Excerpt from November 12, 2001

Messenger:  We drove on those trips to China and I
                        watched the seasons change.
                        There was the beautiful leaves of autumn
                        and the little snow covered bridges
                        and barns and roofs. The scenes were
                        so beautiful for a little stream lined
                        the road and you could see it with
                        the snow by the side.

                    Do you know how hard it is to use these words
                        to express things so beautiful as the
                        scenes God painted as we rode to the
                        Eucharistic Center in China, Indiana.

                    I remember the first time Father Carter and I laughed
                        because we were lost in the parking lot
                        of China's St. Anthony's Church. Little did we ever realize God
                        had sent us to Steve and Sheila's that day
                        to find the Eucharistic Center June 22, 1996.
                        Jesus told Father Carter to go to Indiana
                        to Steve and Sheila's farm to look for
                        a site. There were four distinct water
                        droplets on the paten in the form of
                        a cross at Mass. Father said it was for the
                        four centers.

Joseph adopts Jesus as his son

Father Carter's Homily

John 6: 51-58

  August 23, 2000

"'I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.’ Then the Jews started arguing among themselves, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ Jesus replied to them: In all truth I tell you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise that person up on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in that person. As the living Father sent me and I draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me will also draw life from me. This is the bread which has come down from heaven; it is not like the bread our ancestors ate: they are dead, but anyone who eats this bread will live for ever."

Fr. Carter's homily:

    In this beautiful section from John's Gospel, Jesus speaks to us of the Eucharist, that most loving gift of Himself in the Eucharist.

    It is easy for a star athlete to fall into the trap of making his or her sport the center of his or her existence. All one's thoughts and so much of one's activity is given to excelling in that particular sport. Sport can, unless the athlete takes proper precautions, be all consuming. It becomes the center of his or her existence. The same with an actor or an actress. The field is so competitive and the artistic drive within a person in this field of endeavor can take over in a wrong way and make an acting career the all-be of that person's existence, the end for which that person exists, the center of that person's existence. The same with a research scientist, he or she can become so absorbed in scientific research and reaching a solution to scientific inquiry in this or that respect that again, the science becomes the center of that person's existence. And a businessman—business success and the making of more and more money can become the center of that person's existence. Or even another human person, for another person can become the center of that person's existence. These, of course, are all misdirected approaches regarding the center of life, the center of one's life, the center of one's existence. And the center of existence for the committed Christian, it is the Eucharistic Christ. It is the Eucharistic Christ.

end of August 23, 2000 homily

May 1, 2003 message continues

Messenger:         Fr. Carter was very holy. When he said Mass
                                I saw the little transparent goldish white
                                host come up behind the host.

                            We prayed so deeply for the souls of the earth
                                and all our needs in the Shepherds of Christ and
                                especially for vocations to all 7 categories and
                                the Reign of the Sacred Heart and Triumph of
                                Mary's Heart.

                            Father Carter said Mass in China at 12:00 on Friday's
                                and exposed the Eucharist until 3 and
                                ended with Benediction at exactly 3:00.
                                He did it every week. He treasured the
                                time between 12:00 and 3:00 on Friday.
                                Jesus gave us a message to do this and
                                    told us how much He liked this
                                    time between 12:00 — 3:00 on Friday.

May 1, 2003 message continues

Messenger:             I don't know how Father made it those
                            last trips to China, He complained when he
                            carried the blessing book — he said it was
                            so heavy up the long driveway. Other than
                            that he never complained, even when he had
                            to sit a couple of times at Mass, not often.

                                His feet were swollen and his stomach
                            when he tied his cincture got bigger and bigger,
                            but he never ate very much. He pushed hard to
                            write his Newsletter, see the daily writing
                            got out and instruct us about the Movement.

                                Here is a picture on my birthday

August 8, 2000

May 1, 2003 message continues

Messenger:         Here is the message August 9, 1994 he wrote and
                                a message to us all 

Messenger:         Thank you God for this Movement and Fr. Carter

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

February 1, 1998
   

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

        

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

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

     

[He then talks about funds for the Newsletter.]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  

  

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

  

   

  

   

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

   

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

      

        Excerpt from Priestly Newsletter 1998 Issue 1

Suffering

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

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

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

  

Father Carter's talk continues

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

   

2 Corinthians 4: 7-11

         The hardships and hopes of the apostolate

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

    

Father Carter's talk continues

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

      

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

end of Father Carter's talk February 1, 1998

May 1, 2003 message continues

Jesus speaks:        Now My people I write to you — help Me
                                    reach My Spanish speaking priests
                                    and My English speaking priests
                                    with My Easter Message, the
                                    Prayer Manual of the Shepherds of
                                    Christ and the writings in the
                                    Spirituality Handbook with the 
                                    messages I gave to Fr. Carter
                                    on the Spiritual Life for My priests.
                                    Funds are needed to do this during
                                        the Easter season as I desire.

                                    Please help Me to do so.

		English
		Spanish

May 1, 2003 message continues

Messenger:         Oh Jesus please help us with the funds
                                to do what you have asked us to do.

                            Oh Jesus please, we need them for printing
                                and postage and for the bills especially
                                for the Virgin Mary payment.
  

Jesus speaks:     Oh My child — I have given this gift to the
                                world to see My Mother and teach
                                them through these prayers and
                                writings of the Shepherds of Christ
                                through you My two messengers.

                                Oh My people pray as I have instructed.
                                In this time of need you do not listen
                                    to Me.
  

Messenger:         Jesus worked Miracles while on earth.

                            Jesus is God.

                            Jesus appears here for the world to see.
      

Jesus speaks:         I am Jesus, the Son of God.

                                Your life is so short here.

                                Your babies are being murdered.

                                Your babies are being fed poison.

                                The Mysteries of the Rosary are so
                                    important.

Rosary Aves

The Joyful Mysteries

The Annunciation

1. The angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and asked her to be the mother of the Messiah.
2. She said yes. Mary had such faith! She always complied with the Father's will.
3. She was filled with the Holy Spirit and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
4. There was such a bond between Jesus and Mary from the very moment of conception!
5. She felt His life grow within her womb. His Most Sacred Heart was formed in her womb through the Holy Spirit.
6. Jesus wants to be alive in our hearts. We should carry His life with great joy in our being.
7. The Spirit wants to be alive in our very being with the fire of His love.
8. We are children of God. Mary mothers us as she mothered Jesus.
9. It is through Mary that we are led to intense love in His most precious Heart.
10. It is truly the love of these Two Hearts that will lead us to union with God.
    

    

  

The Visitation

1. Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth.
2. When she arrived, the child in Elizabeth's womb leapt for joy at the presence of Mary with Jesus in her womb.
3. Mary was filled with the Holy Spirit and cried out, with a loud voice, the Magnificat.
4. "My soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior."
5. "Because He has regarded the lowliness of His handmaid, from all generations they will call me blessed."
6. God Who is mighty has done great things to us in His name.
7. Jesus is no less present in our hearts after Communion than He was in Mary's womb.
8. Should we not jump up and cry out that we truly receive the one, true God in our hearts?
9. Are we open to the Holy Spirit to fill us with the love of the one, true God and Mary in our hearts?
10. It is through her pure and tender Heart that we will love God more closely.
    

  

   

The Birth of Jesus

1. Joseph was filled with joy to see the splendor of the night, but with sorrow to see Jesus born in such poverty.
2. Not a place for Jesus to lay His head--in a manger at birth, His head on a cross at His death--both bare wood.
3. He showed us the way, in total submission to the will of the Father. He loved us so much that He was born a human, God-made-man.
4. What the birth of this baby, the child Jesus, did to change the world for all time!
5. This is Jesus, the Son of God, come to free the world of its sins.
6. He came as a little baby. He was born of Mary in the little town of Bethlehem.
7. This is how it is with Jesus today: there is no blare of trumpets, no roll of drums. Jesus comes quietly at every Mass.
8. The only blare of trumpets and roll of drums are in our hearts.
9. If you are not aware of Christ truly present in the Eucharist, you miss the big event.
10. Jesus, the same Jesus who was born in Bethlehem, comes to us in our hearts.
    

   

  

The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple

1. Mary took Jesus to the temple to be presented to the Father.
2. Simeon told Mary of the future sufferings of Jesus and Mary.
3. Joseph, in his sorrow at hearing of the sufferings, was comforted by the joy that so many souls would be redeemed.
4. They returned to Galilee to the town of Nazareth and Jesus grew in wisdom and strength.
5. Mary, with such love, beheld her precious Son!
6. She gazed into His precious baby eyes.
7. Simeon predicted that her heart would be pierced with a sword.
8. Her heart would be pierced with a sword for, just as she held His baby body at birth, she would hold his lifeless body under the cross.
9. How well Mary would know the Heart of Jesus! She would ponder all the events of His life in her Heart.
10. It is through her most loving Heart that we grow in fervent love for His Heart.
    

  

  

The Finding of Jesus in the Temple

1. When Jesus was twelve years old, the Holy Family went to Jerusalem for Passover.
2. When it was over Mary and Joseph had traveled a day's journey before they realized Jesus was not with them.
3. With sorrow in their hearts they returned to Jerusalem to find Him.
4. After searching for Him for three days, they found Him in the temple talking to the doctors.
5. The doctors were astounded at His wisdom.
6. He said He had to be about His Father's business.
7. Jesus teaches us today through His word.
8. He went down and was subject to them.
9. Mary, if we ever lose Jesus, lead us back to His tender Heart.
10. Jesus, help us to love Mary more.
    

  

The Sorrowful Mysteries

  

  

The Agony in the Garden

1. Be with Jesus in the garden. Kneel beside Him and feel the pain in His Heart.
2. How tenderly He loves us, that God came to this earth and gave Himself for love of us.
3. Jesus is a Person. He loves each one of us with a most personal love.
4. He is a Divine Person. He loves us more than any human person could love us.
5. Jesus saw before Him all His suffering.
6. He knew the sins of all men from all time.
7. Because of His great love for us and for all men His Heart was in such pain.
8. He knows and loves us more than we know and love ourselves.
9. He is alive this day and He lives in our hearts.
10. He wants us to love Him at every moment and He is forgotten and ignored and He is God.
    

  

  

The Scourging at the Pillar

1. Jesus saw in the garden all the events that would happen and He suffered so He sweat blood.
2. They led Jesus away as a criminal and they tied Him to a pillar.
3. At any moment Jesus could have stopped the men, but. because of His great love for us, He allowed them to whip Him.
4. Jesus did this, allowed them to whip Him, for me.
5. Many times, when others are cruel to us, we feel alone and very hurt.
6. Many times, when we pray and talk about God in the world today, others treat us cruelly.
7. God is almighty, He controls everything. Our every breath and heartbeat depend on God.
8. God first loved us and commands us to love Him.
9. The greatest commandment of all is to love God with our whole heart, our whole soul and our whole mind.
   

  

   

The Crowning with Thorns

1. God commands us to love Him first and to love our neighbors.
2. He suffered for us and paid price for our sins with His blood.
3. Why are men so willful, so full of pride that they ignore the Almighty God who gives them their very breath?
4. Look at Jesus, crowned with thorns, His face covered with blood. He suffered because He loves me.
5. God is offended by the willfulness of men today.
6. Whether we go to heaven or hell depends on whether we love God and love one another.
7. Jesus shows us how to love by giving Himself for love of us.
8. Jesus was crowned with thorns. He was whipped, His body was torn. He suffered this that we would share in His life and go to heaven some day.
9. Our life here will end soon and we will be somewhere forever and ever. Let us love God and love one another that we will share in the great gift He gives us, the gift of eternal life in heaven.
10. Think of the men that whipped Jesus and crowned Him with thorns. Think how cold their hearts were.
    

  

  

The Carrying of the Cross

1. They stood around Jesus and they hollered at Him, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!"
2. They gave to Jesus a heavy cross laden with all the sins from all time and they put it on His shoulder and made Him carry the cross.
3. It was so heavy that Jesus could not carry it any longer. He collapsed and fell to the ground.
4. He got up and tried to move. He saw the tear covered face of His beloved mother.
5. She looked into His tender gentle eyes covered with blood.
6. This was the little baby that she carried and now she saw Him covered with blood and wounds.
7. Mary loves Jesus with the most tender love.
8. It is in going to the heart of Mary that we will learn to love our beloved Jesus.
9. The Holy Spirit is the spouse of Mary.
10. The Holy Spirit works within the heart of Mary to make us more holy, more like our beloved Jesus.
    

 

  

The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus

1. Jesus was nailed to the cross.
2. Jesus hung on the cross for three hours.
3. His mother, in excruciating pain, stood beneath the cross and watched, watched her Son die.
4. Before He died He gave His mother Mary to us as our mother.
5. Our mother, Mary, loves us.
6. She saw Jesus hang and die on the cross. She knows the great love that Jesus has for us.
7. She wants to mother us and help us to love Jesus so much more.
8. As her little children, it is important that we give ourselves to her and her motherly care.
9. If we want peace and joy in our life we must give ourselves to Mary and to her Son.
10. Mary said at Fatima that she wants us to give our hearts to her and to the Heart of her Son. She also said at Fatima that she wants us to pray the rosary every day. If we do this, we will have peace in the world.
    

  

The Glorious Mysteries

  

 

The Resurrection

1. On the third day He arose as he foretold.
2. When Mary Magdalen and some other women arrived at the tomb, they saw that the entry stone had been rolled away.
3. There appeared two men in dazzling garments where Jesus had been laid.
4. The two angels told the women He had risen as He had foretold.
5. He went to Emmaus and recounted for them all the scriptures, from Moses through the prophets, which referred to Him.
6. When He had seated Himself with them to eat, He took bread, pronounced the blessing, then broke the bread and began to distribute it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, whereupon He vanished from their sight.
7. He appeared several times to the apostles over the course of 40 days and gave them the power to baptize and forgive sins.
8. Christ died to bring us to new life.
9. He came that we might have life to the full.
10. The good news is that Jesus has died and that He has risen.
    

  

 

The Ascension

1. They went out of the town of Bethany and Jesus gave them his final blessing.
2. He raised His arms and ascended into heaven.
3. They stood below in utter amazement at what had happened.
4. Think of what it would be like to see Jesus ascend bodily into heaven.
5. Imagine the grief in Mary's and the apostles' hearts to see Him go!
6. Jesus has not left. He remains with us in His divinity and humanity in the Eucharist today.
7. He longs for us to come and receive Him. He waits for us to come and be with Him in front of the tabernacle.
8. He gave Himself on the cross. He gives Himself this very day in the Eucharist.
9. He loved us so much He died for us. He rose to give us new life. As He ascended into heaven he left behind the most precious gift of all--Himself!
10. He said, "For John baptized with water but, in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."
    

  

  

The Descent of the Holy Spirit

1. The apostles were full of fear and locked themselves in the Upper Room.
2. When the Holy Spirit descended on Mary and the apostles, what joy for Mary's Heart!
3. Jesus had promised to send the Holy Spirit. A great wind blew and over their heads appeared parted tongues of fire.
4. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in foreign tongues.
5. What joy for Mary to see the apostles transformed from fear to fearlessness!
6. Oh, Holy Spirit, come to us and fill our hearts with the fire of Your love.
7. Where we are full of fear, make us fearless.
8. We long to have the courage to do all God asks of us. Oh, Holy Spirit, give us this courage.
9. Holy Spirit, lead us to intimate oneness with You, the Father, the Son and Mary.
10. Oh, Holy Spirit, set us on fire for love of God.
    

  

  

The Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven

1. Many years after Jesus' death Mary was taken up to heaven.
2. Imagine her delight to be forever united with her most precious Son.
3. Imagine her joy to be united with the Father and the Holy Spirit. She beheld the face of God.
4. She had lived her whole life in service of Him. Now she was taken up to her eternal dwelling place.
5. Mary has not left. She remains forever with us. She is wherever Jesus is. She is our spiritual mother. She is forever by our side. She loves us. She mothers us with such motherly love!
6. Who are we to have Mary as our mother?
7. Mary watched it all. A young Mary, an older Mary, a sad Mary, a joyful Mary-Mary, the reflection of Christ's life!
8. To know Christ is to see Him through Mary's eyes, to feel Him through Mary's motherhood, to love Him through Mary's Heart.
9. She forever intercedes for her beloved children. She cares for our every need.
10. Heaven is our true home.
    

  

  

The Coronation of Our Lady

1. A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
2. Mary was crowned queen of heaven and earth. Our most beloved mother now reigns in the court of heaven!
3. Imagine her joy to hear the choirs of angelic voices! Imagine her joy to see the angels and saints praising God!
4. She--who carried the baby Jesus in her womb, who held Him in her arms, who walked by His side during the Passion, who stood under His cross, who held His lifeless body and watched Him locked in the tomb--was now crowned Queen of Heaven, forever to reign in the court of heaven with her beloved Son.
5. If we remain faithful to the Lord until death, we too will receive a crown of life. In heaven shall be found every good.
6. Such treasures for us in heaven! The eye has not seen, the ear has not heard the glories that await him who serves the Lord!
7. Heaven is the kingdom of God. We are His heirs.
8. There is no more thirsting for union with God, no more longing for Him. We will experience such intense union with Him forever.
9. We will never want for love again. We will know His love.
10. We will see the face of God and live.

May 1, 2003 message continues

Messenger:              Soon — Soon the Rosary Aves

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