of Christ's coming? In some ways, people were much the same as we are today. There were those just being born into this world of human drama. There were those who, in death, were leaving it, some of whom had grasped but little of life's meaning. There were those who were healthy and vigorous. There were those who were sick and lame. Some especially felt the burdens, the grief, the suffering of the human condition. Others were ebullient and desired all the pleasures life could provide. There was some good being accomplished. Immorality, however, was rampant. What St. Paul tells us concerning the time that immediately followed Christ's existence certainly could also be applied to the time of His entrance into the world. It is, in short, an ugly picture that St. Paul depicts for us (Rom. 1: 22-32).

Into such a depraved condition Jesus entered, with a full and generous Heart, to lead the human race from the depths of sinfulness to the vibrant richness of a new life in Himself. Through His enfleshment, this Christ became the focal point of all history. The authentic hopes and dreams of the human family, now so overshadowed by the ugliness of sin, came converging upon this Christ. He would gather them up in Himself, give them a new luster and brilliance and dynamism, and would lead the human family back to the Father in the Holy Spirit.

Christ was radically to release us from the dominion of sin and elevate us to a new level of existence. This life Christ has given us is not a type of superstructure which is erected atop human existence. Although nature and grace are distinct, they do not lie side by side as separate entities. Rather, grace permeates nature. The Christian is one graced person. The Christian is one who has been raised up, caught up, into a deeper form of life in Christ Jesus. Nothing that is authentically human in the life of the Christian has been excluded from this new existence. Whatever is really human in the life of the Christian is meant to be an expression of the Christ-life. The simple but deep joys of family life, the wonderment at nature's beauty, the warm embrace of a mother for her child, the agony of crucial decision making, the success or frustration that is experienced in one's work, the joy of being well received by others, and the heartache of being misunderstood--all these experiences are intended to be caught up in Christ and made more deeply human because of Him.

Jesus has come, then, not to destroy anything that is authentically human, but to perfect it by leading it to a graced fulfillment. This is the meaning of the Word's becoming flesh, the meaning of the Incarnation. The more God-like we become through Christ, the more human we become.

We, through our incorporation into Christ which occurs at Baptism, are meant to relive the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. In doing so, we are not only accomplishing our own salvation, but we are assisting in the salvation of others also. The Incarnation continues all the time. Christ, of course, is the one Who fundamentally continues the Incarnation. But He enlists our help. The world no longer sees Jesus, no longer is able to reach out and touch Him. We are the ones who now, in some way, make Christ visible and tangible. In union with the invisible, glorified Christ, and depending on Him as our source of life, we continue the Incarnation in its visible and temporal dimensions. This is our great privilege. This is our great responsibility.

The Christian is initiated into the mystery of Christ, into his or her role in prolonging the Incarnation, through Baptism. In the words of St. Paul: "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by Baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." (Rom. 6: 3-4).

It is not sufficient, however, that we be incorporated into Christ through Baptism. All forms of life require nourishment. So, too, our life in Christ must be continually nourished. How can we continually keep in contact with Christ? There are various ways. We contact Christ in a most special way through the liturgy, above all in the Eucharistic liturgy. Here the entire course of salvation history, as centered in Jesus, is sacramentally renewed and continued. Through our most special and most personal meeting with Jesus in the Mass, we are more deeply incorporated into Christ. Also, we should remember that all the sacraments make up part of the Church's liturgy.

The reading of Scripture provides another special opportunity for meeting Jesus. This is true for both Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament prefigures the New Testament and leads to it. It is obvious, however, that we meet Christ especially in the pages of the New Testament. How true it is to say that not to be familiar with Scripture is not to know Jesus properly. We should resolve to read from Scripture daily.

We also meet Jesus in our interaction with others. Everyone we meet, everyone we serve, is in the image of Jesus. We have to take the means to grow in this awareness. If I truly believe that everyone has been redeemed by the blood of Jesus, how should I treat everyone?

These, then, are some of the ways we keep in contact with Jesus. Common to the various ways of meeting Jesus is a certain degree of prayerful reflection. Our contact with Jesus in the liturgy, in Scripture, and in our interaction with others, and so forth, will not be all that it should be unless we are persons of prayer. The light and strength of prayer enables us to keep in contact with Jesus as we should.

We live out our Christ-life in an atmosphere of love. Indeed, the life Jesus has given us is centered in love. It has its origins in the mysterious love of God: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" (Jn 3: 16).

Our new life in Jesus has arisen out of God's fathomless love. Christ, in His descent into human flesh, has established a milieu of love. The life He came to give can flourish only in the framework of love. Indeed, we can summarize the meaning of the Christian life by stating that it is our loving response to God's love. The pierced Heart of Jesus, this Heart which shed its last drop of blood in the greatest love for each one of us, is the symbol of God's tremendous love for us. Christ's Heart also calls us to respond by giving ourselves in love to God and neighbor. Yes, Jesus invites us to respond to God's love by giving ourselves in love to Him in an ever closer union. The more closely we are united to Him, the greater is our capacity to love God and neighbor. The more closely we are united with Jesus, the more closely He unites us to the Father in the Holy Spirit, with Mary our Mother at our side.

Consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

We have already spoken of how we are incorporated into Christ at Baptism. Now we shall speak of the life which comes to us in Baptism in terms of consecration:

"To consecrate means to make sacred, to make holy. Only God can make a being holy. So to speak of our consecration is to speak of God's activity in making us holy, His activity of giving us a share in His own holiness. At Baptism we receive a share in God's life, a share in His holiness. Christ is the Mediator of this grace life. We are baptized into Christ, into His death and resurrection. In Baptism we become holy by sharing in the holiness of Christ. We become consecrated, sealed with the divine holiness. We belong to the Father, through Christ, in the Holy Spirit.

"On our part, we must respond to God's consecration of us. We must live out the consecration of Baptism. We must realize what God has done for us in Christ and live according to this awareness. We need to live the life of holiness and grow in it. In other words, we must develop the life of grace, the Christ-life.

"What God has done for us in Christ involves Mary. God has given us a Christ-life, our life of grace, and Mary is the Mother of this Christ-life. Consequently, living out our life of consecration to God--living out the Christ-life--includes allowing Mary to increasingly be the Mother of our Christ-life.

"Consecration to Mary, therefore, is an aspect of our consecration to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is entrusting ourselves entirely to her maternal love so that she can bring us ever closer to Jesus, so that we can increasingly live out our consecration to God in Christ.

"At Fatima, Our Lady asked that we consecrate ourselves to her Immaculate Heart. Mary shows us her heart as a symbol of her love for God and us. She asks us to make a return of love to her, to consecrate ourselves to her, to give ourselves to her completely. She wants us to entrust ourselves to her completely so that she may help us love God and neighbor.

"As stated above, consecration to Mary is an aspect of our consecration to God in Christ and she has asked for consecration to her Heart so that she may assist us. Christ, in turn, invites us to live out this consecration to Him through consecration to His Sacred Heart. We see the divine symmetry: consecration to the Immaculate Heart helps us to live out consecration to Christ Who reveals His Heart as symbol of His life of love in all its aspects, including His tremendous love for each of us individually. His Heart also asks for our love in return, a return which ideally is summed up in consecration to Jesus' Heart. Through this consecration we give ourselves completely to Jesus through the Immaculate Heart. In this consecration to Jesus, we promise to strive to live according to His Father's will in all things." (2)

Our Personal Relationship With Jesus

He hung upon a cross on a hill called Calvary. Death was near. How much Jesus had already suffered! He had been brutally scourged. Much of His sacred body was a bloody, open wound. He had been derisively crowned with thorns. In a terribly weakened condition, He carried the heavy cross to the hill of Golgotha. There He was stripped of His garments and mercilessly nailed to the cross. Try to imagine the excruciating pain Jesus suffered as the nails penetrated His sacred hands and feet! After all this brutal and agonizing suffering--of body and spirit--Jesus finally died.

And He did it all for you! Yes, you can truly say that Jesus did it all for you. I can say that Jesus did it all for me. He suffered and died for the whole human race, but He did it in a way which makes it true to say He also did it for each individual. When He was undergoing all the brutal and horrible suffering, He knew you and He knew me by name. He was loving each of us with the most tender, and tremendous, and unique love! He gave the last drop of His precious blood for you individually and for me individually!

What should be our return to this magnificent Heart of Jesus which gave until there was no more to give? No less than our entire selves. No less than a total consecration to this tremendous Lover, to this magnificent and tender Heart! No less than a day-by-day resolve to strive to live our consecration with the deepest faith, hope, and love. No less than the deepest desire to develop the most intimate, personal relationship with Jesus. The total and the most tender love of Jesus' magnificent Heart for you and for me deserves nothing less!

Mary Our Mother

As Jesus hung upon the cross in His excruciating suffering, He gave Mary to us as our spiritual Mother:

"…standing by the cross of Jesus were His Mother, and His Mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw His Mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing near, He said to His Mother, 'Woman, behold, your son!' Then He said to the disciple, 'Behold, your Mother!'" (Jn 19: 25-26).

Yes, John, the disciple, represented all of us. Jesus, in giving Mary to John as His Mother, was giving her to all of us as our spiritual Mother. We can never thank Jesus sufficiently for this great gift. Mary is your Mother and she is my Mother. Pope John Paul II tells us how Mary is Mother to each of us according to each one's uniqueness:

"Of the essence of motherhood is the fact that it concerns the person. Motherhood always establishes a unique and unrepeatable relationship between two people: between mother and child and between child and mother. Even when the same woman is the mother of many children, her personal relationship with each one of them is of the very essence of motherhood…

"It can be said that motherhood 'in the order of grace' preserves the analogy with what 'in the order of nature' characterizes the union between mother and child." (3)

Let us always thank Mary that she is the Mother of each of us according to each one's uniqueness. I can truly say that Mary is my Mother in an unrepeatable way, and you can truly say that she is your Mother in an unrepeatable way. Realizing what a great and unique love Mary has for each of us, what reason could we ever have for not always going to her? What reason could we ever have for not asking her to take us as her beloved children and to hold us close to her maternal and Immaculate Heart where we always experience the love, the warmth, the tenderness of this magnificent Mother?

The Mass and the Sacraments

The best way to return love to Jesus is through participation in the Mass. Indeed, the Mass is the chief source for growth in our life of consecration. Everything in the life of the Church, including the sacraments--centers around the Eucharistic Sacrifice.

All the faithful are privileged to be able to enter into the offering of the Mass:

"The sacrifice of the Mass, as we well know, makes truly present the sacrifice of Calvary. At His sacrifice on Calvary, Christ was Priest and Victim. We obviously did not offer together with Him. At the Mass, however, Christ, although He is the chief Priest and Victim, does not act alone. Through God's gracious design, at Mass all the members of the Church are priests and victims together with Christ. To be sure, there is a very significant difference between the priesthood of bishops and priests and the priesthood of the faithful. The point we wish to stress, however, is that the universal priesthood, given in Baptism to all the faithful, is a real participation in Christ's priesthood.

"Vatican II has stressed this concept of the priesthood of all the Church's members. Speaking of the Mass, the Council says: 'The Church, therefore, earnestly desires that Christ's faithful, when present at this mystery of faith, should not be there as strangers or silent spectators. On the contrary, through a proper appreciation of the rites and prayers, they should participate knowingly, devoutly, and actively. They should be instructed by God's word and be refreshed at the table of the Lord's body; they should give thanks to God; by offering the Immaculate Victim, not only through the hands of the priest, but also with him, they should learn to offer themselves too. Through Christ the Mediator, they should be drawn, day-by-day, into ever closer union with God and with each other, so that finally God may be all in all.'

"During all our Christ-like activities, we are living the Mass. Working, recreating, laughing, weeping, enjoying success but also experiencing failure, enjoying the beauties of nature--through all such activities, we are living the Mass. We are continually offering ourselves in loving conformity to the Father's will. From time to time during the day, we should make a conscious act of uniting ourselves and our activities with the sacrifice of Calvary as it is made present throughout the world through the Mass.

"A very precious time during the Mass is, of course, our reception of Jesus in Holy Communion. We should make the most of these special moments. Let's properly thank Jesus for coming to us with His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Let's thank Jesus for the tremendous suffering He experienced in order to be able to give us the Eucharist. As Jesus dwells within us in this precious way at Communion time, the very Heart of Christ--this Heart which is symbol of His great love--dwells within. This Heart cries out for our love in return.

"One of the great means God has given us to help prepare ourselves for better participation in the Mass is the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Our Lady of Medjugorje asks us to go to Confession at least once a month.

"Indeed, we should use all available means to prepare ourselves for a more fruitful participation in the Eucharistic Sacrifice. It is a great privilege to be able to be present at, and to participate in, the Mass. We should show Jesus our appreciation for such a great gift by preparing ourselves as best we can, and in this way we will gain the greatest possible benefit from the Mass, both for ourselves and for others.

"Included in our devotion to the Eucharist should be our desire to make Eucharistic reparation. One way to do this is to say often the following Fatima prayer: 'Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly. I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges, and indifferences by which He is offended. By the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and (the intercession of) the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of Thee the conversion of sinners.'" (4)

Besides saying the above prayer, there are other acts of Eucharistic reparation we can make. One of these is to be sure we make adequate thanksgiving after Mass. One of the intentions we should have at this time is to help make reparation for the lack of proper thanksgiving on the part of many. Pope Pius XII speaks about the duty of spending the proper time in thanksgiving:

"When at Mass, which is subject to special rules of the liturgy, is over, the person who has received Holy Communion is not thereby freed from his duty of thanksgiving; rather, it is most becoming that, when the Mass is finished, the person who has received the Eucharist should recollect himself and, in intimate union with the Divine Master, hold loving and fruitful converse with Him. Hence they have departed from the straight way of truth who, adhering to the letter rather than the sense, assert and teach that, when Mass has ended, no such thanksgiving should be added, not only because the Mass is itself a thanksgiving, but also because this pertains to a private and personal act of piety and not to the good of the community." (5)

Life in the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is given to us to transform us in the likeness of Christ. This is an ongoing process. Here is a message of Jesus which speaks to the issue:

"My beloved friend, tell My people to pray daily to the Holy Spirit. They are to pray for an increase in His gifts. My people must realize that the Holy Spirit comes to transform them. The Spirit desires to transform you more and more according to My image. Those who are docile to His touch become increasingly shaped in my likeness. He performs this marvel within My Mother's Heart. The more one dwells in My Mother's Heart, the more active are the workings of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit leads Mary to place you within My Heart. In both of Our Hearts, then, your transformation continues. The more you are formed after My own Heart, the more I lead you to the bosom of My Father. Tell My people all this. Tell them to pray daily for a greater appreciation of these wondrous gifts. I am Lord and Master! All who come to My Heart will be on fire to receive the gifts of the Spirit in ever greater measure! I love and bless My people!" (Message of Jesus given to Father Carter).(6)

Life Within the Church

God calls us to live Christian existence, the spiritual life, within the Church--the Church which Christ has established. This Church is a many splendored reality. It has many different names, images and dimensions that variously attest to and manifest this multifaceted richness. All of them, however, speak of the one, same reality. Here is a message of Jesus which speaks of His Church:

"My beloved priest-companion, remind My people that the Church was born from My Heart, pierced with the soldier's lance on Calvary. From My pierced Heart the Church and her sacraments were born. Two of these sacraments, the Eucharist and Baptism, were symbolized by the blood and water which flowed from My pierced side.

"As the Church was born from My pierced Heart, so does the Church's life grow from the graces I continually give to her from My pierced Heart, this Heart which is now glorified.

"I call all the members of My Church to help build up My Body, the Church, by coming to My pierced Heart. United to My Heart and dwelling within It, I will give to each the light and strength to carry out My Father's will in the building up of My Church.

"Mary is Mother and Model of the Church. As Mother of the Church, she intercedes for all the graces the members need to contribute to the building up of My Church. As Model of the Church, as perfect imitator of Me, she shows the children of the Church how all, individually and collectively, are to be increasingly formed in My image. As all come to My Heart for the building up of My Church, let them do so united in the Heart of Mary.

"My Church is experiencing critical and difficult times. There are many divisions within My Church. There are many false teachings, including some put forth by certain theologians. These false teachings occur because those responsible for such are not in proper union with My vicar, the Pope, and the Church's Magisterium. I want all My children to pray daily for the cure of the many and serious ills of the Church. With the increase of prayers and sacrifices for the health of the Church, that day will soon come when the Church will be purified and revitalized. When that day comes, the renewed Church will be characterized by the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart. Thus the message of Fatima will have reached its completion.

"I am Lord and Master. I request that all My people listen to My words and respond to them. I love My people with a tremendous love and, in this great love, I give them this message!"(Message from Jesus given to Father Carter). (7)

The Spiritual Life and the Christian Virtues

The life of sanctifying grace expresses itself through the various Christian virtues. Let us take a brief look at this life:

"The Persons of the Blessed Trinity have communicated Themselves to us in lavish love. When a person is in the state of grace, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit dwell within that person in an extraordinary fashion.

"Such is the intimacy of this Trinitarian communication that the Persons of the Trinity imprint Their image upon us. This image is our life of grace, our created participation in the life of the Trinity. We receive this life at Baptism, and our privilege and responsibility are to develop it as fully as possible during our earthly journey before experiencing its culmination in eternal life.

"Because Christ in His humanity is Mediator of our life of grace, it possesses not only a Trinitarian dimension, but a Christic aspect as well. We can readily understand, then, why our grace-life is very appropriately also called the Christ-life.

"Our Christ-life is centered in faith and love. Christian faith gives us an extraordinary capacity to know realities about God and the things of God. The virtue of Christian love allows us to accompany this faith-knowledge with an appropriate love-response. Christian hope is the chief support of faith and love. Finally, all the other Christian virtues are variously connected with these three main Christian capacities." (8)

We hear much about faith and love, the two main Christian virtues. However, hope is also extremely important. One of the aspects of the virtue of hope is trust. Let's listen to a message of Jesus regarding trust:

"My beloved priest-companion, tell my people to trust Me unreservedly. I am Lord and Master. I am God. So many fail to trust Me as they should. I love all My people much more than they love themselves! The great love I have for each person should encourage all to trust Me! The more you realize how much a friend loves you, the more you place your trust in that person. I am your perfect Friend. I love you much, much more than your best earthly friend! Tell My people to trust Me completely. Tell them to say often, 'Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in You.'" (Message of Jesus as given to Father Carter). (9)

Prayer

Here is a message from Mary on prayer. She tells us of the great importance of prayer regarding the spiritual life:

"My beloved priest-son, many times I have taught you the great importance of prayer. I have obtained for you the grace so that you love to pray, not only during your set periods of prayer, but also during the day in a way which permits you to perform your daily duties. I have taught you to always be aware that all prayer should be made in union with the Mass. Indeed, the Eucharistic sacrifice is itself the greatest prayer. All other prayer should be consciously united with the Mass which is constantly being offered throughout the world. I have taught you the great importance of praying before the tabernacle. My Son is present there in the Eucharist--Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Special graces are given to those who pray before the tabernacle.

"There is much to pray for in these most critical times. The Church and the world exist in most difficult times. I desire that all my children pray daily for all the needs of the Church and the world. I ask for special prayer for the conversion of sinners.

"I ask that my children pray the rosary each day. Very special graces are given to those who do so. During these days of great purification, I promise special protection to those who regularly pray the rosary. I also promise protection to their loved ones.

"Whatever form of prayer my children use, it should always be made in union with my Immaculate Heart. The more my children are united to me, the more I lead them to make their prayer in the Heart of my Son, Jesus. He, in turn, places all prayers in the bosom of the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

"My dear son, keep reminding all my little ones of the great importance of prayer for their own needs and the needs of all others. Keep telling them of the great necessity of prayer for growth in love of God and neighbor. I love all my children with the most tender love. I desire that all listen to my words and live them in their daily lives!" (Message of Mary as given to Father Carter). (10)

The Cross Leads to Life

Our incorporation into Christ at Baptism, and the gradual nurturing in that life, is centered in the pattern of death-resurrection. Indeed, the theme of death-resurrection is at the heart of salvation history. Let us briefly consider its place in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, and in our own lives, always remembering that any form of death--that is, any form of suffering--is meant to lead to greater life, greater peace, greater happiness.

The theme of death-resurrection is at the heart of Old Testament history. The Jewish people, under the leadership of Moses, experienced death-resurrection as they were formed into the people of the covenant, God's people. In the great Exodus event, they escaped Egyptian slavery, went on to Mt. Sinai where the covenant was ratified, and then progressed to the Promised Land. As members of the Mosaic covenant, as God's people, the Jews experienced religious transition. They passed over to a higher level of religious existence, to a more intimate union with God.

This religious transition contained death-resurrection. For the Jews to become people of the covenant, to remain so, and to grow in the life of the covenant, it was necessary that they undergo a mystical or spiritual death. In short, the Jewish people had to be willing to bear that which was difficult in covenant life. They had to be willing to die to that which was not according to God's will. This mystical death, however, had a very positive purpose. It was directed at life in the covenant and at growth in that life. This spiritual death, in other words, was aimed at resurrection.

Christ perfectly fulfilled the Old Testament theme of death-resurrection. In doing so, He, too, was experiencing a religious transition. He was passing over--gradually at first, then definitively in His death--to a new kind of existence, to the life of His resurrection, which He achieved not only for Himself, but for the entire human race. To achieve this newness of life, Jesus was willing to pay the price. Jesus was willing to suffer, even unto death. That it had to be that way, that the only way Christ could have achieved resurrection was through suffering and death, was pointed out by Jesus Himself to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus: "O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His Glory?" (Lk 24: 25-26).

Christ has structured the Christian life by the way He lived, died, and rose from the dead. It is obvious, then, that the pattern of death-resurrection must be at the heart of the Church's life. Individually and collectively, we continually die with Christ so that we may continually rise with Him. Thus we pass over, in a process of continued religious transition, to a greater participation in Jesus' resurrection. It is true that our participation in Jesus' resurrection will reach its completion only in eternal life. Nevertheless, we begin the life of resurrection here on earth, in the here and now of human life, in the midst of joy and pain, in the experience of success and failure, in the sweat of our brow, in the enjoyment of all of God's gifts. As Christians, we should have a sense of growth concerning our here-and-now life of resurrection. Some seem to have a rather static view of the Christian life. They do not seem to have a vital and efficacious realization that the spiritual life, centered in death-resurrection, should become more conscious, more experiential, more dynamically relative to daily existence.

We cannot maintain the life of resurrection--our newness of life in Christ--without a willingness to suffer, a willingness to follow Jesus in the carrying of the cross. This does not mean that we need to feel overwhelmed and heavily burdened by the suffering in our lives. The greater portion of suffering for most Christians seems to be an accumulation of ordinary hardships, difficulties, and pains. At times, however, deep suffering, even suffering of agonizing proportions, can enter one's life. Whether our sufferings are of either the ordinary variety or the extreme and rare type, we must convince ourselves that to properly relate to the cross is to grow in resurrection. And to grow in resurrection ourselves means that we have an increased capacity to help give resurrection to others.

The pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary are the great symbols reminding us that to love God and neighbor requires a willingness to suffer. How much Jesus and Mary suffered for love of you and me! Our consecration to Their Hearts includes a willingness to carry the cross, not as an end in itself, but as a means to greater life. As we bear the cross in loving conformity to the Father's will, we grow in the Christ-life. With Mary at our side we come closer to Christ. Jesus, in turn, leads us closer to the Father in the Holy Spirit. And as we ourselves grow in the Christ-life, we become more apt instruments in helping to channel this life to others. Yes, the cross of Christ always points to life!

Relationship with Others and the World-at-large

The true Christian is imbued with a proper consciousness of others. That is to say, the true Christian is keenly aware that a great part of God's plan for us tells us that we must, according to His will, relate in various ways to our fellow human beings. Indeed, the Christian imperative tells us that we are to walk life's path, not in isolation, but hand in hand with our brothers and sisters of the human family.

To relate to others according to God's will, we must be properly aware of who they really are. We must, in short, be able to go beneath surface appearances, which may or may not be appealing to us, and contact others in their core existence. When we are truly in touch with others at the core of their beings, we are aware of their awesome dignity. We are conscious that these persons are created and redeemed by God's love. We are conscious that our merciful and loving Jesus shed His last drop of blood for each of them, that His Heart was pierced on the cross because He loved each of them without measure! We are conscious that this magnificent, pierced Heart, now in Its glorified state, still beats with the most special love for each individual upon this earth. Realizing all this, and doing so consistently, gives us the basis and the motivation to try to relate to all--both those we directly contact and those billions we never physically meet--with the greatest love.

In order to be in touch with the inner self of others, we must be aware of, or in touch with, our own true self. This awareness is a realization that our self is likewise made in the image of God, that we have been redeemed by Christ, and that we can only find true happiness through the constant effort to grow in love of God and neighbor. Here, then, we can see the profound interaction among the three awarenesses and loves--awareness and love of God, neighbor, and self. As Christians, consequently, we should have a maturing sense of how our existence is, in varied ways, profoundly linked with the existence of others. Again, this feeling of union with others is not limited to those we directly meet, but, in various ways, is directed to all members of the human family.

The world in which we live is an amazing mixture of that which is good and beautiful and brilliant and that which is sinful and ugly and dreadful. We have the privilege and responsibility of shaping this contemporary world according to its Christological imprint. Jesus put this image of Himself upon the world order by the way He lived and died and rose. We have to help in directing our fellow humans and their values along the path which has been made by the footprints of Jesus of Nazareth--a task that is not always easy. There are so many forces in today's world that work against Christ, His message, and the order He came to establish! But are we going to allow the forces of evil to discourage us from doing all we possibly can to make this a better world according to the designs of Christ? Jesus paid a terrible price to redeem the world. His Heart, which was pierced on the cross for our redemption, cries out to us in His great love for us. He asks us to do our part in helping make the world better reflect His image. In response to the great love which the Heart of Jesus has for each of us, let us, in union with Mary our Mother, often ask ourselves, "What have I done for Christ, what am I now doing for Christ, what am I going to do for Christ?"

Devotion to St. Joseph, Other Saints and the Angels

St. Joseph is Patron of the Universal Church. His power of intercession is indeed great. Joseph, while on earth, enjoyed extraordinary closeness to Jesus and Mary. And His union with them in heaven is even greater. Let us each day pray to St. Joseph to obtain for us the grace to come ever closer to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

We should also pray to the other saints in heaven, especially our favorite saints. The saints are members of the Church triumphant. We should also pray for the souls in purgatory and to them (they can help us). The souls in purgatory are members of the Church suffering. We, who are members of the Church militant here on earth, make up one Church with the saints in heaven and the souls in purgatory. We should be aware of the common bond which unites us in Christ.

We should also pray to the angels for help, especially to the archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, and to our own guardian angels.

Summary

We have given a proposed way of spiritual life for members of Shepherds of Christ Associates. All aspects of this way of life center in the living out of the act of consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Making and living out this consecration is our return of love to Jesus and Mary and, through them, our return of love to the Father and the Holy Spirit. Indeed, our consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary is also consecration to the Father and the Holy Spirit. We should always remember that our consecration to the Sacred Heart and to the Immaculate Heart is the way according to which Jesus and Mary invite us to live out our baptismal consecration, the consecration which originally made us belong to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Let us always remember that we go to the Father through Christ, in the Holy Spirit, with Mary our Mother at our side.

We strongly encourage members of Shepherds of Christ Associates to reread regularly all of the above in a prayerful manner. This will provide an ongoing aid to help members grow in their consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

Notes:

1. Scripture quotations are taken from The Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Catholic Edition, St. Ignatius Press, San Francisco.

2. Edward Carter, S.J., Mother at Our Side, Faith Publishing, Milford, Ohio, 1993, pp. 15-17.

3. Pope John Paul II, The Mother of the Redeemer (Redemptoris Mater), United States Catholic Conference, Washington, D.C., 1987, No. 38.

4. Edward Carter, S.J., The Spirituality of Fatima and Medjugorje, Faith Publishing, Milford, Ohio, 1994, pp. 89-92. Vatican II quotations are from The Documents of Vatican II, America Press edition.

5. Pope Pius XII, Mediator Dei, No. 123.

6. From Tell My People, Shepherds of Christ Publications, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1994, p. 9.

7. Ibid.

8. Edward Carter, S.J., Prayer Perspectives, Alba House, Staten Island, New York, 1987, p. 12.

9. Tell My People, op. cit.

10. Ibid.

                    end of the Spirituality Handbook

     

  

  

    

Shepherds of Christ

A Spirituality Newsletter for Priests
and Others Interested in the Spiritual Life

2000 - ISSUE THREE

SPECIAL ISSUE!

This is a special, expanded issue for the purpose of giving an overview of the spiritual life. At times it is profitable for us to review briefly the various elements which comprise the spiritual life. We hope this special issue will be helpful for such an exercise, and that it will speak to the heart as well as to the mind.

   

WE ARE EXPANDING OUR READERSHIP!

We are expanding our circulation by explicitly inviting to our readership those who are not priests, but who are interested in the spiritual life.

The Newsletter will still be written for priests in a special way. Yet we feel much of the material will also be of interest to those who are not priests.

To reflect the fact that we are now expanding our readership to include all interested parties, we think it is appropriate to offer a new act of consecration which is not worded for priests only, but one suitable for all.

  

CONTENTS

   

Chief Shepherd of the Flock

An Overview of the Spiritual Life

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

The Good Shepherd gave His life so that we may have life and have it in abundance. In this issue we offer an overview of the life Jesus came to give. We begin by presenting a brief sketch of the spiritual life. This will be followed by content which speaks in a more detailed manner about the various dimensions of the spiritual life -- our life in Christ.

A Sketch of the Spiritual Life

The Christian life is rooted in the great event of the Incarnation. We must consequently always focus our gaze upon Christ, realizing that the Father has spoken to us in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. It only remains for us, then, to strive to understand with greater insight the inexhaustible truth of the Word Incarnate (Heb 1:1-2).

What was the condition of the human race at the time of Christ’s coming? In some ways, people were much the same as we are today. There were those just being born into this world of human drama. There were those who, in death, were leaving it, some of whom had grasped but little of life’s meaning. There were those who were healthy and vigorous. There were those who were sick and lame. Some especially felt the burdens, the grief, the suffering of the human condition. Others were ebullient and desired all the pleasures life could provide. There was some good being accomplished. Immorality, however, was rampant. What St. Paul tells us concerning the time that immediately followed Christ’s existence certainly could also be applied to the time of His entrance into the world. It is, in short, an ugly picture that St. Paul depicts for us (Rom 1:22-32).

Into such a depraved condition Jesus entered, with a full and generous Heart, to lead the human race from the depths of sinfulness to the vibrant richness of a new life in Himself. Through His enfleshment, this Christ became the focal point of all history. The authentic hopes and dreams of the human family, now so overshadowed by the ugliness of sin, came converging upon this Christ. He would gather them up in Himself, give them a new luster and brilliance and dynamism, and would lead the human family back to the Father in the Holy Spirit.

Christ was radically to release us from the dominion of sin and elevate us to a new level of existence. This life Christ has given us is not a type of superstructure which is erected atop human existence. Although nature and grace are distinct, they do not lie side by side as separate entities. Rather, grace permeates nature. The Christian is one graced person. The Christian is one who has been raised up, caught up, into a deeper form of life in Christ Jesus. Nothing that is authentically human in the life of the Christian has been excluded from this new existence. Whatever is really human in the life of the Christian is meant to be an expression of the Christ-life. The simple but deep joys of family life, the wonderment at nature’s beauty, the warm embrace of a mother for her child, the agony of crucial decision making, the success or frustration that is experienced in one’s work, the joy of being well received by others, and the heartache of being misunderstood—all these experiences are intended to be caught up in Christ and made more deeply human because of Him.

Jesus has come, then, not to destroy anything that is authentically human, but to perfect it by leading it to a graced fulfillment. The more God-like we become through Christ, the more human we become.

We, through our incorporation into Christ which occurs at Baptism, are meant to relive the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. In doing so, we are not only accomplishing our own salvation, but we are assisting in the salvation of others also. The Incarnation continues all the time. Christ, or course, is the one Who fundamentally continues the Incarnation. But He enlists our help. The world no longer sees Jesus, no longer is able to reach out and touch Him. We are the ones who now, in some way, make Christ visible and tangible. In union with the invisible, glorified Christ, and depending on Him as our source of life, we continue the Incarnation in its visible and temporal dimensions. This is our great privilege. This is our great responsibility.

The Christian is initiated into the mystery of Christ, into his or her role in prolonging the Incarnation, through Baptism (Rom 6:3-4).

It is not sufficient, however, that we be incorporated into Christ through Baptism. All forms of life require nourishment. So, too, our life in Christ must be continually nourished. How can we continually keep in contact with Christ? There are various ways as we live our life within the Church. We contact Christ in a most special way through the liturgy, above all in the Eucharistic liturgy. Through our most special and most personal meeting with Jesus in the Mass, we are more deeply incorporated into Christ. Also, we should remember that all the sacraments make up part of the Church’s liturgy.

The reading of Scripture provides another special opportunity for meeting Jesus. This is true for both Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament prefigures the New Testament and leads to it. It is obvious, however, that we meet Christ especially in the pages of the New Testament. How true it is to say that not to be familiar with Scripture is not to know Jesus properly. We should resolve to read from Scripture daily.

We also meet Jesus in our interaction with others. Everyone we meet, everyone we serve, is in the image of Jesus. We have to take the means to grow in this awareness. If I truly believe that everyone has been redeemed by the blood of Jesus, how should I treat everyone?

These, then, are some of the ways we keep in contact with Jesus. Common to the various ways of meeting Jesus is a certain degree of prayerful reflection. Our contact with Jesus in the liturgy, in Scripture, and in our interaction with others, and so forth, will not be all that it should be unless we are persons of prayer. The light and strength of prayer enables us to keep in contact with Jesus as we should.

We live out our Christ-life in an atmosphere of love. Indeed, the life Jesus has given us is centered in love. It has its origins in the mysterious love of God (Jn 3:16).

Our new life in Jesus has arisen out of God’s fathomless love. Christ, in His descent into human flesh, has established a milieu of love. The life He came to give can flourish only in the framework of love. Indeed, we can summarize the meaning of the Christian life by stating that it is our loving response to God’s love. The pierced Heart of Jesus, this Heart which shed its last drop of blood in the greatest love for each one of us, is the symbol of God’s tremendous love for us. Christ’s Heart also calls us to respond by giving ourselves in love to God and neighbor. Yes, Jesus invites us to respond to God’s love by giving ourselves in love to Him in an ever closer union. The more closely we are united to Him, the greater is our capacity to love God and neighbor. The more closely we are united with Jesus, the more closely He unites us to the Father in the Holy Spirit, with Mary our Mother at our side.

The Indwelling of the Trinity and the Life of Grace

The spiritual life, the life of holiness, begins at Baptism. Archbishop Luis Martinez says:

"When we are born we are endowed by God with all we need for our human life, a complete organism, and a soul with the full range of faculties. Of course they are not all developed from birth, but we have them then as the source of everything we are going to need in life. And thus it is also in the spiritual order. When someone is baptized, he receives in all its fullness that supernatural world which the Christian carries within his soul. He receives grace, which is a participation of the nature of God; the theological virtues, which put him in immediate contact with the divine; the moral virtues, which serve to regulate and order all his life; and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the divine, mysterious receivers for picking up the Spirit’s inspirations and movements."2

Another author states: "The Three Divine Persons inhabit the sanctuary of our soul, taking their delight in enriching it with supernatural gifts and in communicating to us a Godlike life, similar to theirs, called the life of grace.

"All life, however, implies a threefold element: a vital principle that is, so to speak, the source of life itself; faculties which give the power to elicit vital acts; and lastly, the acts themselves which are but its development and which minister to its growth. In the supernatural order, God living within us produces the same elements. He first communicates to us habitual grace (the life of sanctifying grace) which plays the part of a vital supernatural principle. This principle deifies, as it were, the very substance of the soul and makes it capable, though in a remote way, of enjoying the Beatific Vision and of performing the acts that lead to it.

"Out of this grace spring the infused virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit which perfect our faculties and endow us with the immediate power of performing Godlike, supernatural, meritorious acts.

"In order to stir these faculties into action, He give us actual graces which enlighten our mind, strengthen our will, and aid us both to act supernaturally and to increase the measure of habitual grace that has been granted to us.

"Although this life of grace is entirely distinct from our natural life it is not merely superimposed on the latter. It penetrates it through and through, transforms it and makes it divine. It assimilates whatever is good in our nature, our education and our habits. It perfects and supernaturalizes all these various elements, directing them toward the last end, that is toward the possession of God through the Beatific Vision and its resultant life." 3

Our being in the state of sanctifying of grace and the special indwelling of the Persons of the Trinity within us always exist together. We cannot have the one without the other. Our life of grace, which is a sharing in Trinitarian life, allows us to know and love Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in a most intimate fashion. Through grace we are in the image of the Trinity, and we enjoy special relationships with the Divine Persons.

Again, we listen to the words of Archbishop Martinez as he speaks about our relationships with the Divine Persons:

"Love, we have said, is the foundation of devotion to the Holy Spirit, as it is also the foundation of Christian perfection. But love as a reflection of God, as His own image, is something that encloses within its simplicity a boundless wealth and a variety of forms. Who can fathom the depths of love?

"Human love in all its manifestations is admirably in harmony with the love of charity; it is confident in filial love, trusting in friendship, sweet and fruitful in the love of husband and wife, disinterested and tender in the love of a mother. Our love of God must include all these forms of human love; every fiber of our heart must vibrate when the harmonious and full canticle of love bursts forth from it. But since God is one in essence and triune in Persons, our love for Him takes on a particular aspect accordingly as it is directed to each one of the divine Persons.

"Our love for the Father is tender and confident like that of children; eager to glorify Him as His only-begotten Son taught us to do by word and example. Love for the Father is the intense desire to have His will fulfilled on earth as it is in heaven. Our love for the Son, who willed to become flesh for us, is characterized by the tendency to union with Him and transformation into Him; by imitation of His example, participation in His life, and the sharing of His sufferings and His Cross. The Eucharist, mystery of love, of sorrow, and of union, reveals the characteristics of this love.

"Love for the Holy Spirit also has its special character, which we should study in order completely to understand devotion to Him. We have explained how the Holy Spirit loves us, how He moves us like a divine breath that draws us to the bosom of God, like a sacred fire that transforms us into fire, like a divine artist who forms Jesus in us. Surely, then, our love for the Holy Spirit should be marked by loving docility, by full surrender, and by a constant fidelity that permits us to be moved, directed, and transformed by His sanctifying action.

"Our love for the Father tends to glorify Him; our love for the Son, to transform ourselves into Him; our love for the Holy Spirit, to let ourselves be possessed and moved by Him."4

Life In and With Jesus

Christ has structured the Christian life by the way He lived, died, and rose from the dead. It is obvious, then, as Paul tells us above, that the pattern of death-resurrection must be at the heart of the Church’s life. Individually and collectively, we continually die with Christ so that we may continually rise with Him. Thus we pass over in a process of ongoing religious transition to a greater participation in Christ’s resurrection. It is true that our participation in Christ’s resurrection will reach its completion only in eternity. Nevertheless, we begin the life of resurrection here upon the earth, in the here and now of human life, in the midst of joy and pain; in the experience of success and failure, in the sweat of our brow, in the enjoyment of God’s gifts. As Christians, we should have a sense of dynamic growth concerning our here and now life of resurrection.

We cannot maintain the life of resurrection or grow in it without a willingness to suffer. This does not mean that we need to feel overwhelmed and heavily burdened in our lives. The greater portion of suffering for most Christians seems to be an accumulation of ordinary hardships, difficulties, and pains. At times, however, deep suffering, even suffering of agonizing proportions, can enter into one’s life. Whether the sufferings one encounters are of either the more ordinary variety or the more rare and extreme type, Christians must convince themselves that to relate properly to the cross is to grow in resurrection, and growth in resurrection means we will also have an increased capacity to help give resurrection to others.

We are meant to share in all of the mysteries of Christ here below—we are meant to relive them in our own lives. And all of these mysteries are directed to the crowning mystery of Jesus, His resurrection: "As the Church is ever re-enacting, during all the ages, the life story of her Divine Spouse—undergoing in the Mystical Body what He suffered in His Natural Body, so it must be too, in some measure, for every individual Christian that lives in real unity with Christ. It was thus that the saints understood the life of the Divine Master. They not merely contemplated it, they lived it. This was the source of the immense sympathy they were capable of experiencing for Him in His different states. They felt in a certain measure what He felt, and what is true of Our Lord’s life considered as a whole must be true in no imperfect or limited manner of that which was the supreme and crowning mystery in that life—namely, the Resurrection. This must be, not merely a fact in Christian history, but a phase of Christian experience …We do not readily perceive that, in God’s plan, not only the Cross, but the Risen Life that followed it, is meant to be part of our terrestrial existence. Christ did not pass from the Cross straight to heaven. The Christian is not meant to do so either. In the case of Jesus the Cross preceded, prepared and prefaced a risen life on earth. In the case of the Christian the Cross is meant to play a somewhat similar role—that is, to be the prelude to a risen life, even here below.

"The Cross cannot be completely understood except it is viewed in the full light of the Resurrection. It is the latter, not the former, that is the ultimate mystery for us…The Cross is a means, not an end; it finds its explanation only in the empty tomb; it is an entrance into life, not a mode of death. Any death that enters into God’s plan must necessarily issue forth in life. If He lays upon us the necessity of dying it is in order that we may live…In order that we may live as we ought, our rebellious nature must be crucified. Crucifixion always remains the only mode of salvation.

"God sends trials and crosses simply to deaden in us the activity of the forces that make for the decay of the spiritual life, in order that that spiritual life may develop and expand unimpeded. According as the life of perverse nature ebbs away from us on our cross united with Christ’s, the Divine Life that God has placed in all whom He has called begins to make itself more manifest and to display increased vigour and vitality…It is to that Resurrection, that life in death, that God directs all the circumstances of our life—it is the object He aims at in His dealing with us." 7

In his above words, Fr. Edward Leen, C.S.Sp., speaks about a special episode of our participation in the resurrection of Jesus. He speaks of our Christ-life, our life of grace, in the highly developed state. We should all strive for this state. We must realize, however, that all those who live in the state of grace are, in an essential way, living the life of resurrection. They are alive in Christ Jesus.

"I ask you to consider that our Lord Jesus Christ is your true head and that you are a member of his body. He belongs to you as the head belongs to the body. All that is his is yours: breath, heart, body, soul and all his faculties. All of these you must use as if they belonged to you, so that in serving him you may give him praise, love and glory. You belong to him as a member belongs to the head. This is why he earnestly desires you to serve and glorify the Father by using all your faculties as if they were his.

"He belongs to you, but more than that, he longs to be in you, living and ruling in you, as the head lives and rules in the body. He desires that whatever is in him may live and rule in you: his breath in your breath, his heart in your heart, all the faculties of his soul in the faculties of your soul...

"You belong to the Son of God, but more than that, you ought to be in him as the members are in the head. All that is in you must be incorporated into him. You must receive life from him and be ruled by him. There will be no true life for you except in him, for he is the one source of true life. Apart from him you will find only death and destruction. Let him be the only source of your movements, of the actions and the strength of your life.

"Finally, you are one with Jesus as the body is one with the head. You must, then, have one breath with him, one soul, one life, one will, one mind, one heart. And he must be your breath, heart, love, life, your all. These great gifts in the follower of Christ originate from baptism. They are increased and strengthened through confirmation and by making good use of other graces that are given by God. Through the holy eucharist they are brought to perfection." 8

Because of the uniqueness of each Christian's existence, he or she presents Christ with a unique opportunity. Each Christian has the vocation to offer Christ his or her humanity so that Jesus can live in that individual in a special way. This Jesus is Priest, Prophet and King. To the extent that an individual Christian offers his or her humanity to Jesus, that person has an unique opportunity to help to continue the work of the redemption--an opportunity that no one else can fulfill. Likewise, to the extent that an individual fails to offer his or her humanity to Christ, Jesus loses the opportunity to continue His redemptive work according to that person's uniqueness.

"One day, walking on a busy street downtown, he saw a television set in a store window. The program was about our Home for the Dying in Calcutta, and it showed our Sisters taking care of the sick and the dying.

"The man confessed that when he saw that, he felt the urge to kneel and pray, after many years of not ever kneeling or praying.

"From that day on, he recovered his faith in God and in humanity, and he was convinced that God still loves him."11

You share my burdens,
You take them upon yourself.
You listen to me fondly when I tell you my troubles.
You never fail to lighten them.
I find You at all times and in all places.
You never leave me.
I will always find You wherever I go.

Old age or misfortune will not cause You to abandon me.
You will never be closer to me than
When all seems to go against me.
No matter how miserable I may be,
You will never cease to be my friend.

You tolerate my faults with admirable patience.
You are always ready to come to me, if I so desire it.

Jesus, may I die praising you!
May I die loving you!
May I die for the love of you.12

The Father's Will for Us  - Our Source of Peace

"God is faithful to His eternal plan even when man, under the impulse of the evil one (see Wisdom 2:24) and carried away by his own pride, abuses the freedom given to him in order to love and generously seek what is good, and (instead) refuses to obey his Lord and Father. God is faithful even when man, instead of responding with love to God’s love, opposes Him and treats Him like a rival, deluding himself and relying on his own power, with the resulting break of relationship with the One who created him. In spite of this transgression on man’s part, God remains faithful in love.

"It is certainly true that the story of the Garden of Eden makes us think about the tragic consequences of rejecting the Father, which becomes evident in man’s inner disorder and in the breakdown of harmony between man and woman, brother and brother (see Genesis 3:12 ff; 4:1-16). Also significant is the Gospel parable of the two brothers (the parable of the ‘prodigal son’; see Luke 15:11-32) who, in different ways, distance themselves from their father and cause a rift between them. Refusal of God’s fatherly love and of His loving gifts is always at the root of humanity’s divisions.

"But we know that God…like the father in the parable (of the prodigal son), does not close His heart to any of His children. He waits for them, looks for them, goes to meet them at the place where the refusal of communion imprisons them in isolation and division. He calls them to gather about His table in the joy of the feast of forgiveness and reconciliation.

"This initiative on God’s part is made concrete and manifest in the redemptive act of Christ, which radiates through the world by means of the ministry of the Church." 13

The world needs peace. Individual nations need peace and families need peace. The Church needs peace. Each of us individually needs peace. We must work for peace through prayer, fasting, and other Christ-like activities.

And just what do we mean by peace? St. Augustine says peace is the tranquility of order. God has put order into His creation and this order must be respected and promoted if peace is to prevail. To the extent that the human family lives according to God’s will—lives according to the order or the plan God has established for creation—to that extent does peace exist in the various segments of human society. To the extent there are violations of God’s plan, of His will, to that extent peace is absent.

If we are to be instruments of peace, we ourselves must be at peace. Our personal peace is that tranquility of order which results from our doing God’s will. The more we are united through love with God in the doing of His will, the more we experience peace.

Sometimes the sense of peace we experience is so strong that we can "feel" it pulsating throughout our being. These are periods of what we may call the experience of extraordinary peace. This type of peace usually is not an everyday occurrence.

Most of the time we live immersed in a more subdued kind of peace which results from our daily attempts to do God’s will in love. It is that peace which is a welcome and sustaining companion as we walk the path of everyday life with its usual assortments of joys and disappointments, successes and failures, laughter and tears.

Occasionally, very deep suffering may enter our lives. It is during these times that we need special determination to preserve ourselves in a basic peace of spirit despite the very significant pain. One may wonder how a person can be at peace amidst the experience of great suffering. St. Francis de Sales in one of his writings—and I have not been able to locate the exact place—offers an analogy which I think is very helpful. He asks us to picture an ocean body of water at the time of a violent storm. The surface of the water becomes extremely turbulent. Francis asks us, as we use our imagination, to descend beneath the surface of the water into its depth. What do we find? The more deeply one descends away from the turbulent surface, the calmer the water becomes. Likewise, says the saint and doctor of the Church, should it be with us during times of profound suffering. Although the surface of the spirit may be very agitated, one can still maintain basic peace of spirit by going deep down to one’s center where God is more directly experienced. Here the person experiences a calm, a basic peace, although the suffering remains.

If we are trying to do God’s will in love, God intends us to be at peace. The more we conform to God’s will, the more we are living according to the order He intends for us. In turn, the more our lives are in harmony with the order established by God, the more we experience peace—peace being the tranquility of order. The more we ourselves live in this manner, the more fit instruments we become for promoting God’s order and consequent peace throughout the various segments of society.

"But we know that spring will soon come with all its new life and wonder.

"It is quite clear that I will not be alive in the spring. But I will soon experience new life in a different way…

"What I would like to leave behind is a simple prayer that each of you may find what I have found—God’s special gift to us all: the gift of peace. When we are at peace, we find the freedom to be most fully who we are, even in the worst of times. We let go of what is non-essential and embrace what is essential. We empty ourselves so that God may more fully work within us. And we become instruments in the hands of the Lord."15

"All that the beginner in prayer has to do -- and you must not forget this, for it is very important -- is to labor and to be resolute and prepare himself with all possible diligence to bring his will in conformity with the will of God. As I shall say later, you may be quite sure that this comprises the very greatest perfection which can be attained on the spiritual road."16

Again she states: "...love consists ... in the firmness of our determination to try to please God in everything." 17

The Holy Spirit and Mary

The late Archbishop Luis M. Martinez of Mexico strikingly speaks of the ongoing cooperation of Mary with the Holy Spirit regarding the reproduction of Jesus within us: "Christian life is the reproduction of Jesus in souls…

"Now, how will this mystical reproduction be brought about in souls? In the same way in which Jesus was brought into the world, for God gives a wonderful mark of unity to all His works. Divine acts have a wealth of variety because they are the work of omnipotence; nevertheless, a most perfect unity always shines forth from them because they are the fruit of wisdom; and this divine contrast of unity and variety stamps the works of God with sublime and unutterable beauty.

"In His miraculous birth, Jesus was the fruit of heaven and earth…The Holy Spirit conveyed the divine fruitfulness of the Father to Mary, and the virginal soil brought forth in an ineffable manner our most loving Savior, the divine Seed, as the prophets called Him…

"That is the way He is reproduced in souls. He is always the fruit of heaven and earth.

"Two artisans must concur in the work that is at once God’s masterpiece and humanity’s supreme product: the Holy Spirit and the most holy Virgin Mary. Two sanctifiers are necessary to souls, the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, for they are the only ones who can reproduce Christ.

"Undoubtedly, the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary sanctify us in different ways. The first is the Sanctifier by essence; because He is God, who is infinite sanctity; because He is the personal Love that completes, so to speak, the sanctity of God, consummating His life and His unity, and it belongs to Him to communicate to souls the mystery of that sanctity. The Virgin Mary, for her part, is the co-operator, the indispensable instrument in and by God’s design. From Mary’s maternal relation to the human body of Christ is derived her relation to His Mystical Body which is being formed through all the centuries until the end of time, when it will be lifted up to the heavens, beautiful, splendid, complete, and glorious.

"These two, then, the Holy Spirit and Mary, are the indispensable artificers of Jesus, the indispensable sanctifiers of souls. Any saint in heaven can co-operate in the sanctification of a soul, but his co-operation is not necessary, not profound, not constant: while the co-operation of these two artisans of Jesus of whom we have just been speaking is so necessary that without it souls are not sanctified (and this by the actual design of Providence), and so intimate that it reaches to the very depths of our soul. For the Holy Spirit pours charity into our heart, makes a habitation of our soul, and directs our spiritual life by means of His gifts. The Virgin Mary has the efficacious influence of Mediatrix in the most profound and delicate operations of grace in our souls. And, finally, the action of the Holy Spirit and the co-operation of the most holy Virgin Mary are constant; without them, not one single character of Jesus would be traced on our souls, no virtue grow, no gift be developed, no grace increased, no bond of union with God be strengthened in the rich flowering of the spiritual life.

"Such is the place that the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary have in the order of sanctification. Therefore, Christian piety should put these two artisans of Christ in their true place, making devotion to them something necessary, profound, and constant." 18

The Church

We live out our spiritual lives within the Church. The Church is a multi-splendored reality. Let us reflect upon some of the key ideas connected with the Church.

Now Christ’s body is yourselves, each of you with a part to play in the whole. And those whom God has appointed in the Church are, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers; after them, miraculous powers, then gifts of healing, helpful acts, guidance, various kinds of tongues. Are all of them apostles? Or all prophets? Or all teachers? Or all miracle-workers? Do all have the gifts of healing? Do all of them speak in tongues and all interpret them? (1 Cor 12:12-17; 27-30)

However, it is necessary that such graces be distributed to each individual as one plays out his or her part in the drama of human existence. Such a distribution of grace is the work of subjective redemption.

Jesus still walks the earth as the work of redemption continues. However, He now walks the earth according to a different type of existence. He does not walk the earth in His physical body, but rather in His Mystical Body, the Church, the People of God. Through the members of His Church, Christ continues to be present as He teaches, administers the sacraments, extends His mercy -- all done through the members of His Body, the Church. This mystical Christ, in turn, derives all supernatural power from Christ, the Head, who reigns gloriously with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

The Church, therefore, is the earthly continuation of Christ’s redemptive Incarnation. This mission which the Church has, although a great responsibility, is also a great privilege. In proportion as each Christian offers and commits himself or herself to Christ, the Church in her entirety more and more mirrors forth Christ to the world. This Christ, whom the Church portrays to the world, is the Christ who is Prophet, King and Priest.

"The Church is my mother because she brought me forth to a new life. She is my mother because her concern for me never slackens, any more than do her efforts to deepen that life in me, however unenthusiastic my cooperation. And though in me this life may be a fragile and timid growth, I have seen its full flowering in others...

"Happy those who from childhood have learnt to look on the Church as a mother! Happier still those whose experience, in whatever walk of life, has confirmed its truth! Happy those who one day were gripped by (and whose appreciation of it ever grew) the astonishing newness, richness and depth of the life communicated to them by this mother!" 22

"If you live in the Church and try to use the power of the Church to increase the life of the Church, then the power of the Church will make you yourself whole; and in your wholeness you will help to make your family and make your world. But you will be building for a more than earthly beatitude because you will be building the city which is eternal. Here you build in shadow, you build for a future which is invisible, and so you can only build in hope. And often your plans will be wrecked and your dreams come crashing about your ears, and you will need the strength of the Rock which is Christ to give you patience and fortitude...

"And when death has come to you...the Church will bless you for the life you have added to it, and there will be men to heed you better than they did when you were here...

"But you, for your part, will be no longer in the shadow but in the glory of the Light inaccessible; you will be in the City that is yours because you helped to build it; you will see Him at last as He is, and be wholly with Him; and you will have no more any mourning or weeping or any other sorrow, for all these former things will have been transmuted into happiness and peace, and you will walk with Him--together with all those you have helped to bring to Him, even until the end of the world--you will walk with Him in happiness for ever, in the cool of the eternal evening." 24

The Sacraments

The Church’s existence centers in her liturgy. Vatican II says: "The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the fountain from which all her power flows." 25 The Church’s liturgical life is centered in the sacraments and, most especially, in the Eucharistic Sacrifice. We will briefly consider the sacraments in general, and then more extensively develop ideas about the Mass.

The sacraments are special encounters with Christ. Jesus unites Himself with the sacramental sign as He offers His grace to the recipient. In this sense, Christ and His sacraments become one; the sacrament and its minister are merely instruments that Christ employs to give Himself anew. The primary sacramental encounter is between Jesus and the recipient.

Christ offers Himself through the Church and her sacraments so that we might become ever more united to Him. This incorporation into Christ begins at baptism, through which the Christian becomes a member of both Christ and the Church. What is more, this incorporation into the life of Christ means being incorporated into his paschal mystery. Death-resurrection was the summary mystery of Christ’s redemptive existence. Death-resurrection was the central mystery whereby Christ gave us life, and it is the central mystery that the Christian must relive in Christ.

Each one of the sacraments deepens our incorporation into Jesus’ death-resurrection; each one achieves this in a somewhat different manner according to its primary purpose; finally, and very importantly, each of the sacraments deepens this incorporation within an ecclesial framework. The sacraments, because they are realities of both Christ and his Church, intensify the Christian’s relationship not only with Jesus, but also with the members of the Church and, ultimately, with all others.

The Eucharist

"Adoration of Christ in this sacrament of love must also find expression in various forms of Eucharistic devotion: personal prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, Hours of Adoration, periods of exposition—short, prolonged and annual (Forty Hours) - Eucharistic benediction, Eucharistic processions, Eucharistic congresses. A particular mention should be made at this point of the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ as an act of public worship rendered to Christ present in the Eucharist, a feast instituted by my predecessor Urban IV in memory of the institution of this great Mystery.

"All this therefore corresponds to the general principles and particular norms already long in existence, but newly formulated during or after the Second Vatican Council.

"…The Church and the world have a great need of Eucharistic worship. Jesus waits for us in this sacrament of love. Let us be generous with our time in going to meet Him in adoration and in contemplation that is full of faith and ready to make reparation for the great faults and crimes of the world. May our adoration never cease."29

"But, inasmuch as it is your offering and mine, and that of every other member of the Mystical Body ... we can limit the effectiveness of God’s great Act of Love; we finite beings can set bounds to the veritable flood of God-life made possible by the Infinite Son of the Infinite Father." 30

Yes, the effectiveness of each Mass, which makes the sacrifice of Calvary sacramentally present, depends in part on the holiness of the entire Church offering it with Christ to the Father in the Holy Spirit, including the holiness of the individual priest offering and the holiness of his participating congregation.

Yes, the effectiveness of each Mass, which makes the sacrifice of Calvary sacramentally present, depends in part on the holiness of the entire Church offering it with Christ to the Father in the Holy Spirit, including the holiness of the individual priest offering and the holiness of his participating congregation.

If all, then, have a responsibility to grow in holiness in order to render the Mass more efficacious, the priest has a special duty to do so. His goal must always be to grow in holiness -- to grow in union with Christ the Priest, this Christ Who leads us to the Father in the Holy Spirit with Mary at our side.

When we pray the Morning Offering Prayer we offer our lives to the Father, through Christ, in the Holy Spirit, with the prayerful assistance of Mary, our Mother. Let us pray together united in our hearts in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. There follows a Morning Offering Prayer.

"My dear Father, I offer You this day all my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings in union with Jesus in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in the Holy Spirit.

"I unite with our Mother, Mary, all the angels and saints, and all the souls in purgatory to pray to the Father for myself, for each member of my family, for my friends, for all the people throughout the world, for all the souls in purgatory, and for all other intentions of the Sacred Heart.

"I love You, Jesus, and I give You my heart. I love you, Mary, and I give you my heart. Amen."

"This is how I am with Jesus. I am empty. I want Him to make Himself known to me. I didn’t have much theological knowledge when I started sitting in front of the tabernacle. I was looking for love from Jesus. Nobody loved me the way my soul wanted to be loved. I craved to be with Jesus. I wanted my heart filled. I wanted the craving I felt inside satisfied. I thirsted for love. I sat with Him present in the tabernacle and He filled me. He revealed Himself to me. He was the Bridegroom of my soul and I His bride. As I became more intimately united to Him, sitting there in silence and going to Him, I cried. I was so filled with love. I found what I was looking for all my life. He wrote the knowledge of Himself on my soul. He wrote this knowledge in the intimate moments I spent with Him at Mass after Communion and before the tabernacle.

"I struggle intently to do His work, and I am weary from running the race. I am tired, I am truly human, but the unquenchable love I have for Him in my heart is at the core of my existence. It is in Him I exist and in Him I love. I love Him so intently and yet I am so unworthy of His gifts given to me. I long more for the desire to help souls, and His desires become mine through my deep union with Him especially after the reception of the Eucharist. On this day (Feast of the Assumption), I felt the unquenchable purity of the Heart of Mary and the joy of dwelling deeply in His Heart in her pure love. It was a special gift He gave to me, to be wrapped in Mary’s Heart despite my faults. He gave Himself so completely to me. I only long for this, knowing this presence.

Priesthood

The above thoughts on the Eucharist easily lead us to thoughts on the priesthood:

"If the service of the Word is the foundational element of the priestly ministry, the heart and the vital center of it is constituted, without a doubt, in the Eucharist, which is, above all, the real presence in time of the unique and eternal sacrifice of Christ.

"The sacramental memorial of the death and Resurrection of Christ, the true and efficacious representation of the singular redemptive Sacrifice, source and apex of Christian life in the whole of evangelization, the Eucharist is the beginning, means, and end of the priestly ministry, since ‘all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate are bound up with the Eucharist and are directed towards it.’ Consecrated in order to perpetuate the Holy Sacrifice, the priest thus manifests, in the most evident manner, his identity.

"There exists, in fact, an intimate rapport between the centrality of the Eucharist, pastoral charity, and the unity of life of the priest, who finds in this rapport the decisive indications for the way to the holiness to which he has been specifically called.

"If the priest lends to Christ, Most Eternal High Priest, his intelligence, will, voice and hands so as to offer, through his very ministry, the sacramental sacrifice of redemption to the Father, he should make his own the dispositions of the Master and, like him, live those gifts for his brothers in faith. He must therefore learn to unite himself intimately to the offering, placing his entire life upon the altar of sacrifice as a revealing sign of the gratuitous and anticipatory love of God."35

"This most holy Synod desires to achieve its pastoral goals of renewal within the Church, of the spread of the gospel throughout the world, and of dialogue with the modern world. Therefore it fervently exhorts all priests to use the appropriate means endorsed by the Church as they ever strive for that greater sanctity which will make them increasingly useful instruments in the service of all of God’s People." 36

What Vatican II puts before seminarians regarding spiritual formation can also obviously be implemented by priests: "Spiritual formation should be closely linked with doctrinal and pastoral training. Especially with the help of the spiritual director, such formation should help seminarians learn to live in familiar and constant companionship with the Father, through Jesus Christ His Son, in the Holy Spirit. By sacred ordination they will be molded in the likeness of Christ the Priest. As friends they should be used to loyal association with Him through a profound identification of their whole lives with His. They should live His paschal mystery in such a way that they know how to initiate into it the people entrusted to them. They should be taught to look for Christ in many places: in faithful meditation on God’s word, in active communion with the most holy mysteries of the Church, especially in the Eucharist and the divine Office, in the bishop who sends them, and in the people to whom they are sent, especially the poor, the young, the sick, the sinful and the unbelieving. With the trust of a son, they should love and honor the Blessed Virgin Mary, who was given as a mother to His disciple by Christ Jesus as He hung dying on the cross." 37

What Vatican II puts before seminarians regarding spiritual formation can also obviously be implemented by priests: "Spiritual formation should be closely linked with doctrinal and pastoral training. Especially with the help of the spiritual director, such formation should help seminarians learn to live in familiar and constant companionship with the Father, through Jesus Christ His Son, in the Holy Spirit. By sacred ordination they will be molded in the likeness of Christ the Priest. As friends they should be used to loyal association with Him through a profound identification of their whole lives with His. They should live His paschal mystery in such a way that they know how to initiate into it the people entrusted to them. They should be taught to look for Christ in many places: in faithful meditation on God’s word, in active communion with the most holy mysteries of the Church, especially in the Eucharist and the divine Office, in the bishop who sends them, and in the people to whom they are sent, especially the poor, the young, the sick, the sinful and the unbelieving. With the trust of a son, they should love and honor the Blessed Virgin Mary, who was given as a mother to His disciple by Christ Jesus as He hung dying on the cross." 37

"If every Christian ought to see himself in the Apostle John, entrusted to Mary as her son or daughter, how much more ought priests to recognize themselves as sons of Mary, as the subject of a ‘double’ entrustment to her. I say ‘double’ because they are successors of John by a twofold title: as disciples and as priests. This is beautifully drawn out by our Holy Father in his "Holy Thursday Letter to Priests" of 1988: ‘If John at the foot of the Cross somehow represents every man and woman for whom the motherhood of the Mother of God is spiritually extended, how much more does this concern each of us, who are sacramentally called to the priestly ministry of the Eucharist in the Church!’…

"Although Jesus had already entrusted every priest to his Mother from the height of the Cross and the Pope has done it even hundreds of times, it is still necessary for the priest to do so himself if he would truly experience the power and the protection of the Mother of God in his life as her Divine Son intends it. Priests who have done so know the difference it makes".39

"Consecration, too, establishes a special bond between priests and the redeeming mystery of Christ. Because Jesus brings his own consecration to fruition through sacrifice, those on whom he bestows his pastoral power are called upon to realize in themselves the definition of the good shepherd who gives his life for his sheep. Priests cannot limit their sacrificial offering to the ritual performance of the Eucharist. They are called upon to commit themselves completely by making that total gift of their own selves which the Eucharist implies for their own personal lives. Their commitment to sacrifice is not just the one required of every Christian by virtue of the universal priesthood but the one demanded of them by a consecration that is specifically the priest’s own.

"As to the mission of the priest, it is entirely an expression of redemptive Incarnation in its pastoral aspect. The Incarnation is revealed in this mission because the powers bestowed on the priests to be exercised in the name of Christ are divine powers: the power to hand down revealed truth authoritatively, the power to offer… Christ’s own sacrifice in the Eucharist, the power to forgive sins and to mediate Christ’s holiness, the power to lead the community and to promote the development of a kingdom which is God’s own. Thus, the priest emerges as the man of God, the man in whom God acts with a special power.

"The priestly ministry brings redemption to fruition also because of the indissoluble bond which Christ establishes between service and sacrifice. The Son of Man has come to serve and to give his life as a ransom for mankind. Prolonging this service of the Son of Man and making it available to men in every age and place means prolonging at the same time the sacrifice that imparts freedom. All the aspects of the priestly ministry bear the distinctive mark of sacrifice. The priest cannot impart the truth and the life of Christ, nor live his pastoral love, without a profound commitment to the way of the cross." 40

And here are further words of Fr. Galot: "As a mediator, the priest is a shepherd in the name of God, or more precisely in the name of Christ, and through Christ, in the name of the Father. In the priest is realized the prophetic oracle of Ezechiel in which Yahweh promises to be the Shepherd of his people. (Ezek 34).

"Some implications of this principle must be underlined. The priest does not draw the inspiration for his pastoral zeal from his own feelings, from his own personal resolve to create a better world. He is shepherd on the strength of God’s pastoral intention and represents specifically Christ the shepherd. Consequently he is called upon to fulfill his pastoral mission not according to ideas of his own and his own personal ambitions, but in keeping with God’s own dispensation and the design of salvation devised by the Father and carried out by Christ. Like Jesus himself, the priest is at the service of the Father."41

"Prayer likewise enables us continually to rediscover the dimensions of that kingdom for whose coming we pray every day, when we repeat the words that Christ taught us. Then we realize what our place is in the realization of the petition: ‘Thy kingdom come’, and we see how necessary we are in its realization."

And here are further words of John Paul II to priests: "Dear brothers: ...you who have put your hand to the plough and do not turn back, and perhaps even more those of you who are doubtful of the meaning of your vocation or of the value of your service: think of the places where people anxiously await a priest, and where for many years, feeling the lack of such a priest, they do not cease to hope for his presence. And sometimes it happens that they meet in an abandoned shrine, and place on the altar a stole which they still keep, and recite all the prayers of the Eucharistic Liturgy; and then, at the moment that corresponds to the transubstantiation a deep silence comes down upon them, a silence sometimes broken by a sob... so ardently do they desire to hear the words that only the lips of a priest can efficaciously utter... So deeply do they feel the absence of a priest among them!... Such places are not lacking in the world. So if one of you doubts the meaning of his Priesthood, if he thinks it is ‘socially’ fruitless or useless, reflect on this! 42

"This being with others and is made concrete through service. Jesus presented himself as the Son of Man who came to serve others (cf. Matt. 20,28; Mark 10,45). John presents Jesus as laying aside his garments in order to wash the feet of his disciples, asking them to follow his example (cf. John 13, 4-16)... As the German Bishops say in a document on the priestly service: ‘in all these and many other New Testament texts, there is no trace of either hierarchical triumphalism or authoritarian arrogance. On the contrary, these texts speak of a special mission of devoted and unity-oriented leadership, and of an assumption of service for the Gospel’

"The note of service immediately corrects any misunderstandings which could be connected to the authority aspect which the priest receives over his community. We have to distinguish between authority and power. Jesus taught with authority. But his teachings like his actions were always aimed at the liberation of persons. The same should be true of the Christian pastor. He receives authority with his priestly ministry, but ‘this is something very different from a license to lord it over those under his care. Rather his authority always exists for the sake of service. Christ has given us the example: his ultimate service was the laying down of his life for his friends’ ."43

Prayer

No matter what prayer method I use, my prayers should always be Trinitarian and Christocentric. I should always strive to realize that the Father speaks to me through Christ in the Holy Spirit, and that I respond to the Father through and with Jesus in the Holy Spirit.

As prayer develops, it usually becomes more simplified. Beginners in the life of prayer often experience numerous ideas and images regarding God and the things of God together with various acts of the will. As prayer develops there usually occurs a simplication process which is threefold. First, acts of the intellect become fewer, even to the extent that one idea clearly predominates. The acts of the will also become fewer, and that of love more and more emerges and, in summary fashion, contains all other movements of the will. Finally, prayer’s simplication process reaches out and touches everything in the person’s life. The person sees life harmoniously unified in Christ, and this simplified vision gives a sense of concentrated purpose and strength to one’s existence which was previously not present.

Prayer and its growth process are not void of all difficulties. The path of prayer, as with the spiritual life in general, is not always a smooth one. Sometimes we encounter lesser sufferings along the way; sometimes the pain is more severe. The sufferings, if properly coped with, are meant to lead to greater union with God. It is once again a question of living Christ’s paschal mystery of death and resurrection.

One of the common difficulties encountered in prayer is that of coping with distractions. It is only in higher mystical prayer, during which God takes special hold of the faculties, that distractions are completely absent. In the more ordinary stages of prayer, we will always have to cope with them. The challenge, then, is to strive to bypass distractions when they do occur. Essential concentration on God and the things of God is still possible although distractions come and go.

Dryness in prayer is another common suffering. Often God bestows sweet consolations upon one beginning the life of prayer in order to help the person become initiated into the rewarding but arduous life of prayer. Often, as prayer progresses, the periods of emotionally-felt consolation may become less frequent. A dryness of the emotions is noticeably present. The person, grounded in the practice of prayer, is now strong enough to continue in it even though times of emotionally-felt consolation may be less frequent. One is learning to seek God, rather than just God’s gifts of consolation. In seeking God, the person will also receive consolations as God chooses to give them.

Of all the difficulties encountered during prayer, surely the most painful is to experience God as seeming to be distant. This is such a penetrating type of suffering because it strikes at the very heart of prayer—the fact that prayer is a special meeting with God in which I strive to be aware of God with heightened consciousness.

There are two basic reasons for God seeming to be distant. God can actually be more distant because the person is at fault. There is something of considerable significance which the person is doing and should not be doing, or something which he or she should be doing and is not. The solution to the difficulty is obvious. Corrective action should be taken. If, however, upon examination the person honestly cannot discover any such significant commission or omission, he or she can be reasonably assured that this is a trial associated with prayer’s growth process. Passing through this trial successfully, the person will discover that the relative darkness has turned into a greater light, and a closer love union with God in Christ is now experienced.

A great example of this is seen in the study of the prayer life of Catherine of Sienna, saint and doctor of the Church. Sr. Mary O’Driscolll, O.P., tells us:

"Twenty-six of Catherine of Sienna’s prayers have been preserved for us. With one possible exception, they are not prayers that she herself wrote or even dictated to others. Rather, they were transcribed by her followers who were present as she prayed aloud. All of these prayers belong to the last four years of her life. They impress us by their simplicity, their intense concentration on God, who is repeatedly praised and thanked, and their constant desire for the salvation of others…

"As her prayers make evident, Catherine of Sienna was a great intercessor. In them we find her pleading with God persistently and urgently for mercy for all the world, the Church, the pope, her friends and followers, all in need. It is obvious that she does not regard intercession as merely a passing prayer to God on behalf of one or other persons in time of crisis, but rather as an expression of her deep, loving, permanent commitment both to God and to her neighbors. In Catherine’s own life, the importance and intensity of her intercession increased according as her union with God and her concern for others increased. This observation tells us something very significant about the prayer of intercession in the Christian life, namely, that it is not, as is sometimes thought, a type of prayer which one passes on the way to the heights of mystical prayer, as though intercession were for beginners and mysticism for those who are advanced in the spiritual life, but as a type of prayer which belongs most particularly to the life of contemplative union with God." 46

On May 12, 1982, Pope John Paul II made a pilgrimage to Fatima. One of his motives for his visit was to offer thanks for Mary’s intercession in saving his life relative to the assassination attempt a year earlier.

Some fifteen years later in 1997, the Holy Father gave us the following words regarding Fatima. Lynne Weil, a newspaper reporter, gives this account: "Pope John Paul said the series of Marian apparitions at Fatima, Portugal, rank as one of the most significant events of this century.

"The string of apparitions that ended 80 years ago was ‘one of the greatest’ signs of the times, ‘also because it announces in its message many of the signs that followed and it invites (us) to follow their call’, the pope said in a letter to Bishop Serafim de Sousa Ferreire Silva of Leiria - Fatima, Portugal. The message, dated October 1, was released at the Vatican October 14 (1997).

"Pope John Paul said the event at Fatima ‘helps us to see the hand of God’ even in the 20th century, with its wars and other mass tragedies. And it showed that despite having ‘removed itself from God’, humanity was offered God’s protection, the pontiff said.

"Pope John Paul recalled that in Gospel accounts of Jesus’ death, he invoked clemency on his captors even as he was being crucified and entrusted humanity to the care of his mother, Mary.

"The pope repeated the exhortation stemming from the Marian apparitions at Fatima that the faithful recite the rosary every day. He asked pastors to recite the rosary, and to teach others to recite it, daily. —CNS"

Relationship with Others

To authentically relate to others, we must be aware of who they really are. We must be able to penetrate beyond surface appearances, which may or may not be appealing to us, and contact others in their core existence. When we are truly in touch with others at the core of their beings, we are aware of their awesome dignity. We are conscious that these persons are created and redeemed by God in His overwhelming love for them. Fortified with this proper awareness, we are then in a position to relate to others as we should.

In order to be in touch with the inner self of others, we must be aware of or in touch with our own inner or true self. This awareness, in turn, is also an awareness that our self is in the image of God, that we have been divinized in Christ, that we are oriented toward love of God and neighbor. Here, then, we see the profound interaction between the three awarenesses and loves: awareness and love of God, self and neighbor.

As Christians, consequently, we should have a maturing sense of how our existence is, in varied ways, profoundly interlinked with the existence of others. This reality of union with others is not limited to those we directly meet but includes all members of the human family.

In rarer moments of heroic reflection, we perhaps have dreamed of sensational ways through which we may be called to lay down our lives for our neighbor. For most of us, however, such opportunities will probably never occur, and this is just as well. Our courage could well be far less in a real situation than it is in the inflated proportions of dreamlike musings. Most people perform much better in the less heroic atmosphere of everyday sameness. Yet each day, so ordinarily similar to both the one which has preceded and the one which will follow, offers constant opportunities for the laying down of one’s life for others. If these daily opportunities are less sensational than the more heroic occasions, they are much more numerous and therefore much more consistently present as possibilities for serving others.

Dying daily for others means many things. It means curbing those persistent, selfish tendencies which, if left unchecked, gradually narrow our vision so that we hardly think of anyone but ourselves. Dying daily for others means working at being kind and patient—seemingly little things, but immensely important in maintaining a spirit of harmony in the course of human affairs. Dying daily for others means fidelity to our work, even though this fidelity must be expressed amid temptations such as discouragement, laziness, and disinterest. Dying daily for our neighbor means these and many other things, some of which we all share in common, some of which are peculiar to each person’s uniqueness. One of these common elements is this: dying for others in daily and varied fashion is an expression of our present concern while at the same time it increases our capacity for future love.

Jesus, of course, is our great exemplar regarding the service of others: But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that among the gentiles the rulers lord it over them, and great men make their authority felt. Among you this is not to happen. No; anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mt 20:25-28).

The Christian and the World

God calls us to share His love for His creation. Growth in Christ develops our awareness of this truth. The Christian should have a deeper love for the world than the non-believer. All that is good and true and beautiful, all that we humans reach out for in hope, all the possibilities for our true earthly progress, all the worthwhile and enthusiastic dreams of the human heart for a better world—yes, the Christian should yearn more deeply for all this than the non-believer. Why? Because the Christian knows that the world belongs to Christ. The Christian knows that the human race’s pursuit of the true, the good, and the beautiful is ultimately a pursuit of Christ. The Christian knows that any authentic step forward that the human family takes marks a deepening of the Christic evolutionary process whereby mankind and this world are more fully united to the center and the crown of the universe—Christ Himself.

Obviously, we do not love and embrace the world’s sinful dimension. A holy sadness should touch us when we reflect upon the sinful depravity that defiles the world’s Christic image. We do not refuse secular involvement, however, because of the world’s sinfulness. We must behave in a way that is different from the way much of the world thinks and acts, yet we must be different in a way that does not make us shirk our responsibility towards the secular. All of us, whether we live within monastery walls or within the explosiveness of the inner city, have this responsibility—each in his or her own way.

Purification

Growth in the spiritual life entails an ongoing and progressive purification. This purification enables us to grow in union with God as it allows God to increasingly possess us through the Christ-life of grace.

The process of purification takes many forms. It comprises everything which cleanses us more and more of the false self -- the self which operates outside of God’s will -- and which allows the true self, the Christ-like self, to increasingly emerge.

One of the forms of purification is what has traditionally been called asceticism. Asceticism is that active self-purification aimed at helping the divine image in us to be more manifest and operative. Asceticism helps us to become more like the persons God wants us to be.

The Christian must experience an ongoing conversion away from the non-authentic self to a greater Christ-likeness, to greater development of the authentic self. Asceticism is the graced control, the active self-purification, of one’s total being.

Christian asceticism is at the service of freedom, of life. In aiding us to be more Christ-like, it helps us be more alive. Far from confining our capacity to live and to enjoy life, asceticism contributes to the ongoing process of our being persons capable of deeper love, and, therefore, capable of greater life. One who practices a reasonable asceticism is not one who is less interested in love and life. Such a person is rather one who is willing to bear with the hardships involved in a reasonable, graced control of one’s being with all its various dimensions -- intellect, will, memory, emotions, and so forth -- so that one may be more alive, more capable of authentic love.

The Vision of Faith

"The remedy which must be applied to atheism, however, is to be sought in a proper presentation of the Church’s teaching as well as in the integral life of the Church and her members. For it is the function of the Church, led by the Holy Spirit who renews and purifies her ceaselessly, to make God the Father and His Incarnate Son present and in a sense visible.

"The result is achieved chiefly by the witness of a living and mature faith, namely, one trained to see difficulties clearly and to master them. Very many martyrs have given luminous witness to this faith and continue to do so. This faith needs to prove its fruitfulness by penetrating the believer’s entire life, including its worldly dimensions, and by activating him toward justice and love, especially regarding the needy. What does the most to reveal God’s presence, however, is the brotherly charity of the faithful who are united in spirit as they work together for the faith of the gospel and who prove themselves a sign of unity." 48

Through faith we share in God’s knowing activity in a special way, and we are able to know God and creation in relationship to God in a supernatural, God-like fashion.

If we are to properly progress in the spiritual life, we must allow this vision of faith to more and more penetrate our activities. Increasingly, we should become contemplatives in action: we should view reality in a way that is similar to God’s view of reality. Increasingly, everything we see should remind us of God because everything that is really good and true and beautiful does reflect God. The beauties of nature, for example, manifest this beauty; the raging storm at sea reflects his power; and the goodness, the kindness, and the love that we observe in others around us tell us that God is infinitely good and kind and loving.

The vision of faith allows us to see the human family and the world in a manner that differs from the nonbeliever’s view. As contemplatives in action, we should act upon this vision. Every man, woman, and child is marked with the blood of Christ. If Jesus loved them so much--indeed, if he now loves them so much--can we be indifferent to their needs, both spiritual and material? Can we be indifferent to all the problems that burden modern men and women? If we are Christians of living faith, we know that we cannot be indifferent. This vision of faith should inspire us to action according to our vocation, talents, opportunity, time, and energy. We should be laboring to make the human family and the world more reflective of Christ’s image.

Trust in God

The virtue of trust is extremely important for growth in the spiritual life. Here are words on confidence, on trust, in God from St. Claude La Colombière, one of the great apostles of devotion to the Heart of Christ.

"My God, I am so convinced that you keep watch over those who hope in You, and that we can want for nothing when we look for all from You, that I am resolved in the future to live free from every care, and to turn all my anxieties over to You…

"Men may deprive me of possessions and of honor, sickness may strip me of strength and the means of serving you…but I shall never lose my hope. I shall keep it till the last moment of my life; and at that moment all the demons in Hell shall strive to tear it from me in vain…

"Others may look for happiness from their wealth or their talents; others may rest on the innocence of their life, or the severity of their penance, or the amount of their alms, or the fervor of their prayers. As for me, Lord, all my confidence is my confidence itself. This confidence has never deceived anyone. No one, no one has hoped in the Lord and has been confounded.

I know, alas!, I know only too well, that I am weak and unstable. I know what temptation can do against the strongest virtue. I have seen the stars of heaven fall, and the pillars of the firmament; but that cannot frighten me. So long as I continue to hope, I shall be sheltered from all misfortune; and I am sure of hoping always, since I hope also for this unwavering hopefulness.

"Finally, I am sure I cannot hope too much in You, and that I cannot receive less than I hoped for from You. So I hope that you will hold me safe on the steepest slopes, that You will sustain me against the most furious assaults, and that You will make my weakness triumph over my most fearful enemies. I hope that You will love me always, and that I too shall love You without ceasing. To carry my hope once for all as far as it can go, I hope from You to possess You, O my Creator, in time and in eternity. Amen."49

Humility

Humility is a very important virtue given to us for the spiritual journey.

Humility is both the realization of what we are as creatures of God and the concrete implementation of this realization in our Christian lives. Humility, therefore, is not an exercise in self-depreciation; it is not telling yourself that you are no good, that you really have nothing of any significance to contribute to the service of God. Humility is based on truth. It is compatible with the recognition that God has given a person certain gifts, even great gifts, of nature and grace. If we do not recognize our God-given gifts, we do not thank God for them as we should, nor properly develop these gifts according to His will. God wants us not only to recognize the good that is in us, but also to realize the source of this goodness. Although we have a responsibility to cooperate with His graces, God is the One Who is chiefly responsible for what we are. If one person has advanced to a level in the Christian life that is beyond the level of another, it is ultimately because God has given that person greater graces.

If humility is based on truth and, consequently, allows us to properly recognize our gifts, it also necessitates that we admit to the evil within us, which is also part of the truth and must be acted upon. Humility not only bids us to admit that there is evil in us, but also tells us that, as creatures of God, we should conform to His will and work against this evil side of our persons. In summary, humility allows us to properly evaluate both the good and evil within ourselves.

Here is a quotation from St. Paul which helps us to preserve, and grow in, humility: Who made you so important? What have you got that was not given to you? And if it was given to you, why are you boasting as though it were your own? (1 Cor 4:7).

And in the Letter of James we read: Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up. (Jm 4:10)

Strength in Weakness

"and that is why I am glad of weaknesses, insults, constraints, persecutions and distress for Christ’s sake. For it is when I am weak that I am strong. (2 Cor 12:10)

According to the wisdom of the world, it is often thought to be a sign of weakness if one feels a sense of powerlessness and admits the same. According to the wisdom of Christ, it is of paramount importance that one admits weakness and powerlessness and builds upon this realization.

If we do not admit our weakness and our helplessness, then we are living a lie. Jesus has told us that without Him we can do nothing. It is a sign of Christian maturity if we not only admit to our weakness theoretically, but consistently live this realization. It is not a question of giving in to this weakness, of capitulating to it in an evil way. It is rather a question of realizing our helplessness and throwing ourselves into the arms of Christ. Then we become strong with his strength; then his grace more and more strengthens us and we actually are surprised at the depth of our Christian existence.

At certain rather rare points along the path of life, we become overwhelmed, for various reasons, with the burden of life. We feel adrift upon the turbulent waters of worry and anxiety; fear gradually strengthens its paralyzing grip. Life temporarily seems to be too much, and we feel ourselves deluged, barely capable of coping with the harshness of the human condition. Such episodes, painful as they are, are magnificent opportunities for Christian growth. If we act as we should at such times -- abandon ourselves anew to Jesus -- then our Christian life takes on a new depth and vitality; for we have become so much more closely united to Jesus Who is our nourishment, our life, our happiness.

Of course, it is not only at times of special trial and anxiety that, realizing our helplessness, we should turn to Jesus. If we are spiritually sensitive, we will always be aware of our weakness. But, very importantly, this realization of our powerlessness is not meant in any sense to make us feel depressed or discouraged. If we build properly upon the understanding of our weakness, we will experience deeper peace, and love, and security -- because Jesus is very near.

Living in the Present Moment

I suggest that one of the most difficult acts of self-discipline in the spiritual journey is to concentrate on the present moment. We have a very strong tendency to often disregard the importance of the present moment by focusing in a wrong way on the past or in a wrong way on the future. When we give in to this tendency we suffer a significant spiritual loss. There are proper occasions for thinking of the past and the future. For example, we have to learn from the past and we have to prepare for the future, but our great emphasis has to be upon the present. There is a Latin axiom which says, age quod agis, which means: do what you are doing, concentrate on the present. And, of course, we are familiar with the term in the history of spirituality: the sacrament of the present moment. Growth in self-discipline should include a greater determination to get as much as we can out of the present moment. People with a terminal illness have an opportunity, as they prepare for death, for increased prayer, contrition, love of God. For those who have this opportunity of knowing with some certainty the time of their death, I’m sure as they look back on their lives, they are saddened by the times they did not use time and opportunities for the service of the Lord properly, and are overjoyed at those times in which they did use the present opportunity properly. A great means we have of living in the present properly is a greater focus upon our Lord. For if I have that awareness of the fact I am united with Jesus here and now, why should I be concerned so much about the future or the past? Yes, a great help in living in the present and deriving all the good we can from it for ourselves and others is an ever greater focus on Jesus, because the more I focus upon Jesus and the more I live with Him in the present moment, the more I am satisfied with the present moment. And so let us resolve to grow in that self-discipline which is required to really live in the present with the fullness of our being as much as is possible, with the help of God’s grace. To do so is extremely important for proper growth in the spiritual life.

Now is the time. Now is the time to live and to love. Now is the time to become more united to Christ, to be more one with Him. Now is not yesterday; now is not tomorrow; now is today, and today is a gift from the Lord.

Surrender to God

God gives ultimate meaning to our lives. God reveals to us how the laughter and the tears, the work and the play, the pain and the joy, all fit together. As we live in God, God gathers up what would otherwise be the fragmented pieces of our lives, and arranges them into harmonious unity. This unity emanates from our living according to God’s plan, a plan embodying a way of existence that leads to an ever greater experience of the true, the good, and the beautiful.

We can put obstacles in the way of God’s transforming designs, of God’s plan for us. We can at times say "no" to God’s initiative. We can refuse to be open to God’s tender, loving touch. We can engage in a process of self-enclosure. We can determine to map out our own path to supposed happiness, forgetting that plans for happiness which exclude God are ultimately plans for experiencing frustration and emptiness. Briefly, we can act in an obstinate fashion regarding God’s offer of Self-communication.

At other times, it is not so much stubbornness which leads us to say "no" to God; it is fear. We realize that the closer we come to God, the more God will ask of us, gently but firmly. We fear the white heat of God’s love. Such episodes along the spiritual journey are crucial. If we keep pulling back from the intensity of God’s love, if we keep refusing what this love wants to accomplish in us and through us, then we will live on a rather superficial level.

We must strive to overcome whatever attitude prevents us from increasingly giving ourselves over to God. We must realize that progress in the spiritual life is measured by the degree to which we abandon ourselves to God. We must realize that, if we hope to grow spiritually, we must increasingly allow God to direct our lives.

Let us pray, then, for an increase in the spirit of abandonment to God. As we live more according to this attitude, we will experience in greater measure the warmth and security of God’s love, this God Who is the ground of our being, the goal of our existence, the source of our happiness.

Mind and Heart

" ‘All that I have written seems to me as a little straw,’ concluded St. Thomas Aquinas toward the end of his life. His humble assessment of himself and his works was accurate. For is not indeed everything that the mind can achieve really only ‘straw’ before the greatness of God and his incredible designs? He is a God, however, who is glorified by our gathering all the ‘straw’ we can for his service and the directing of our own free willed lives, while vigorously routing a temptation toward torpor of intellect.

"Yes, a mind is for using. Its sound conclusions call for the most serious pondering. And for the heart to claim absolute sovereignty whether over life itself or the decisions that make for life’s unfolding pattern is clearly an unjustified and perilous assumption. Yet, for the mind to insist on its supreme authority in decision making, including the decision to disregard the evidence of the heart, is a counter insistence fraught, if not always with peril, at least with frequent and sometimes very serious loss to the proprietors of mind and heart. Indeed, it is the mind that delivers to the will the evidence on which the will pronounces. Nonetheless, cerebral conclusions need enfleshing with what only the heart can contribute: the finding of love that can never, if the love is real and true, be at enmity with the mind but which can sometimes unseat the mind’s best justified decisions or even topple them.." 50

"At our Institute, we recently ran a study that found that the average intelligence quotient of our priest patients is 122, which is well above the societal norm of 100. This places our men in the upper 7 percent of their peers. Priests, as a group, are very bright men.

"Also in their education and training, they have developed their intellectual skills well. Catholic priests are verbal men who engage regularly in public speaking. They can debate ideas and abstract concepts easily. Indeed, these qualities are important to the successful ministry of a priest.

"Nevertheless, having a personal relationship with Jesus also means praying from the heart, the place within which he dwells. Yet so many of the men who wither in priesthood cannot find the ‘heart’ because they are stuck in their ‘heads’…

"Developing a personal relationship with God, or anyone else, involves the important task of moving our prayer and dialogue out of the head and into the heart. In this case, the term heart, used in a metaphorical sense, does not refer only to one’s affective life; it primarily indicates ‘the locus of vital forces in a person, to quote from Xavier Leon-Dufour in the Dictionary of the New Testament. It is one’s most ‘hidden place’, the place where ‘the spirit of the Son dwells.’ 52

The Mystical Life

 Gustave Thils gives a very good description of some of the key elements of the mystical life: "It has been said, quite accurately, that Christianity is basically mystical. As we have explained, to live as a Christian is to participate in the very life of God and to perform our temporal task according to the indications of His divine will. Every Christian will understand, without difficulty, that this participation in the divine life is, of its very nature, the mystical life in germ. What could be more mystical than the very life of God? What other foundation for mysticism could we desire? What other source of mysticism could we expect? And, on the other hand, how could a Christian say that he is in the state of grace and deny that he is on the way to the Christian mystical life? Certainly, there is mysticism and mysticism. But the essential will always be incontestably the participation in the life of God. Every Christian is, consequently, rich with the very foundation of all mysticism.

"This divine foundation can be found in a Christian who is still physically and morally a child. In this case, one cannot yet speak of Christian mysticism. Mysticism requires, in a general way, the realization of the ... presence of God. First of all, the mystical life implies a certain form of consciousness: a realization of presence, an intimate connection, a deep certitude, an interior evidence, an intuition ... experience, which are employed with all the nuances and all the precisions given by the spiritual authors, and the object of this consciousness: the Transcendent Being, the Lord and Master of the supernatural order, the God Who is love.

"This realization of ... presence manifests itself in the ... life of faith, hope and charity. Many of the faithful have been able to live it at certain moments of their existence, in very brief fashion, but really; some after they have gone to Holy Communion; others in the course of a visit to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament; others on the occasion of a liturgical ceremony, an ordination, a consecration; still others in the solitude of their home, in joy, in suffering, in mourning. If we must avoid speaking lightly of mysticism, it is also important not to underestimate certain minor transitory forms of true and authentic mysticism. In order that one might be able to speak of the mystical life, it is necessary that this realization of the presence of God become habitual. It must be customary, easily found again, met within the course of one’s daily existence, taken up again as soon as the mind is active, and easily enlivened in joy, even during periods of darkness or of aridity in faith.

"In order that the Christian life reach the mystical level, this habitual realization of the...presence of God must be predominant ...

"The realization of the ... presence of God, which is habitual and predominant: this is what we will henceforth call the mystical level of the Christian life. We dare not say that many Christians are at this point. But certain persons are at this point ..." 53

Between the occasional realization of God’s presence and the habitual and predominant realization of His presence there are all the stages and all the degrees.

The mystical process is one in which God more and more takes possession of the soul. The person becomes increasingly docile to the workings of the Holy Spirit. The predominant realization of God’s presence leads to a deepened desire to do the Father’s will in all things, thorough Christ, in the Holy Spirit, with the maternal assistance of Mary.

The mystical process is very much Christ-centered. The person becomes increasingly transformed in Christ. When the mystical experience becomes consistent and predominant, the person can say with the deepest meaning: I have been crucified with Christ and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but Christ living in me. The life that I am now living, subject to the limitation of human nature, I am living in faith, faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. (Ga 2:19-20)

Heart of Christ, Heart of Mary

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

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

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

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

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

"Consecrating the world to the Immaculate heart of Mary means approaching the same Source of Life, through the Mother’s Intercession, that life which flowed forth from Golgatha, the source which gushes out ceaselessly with redemption and grace. Reparation for the sins of the world is continually being accomplished in it. It is ceaselessly the font of new life and holiness.

"Consecrating the world to the Immaculate Heart of the Mother means returning under the Cross of the Son. More: it means consecration of this world to the pierced Heart of the Savior, by bringing the world back to the very source of its Redemption. Redemption is always greater than man’s sin and ‘the sin of the world.’ The power of Redemption infinitely surpasses the whole range of evil in man and in the world.

"The Heart of the Mother is aware of it, more than anyone in the whole cosmos, visible and invisible. This is why she calls. She does not call only to conversion; she also calls upon us to let ourselves be helped by her, the Mother, to return to the source of the Redemption."54

The Theology of Consecration

A. Boussard gives an extremely fine and concise sketch of the theology of consecration:

"By the Incarnation, in and of itself, the Humanity of Jesus is consecrated, so that in becoming Man, Jesus is ipso facto constituted Savior, Prophet, King, Priest, and Victim of the One Sacrifice that was to save the world. He is the ‘Anointed’, par excellence, the ‘Christ’ totally belonging to God, His Humanity being that of the Word and indwelled by the Holy Spirit. When, by a free act of His human will, He accepts what He is, doing what He was sent to do, He can say that He consecrates ‘Himself’. In Christ, therefore, what might be called His ‘subjective’ consecration is a perfect response to the ‘objective’ consecration produced in His Humanity through the Incarnation.

"And what Christ does brings with it a ‘consecration’ for His disciples, a very special belonging to God, since He imparts to them His own life precisely by making them participate in His own consecration.

"Through Baptism Christians also are consecrated and ‘anointed’ by the power of the Spirit. They share, in their measure, in the essential consecration of Christ, in His character of King, Priest, and Prophet (cf. 1 Peter 2:9; 7 Peter 1:3-4; Rev. 5:9, etc.). With Christ and through Christ, they are ‘ordered’ to the glory of God and the salvation of the world. They do not belong to themselves. They belong to Christ the Lord, who imparts His own life to them…

"The vocation of those who have been baptized is to ‘live’ this consecration by a voluntary adherence—and one that is as perfect as possible—to what it has made of them. Living as ‘children of God’, they fulfill subjectively their objective consecration; like Jesus, they consecrate themselves. This is the deeper meaning of vows and baptismal promises, together with the actual way of life corresponding to them. The baptismal consecration is the fundamental one, constitutive of the Christian. All consecrations which come after it presuppose and are rooted in it…"55

Act of Consecration (new)

"Jesus, You show us Your Heart as symbol of Your life of love in all its aspects, including Your most special love for each of us as unique individuals. Out of Your great love for us, You died a brutal death, nailed to the wood of the cross. Out of Your great love for us, You rose gloriously from the dead.

"From Your pierced Heart the Church with her life-giving Sacraments was born. In the Eucharist, Crown and Center of the Church’s life, You continue to give Yourself to us with the deepest, most tender, most on-fire, most complete love.

"Jesus, since in Your great love You give Yourself so completely to us, it is only fitting that we make a gift to You in return. It is entirely fitting that we give ourselves completely to You. Yes, we consecrate ourselves to Your most loving Heart. Each of us says to You, O Lord, our Savior and our Friend: ‘Jesus, take me wholly, take me completely to Your magnificent Heart. Out of love I give myself to You. Live in and through me. In love You give Yourself completely to me. In love and in a spirit of reparation, I want to give myself, with the help of Your grace, entirely to You. Take me, Jesus, to an ever closer union with the Father, in the Holy Spirit, with Mary my Mother at my side. Pierced, Glorified, Eucharistic 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, including your most special love for me as this unique individual. You are the Mother of my Savior. You are also my Mother. 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, Glorified, Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the flock."

A Prayer for Priests

Many of the laity pray for us priests, and consistently so. Is it not also fitting that we priests pray for all our brothers in the priesthood, and consistently so? There follows a prayer that can aid us in this endeavor.

"Lord Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the Flock, we pray that in the great love and mercy of Your Sacred Heart that You attend to all the needs of Your priest-shepherds throughout the world. We ask that You draw back to Your Heart all those priests who have seriously strayed from Your path, that You rekindle the desire for holiness in the hearts of those priests who have become lukewarm, and that You continue to give Your fervent priests the desire for the highest holiness. United with Your Heart and Mary’s Heart, we ask that You take this petition to Your heavenly Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen".

The above prayer is taken from the prayer manual of Shepherds of Christ Associates, a facet of Shepherds of Christ Ministries. The associates are members of prayer groups which meet regularly to pray for all the needs of the entire human family, but most especially for priests. If you would like a copy, or copies, of this prayer manual, and further, if you would like information on how to begin a Shepherds of Christ prayer chapter, contact us at:

Shepherds of Christ
P.O. Box 193
Morrow, Ohio 45152-0193 U.S.A.
Phone (toll free): 1-888-211-3041,
Phone: 1-513-932-4451
Fax: 1-513-932-6791

Letters

I have been reading the newsletter book Shepherds of Christ meditatively since it came. All the articles are deep theology and spirituality. If only priests read it properly and prayerfully, a change towards Christ cannot but come. All my Diocesan priests got the book and are reading it. I have sent a few copies to the seminary rector in South India whom I know, asking him to read it and also order the newsletter. I am sure they will profit by it.

Bishop S.A. Aruliah
Cuddapah
India

Gerard Joubert, O.P.
Houston, Texas

Compliments of the Easter Season to you! After reading your recent newsletter Shepherds of Christ, I found it very profitable and thought of making a request for subsequent copies as the one I read was given to me by one of our priests.

I shall, therefore, be very thankful if you do me the favour of sending me copies of the newsletter in the future. May God bless your apostolate most abundantly.

In union of prayers in the Lord’s Vineyard, I remain,

Sincerely yours in the Lord
Rev. Fr. Charles Anemelu
Berkeley Heights, New Jersey

NOTES:

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

  2. Archbishop Luis M. Martinez, The Sanctifier, Pauline Books and Media, pp. 124-125.

  3. Adolphe Janquery, S.S., The Spiritual Life, Desclee & Co., p. 18

  4. Archbishop Martinez, op. cit., pp. 67-68,

  5. Jerusalem Catecheses, as in The Liturgy of the Hours, Catholic Book Publishing Co., Vol. II, p. 608.

  6. Msgr. Robert Guste, The Gift of the Church, Queenship Publications, pp. 22-23.

  7. Edward Leen, In the Likeness of Christ, Sheed and Ward, pp. 290-300.

  8. St. John Eudes, from a treatise on the Admirable Heart of Jesus, as in The Liturgy of the Hours, Catholic Book Publishing Co., Vol. IV, pp. 1331-32.

  9. St. Ignatius of Antioch, "Ignatius to the Romans," as in The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom, Ignatius Press., p. 14.

  10. John Henry Cardinal Newman, Discourses Addressed to Mixed Congregations, Longmans, Green and Co., pp. 111-112.

  11. Mother Teresa, In My Own Words, Liguori Publications, p. 44.

  12. St. Claude de la Columbiere, as published by Apostleship of Prayer, Detroit Province of the Society of Jesus.

  13. Pope John Paul II, as in Celebrate 2000!, Servant Publications, pp. 140-141.

  14. "From the Various Writings of the History of the Order of Preachers," as in The Liturgy of the Hours, Catholic Book Publishing Co., Vol lV, p. 1302.

  15. Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, The Gift of Peace, Loyola University Press, pp. 151-153.

  16. St Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, translated by E. Allison Peers, Doubleday and Co., "Second Mansions", p. 51.

  17. Ibid., "Fourth Mansions", p. 76.

  18. Archbishop Luis M. Martinez, The Sanctifier, op. cit. pp. 5-7.

  19. Henri de Lubac, S. J., The Church: Paradox and Mystery, translated by James R. Dunne, Alba House, p. 24.

  20. Fr. Bruno Forte, He Loved Them to the End, St. Paul Books & Media, p. 74-75.

  21. The Thoughts of Pope John Paul II: A Collection of Essays and Studies, John M. McDermott, S. J., Editor, Editrice Pontificia Universita Gregoriana, p. 135.

  22. Henri de Lubac, S.J., The Church: Paradox and Mystery, op. cit., pp. 2-4.

  23. Avery Dulles, S.J., The Resilient Church, Doubleday & Company, p. 39.

  24. Gerald Vann, O.P., The Heart of Man, Longmans, Green and Co., pp. 151-152.

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

  26. Ibid, No. 17

  27. Ibid, No. 48.

  28. Pope Pius XII, Encyclical Letter, Mystici Corporis, AAS XXXV, pp. 232-233.

  29. Letter of Pope John Paul II, The Mystery and Worship of the Eucharist, Pauline Books and Media, No. 3

  30. M. Raymond, O.C.S.O. This Is Love, Bruce, p. 106.

  31. Maurice de la Taille, S. J., The Mystery of Faith, Book 2, "The Sacrifice of the Church", translated by Joseph Carroll and P. J. Dalton, Sheed and Ward, p. 240.

  32. Fr. Edward Leen, C.S..Sp., In the Likeness of Christ, Sheed and Ward, pp. 250-252.

  33. Mother Teresa, Rosary Meditations from Mother Teresa, contact Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament, PO Box 1701, Plattsburgh, New York.

  34. St. Peter Julian Eymard, Eucharistic Handbook, Emmanuel Publications, as in Adoration, Ignatius Press, p.97.

  35. Directory on the Ministry and Life of Priests, as in special supplement, Inside the Vatican, No. 48

  36. The Documents of Vatican II, "Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests", America Press Edition, No. 12.

  37. The Documents of Vatican II, "Decree on Priestly Formation", No. 8.

  38. Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation, I Will Give You Shepherds, St. Paul Books and Media, No. 25.

  39. Arthur Culkins, Soul Magazine Jan-Feb, 1995, p. 30.

  40. Jean Galot, S.J., Theology of the Priesthood, Ignatius Press, pp. 124-125.

  41. Ibid., p. 144.

  42. Pope John Paul II, Holy Thursday Letters to My Brother Priests, edited by James P. Socias, Scepter Publications and Midwestern Theological Forum, pp. 38-40.

  43. Nicholas Cachia, The Image of the Good Shepherd As A Source for the Spirituality of the Ministereal Priesthood, Editrice Pontificia Universita Gregoriana.

  44. Fr. John Wright, S.J., A Theology of Christian Prayer, Pueblo Pub., p. 101.

  45. Thomas Merton, A Thomas Merton Reader, Thomas P. McDonnell, editor, Doubleday, p. 325.

  46. Catherine of Sienna, Selective Writings, ed, Mary O’Driscoll, O.P., New City Press, p. 50.

  47. Pope Paul VI, Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary (Marialis Cultus), United States Catholic Conference, Nos. 46-47.

  48. The Documents of Vatican II, op. cit., "The Church in the Modern World", no. 21.

  49. St. Claude de la Columbière, An Act of Confidence in God, Apostleship of Prayer, Chicago Regional Office.

  50. Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C., Forth and Abroad, Ignatius Press, pp. 121-123.

  51. Ibid., pp. 120-121.

  52. Fr. Stephen J. Rossetti, "Spirituality of the Priesthood" as in Human Development, Vol 18. No. 1, Spring, 1997, pp. 26-32.

  53. Gustave Thils, Christian Holiness, Lunnoo Publishers, pp. 556-558.

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

  55. A. Boussard in Dictionary of Mary, Catholic Book Publishing Co., pp. 54-55.

  

 

 

    

     

Now available on tape and disc!
read by Father Carter

      

   

Tell My People

Messages from Jesus and Mary

as given to Fr. Edward Carter, S.J.

Published by:
Shepherds of Christ Ministries
P.O. Box 193
Morrow, Ohio 45152-0193

      

      

   

Table of Contents

  • Introduction
  • Jesus Has Come to Give Us Life
  • Call of the Sacred Heart
  • Trust in Jesus
  • Mary Our Mother
  • Being Loved by Jesus
  • On Being Thankful
  • The Holy Spirit
  • Prayer
  • Images of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary
  • Age of the Two Hearts
  • The Joy of Christ
  • The Peace of Christ
  • The Two Hearts and the Mass
  • The Riches of the Immaculate Heart
  • The Tears and Sorrows of Mary
  • Children of Mary
  • The Eucharist
  • Reparation for Sin
  • Consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary
  • Mary, Model and Teacher of Love
  • The Two Hearts and Sanctity
  • Surrender to the Heart of Jesus
  • Jesus Asks for Our Love
  • Mary as Our Mediatrix
  • I Have Died for All—You Must Love All
  • Come to Our Hearts
  • Live Your Consecration
  • The Cross Leads to Life
  • Come to My Heart
  • My Father's Will
  • The Present Moment
  • How Much I Love You
  • Spiritual Childhood
  • Humility
  • Depend on Me
  • Pray, Pray, Pray!
  • Build up My Church
  • Your Protection Against Satan
  • The Two Ways
  • The Indwelling of the Trinity
  • The Power to Love
  • Scripture Nourishes You
  • Mother of Our Christian Virtues
  • Work to Make Your World Better
  • Follow the Way I Have Given You
  • Act of Consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary
  • Shepherds of Christ
  • Message to Shepherds of Christ Associates
    •

        

          

       

    "What I say to you in the dark, tell in the day-
    light; what you hear in whispers, proclaim
    from the housetops."     (Matthew 10:27)
      

    Jesus Has Come to Give Us Life

    Jesus: "This is the day celebrating My Resurrection (Easter). The day of newness of life. I am Lord and Master. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Tell My people to come to Me if they wish to experience life in abundance. I want to give all an ever greater share in the life of My Resurrection. Without Me you cannot be happy, nor have peace, nor have real joy. Tell My people to surrender to Me more and more. The more they do so, the more they will experience My love, wisdom, power, peace, joy, happiness, mercy, and goodness. Within My Heart My people will find these riches. I am Lord and Master! Please listen to My words."

    Reflection: Through His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus has come to give us life, and to give us this life in abundance.

    When we were baptized, we were incorporated into Christ and His Church. When we were baptized, we received the life of sanctifying grace. This life is a created sharing in the life of the Trinity. Truly, we are called to live a God-like existence according to the teaching and example of Jesus! It is our duty and our privilege to develop our life of grace—our Christ-life—through our participation in the Mass, through the reception of the sacraments, through prayer, and through all other good works. Indeed, we are called to love God and neighbor more and more.

    What a glorious life has been given to us! In a spirit of thanksgiving, and together with Mary our Mother, let us always strive to know Christ more intimately, to love Him more ardently, and to follow Him more closely, so that He will always bring us to a closer union with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

     

     

    Call of the Sacred Heart

    Jesus: "Tell My People that I wish them to come to My Sacred Heart. I show My Heart as symbol of My great love for My people. So many, however, are cold and indifferent concerning My love for them. Consider all I have done for My people! I suffered a brutal passion and death for them. My Body was unmercifully scourged, My head cruelly crowned with thorns, My hands and feet mercilessly pierced with nails. Oh, how much I suffered in all this—out of love for My Father and the whole human race! Finally, My Heart was pierced with the soldier's lance. From My pierced Heart flowed forth blood and water, symbols of the Eucharist and Baptism. How much My pierced Heart still loves My people! How I long for each to come to My Heart in a return of love! All who do will experience My love in a special way. All who take up their refuge within My Heart will experience love, security, peace, joy. The world cannot give My people these gifts. I, Who am Lord and Master, am the One Who gives these gifts."

    Reflection: Jesus tells us how much He loves us and to what lengths He went in His passion and death to show us this great love, this love symbolized by His Heart.

    To meditate often upon the passion and death of Christ is to allow His love to more and more take hold of us. The more we allow Jesus to embrace us with His tremendous love for us, the more He draws us within His pierced Heart. Within this Heart is our refuge. Here is our source of enlightenment, of strength, of peace, joy, and happiness.

      

     

    Trust in Jesus

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, tell My people to trust Me unreservedly. I am Lord and Master. I am their God. So many fail to trust Me as they should. I love all My people much, much more than they love themselves. This great love of Mine should encourage the greatest trust. The more you realize how much a friend loves you, the more you place your trust in the friend. I am your perfect Friend! I love you infinitely more than your best earthly friend. Tell My people to give Me their trust. Tell them to say often, 'Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in You.' I am Lord and Master. Please do as I request."

    Reflection: How can we fail to trust Jesus, this Jesus Who has given His life for each of us? During His passion, He knew each of us by name. Today, He calls each of us, by name, to the refuge of His Sacred Heart. Today, He calls each of us, by name, to a greater trust in His Heart.

     

     

    Mary Our Mother

    Jesus: "My beloved friend, tell My people to come to My Mother. From the cross, as I was suffering indescribable agony, I gave Mary as spiritual Mother to the world. My great love for My people prompted Me to do this. I am Lord and Master, and I want My people to come to My Mother and their Mother. If you wish to be close to Me, come to Mary. Consecrate yourselves to her. In this way you will grow into the closest union with Me. Through her Immaculate Heart, you will be drawn more and more into My own Heart. It is My desire that you allow My Mother to place you within My Heart which loves you with an unfathomable love! This is My wish—that you come to Me enfolded by Mary's mantle, cradled in her arms, pressed against her Heart."

    Reflection: It is God's will that we approach Jesus in union with Mary. Enough said!

     

     

    Being Loved by Jesus

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, I have given you a special experience of what it means to be loved by Me. I have drawn you, through Mary, deeply within My Heart. There you experience a deep peace, joy, and security—all this results from your realizing how much I love you! Tell My people about My great love! Tell them I desire that they come to My Heart. There they will experience the wonders that only My Heart can give. I am Lord and Master. I desire that all listen to My words."

    Reflection: We know what a glowing feeling it is to realize that we are loved by a human person--by a friend or by a spouse, for example. Jesus loves us much, much more than any such person can possibly love us! Why don't we, then, allow ourselves constantly to be immersed in the joy which results from realizing how much Jesus loves us?

     

     

    On Being Thankful

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, because I love you with a very special love, I have showered you with great gifts. You have cried out to Me in joy. You have told Me how thankful you are for My many special favors. Allowing you to be so thankful is itself a gift I give you. Tell My people that I want them to thank Me every day for all the gifts I have given and continue to give them. Tell them I want them to give themselves to Mary. In her company I want them to approach My Sacred Heart each day. Here I will give them ever greater gifts.

    "How much I love My people! How much I long to shower them with My love-laden gifts! Sadly, many do not want to receive My gifts. Those who do, let them come to My Heart, and they will be amazed at what I will do for them! My Heart is an inexhaustible source of graces. Please, My people, I long for you to come and draw from its riches! I am Lord and Master. Please do as I request."

    Reflection: Giving thanks to God for all His gifts is one of our great duties as children of God. We should be continually offering thanks to God for all the gifts He has given us and continues to give us through the Heart of Jesus.

     

     

    The Holy Spirit

    Jesus: "My beloved friend, tell My people to pray daily to the Holy Spirit. They are to pray for an increase in His gifts. My people must realize that the Holy Spirit comes to transform them. The Spirit desires to transform you more and more according to My image. Those who are docile to His touch become increasingly shaped in My likeness. He performs this marvel within Mary's Immaculate Heart. The more one dwells in My Mother's Heart, the more active are the workings of the Spirit. The Spirit leads Mary to place you within My own Heart. In both Our Hearts, then, your transformation continues. The more you are formed after My own Heart, the more I lead you to the bosom of My Father. Tell My people all this. Tell them to pray daily for a greater appreciation of these wondrous gifts. I am Lord and Master. All who come to My Heart will be on fire to receive the gifts of the Spirit in ever greater measure! I love and bless My people!"

    Reflection: The Holy Spirit is given to us to fashion us ever more according to the likeness of Jesus. And the more we are like Jesus, the more Jesus leads us to the Father. Do we, each day, pray to the Holy Spirit to be more open to His transforming influence? Do we strive each day to grow in union with Mary? The greater our union with our Mother, the spouse of the Holy Spirit, the greater is the transforming action of the Holy Spirit within us.

     

     

    Prayer

    Jesus: My beloved companion, tell My people about the great importance of prayer. Prayer plays an indispensable role in the process of sanctification and ultimate salvation. Let My little ones come to Me daily in prayer. I especially want My people to pray before the tabernacle. When they do so, I give them special graces. The prayer of My people should be filled with love for Me, My Father, the Holy Spirit, and My Mother. Pressed against their Mother's heart, and under her guidance, let My people come to My Sacred Heart. Each day they should take up their refuge in My Heart, and there enter into the deepest prayer. They should put all worries and anxieties aside and pray from the heart. I take their prayer to the Father in the Holy Spirit. My people, I want you to pray, pray, pray! During prayer I make you especially aware of My great love for you. During prayer I ask for your return of love. During prayer I especially allow you to experience peace and joy. The crosses you bear are no obstacle to this. In fact, when you bear your crosses properly—that is, according to My Father's will—you experience increased peace and joy. My people, listen to My words. I am Lord and Master. I love you with the most tender love!"

    Reflection: In the above message, Jesus reminds us of the great importance of prayer. Our greatest prayer is our participation in the Mass. Outside the time of Mass, Jesus tells us how important it is to pray before the tabernacle. The practice of prayer is extremely important for ongoing growth in our love relationship with Jesus, the Father, the Holy Spirit, and with Mary. It is also critical for our growth in love of neighbor.

     

     

    Images of the Hearts
    of Jesus and Mary

    Jesus: "My beloved friend, tell My people that I desire them to have pictures or statues of the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart in their homes. This will greatly help them to give honor to Our Hearts. All My churches and chapels should also have these images. I will bestow great blessings on all those who heed My request. I am your Lord and Master. Please do as I ask."

    Reflection: We all know the role pictures of loved ones play in maintaining and developing our relationships with these people. Is it strange, then, that Jesus makes the above request?

     

     

    Age of the Two Hearts

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, I have allowed you to experience in extraordinary fashion the riches contained in My Heart and My Mother's Heart. I desire that you tell all My people about these riches. I desire that My people consecrate themselves to My Sacred Heart and to Mary's Immaculate Heart. My people are living in the beginnings of the age of the Two Hearts.

    "After the time of the purification is completed, this new era of the Church and the world will become firmly established. This era will be characterized by the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart. All those who consecrate themselves to My Heart and to My Mother's Heart will help to establish this glorious new age. I am Lord and Master. Please listen to My urgent request. Within Our Hearts you will experience the love and security, the peace and the joy, which you all desire. I love My people with a tremendous love, and in My love I give them this message!"

    Reflection: This is the Age of the Two Hearts! The surest road to sanctity in these our times is through consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. In making this consecration, and striving with God's grace to live it as best we can each day, we are contributing to the establishment of the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and to the arrival of the reign of the Sacred Heart.

     

     

    The Joy of Christ

    Jesus: "My beloved friend, tell My people that I am a God of joy. I have come so that My people's joy may be complete. So many of My people seek for joy in the wrong places. So many seek their joy and happiness in material things. Joy can spring from material things only when they are used according to My Father's will. Many use material things against My Father's will. Come to My Heart, My people. Come to My Heart in union with your Mother Mary. She will place you within My Heart, and we will teach you the secret of joy. We will show you that joy is meant to be yours at all times-even in the deepest suffering.

    "Come to Me, My people. I am your Lord and Master! I am all-powerful! When I say I will give you joy in abundance, I have the means to fulfill My promise. But you must come to My Heart, and you must trust Me. I ask for your total trust. The more you trust Me, the more you will be filled with My joy!"

    Reflection: In the Litany of the Blessed Virgin we say, "Cause of our joy, pray for us." Mary is cause of our joy, because, under God, she gives us Jesus, the Source of all joy. Mary is cause of our ever-increasing joy, because she always unites us—if we allow her—more intimately to the Heart of Jesus. And as Jesus tells us above, within His Heart, He and Mary teach us the secret of joy.

     

     

    The Peace of Christ

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, tell My beloved people that I am the Divine Giver of peace. I want so much to give My people an even greater sense of peace, but many refuse My offer! They think they know their own way to peace and happiness—a way which is not My way. The further they stray from Me, the more restless they become, and the less true peace they have. My way is the only way to peace.

    "My people, come each day to My Sacred Heart. Let Mary lead you to My Heart. The more you dwell within My Heart, the more peace will be yours. I am Lord and Master. Please listen to My words! Do not seek your peace and consolation in worldly pursuits. Come within My Heart, and you will be filled with the peace you so much crave. I will press you to My Sacred Heart. I will tell you how much I love you! The more you realize this love, the more My peace will possess your soul!"

    Reflection: The chief fruit of love is peace. The more we open ourselves to the burning love of Jesus' Heart, and respond by loving God and neighbor more and more, the more peace we experience.

     

      

    The Two Hearts and the Mass

    Jesus: "My beloved friend, tell My people that they are living in the Age of the Two Hearts—that of My Heart and My Mother's heart. My people live in the initial stages of this great era. I call all My people to take up their refuge in My Heart and My Mother's heart. In Our Hearts they will become more and more transformed into My likeness.

    "The greatest source for growth in devotion to Our Hearts is the Eucharist. I wish My people to attend Mass often, daily if possible. What a great gift I have given to My people in the Eucharist! Yet many of My people are indifferent to the treasures contained in the Mass. Think of it! My people are privileged to offer the Sacrifice of the Mass together with Me! And yet how many prefer to do other things rather than attend Mass. How this attitude offends My Sacred Heart!

    "I long for My people to participate in the Mass and to receive Me worthily! Think of it! I, Who am your God, long to come to you each day! In the Eucharist I come to you in My Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Present within you, I long to take you close to My Sacred Heart, this Heart which is truly within you. The more you allow Me to do so, the more closely I press you to this Heart. I shower you with its riches. I abundantly give you great graces which increasingly form you in My likeness.

    "I am Lord and Master! Please listen to My words. Pray, pray for a deeper understanding of the Mass. In union with Mary, approach Me daily in the Eucharist. I, your God, long to come to you. How much do you long to receive Me?"

    Reflection: Everything in the life of the Church, and in the Christian lives of each of us individually, is centered in the Mass. Vatican II, in a few words, makes a powerful statement concerning the Church's Liturgy--at the center of which is the Eucharistic Sacrifice: ". . .in the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the fountain from which all her power flows" [The Documents of Vatican II, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, No.10 (American Press edition)].

     

     

    The Riches of the Immaculate Heart

    Mary: "My beloved priest-son, how often I have pressed you to my maternal and Immaculate Heart in the greatest love! How often I allow you to taste the sweetness of this Heart. How often I make you aware that my Heart is your refuge where you feel so much loved, where you feel so secure, where you feel bathed in peace! I desire that you tell all the people about the riches contained in my Immaculate Heart. Tell my people to come to my Heart each day. I will caress them with my maternal love. I will lead them ever closer to the Sacred Heart of my Son. I will tell them to listen to Jesus. I will remind them that He is their Lord and Master. I will remind them to do whatever He tells them to do.

    "Yes, my dearly beloved son, tell my people all these things. Keep reminding them of my great love for them. Keep reminding them how I love to draw them to my maternal and Immaculate Heart!"

    Reflection: Is there anyone who, listening to these words of Mary, does not long for a closer union with the loving Heart of our Mother?

     

     

    The Tears and Sorrows of Mary

    Mary: "My beloved priest-son, I have given you a great devotion to my sorrows and tears. Tell my people about this devotion. Tell them I promise great blessings to all who say seven Hail Marys each day in honor of my tears and seven sorrows. Included in my promise is that of granting special assistance at the hour of death. At this moment, all who practice this devotion will see my face."

    Reflection: Listed below are the seven sorrows of Mary. Let us each day recall these sorrows as we pray the seven Hail Marys as Our Lady requests.

    1. The prophecy of Simeon.
    2. The Flight into Egypt.
    3. The loss of Jesus in the Temple.
    4. Jesus and Mary meet during the way of the cross.
    5. Mary witnesses the crucifixion of her Son.
    6. Jesus is taken down from the cross and laid in Mary's arms.
    7. The burial of Jesus.

       

     

    Children of Mary

    Mary: "My beloved priest-son, how often I have embraced you! How often I have told you how much I love you! How often, at your request, I have held you in my arms as my child. You have told me you realize how helpless you are of yourself, but how strong and secure you feel dwelling in my heart and Jesus' Heart. Your sense of your littleness and helplessness endears you to me all the more. I take you ever more securely to my maternal and Immaculate Heart. Tell all my people of the riches you have found within my heart. Tell them how I place you within my Son's Heart. Tell them that, because of my motherly action, you are now more closely united with Jesus than ever before. Tell my people to come to my heart and draw forth similar riches. Tell all my little ones that Jesus, Who is Lord and Master, bids me to lead all to His Sacred Heart. The more my little ones dwell within my Immaculate Heart, the more I place them within Jesus' Heart. Oh, how I love all my little ones! How I love to bring them to the Heart of Jesus!"

    Reflection: Again, let us remind ourselves that we live in the Age of the Two Hearts. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are inseparable. The more we dwell in Mary's heart, the more she places us within Jesus' Heart. Within these Two Hearts, the Holy Spirit fashions us more and more in the likeness of Christ, and the more we become like Christ, the more closely He unites us to the Father.

       

      

    The Eucharist

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, tell My people how I long for them to come to Me in the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the great Sacrament of My love for My people. So many are indifferent to My Eucharistic presence. So many have no real desire to receive Me in the Eucharist. So many have no desire to visit Me in the Blessed Sacrament. How I long for My people to come before the tabernacle and to talk with Me!

    "I am offended, many times seriously, by all the outrages, sacrileges, and indifferences committed against My Eucharistic presence. I ask My people to make reparation for all this. I especially ask that they often say the prayer of Eucharistic reparation given by the angel to the three Fatima visionaries.

    "I am Lord and Master. Please do as I request. My Eucharistic Heart is beating with unfathomable love for My people! Let them come to My Sacred Heart. How I long to take My people to My Heart and shower them with Its abundant graces! I love My people with a tremendous love, and I give them this message with the greatest love!"

    Reflection: Pope John Paul II has often expressed his belief in the importance of Fatima. It also appears that the Fatima prayer of Eucharistic reparation is meant in a most special way for the present times

     

     

    Reparation for Sin

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, tell My people that the ugly face of sin covers the earth as never before in the history of the human race. My image, which should shine forth brilliantly over the whole earth, is seriously marred by the hideousness of sin. My Father's justice demands reparation. Tell My people to offer their actions in reparation for all the sins whereby the Triune God is so much offended. My Heart cries out for reparation, especially for sins committed against My Eucharistic presence. My Heart hates sin, but loves the sinner. All who are sorry for their sins will find in My Heart overflowing graces of mercy.

    "My people should receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation often, even if they have no serious sins to confess. The graces of this Sacrament give powerful graces for the fight against temptation. I am Lord and Master. Please do as I request!"

    Reflection: In our determination to avoid sin, let us often recall the terrible sufferings which sin caused Our Loving Savior: the cruel crowning with thorns, the tearing of His sacred flesh by the soldiers' merciless scourging, the heartless hammering of nails through His sacred hands and feet, and all the rest. Who can prayerfully look upon the suffering Christ and not be repulsed by the hideousness of sin?

     

     

    Consecration to the Hearts
    of Jesus and Mary

    Jesus: "My beloved friend, tell My people that I desire all to consecrate themselves to My Sacred Heart and to Mary's Immaculate Heart. Tell them not to just recite words in making the act of consecration, but to realize what they are saying. Consecration to Our Hearts means a total gift of self. It means handing over everything to Me and to My Mother. Consecration means a willingness to surrender completely to Me. In Baptism one is consecrated to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But how many fail to live out their consecration! I extend to all the invitation to renew this baptismal consecration through consecration to My Heart and to My Mother's Heart.

    "My beloved companion, I have taught you what this consecration means. I have given you great peace, joy, and happiness because you have made this consecration. I have taught you that you are to renew this act of consecration each day, I constantly remind you that you are to pray each day for the grace to more and more live the consecration. I have taught you that your consecration to Me and My Mother means that you constantly surrender yourself to Us and to Our care. I have taught you that the more you surrender yourself to Me, the more I live in you and through you and for you. I have taught you that My great love for you longs to draw you more deeply into My Heart. I have shown you that I wish your Mother Mary to place you there within My Heart, and that the more you dwell within her heart, the more deeply she places you within My Heart. Dwelling within Our Hearts, the Holy Spirit fashions you more and more in My likeness. The Father thus looks upon you with greater favor and takes you more closely to Himself. Tell My people all these wondrous truths. I am Lord and Master, and I desire all to listen to My words!"

    Reflection: In the above message, Jesus describes what is involved in living our consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. What beautiful truths He puts before us! We know that the living out of our consecration is not always easy. Sometimes it is very difficult. At all times, and especially in most difficult times, we should remind ourselves how much Jesus and Mary love us, and that living out our consecration is our "thank you," our return of love.

     

     

    Mary, Model and Teacher of Love

    Mary: "My beloved priest-son, I have led you to greatly increase your prayers and sacrifices for others. I have often reminded you of my teaching at Fatima—that many souls go to Hell because they have no one to pray and make sacrifices for them. My Immaculate Heart longs that all my little ones be saved. Tell my little ones that they must love their neighbor through prayer, sacrifices, and other ways, too. All should learn from me. My Heart is symbol, not only of my great love for God, but also of my tender love for all my little ones. Imitate my love for God and all my children. If you love Jesus and me, this means you also love all of God's children. Jesus died for all. You cannot exclude anyone from your love.

    "My Heart is the perfect imitator of the Heart of my Son. I will teach you how to love the Father and all mankind after the example of Jesus. All my little ones, I long for you to come to my Heart so I can teach you the ways of love! I love you so much! Come to my Immaculate Heart. Pressed against my Heart, I will hold you in my arms. I will clothe you with my motherly and protective mantle. As I hold you close to my Heart, I will teach you the ways of love!"

    Reflection: In the above message, our dear mother tenderly reminds us that the following of Jesus is summed up in love of God and neighbor.

     

     

    "What I say to you in the dark, tell in the day-
    light; what you hear in whispers, proclaim
    from the housetops."     (Matthew 10:27)

    The Two Hearts and Sanctity

    Jesus: "My beloved priest companion, I and My Mother have given you a consuming desire to spread devotion to Our Hearts. Tell My people about the great riches contained in My Sacred Heart and Mary's Immaculate Heart! Tell My people that they live in the age of the Two Hearts. What I and My Mother said at Fatima has been gradually unfolding. The Fatima message is centered in devotion to Our Hearts. The triumph of Mary's Immaculate Heart, foretold at Fatima, is soon to take place. This triumph will coincide with the era of peace for the world which My Mother foretold at Fatima. This great new age of peace for the Church and the world will be characterized by the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart.

    "Because this is the age of the Two Hearts, the quickest and surest way to sanctity is through devotion to My Heart and Mary's Heart. Such devotion reaches its highest point in consecration to Our Hearts. Within Our Hearts My people will be clothed with great graces! Their love for God and neighbor will deepen tremendously! They will be fired with a holy and burning desire to love God and neighbor in all their daily activities as guided by the Holy Spirit. Dwelling within Our Hearts, My people will long to help bring back an alienated world to conform to My Father's will.

    "My friend, I and My Mother have allowed you to experience in an extraordinary way the riches contained in Our Hearts. Tell My people about these riches! Tell them that I and Mary long for them to come within Our Hearts! I am Lord and Master. Please listen to My words. Come to Our Hearts!"

    Reflection: Jesus tells us that we live in the age of the Two Hearts, and that within His Heart and Mary's Heart we receive graces to raise us to great sanctity. What is sanctity? It is doing God's will out of love, and God's will is summed up in love of God and love of neighbor. In the above message Jesus refers to this love of God and neighbor. In the Gospel, Jesus expressed it in this way:

    But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees they got together and, to disconcert him, one of them put a question, "Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?" Jesus said, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets also" (Matthew 22:34-40).

    Sanctity, then, is centered in love of God and neighbor. Thus, to grow in sanctity is to grow in love of God and neighbor. Jesus tells us in the above message that within His Heart and Mary's Heart we find the graces to achieve great sanctity. Dwelling within the Two Hearts, we receive the capacity to become tremendous lovers!

       

     

    Surrender to the Heart of Jesus

    Jesus: "My beloved friend, tell My people how I want them to surrender to My Heart. I have taught you that the more you surrender to Me, the greater is your peace, joy, and happiness. I have shown you that the more you allow Me to control your life, to direct your life, the happier you become. I have shown you how fruitless it is for a person to want to control one's own life. A person has a choice: as a finite, weak creature to try to control things himself, or in humility to throw himself into my arms, the arms of One Who is all-loving and all-powerful.

    "I give you the grace to increasingly surrender to My Heart. In doing so you experience My love and power in an extraordinary way. Teach My people these lessons. Tell them to listen to My words. I am Lord and Master, and I desire all to heed My request! I give this message out of My great love for My People!"

    Reflection: We have a tendency to want to control our own destiny. We find it difficult at times--sometimes very difficult--to abandon ourselves to God. We find it difficult to let go and to surrender completely to Christ, to trust Him completely.

    And yet, this is what we must do to achieve our ongoing sanctification. Why should we be afraid to surrender? As Jesus tells us above, who would you rather depend on--a weak, finite self, or the loving and omnipotent God?

    St. Paul tells us:

    So I shall be very happy to make my weaknesses my special boast so that the power of Christ may stay over me, and that is why I am content with my weaknesses, and with insults, hardships, persecutions, and the agonies I go through for Christ's sake. For it is when I am weak that I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

       

     

    Jesus Asks for Our Love

    Jesus: "My beloved companion, tell My people how I long for them to say that they love Me! When they do this, it gives Me great joy. When they tell Me they love Me, I take them close to My Heart. I give them the desire to love Me more and more. I clothe them with fresh graces, increasing their capacity to love God and neighbor. Tell My people to express their love for Me often! I am Lord and Master. Please do as I request!"

    Reflection: What a gracious invitation Jesus extends to us! He tells us how much He wants our expressions of love for Him. Perhaps a person has to admit that his or her spouse, or children, or friends, receive expressions of love from him or her more often than does Jesus. This should not be! Jesus has first command on our love. To love Jesus, to tell Him we love Him--this is our privilege and our duty.

     

     

    Mary as Our Mediatrix

    Mary: "My beloved priest-son, I have given you a profound conviction of how necessary it is to realize I am your motherly mediatrix with Jesus. I have been appointed by the Triune God. Constantly remind all my little ones of this great truth! The more my little ones give themselves to my maternal and Immaculate Heart, the more I bring them to the Heart of Jesus!"

    Reflection: Some mistakenly think that Mary "gets in the way" of their relationship with Jesus. How far from the truth is this erroneous attitude. Mary's role in our salvation has been willed by God. Enough said!

     

     

    I Have Died for All -
    You Must Love All

    Jesus: "My beloved companion, tell My people that all in the human race have been marked with My Precious Blood! I died a brutal death for all! Since all have been touched and redeemed by My Precious Blood, no one can be excluded from your love. My people must love each and every one. They must look beyond the exterior of a person and see the God-image of each. Each one has been created in God's image. Each one has been raised to a new dignity through My redemption.

    "Tell My people to be conscious of all this in their dealings with others—especially those marginalized little ones who are so forgotten and abandoned by many. Each person is precious to My Sacred Heart! Treat everyone accordingly. Be kind, and patient, and, above all, loving toward everyone. In union with Mary, come to My Heart each day and I will give you the light and strength to love your neighbor with a mighty love! I am Lord and Master! Please heed My request. In My great love for you, I give you this message!"

    Reflection: If we are consistently conscious of this teaching of Jesus, it becomes relatively easy to love everyone--even those who, for various reasons, are not particularly attractive to us in the external order of things. Let's remember that Jesus has told us that we must love all--even our enemies: "You have learned how it was said: You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say this to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you..." (Matthew 5:43-44).

     

     

    Come to Our Hearts

    Mary: "My beloved priest-son, how I love you! You give me such great joy because you love to dwell in my Immaculate Heart. In my great love for you, I have obtained this grace for you—that you love to dwell in my Heart! In my Heart, I caress you as a little child. I shower you with expressions of my motherly love. I take you each day to the Heart of Jesus and place you deeply within His Heart. How you love for me to do this, and how I love to do it! Tell all my little ones of the riches you have discovered in my Heart and Jesus' Heart. Tell them to come to Our Hearts in order to experience similar riches. Oh, how I love all my little ones, and how I long for them to come to me!"

    Reflection: Again, we are reminded that we live in the age of the Two Hearts. Great graces are given to those who practice devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. These Two Hearts are given to us as our special refuge during this most critical stage of human history.

     

     

    Live Your Consecration

    Jesus: "My beloved friend, I have taught you what is involved in living out your consecration to My Heart and to My Mother's Heart. I have taught you to renew your consecration each day. I have led you to be aware of your consecration many times during the day. I have taught you to pray frequently during the day for the grace to grow in the life of consecration. I have impressed upon you that your consecration to Our Hearts includes your being aware of how much I and Mary love you! I have given you a great desire to respond to Our love. I have greatly increased your desire to love Me, the Father, the Holy Spirit, Mary, and all your fellow human beings! I have taught you that to grow in your consecration you must surrender more and more to My Heart and My Mother's Heart—that you must give yourself completely to Us. And I have given you a great desire to do so! I have given you a great trust in Our Hearts. This trust is so important in making the act of consecration and living it.

    "My beloved companion, tell My people about these lessons I have taught you. Lead them to consecrate themselves to My Sacred Heart and to Mary's Immaculate Heart. Tell them of the great love, peace, and joy they will experience if they make this consecration and live it! I am Lord and Master. I urgently request that My people listen to My messages and live them! I love My people with a tremendous love, and, out of this love, I give My messages through you and others in these most critical times!"

    Reflection: At Baptism we are consecrated to the Triune God. To consecrate means to make holy. At Baptism Father, Son, and Holy Spirit consecrate us with Their own holiness. This sharing in divine holiness is our life of grace. Through our Baptismal consecration we are called to live a God-like existence according to the teaching and example of Christ.

    In our times, God has given us a most attractive way to live out our baptismal consecration--through consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. As we strive to give ourselves totally to Jesus each day with the assistance of Mary our Mother, Christ continues to lead us to the Father under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Yes, each moment of each day we are called to live our consecration. This is our privilege. This is our responsibility.

     

     

    The Cross Leads to Life

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, tell My people that they must keep the lesson of the cross fresh in their consciousness. Remind them that I am the Christ of the Cross as well as the Christ of the Resurrection. I suffered tremendously on My way to death on the cross. My sacred flesh was so cruelly lacerated by the scourging. My sacred head was so cruelly and mockingly crowned with thorns. I was spat upon and made fun of. Exhausted by terrible suffering, I still had to carry the heavy cross to Calvary. There My sacred hands and feet were mercilessly pierced with nails. Oh, what pain this caused Me!

    "I suffered all this most willingly—out of love for My Father and for all My people! Through My cross, through My suffering, I obtained new life for My people. Through My cruel and brutal death, I achieved Resurrection for Myself and all My people. My suffering was not an end in itself. It was a necessary passageway to obtain the life I came to give.

    "My people must share in My cross, so that they may share more and more in My life. Remind My people, My dear friend, that suffering, when embraced according to My Father's will, leads to greater life here and hereafter. The cross, properly carried, always leads to a greater share in My Resurrection.

    "Tell My people that the more they are united with Me in love, the easier is the carrying of the cross. The more one dwells in Me, the more I help that person to carry the cross. In this way, even the heaviest cross becomes relatively light.

    "Carrying the cross does not mean to be in misery. Carrying one's cross in union with Me always allows a person to remain in peace. The cross does not take away peace and joy. Despite the pain involved, the cross gives increased peace and joy. I am Lord and Master. I eagerly desire that all listen to My words and live them!

    "My people, come each day to My Heart and I will give you the light and strength to carry your cross according to Father's will! I love My people with an overwhelming love, and in this great love I give them this message."

    Reflection: One does not have to reflect on the human condition for very long to be reminded of how much suffering exists in all parts of the world. And yet, the great tragedy concerning human suffering is not that there is so much of it, but rather that so much of it is apparently wasted. In God's plan, suffering is meant to lead to greater life, a greater share in Christ's Resurrection here and hereafter. Suffering does just that, if we relate to it according to God's will. To the extent we don't relate to the cross as God's will would have us, we miss the opportunity for suffering to be growth-promoting.

    Jesus tells us about the cross and its linkage to life in the Gospel: "Then to all he said: 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross everyday and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it'" (Luke 9:23-24).

    And St. Paul tells us: "We are in difficulties on all sides, but never cornered; we see no answer to our problems, but never despair; we have been persecuted, but never deserted; knocked down, but never killed; always, wherever we may be, we carry with us in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus, too, may always be seen in our body" (2 Corinthians 4:8-10).

     

     

    Come to My Heart

    Jesus: "My beloved companion, how I love to hold you against My Heart! Each day, as you dwell in Mary's Heart, she places you against My Heart, and within My Heart. I have given you a great desire to allow your mother to do this. As you dwell within My Heart, I tell you how much I love you! I give you a great desire to love God and neighbor. I increase your trust in Me—something so necessary for your growth in Me. Within My Heart I make you feel so loved, so secure, so strengthened, so much at peace!

    "Tell My people I wish them to come to My Heart each day, in union with Mary, in order to experience similar riches! Oh, how I love for My people to come to My Heart! How I desire to tell them how much I love them! How much I desire to ask for their return of love! I am Lord and Master. I give this message out of My great love for My people, and I request that they listen to My words."

    Reflection: How much Jesus loves us! He shows us His Heart as symbol of this love. He asks us each day, united with Mary our Mother, to come to His Heart. There He inflames our hearts with love for God and neighbor. There He gives us the conviction that we can do whatever He asks us to do--and He gives us the desire to act on this conviction.

      

      

    My Father's Will

    Jesus: "There is so much disunity, hatred, and lack of love which covers the face of the earth today. My Father's will is being seriously violated in all sorts of ways. There are so many murders—including all the ones killed by abortion—thefts, all kinds of violence, all kinds of impure actions, lies, blasphemies, and much more.

    "My Father's will is so much violated because there is so little love. The more one loves God and neighbor, the more My Father's will is being accomplished. Love and conformity to God's will are inseparable.

    "Tell My people, My beloved friend, to come to My Heart each day. The more they come to My Heart, the more I will inflame their hearts with a burning love to do My Father's will. The more they come to My Heart, the more I will teach them concerning My Father's will. The more they come to My Heart, the more I will allow them to realize that happiness consists in doing My Father's will out of love in all things. The more one does My Father's will out of love in union with Me and My Mother, the more I lead them to the bosom of the Father in the Holy Spirit. Safe in My Father's arms, they experience great happiness, peace, and joy.

    "I am Lord and Master. In My great love for My people, I give this message. I desire that all hear My words and live them!"

    Reflection: The more we do the Father's will out of love, the more we are at peace. Peace is the tranquility of order. The more we do God's will--the more we conform to the order He has established--the more we are at peace. Jesus has told us: "It is not those who say to me, 'Lord, Lord,' who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven" (Matthew 7:21).

     

     

    The Present Moment

    Jesus: "My beloved companion, tell My people to concentrate on living in the present moment. Tell them to depend on Me from moment to moment. My people should want to fill each moment with as great a love of God and neighbor as possible! So many of My people fail to concentrate properly on the present.

    "Come to My Heart each day, My people, and I will give you the light and strength to more and more realize the greatness of the present moment. The more you dwell in My Heart, the more content you will be to live in the present. I am Lord and Master. I want to fill you with ever greater peace and joy! But to experience this, you must listen to My words and live them!"

    Reflection: We can't relive the past, although we are meant to profit from it in various ways. We must make plans for our future on this earth, but how much of it can we be sure will be ours? Literally, one's life could end in the coming moment. The saints knew the secret of living in the present moment. That's why they became saints. Let's always remember the words of Jesus: "So do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself" (Matthew 6:34).

     

     

    How Much I Love You!

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, how often I tell you how much I love you! And what great joy and peace I give you when I tell you this! How often I press you closely to My Heart! Daily I draw you ever more deeply within My Heart! There I allow you to experience the overwhelming riches of My Heart. I have shown you, as you dwell within My Heart, the secret of finding amazing peace, joy, and happiness. I have shown you that to dwell within My Heart is to experience a foretaste of Heaven!

    "I allow you to dwell so deeply within My Heart because I have given you the gift of dwelling within My Mother's Heart. The more one dwells within Mary's Immaculate Heart, the more she places that person within My Sacred Heart.

    "My beloved friend, keep telling My people about all the wondrous riches contained in Our Hearts! Keep reminding them that they live in the age of the Two Hearts. Keep telling them that the quickest and most secure path to the highest sanctity is to dwell within Mary's Heart and My Heart!

    "I am Lord and Master. I plead with My people to listen to My words and to live them! I love My people with a tremendous love, and in this love I give them this message."

    Reflection: Jesus again begs us to come and experience the riches contained in His Heart and Mary's Heart. How foolish we are if we fail to accept His invitation! How many pursue the false riches of this world, and refuse the true riches which Jesus offers. We must determine each day, with God's help, not to be included among those who reject the riches which Jesus offers in order to pursue the false promises of happiness which the world holds before us. The world can't give us happiness. Jesus can.

     

     

    Spiritual Childhood

    Mary: "My beloved priest-son, how I love to enfold you in my arms as my little child! Enfolded in my arms in my maternal embrace, I press you against my Immaculate Heart. I draw you within my Heart. There, through my maternal intercession, I clothe you with Jesus' graces. As you dwell in my Heart, I place you ever more deeply within Jesus' Heart and there the Holy Spirit fashions you increasingly in the image of my Son. As you grow in the likeness of Jesus, He takes you ever closer to the Father.

    "Thus, as you grow in the sense of your helplessness without God, the stronger you become in Jesus. Childlike thus becomes strength. The smaller you become in living out spiritual childhood, the taller you stand beside Jesus. Weakness becomes strength, your sense of helplessness becomes spiritual maturity!

    "Tell all my children about the wonders of spiritual childhood! Tell them to come to me and I will school them in its ways. How I love all my children! Oh, how I love to exercise my motherhood toward them all!"

    Reflection: In the Gospel, Jesus speaks emphatically to us about spiritual childhood: "At this time the disciples came to Jesus and said, 'Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?' So he called a little child to him and set the child in front of them. Then he said, 'I tell you solemnly, unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. And so, the one who makes himself as little as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven'" (Matthew 18:1-4).

     

     

    Humility

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, keep telling My people of the great necessity of humility in the spiritual life. My saints, oh, how they realized the importance of this virtue!

    "The world is filled with pride. Pride is the refusal to serve God. It is the refusal to do My Father's will. There is so much sin in today's world because there is so much pride.

    "Tell My people to come to My Heart each day. There I will teach them the lesson of humility. There I will show them the riches which flow from humility! There I will teach them that the more they grow in humility, the more peace and joy and happiness they experience. Yes, let My people come to My Heart and learn these lessons. I am Lord and Master, and I desire that all respond to My request. I love My people with a tremendous love, and in this love I give them this message!"

    Reflection: Humility is an important aspect of the Gospel message. Following are three such examples:

    "Come to me, all you who labor and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light" (Matthew 11:28-30).

    "Anyone who chooses the world for his friend turns himself into God's enemy. Surely you don't think scripture is wrong when it says: the spirit which he sent to live in us wants us for himself alone? But he has been even more generous to us, as scripture says: God opposes the proud but he gives generously to the humble" (James 4:4-6).

    "What do you have that was not given to you? And if it was given, how can you boast as though it were not?" (1 Corinthians 4:7).

     

     

    Depend on Me

    Jesus: "My beloved friend, I have been teaching you how necessary it is to depend upon Me completely. I teach you to keep your focus on Me, to do everything in union with Me, with complete dependence on Me. I give you the light to see how strong you are when you surrender to Me and depend completely on Me. I allow you to share in a special way in My power. I greatly enhance your ability to do so many things in My service.

    "I draw you into My Heart, and as you depend on Me completely, I allow you to draw forth from the riches of My Heart. You become clothed more and more in My likeness. With an ever greater love you give yourself to the service of God and neighbor. I also allow you to realize that your growing dependence on Me is proportionate to your growing dependence on Mary your Mother. The more you live out your consecration to her Heart in giving yourself to her, the more she leads you to live out your consecration to My Heart. This consecration includes and demands an ever greater surrender and dependence upon Me.

    "Tell My people of the joy and peace and security which results from this growing dependence on Me. Tell them I wish them to come each day to My Heart and surrender themselves to Me. Tell them to trust Me, and to depend on Me for all their needs. In My great, burning love for them I will care for them to the extent they trust Me and depend on Me! Oh! how I long to care for all My people! Many refuse My help. To those who accept Me, I give them peace and joy and happiness to the degree they surrender to Me and depend on Me.

    "I am Lord and Master. I desire that My people listen to My words and live them! I love My people with a tremendous love, and in this love I give them this message!"

    Reflection: The above message of Jesus ties in beautifully with what He tells us in the Gospel of John:

    I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me you can do nothing (John 15:5).

    How beautifully Jesus points out our utter dependence on Him! This is not always an easy lesson to live. We have a deep-rooted tendency to try to be our own masters. We have a tendency to want to feel in control so that we might feel secure. Jesus tells us that the only real control and security we have is to allow Him to control our lives! The more we live this truth, the more secure we feel, for we are thus living more within the loving Heart of Jesus!

     

     

    Pray, Pray, Pray!

    Mary: "My beloved priest-son, I have taught you many times the great importance of prayer. I have obtained for you the gift to love to pray—not only during your set periods of prayer, but also during the day in a manner which permits you to perform your daily duties. I have taught you to always be aware that all prayer should be made in union with the Mass. Indeed, the Eucharistic sacrifice is itself the greatest prayer. All other prayers should be consciously united with the Mass which is constantly being offered throughout the world. I have taught you the great importance of praying before the tabernacle. My Son is really present there in the Eucharist—Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Special graces are given to those who pray before the Blessed Sacrament.

    "There is so much to pray for in this most critical era! The Church and the world exist in most difficult times. I desire that all my children pray daily for all the needs of the Church and the world. I ask special prayers for the conversion of sinners.

    "I ask that my children pray the Rosary each day. Very special graces are given to those who do so. During these times of great purification, I promise special protection to those who regularly pray the Rosary. I also promise protection to their loved ones.

    "The more one is united with me, the more I lead them to make their prayer in the Heart of my Son, Jesus. He, in turn, places all prayer in the bosom of the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

    "My dear son, please keep reminding all my little ones of the great importance of prayer for their own needs and the needs of all others! Keep telling them of the great necessity of prayer for growth in love of God and neighbor! I love all my children with the most tender love. I desire that all listen to my words and live them in their daily lives!"

    Reflection: All the great spiritual masters throughout the history of the Church have echoed the words of Mary in stressing the great necessity of prayer for growth in the spiritual life. Prayer is becoming aware in a special way of our relationship with the Triune God. In prayer we open ourselves once again to the awareness of God's great love for us. In prayer, we respond to this great love with our own love, telling God that whatever He wills for us, we want to do with all our hearts.

    All prayer, in one way or another, should be centered in Christ. He is our Mediator with the Father. As our Mother tells us above, we should also include her in our prayers to Christ, Who leads us ever closer to the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

     

     

    Build up My Church

    Jesus: "My beloved friend, remind My people that the Church was born from My Heart, pierced with the soldier's lance on Calvary. From My pierced Heart the Church with her sacraments was born. Two of these sacraments, the Eucharist and Baptism, were symbolized by the Blood and Water which flowed forth from My pierced side.

    "As the Church was born from My pierced Heart, so does the Church's life grow from the graces I continually give her from My pierced Heart—this Heart which is now glorified. "I call all the members of My Church to help build up My Body, the Church, by coming to My pierced Heart. United to My Heart, and dwelling within It, I will give to each one the light and strength to carry out My Father's will in the building up of My Church.

    "Mary is Mother and Model of the Church. As 'Mother of the Church,' she intercedes for all the graces the members need to contribute to the building up of My Church. As Model—as perfect imitator of Me—she shows the children of the Church how all, individually and collectively, are to be increasingly formed in My image. As all come to My Heart for the building up of the Church, let them do so united to the Heart of Mary.

    "My Church is experiencing critical and very difficult times. There are many divisions. There are many false teachings, including some put forth by certain theologians. These false teachings occur because those responsible are not in proper union with My vicar, the Pope, and the Church Magisterium. I want all My children to pray daily for the cure of the many and serious ills of the Church. With increased prayer and sacrifices for the health of the Church, that day will soon come when the Church will be purified and revitalized. When that day comes, the Church will be a light to all nations as never before. When that day comes, the renewed Church will be characterized by the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart. Thus the message of Fatima will have reached fulfillment.

    "I am Lord and Master. I request that all My people listen to My words and respond to them. I love My people with a tremendous love, and in this great love I give them this message!"

    Reflection: In speaking of the Church, St. Paul tells us:

    "Just as a human body, though it is made up of many parts, is a single unit because all these parts, though many, make one body, so it is with Christ. In the one Spirit we were all baptized, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as citizens, and one Spirit was given to us all to drink....

    "Now you together are Christ's body; but each of you is a different part of It. In the Church, God has given the first place to apostles, the second to prophets, the third to teachers; after them, miracles, and after them the gift of healing; helpers, good leaders, those with many languages. Are all of them apostles, or all of them prophets, or all of them teachers? Do they all have the gift of miracles, or all have the gift of healing? Do all speak strange languages, and all interpret them?" (1 Corinthians 12:12-30).

    In His message above, Jesus reminds all of us that we have a responsibility to help in the building up of the Church. St. Paul reminds us that we each have our own role. He names many of these roles and there are many who share in them. For example, there are many teachers of various kinds in the Church. But each teaches according to his or her personal uniqueness. Consequently, we can truly say that each one has a mission, has a role, in the life of the Church which no one else can fulfill. To the extent each of us gives his or her life to Christ, we continue His work upon earth through the visible, tangible humanity each of us possess. To the extent each of us fails to surrender to Jesus, to that extent we refuse Him the opportunity to live through our personal uniqueness. What an awesome privilege has been given to each of us! And what an awesome responsibility!

     

     

    Your Protection Against Satan

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, tell My people to take special means in these present times to guard against the snares of Satan and his followers. He is more active now than at any stage of human history.

    "He is leading many of My people away from the path of the Gospel. Never before has sin blemished the face of the earth as it does today. Satan and his forces are leading many along the path to perdition. Many souls are being lost each day. Satan is helping to create divisions everywhere within My Church, among nations, within nations, within families, within individuals themselves. He does this by leading many to refuse to love God and neighbor. In place of love, he is sowing the seeds of hatred. Divisiveness is caused by a lack of love. The less love, the more divisiveness, the greater lack of unity.

    "As a remedy against the snares of Satan, I call all to the refuge of My Heart and My Mother's Heart. The more you dwell in Our Hearts, the less influence Satan has over you. In Our Hearts, you are more and more clothed with the power to love God and neighbor. The more you love, the safer you are from the snares of Satan. The more you love, the more you help bring about the great era of a renewed Church and a renewed world. This era will be characterized by the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart. In this new era of splendor, love will reign in the hearts of My people as never before!

    "I am Lord and Master! Please listen to My words and carry out My requests. I love My people with a tremendous love and in this love I give them this message!"

    Reflection: In The First Letter of Peter we read: "Be calm but vigilant, because your enemy the devil is prowling round like a roaring lion, looking for someone to eat. Stand up to him, strong in faith and in the knowledge that your brothers all over the world are suffering the same things" (1 Peter 5:8-9).

    In the above message, Jesus tells us that the efforts of Satan and his followers are greater now than ever before. If this is the time of great satanic influences, it is also the time of great grace. As we head for the great new era of peace for the Church and the world, foretold by Our Lady of Fatima, the merciful love of God is being showered upon us in great abundance. In His great love for us, the Father is offering to us the Hearts of Jesus and Mary as the safest refuge against the snares of Satan. Their Hearts, bulwark against the attacks of Satan, are the source of the great graces God is offering in these critical times. Within the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the Holy Spirit deepens the image of Christ within us, strengthening us increasingly for the great battle being waged between the forces of Satan and the followers of Jesus.

     

     

    "What I say to you in the dark, tell in the day-
    light; what you hear in whispers, proclaim
    from the housetops."     (Matthew 10:27)

    The Two Ways

    Jesus: "My beloved friend, remind My people of the seriousness of life. Two paths stretch before them. One way is My way, the way which leads to eternal happiness in Heaven. The other way is the way of Satan, the path which leads to everlasting punishment in Hell.

    "I have laid down My life for each of My people so that they could possess eternal life. I paid a great price to do this! But I did so gladly because of My great love for My Father and all My people. As I was suffering the excrutiating pain of My brutal passion and death, My Sacred Heart beat with overwhelming love for each of you! I knew each of you by name. How I long for each of you to love Me in return, and to follow Me on the path to eternal life! Do not waste the graces which cost Me such a great price. Resolve each day to grow in knowledge and love of Me. Resolve each day to make use of the precious opportunities to love God and neighbor. Resolve each day to become saints! Oh! how much the Church and the world need saints in these the most critical of times!

    "Be in communion with those in Heaven and Purgatory. They have successfully completed their earthly journey. They followed My way, and now eternal life in Heaven is theirs, or will be. Pray that those in Purgatory may soon join the blessed in Heaven. Pray to the blessed in Heaven and the souls in Purgatory that they in turn, may help you in all your needs.

    "I am Lord and Master. Listen to My words! United to My Mother's Heart, come to My Heart each day for the light and strength to follow the path of life I hold before you—the path which leads to eternal bliss.

    "I love My people with an overwhelming love, and in this great love, I give them this message!"

    Reflection: Here are some Scripture passages which speak to our subject at hand!

    "... you will reveal the path of life to me, give me unbounded joy in your presence, and at your right hand everlasting pleasures" (Psalms 16:11).

    "Yahweh, make your ways known to me, teach me your paths. Set me in the way of your truth, and teach me, for you are the God who saves me" (Psalms 25:4-5).

    "Let the wicked man abandon his way, the evil man his thoughts. Let Him turn back to Yahweh who will take pity on him, to our God who is rich in forgiving" (Isaiah 55:7).

    "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).

     

     

    The Indwelling of the Trinity

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, I have given you a great desire to pray to the Divine Persons many times during the day. This can be done in a way which does not interfere with your daily duties. Rather, you have learned that this prayerful contact with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit enhances your ability to work for God and neighbor. Remind My people that when one is in the state of grace, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit dwell within that person in a most special way. We are within those in the state of grace to receive their acts of faith, hope, and love.

    "So many of My people are not aware of the precious treasure which dwells within them! Tell My people to pray for a growing awareness of this marvelous truth! Through the graces which flow from the great love of My pierced Heart, My people are called to develop the greatest intimacy with the Divine Persons. Please, do not waste these graces! I am Lord and Master, and in My great love, I ask that all comply with My request!"

    Reflection: In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells us:

    "If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him" (John 14:23).

    Jesus does not explicitly mention the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in this particular passage. However, we know that, where the Father and Son reside, so also does the Spirit.

    In the above message from Jesus, He speaks to us about this truth of the Indwelling of the Blessed Trinity in the souls of the just. What a tremendous gift! How much do we appreciate this gift? Do we take the means to develop our relationship with the Divine Persons Who dwell within? Many would go all out for the opportunity to receive one of the world's dignitaries into their homes. When we are in the state of grace, the Divine Persons grace us with Their presence. What a tremendous dignity is bestowed upon us! Sadly, many seem to be more enthused about being in the presence of this world's dignitaries than they are regarding the presence of the Triune God!

      

     

    The Power to Love

    Jesus: "My beloved friend, tell My people how much I long to draw all of them to My Mother's Heart and to My Heart! I do this to the extent they allow Me to do so. The more My people come to Our Hearts, the more I empower them to love God and neighbor.

    "I desire that all within the human family be united through deep bonds of love. Many refuse to enter into this union of love with their neighbor. That is why there is so much hatred and division in today's world between nations, within nations, within families, between individuals.

    "There are, however, many of My people who, because of their growing union with Me, are increasing their capacity to love each other. There is being developed a strong core who are helping to spread love around the world. As these people dwell in Mary's Heart and My Heart, they are helping to bring about the great new era of the renewed Church and world. When the purification of Church and world is completed, this great era of peace and love, predicted by My Mother at Fatima, will be characterized by the triumph of her Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart, and love will pervade the earth as never before.

    "I am Lord and Master. Listen to these words I am giving to you. Live these words! As you dwell in Mary's Heart and My Heart, love one another with the deepest love! I love My people with a tremendous love, and in this love I give them this message."

    Reflection: In Christ, God calls us to the most profound union with the Persons of the Trinity and with each other. In The First Letter of John we see the enormity of this calling:

    "We can be sure that we know God only by keeping his commandments. Anyone who says, 'I know him,' and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, refusing to admit the truth. But when anyone does obey what he has said, God's love comes to perfection in him. We can be sure that we are in God only when the one who claims to be living in him is living the same kind of life as Christ lived....

    "Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the dark. But anyone who loves his brother is living in the light and need not be afraid of stumbling; unlike the man who hates his brother and is in the darkness, not knowing where he is going, because it is too dark to see" (1 John 2:3-11).

     

      

    Scripture Nourishes You

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, tell My people that I wish them to read Scripture every day. They should read a passage from the Gospel each day and should read from other sections of the New Testament as time permits. They should also read from the Old Testament as time allows.

    "The writings of Scripture guide you according to the way My Father wants you to live. Since I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, all Scripture centers around Me. Scripture converges on the teaching contained in My life, death, and resurrection."

    "Many of My people say they do not have the time to read from the Bible each day. Do they have time to read newspapers and magazines and to watch TV? Yes! And much of what they read and watch is harmful to their souls! People have time for what they think is important. If a person says he does not have time to read from the Bible daily, what is he actually saying?

    "Come to My Heart each day and ask Me to give you a deeper appreciation of the Bible. Ask Me to give you a deeper love of Scripture. The more you prayerfully read the Bible, the more closely you are united to Me.

    "I am Lord and Master. I desire that all heed My requests. I love My people with an overwhelming love, and in this great love I give them this message!"

    Reflection: In giving us the writings of Scripture, God has given us a great, great gift. What is our attitude toward this great gift? If we rarely take up the Bible and read from it, we have our answer!

    Let's resolve here and now to respond to Jesus' request by reading from the Bible on a daily basis.

      

     

    Mother of Our Christian Virtues

    Mary: "My beloved priest-son, I wish all my children to come to my Immaculate Heart each day. I cooperate with the Holy Spirit in helping all my little ones to grow in the life of the Christian virtues. As my children dwell within my maternal Heart, the Holy Spirit leads them along the path of the virtues. Faith, hope, love, prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance, humility, chastity, and the other virtues take deeper root in the hearts of my children. Above all, the queen of the virtues, love, increasingly rules the lives of my little ones.

    "I am ever at the side of my children to help them grow in the life of the virtues. As I do so, I place them more deeply within the Heart of Jesus, the source of growth in all the virtues. The Holy Spirit, then, desires that my children dwell both within my Heart and Jesus' Heart. Within Our Hearts He clothes you with growth in the life of the virtues. The more you dwell in my Heart, the more ready you are for my placing you deeply within the Heart of Jesus where the Holy Spirit clothes you more and more with the splendor of all the virtues. Thus you grow in the likeness of Christ, and Jesus unites you more closely to the Father."

    Reflection: Since Mary is our spiritual Mother, she has a special God-given role in helping us grow in the life of the Christian virtues. As she tenderly and lovingly leads us in the life of the virtues, she is our great model in how to follow Christ. She lived the Christian virtues perfectly. She is so eager to help us increasingly put on Christ through a more dynamic living of the Christian virtues, especially the virtue of love.

     

     

    Work to Make Your World Better

    Jesus: "My beloved companion, remind My people of their responsibility toward the world. They have a duty to try to make this a better world for all to live in.

    "Today there is much which is wrong with the world. Sin covers the face of the earth. Sins of all kinds blemish the goodness of My Father's creation.

    "However, My Mother and I are increasingly gathering our forces for the battle against Satan and his followers. We are more and more forming Our followers to wage the battle to win back that part of the world dominated by Satan's influence. We are forming our followers in the ways of love. We are forming Our followers with the grace which flows from the bosom of My Father, through My Heart, given in the Holy Spirit, and distributed through the intercession of the maternal and Immaculate Heart of Mary.

    "We are forming Our followers to give themselves in the greatest love for God and neighbor. We are bringing them ever more closely to Our Hearts so that they may draw from the flames of love of My Heart and Mary's Heart! The more My followers dwell in Mary's Heart and My Heart, the more they are enlightened and strengthened to give themselves for the salvation of the world.

    "I am Lord and Master. I ask all to follow Me and My Mother to help us bring forth the great age of love and peace for the world. This age will emerge after the phase of purification has been completed. This age will be characterized by the triumph of Mary's immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart. In this great new age, soon to come, My people will love and praise My Father, with Mary and through Me and in the Holy Spirit, as never before!

    "I love My people with a tremendous, burning love, and in this love I give them this message!"

    Reflection: The world belongs to Christ. St. Paul tells us about this:

    As he is the Beginning, he was first to be born from the dead, so that he should be first in every way, because God wanted all perfection to be found in him, and all things to be reconciled through him and for him, everything in heaven and everything on earth, when he made peace by his death on the cross (Colossians 1:18-20).

    Since the world belongs to Christ, we, who are His followers, must have a great love for the world as created and redeemed by God. We must labor through our participation in the Mass and through all our other prayers and good works to more and more help the Christic image of the world to shine forth in ever greater splendor. This is our duty and our privilege. Out of love for God and neighbor, let's resolve to get on with the task!

     

     

    Follow the Way I Have Given You

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, I have given you this book of messages for the spiritual instruction of My people. I have put before My people the path I wish them to follow. The messages I and My Mother have given all converge upon devotion to Our Hearts, and, in particular, upon consecration to Our Hearts. Ideally, devotion to Our Hearts culminates in the act of consecration to My Heart and My Mother's Heart. Living out this consecration day by day leads to the highest sanctity.

    "My people who make and live out the consecration to Our Hearts are helping to bring about the great new era of peace which the Church and the world will experience after the period of purification has been completed. This period of splendorous peace will be characterized by the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart!"

    Reflection: Jesus and Mary, in Their great love for us, have put before us this book of messages for our spiritual instruction. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary ask for our response of love. They ask us to live the messages. They ask us to incorporate all the messages into the living out of our consecration to Their Hearts. Who would want to refuse Their invitation?

         

       

    Act of Consecration to the Hearts
    of Jesus and Mary

    Lord Jesus, I consecrate myself to Your most Sacred Heart. You reveal Your Heart as symbol of Your love in all its aspects, including Your most special love for me as this unique individual. 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 this unique child of yours. 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, this Jesus Who leads me ever closer to the Father in the Holy Spirit.

        

    Shepherds of Christ

    Jesus has asked that chapters be formed to pray for the needs of priests around the world. The chapters are to pray in a special way for the spiritual success of the priestly newsletter, as well as to aid in the financial support of this publication. The chapters and members are to be called Shepherds of Christ Associates.

    Our Lord has stressed that Shepherds of Christ Associates become an international movement.

       

    Words for Members of
    Shepherds of Christ Associates

    Jesus: "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., the Spiritual Director, as given on July 31, 1994, feast of Saint Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus (The Jesuits).

    End of Tell My People

     

     

    Excerpt from Newsletter 1999 Issue 4

    At the Last Supper, on the night He was betrayed, our Saviour instituted the Eucharistic Sacrifice of His Body and Blood. He did this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross throughout the centuries until He should come again, and so to entrust to His beloved spouse, the Church, a memorial of His death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a paschal banquet in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us (Vatican II, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, No. 17)9

    The Church, therefore, earnestly desires that Christ’s faithful, when present at this mystery of faith, should not be there as strangers or silent spectators. On the contrary, through a proper appreciation of the rites and prayers they should participate knowingly, devoutly, and actively. They should be instructed by God’s word and be refreshed at the table of the Lord’s body; they should give thanks to God; by offering the Immaculate Victim, not only through the hands of the priest, but also with him, they should learn to offer themselves too. Through Christ the Mediator, they should be drawn day by day into ever closer union with God and with each other, so that finally God may be all in all. (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, No. 48)10

    Through the Eucharistic Sacrifice Christ the Lord desired to set before us in a very special way this remarkable union whereby we are united one with another and with our divine Head, a union that no word of praise can ever sufficiently express. For in this sacrifice the sacred ministers act not only as the representative of our Saviour, but as the representative of the whole Mystical Body and of each one of the faithful. Again, in this act of sacrifice, the faithful of Christ, united by the common bond of devotion and prayer, offer to the eternal Father through the hands of the priest, whose prayer alone has made it present on the altar, the Immaculate Lamb, the most acceptable victim of praise and propitiation for the Church’s universal need. Moreover, just as the divine Redeemer, while dying on the Cross, offered Himself to the eternal Father as Head of the whole human race, so now, ‘in this clean oblation’ He not only offers Himself as Head of the Church to His heavenly Father but in Himself His mystical members as well. He embraces them all, yes, even the weaker and more ailing members with the deepest love of His Heart. (Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis AAS. XXXV, 232-233)11

    Notes:

     

    9. The Documents of Vatican II, "Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy", America Press Edition, No. 48.

    10. Pope Pius XII, Encyclical Letter, Mystici Corporis, AAS, XXXV, pp. 232-233.

    11. Pope Paul VI, Encyclical Letter, Mysterium Fidei, St. Paul Books and Media, pp. 5, 25, 26.

     

     

      

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    All scripture quotes are from the New Jerusalem Bible, July 1990, published by Doubleday.
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