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
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
Do you ever really feel like being bad? Even
though you know how you will feel afterwards? Even though you know how
much trouble you can get into? Even though you know how stupid it might
be? We all feel that way from time to time. We call it temptation.
Like Adam and Eve, we like to think
it is someone else’s fault that we are tempted – Adam blamed Eve; Eve
blamed the devil. It is often true someone else might deliberately, or
even inadvertently, get us going in the wrong direction. But the desire
to do wrong really comes out of our own selves – no one makes us do
wrong. No one could really tempt us if we didn’t let them, if there
wasn’t something inside of us that wanted to go along with what the
tempter suggests. This feeling we all experience at times to really be
bad seems to be built into our human nature. It is one of the leftover
effects we suffer from original sin. If we accept the fact we are this
way at times, and if we add to this the fact there is a hostile power of
evil roaming through the world called the devil, is it any wonder the
world is so troubled?
Our theme today, though, is not to
convince us there is evil in the world – that’s obvious. It is that
Christ has overcome the power of evil. In the first reading, God is
saying there will be a constant struggle between the powers of evil and
the human race. He says to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you
and the woman, between your offspring and hers.” He adds that evil will
be defeated when he tells the serpent, “He (the offspring of Eve) will
strike at your head, while you (the serpent) strike at his heel.” The
human race will be wounded by evil – as if one’s heel is struck a blow,
but the powers of evil will be fatally wounded because their head will
be struck a blow. This image is often portrayed in the statue of Mary
who is standing on a serpent or has the head of a serpent under her
heel. It is her son who has struck a fatal blow against the powers of
evil. This is seen in the gospel where Jesus was casting out demons.
There is only one way evil can
triumph and that is when we deliberately blind ourselves to God’s saving
work - this is what Jesus calls the sin against the Holy Spirit. The
Jewish leaders refused to see the power of God at work in Jesus and said
his power came from the devil. God can forgive anything except a refusal
to be open to God. Such refusal in itself closes out God’s love and
grace. It creates a wall God’s mercy cannot penetrate. This is why it is
an eternal sin.
For those who are open to God, those
who do his will, they will be closer to Jesus than if they were blood
relatives. “Whoever does the will of God is brother and sister and
mother to me.” Even when evil sometimes has its way with us, Christ has
destroyed its power to fully do us in. With Christ we can always get the
upper hand.
