Daily Writing
| Shepherds of Christ Daily Writing |
|
April 17, 2009
|
April 18th Holy
Spirit Novena |
The Novena Rosary
Mysteries |
The church needs to have the stucco replaced
and also the community building.
It is about $38,000 to repair it.
People pray in the church 24 hours a day.
We have prayed in there for 11 years.
The archdiocese gave the church to us
for this purpose for a small price.
Can you help us?
Available for $10.00 plus postage
1-888-211-3041
April 16, 2009
| God help me to see through Your eyes. God help me to know with Your Heart. God help me to act as You act in me. |
God is a God of mercy
Acts 5: 17-26
Then the high priest intervened with all his supporters from the party of the Sadducees. Filled with jealousy, they arrested the apostles and had them put in the public gaol.
But at night the angel of the Lord opened the prison gates and said as he led them out, 'Go and take up position in the Temple, and tell the people all about this new Life.' They did as they were told; they went into the Temple at dawn and began to preach.
When the high priest arrived, he and his supporters convened the Sanhedrin-this was the full Senate of Israel-and sent to the gaol for them to be brought. But when the officials arrived at the prison they found they were not inside, so they went back and reported, 'We found the gaol securely locked and the warders on duty at the gates, but when we unlocked the door we found no one inside.' When the captain of the Temple and the chief priests heard this news they wondered what could be happening. Then a man arrived with fresh news. 'Look!' he said, 'the men you imprisoned are in the Temple. They are standing there preaching to the people.'
Even though they were imprisoned,
when released the Apostles
continued to declare:
Jesus died and
He has risen —
God is a God of mercy —
We must discipline ourselves and
not give into the evil in
us — We must recognize the
evil in us, Fr. Carter says,
and live to be more and
more like Jesus —
|
The individual Christian |
 |
is in the state of becoming |
We must seek to serve God
To love God and others —
We receive tremendous grace when
- we pray for it
- when we go to the Eucharist
- when we do adoration
- when we receive the sacraments
- when we suffer according
to God's will to bring us
to a greater life of resurrection
We can control our frustrations —
by not acting out stuffed,
habitual anger
We should always act lovingly —
- loving to God
- loving to others
Doing things to others for an
evil end — IS evil —
We are to be obedient to those
over us
God wants obedience to our
superiors doing God's will —
Jesus showed how He obeyed
His Father to His death
on the cross —
Mary lived to serve God
Mary was the perfect handmaid of
the Lord —
We must control our willful
tendencies that are disobedient
to God's will
God gives us His sacrament of
Greatest love
A Prayer before the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
by Rita RingLet 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
L
ET US LOVE THE TWO HEARTS OF JESUS AND MARYHE GAVE HIMSELF TO US ON THE CROSS. HE GIVES HIMSELF TO US IN THE EUCHARIST.
How great was the act of love, God gave to this world, when He gave Himself and died on the cross. He gives Himself to us this day in the Holy Eucharist.
The greatest commandment is that we must love God with our whole heart, our whole soul, and our whole being. This is a commandment. If we are to enter heaven, we must follow the commandments. They are commands given by God for us to follow.
The greatest act we can do on this earth is an act of loving God. The reason for our existence is to love God. In the sacrament of His greatest love, He gives Himself to us. This is an act of love on His part. We are called to respond by giving ourselves in love to Him.
This is the purpose of the Holy Eucharist: to unite in such oneness with our Holy, Loving God. Our all consuming passion should be that of loving God. How many go to the Eucharist with the sole purpose of giving great love to God? He wants us to love Him. He wants souls to tell Him how much they truly love Him. This is the most intimate act of love when Jesus gives Himself-Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity to man. If it is such an act of love, how are we receiving Him in Communion? We should beg God, in this most intimate union with Him, to help us to love Him with greatest love.
Jesus is a Person. He wants our love. The Holy Spirit wants such intimacy with us. Our Father wants us to love Him. In the Eucharist, we unite with God. In this intimate act of uniting with our beloved God, with Divinity, we must pour out our love to God. We must pour out our heart to the most adorable Heart of Jesus. Jesus is so unjustly treated by many of His beloved souls He loves so much. Let us help make reparation to the Almighty God by loving God with our whole heart, our whole soul, and our whole being in the sacrament of His greatest love. This is the Gift of Himself.
Think of how it is to love someone and give your all for that person, to pour out your heart to him or her and then be treated with coldness and neglect. It hurts our heart so much more when we deeply love someone to be rejected by that person. Jesus loves us with the deepest love. We cannot fully comprehend this love. Let us love Him with the deepest love. Let us love Mary and her Immaculate Heart. Let us love her as the Mother of God. Let us love her as the virgin who bore the Son of God. May we, in the reception of the Eucharist pour out our love to Him, to this adorable Heart. May we pour out our love to His Holy Mother.
Mary said at Fatima that Jesus wants His Heart venerated next to the heart of His Mother. Let us love these two Hearts as we receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Then we are so deeply united with God. We see Their two Hearts surrounded with thorns for the injustices against Their Hearts. Let us help make reparation daily as we receive Him in the Eucharist. This is a special time to help make reparation to Their wounded Hearts.
Let us remember how He poured His love out to us on the cross and how He pours out His love to us now when He gives us Himself in the Eucharist, the Eucharist which contains His Heart of burning love. His Heart was pierced with a lance. Her heart was invisibly pierced with a sword. As the wounds in Their Hearts are deep, so too is Their love so deep.
He does not want "surface love". He wants hearts filled with deep burning love.
end of December 27, 1995
Matthew 28: 20
and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And look, I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.’
Do we say we have seen the risen
Lord —
In our sufferings — do we
suffer properly to lead
to new life
Mary Magdalene gave testimony
We are commissioned in baptism
to spread the Good News —
Jesus rose —
We believe in Him —
We strive to do His will —
We want to identify with Jesus —
We imitate Jesus —
Revelation 5: 9-10
...because you were sacrificed,
and with your blood
you bought people for God
of every race, language, people and nation
and made
a line of kings and priests for God,
to rule the world.
Jesus accepted the cross and freed
us from the power of the
enemy —
The Apostles after being whipped
and threatened were joyful
to suffer for the cause
of Christ —
The Apostles were fearless —
The Apostles were in peace —
I seek to dwell in the house of the
Lord —
Sing: Remember Your Love
John 6: 1-16
After this, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee—or of Tiberias—and a large crowd followed him, impressed by the signs he had done in curing the sick. Jesus climbed the hillside and sat down there with his disciples. The time of the Jewish Passover was near.
Looking up, Jesus saw the crowds approaching and said to Philip, ‘Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?’ He said this only to put Philip to the test; he himself knew exactly what he was going to do. Philip answered, ‘Two hundred denarii would not buy enough to give them a little piece each.’ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said, ‘Here is a small boy with five barley loaves and two fish; but what is that among so many?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Make the people sit down.’ There was plenty of grass there, and as many as five thousand men sat down. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were sitting there; he then did the same with the fish, distributing as much as they wanted. When they had eaten enough he said to the disciples, ‘Pick up the pieces left over, so that nothing is wasted.’ So they picked them up and filled twelve large baskets with scraps left over from the meal of five barley loaves. Seeing the sign that he had done, the people said, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’ Jesus, as he realised they were about to come and take him by force and make him king, fled back to the hills alone.That evening the disciples went down to the shore of the sea
God we are Your family of love —
outpour Your grace —
so we are faithful to You —
Jesus died for us —
Jesus rose from the dead
Romans 4: 25
because we believe in him who raised from the dead our Lord Jesus who was handed over to death for our sins and raised to life for our justification.
Sing: A Song from Jesus
We should say the Morning Offering
every day — we should live
the life of resurrection and
bring the life of resurrection to others —
Every day is Easter!!
If we begin our day good the
rest will follow — give
ourselves to the Father —
We turn each day over to God —
We can be filled with grace
when we go to Mass and Communion —
God dwells deeply in the
graced baptized soul —
We try to live a 'risen life'
We are called to praise Our God —
God has called us out of
darkness into His marvelous
light —
1 Peter 2: 9
But you are a chosen race, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, a people to be a personal possession to sing the praises of God who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
God we love You —
Help us God —
John 6: 16-21
That evening the disciples went down to the shore of the sea and got into a boat to make for Capernaum on the other side of the sea. It was getting dark by now and Jesus had still not rejoined them. The wind was strong, and the sea was getting rough. They had rowed three or four miles when they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming towards the boat. They were afraid, but he said, 'It's me. Don't be afraid.' They were ready to take him into the boat, and immediately it reached the shore at the place they were making for.
Jesus shows His power over
nature walking on the
water —
John 17: 24
Father,
I want those you have given me
to be with me where I am,
so that they may always see my glory
which you have given me
because you loved me
before the foundation of the world.
We may believe that Jesus
appeared first to His
Blessed Mother who shared
in the suffering of Jesus —
Sing: Regina Caeli
$10.00 plus postage
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3rd
Sunday of Easter
April 30, 2006
(Acts 3, 13-15. 17-19; 1 John 2, 1-5a; Luke 24, 35-48) A mother proudly told her pastor: “My teenage son has finally learned one bible verse. It’s Luke 24, verse 41 where Jesus asks his disciples (as we just heard in today’s reading) ‘Do you have anything here to eat?’”
The apostles must have been in great confusion by Easter Sunday night. Jesus’ tomb was empty. Peter and John had seen the empty tomb in the morning, but they had seen nothing else. Some women, who were Jesus’ followers, had talked with an angel who assured them Jesus had risen. Mary Magdalene herself had seen our Lord. Later in the day Jesus appeared to two other disciples, walked and talked with them, broke bread with them and then disappeared. Those same disciples had just arrived at where the apostles were staying and were telling their story when Jesus suddenly appeared to all of them. Surprised, shocked, disbelief, St. Luke says “terrified,” probably embarrassed, too, realizing they had all abandoned him after his arrest. What a mixed bag of emotions they must have been experiencing. No wonder he greets them by saying to them: “Peace be with you.” Jesus dispels their doubts about whether they could believe what they were seeing and assures them they are not seeing a ghost by inviting them to feel him, to know that he is flesh and bone. He even ate a piece of fish, food they themselves had prepared, to prove to them that he was real and that he had really risen. And yet he appeared to be different than before. The wounds of the nails and the spear were still in his hands and feet and side. But when he appeared to Mary Magdalene she didn’t recognize him until he spoke her name. The two disciples didn’t recognize him until he sat down and broke bread with them. There was no doubt it was Jesus, but he was different.
He not only looked different, but he was different in other ways too. He didn’t come knocking on their door in order to get in. He just suddenly stood in their midst. The same thing happened with the others who saw him. When his visit to Mary or the two disciples or the apostles had come to an end, he simply vanished. It was as if he was always with them, and sometimes he allowed them to see him but most of the time they couldn’t.
Human beings have invented all kinds of marvelous things. There are great discoveries in medicine that can add years to people’s lives. There are wonderful inventions that can make life much more comfortable and enjoyable. We can walk on the moon and we can explore the atom. We have powerful weapons that can cause untold destruction. But who has ever discovered how to overcome the power of death which every living thing must eventually succumb to? The resurrection of Jesus is the most fantastic event that this world could ever know. Since the days when human beings lived in caves, all our inventions, all our discoveries, all our power added together cannot begin to equal the glory of Christ’s resurrection that introduced into our world and our history new and eternal life.
The resurrection celebrated not just Jesus’ glory but our own future glory if we will open our minds and hearts to him. Jesus’ resurrection is a preview of God's plans for those who are his children in Christ. Is this one of those “something for nothing” offers? Have you ever received a phone call where someone said to you: “Mrs. Jones, I have good news for you, or I have this free gift for you!” I usually say, thank you, I’m not interested! We always know when someone we don’t know wants to give us something for free, he wants something. Is religion giving us something for free? The answer is “yes” and “no.” The answer is “yes” in the sense that God’s life offered to us in Jesus is not something we have earned or merited. It is a free gift. That’s why it’s called “grace,” the Latin word for gift. At the same time God does want something from us. Eternal life is not automatic. We are not saved without our participation and our cooperation. What does God want? It’s simple. He wants us to give up our sins. He tells us this in all three of today’s readings. In the first reading, St. Peter tells us: “repent, therefore, and be converted.” St. John tells us in the second reading we have to keep God’s commandments. Jesus, when the was talking with the apostles, told them to preach “repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” God is not really asking too much of a sacrifice from us because it’s our sins that keep us from the peace and happiness and joy God wants us to have. Remember it was sin that created problems for the human race in the beginning. God created Adam and Eve to be happy as was symbolized by the Garden of Eden. It was because of their sin that they lost that happiness.
A special help God gives us to keep us close to him, in his grace and in his peace, is the Eucharist. The fact that Christ gives himself to us as food tells us something. It tells us we always need him. A person can’t eat just every now and then. We have to constantly feed this body of ours if we are going to stay healthy and have the energy we need to get through each day. Jesus is telling us we can’t just come to him every now and then. We need his help all the time. So today we come to him again to be taught, to be fed, to be touched by his loving presence. We ask him to keep us filled with the life he has given us and which we hope to share in for all eternity.
Fr. Carter had a dream.
Available for $10.00 plus postage
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(excerpt)From Response in Christ by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.
SIX The Christian and Sin
The Sacrament of Penance
All of us are sinners, and God in His mercy has made special provision for this fact. He has given us the sacrament of penance. It is fitting – in fact necessary as regards serious sin – that the Christian incarnate his sorrow for sin through this sacrament. This is in keeping with the incarnational and sacramental dimensions of our life of grace. These dimensions impel us to exteriorize or incarnate our interior life of grace. The central focus for such exteriorization is the Mass and the sacraments. This exteriorization satisfies both our corporeal and social nature.
As regards this social aspect of grace-life exteriorization, the Christian must always remember that he is a member of the new covenant, he is a member of a community. In sinning he has not only failed to love God, he has also sinned against the Christian community, and against man in general. As he expresses his sorrow for sin to God in the sacrament of penance, the Christian also gives expression to this communal aspect of his Christianity, because the sacraments have a very definite communal dimension. They are the sacraments of a community, the People of God. Through the sacrament of penance, therefore, the Christian expresses his sorrow to God in community and he likewise receives God's forgiveness in community.
Certain contemporary practices which strive to bring forth more fully the communal aspect of the sacrament of penance are to be highly recommended.4 The practices we speak of are those in which there is a preparation for private confession and absolution through communal readings, prayer and examination of conscience.
What about the frequency of receiving the sacrament of penance? Some in the Church today seem to be questioning the value of frequent confessions of devotion, that is, confessions which are not necessary because there is no serious sin. What is the truth of the matter? First of all, it must be admitted that in the early Church this sacrament was administered much less frequently that it is today. Gradually, the practice of frequent confession inserted itself more and more into the life of the Church. It is difficult not to admit that such a practice has taken root under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Frequent confession, although not necessary, has various values. Rahner, in his usual penetrating manner, gives a contemporary description of the value of frequent confession of devotion.5 The new Dutch catechism puts it very simply: "Some Catholics have the habit of receiving the sacrament frequently. If this is the result of anxieties, it is not advisable. But if it is due to a desire to meet Christ as the Lord who forgives, frequent confession can be a very evangelical practice."6
In conclusion, we remind ourselves that the struggle against sin is part of the Christian participation in Christ's death-resurrection. In baptism we die to sin and rise to a newness of life. We are constantly living out one aspect of our baptism, then, through our continual resistance to the forces of sin. As with all elements of our Christian existence, such an effort requires motivation. We can use a variety of motives, of course, but all of them ultimately will be centered in Christ. To grow in the realization of what sin has cost Christ is to grow in the determination to avoid sin. To permeate such determination with love of Christ is to respond to Him who has loved us first: "The life I now live in this body I live in faith: faith in the Son of God who loved me and who sacrificed himself for my sake." (Ga 2:20).
______
4. One description of such services is given by A. M. Roguet, O.P., "Les celebrations communautaires de la penitence" in Vie spirituelle, 116 (1967), pp. 188-202.
5. Cf. Karl Rahner, Theological Investigations, Vol. III (Baltimore: Helicon, 1967), pp. 177-189.
6. A New Catechism (New York: Herder & Herder, 1967), p. 459.
Betty is a handmaid who has prayed in the
China Church for 11 years. To get from her
house to the church she uses a walker and
must go over a creek and a little bridge.
We wanted a little place she could rest
by the Church. We need about $1,000 to
make this happen. Can you help us?
We are trying to get
Response to God's Love
and the Mass Book out.
Anybody who wants to help us
with a donation to get these 2 books
out in the Priestly/hierarchy mailing —
Please call Kathleen 1-888-211-3041
July 31, 1994
Words of Jesus to Members of
Shepherds of Christ Associates:"My beloved priest-companion, I intend to use the priestly newsletter, Shepherds of Christ, and the movement, Shepherds of Christ Associates, in a powerful way for the renewal of My Church and the world.
"I will use the newsletter and the chapters of Shepherds of Christ Associates as a powerful instrument for spreading devotion to My Heart and My Mother's Heart.
"I am calling many to become members of Shepherds of Christ Associates. To all of them I will give great blessings. I will use them as instruments to help bring about the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart. I will give great graces to the members of Shepherds of Christ Associates. I will call them to be deeply united to My Heart and to Mary's Heart as I lead them ever closer to My Father in the Holy Spirit."
- Message from Jesus to Father Edward J. Carter, S.J., Founder, as given on July 31, 1994,
feast of Saint Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus (The Jesuits)
The China Church is over 140 years old
and we pray in there 24 hours a day.
It needs stucco and so does
the community building.
Can you please help us?
Call Kathleen 1-888-211-3041
Likewise the priest house
is 150 years old.
Jesus told us to repair it
which we have been doing.
We need $13,000.00 for this work.
You can help put the Blue Book V
in the hands of 1,000 people
we need $1,200 postage for this
It is ready to go
Call Kathleen
1-888-211-3041
You can help put Fr. Joe's homily
book in the hands of
1,000 priests — it costs $1,100
This can help 1,000 parish priests
talk about Covenant for Lent
Please help us
It is ready to go
Call Kathleen 1-888-211-3041
Call Kathleen to Order any of the items below
1-888-211-3041
