Blue Book 16 is available.

                June 24, 2016 - In the Month of the Sacred Heart

        Today's Readings
 

                Sing: On Jordan's Bank the Baptist Cries

                Sing: A Voice Cries Out in the Wilderness

                R. John the Baptist was a prophet – we
                see the call of Jeremiah whose call was
                to serve God and how he suffered
                delivering what God asked him to deliver.

1 Peter 1: 8-12

You have not seen him, yet you love him; and still without seeing him you believe in him and so are already filled with a joy so glorious that it cannot be described; and you are sure of the goal of your faith, that is, the salvation of your souls.

This salvation was the subject of the search and investigation of the prophets who spoke of the grace you were to receive, searching out the time and circumstances for which the Spirit of Christ, bearing witness in them, was revealing the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow them. It was revealed to them that it was for your sake and not their own that they were acting as servants delivering the message which has now been announced to you by those who preached to you the gospel through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even the angels long to catch a glimpse of these things.

                R. We see the calling of John the Baptist –

                We know Elizabeth was considered sterile
                    and yet God gave her John the Baptist
                    in her old age.

                We can see the barrenness of women in
                    the scriptures – Rachel, Sarah
                    and Hannah.

                We see pregnancy is an act of God by
                    the infertility stories of these
                    bible figures and then at the
                    proper time gave birth.

                If one thing we learn when other
                    women first married at the time
                    of Elizabeth were having babies,
                    Elizabeth became pregnant in
                    her old age, when it was God's time.

                We can see that God controls how
                    these women finally gave birth and
                    how important God's plan is.

                Elizabeth conceived John the Baptist in
                    her old age.
                    John the Baptist leaped in Elizabeth's
                        womb at the Visitation of
                        Mary and Jesus.

                    John the Baptist prepared the
                        way for Jesus –

                    John the Baptist baptized the
                        Lord in the Jordon –

                Jesus came the Light of the World –
                Jesus was to show us He is just –
                Jesus came to free us from our sins.

                We all need a Savior.

                A problem comes when a person
                    sees themselves as never
                    needing anyone – They can
                    even lie and try to prove
                    they didn't –
                    how foolish is this?

                God's servant we see in the life
                    of John the Baptist and the
                    other prophets.

                But prophets suffered as we
                    see in the scriptures

Revelation 16: 6

they spill the blood of the saints and the prophets, and blood is what you have given them to drink; is is what they deserve.'

Isaiah 49: 26

    I shall make your oppressors
       eat their own flesh,
   they will be as drunk on their own blood
       as on new wine.
   And all humanity will know
   that I am Yahweh, your Saviour,
   your redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

Luke 11: 49

And that is why the Wisdom of God said, "I will send them prophets and apostles; some they will slaughter and persecute,

Revelation 18: 24

In her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and all the blood that was ever shed on earth.’

1 Kings 19: 14

He replied, 'I am full of jealous zeal for Yahweh, God Sabaoth, because the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, have torn down your altars and put your prophets to the sword. I am the only one left and now they want to kill me.'

Nehemiah 9: 26

'But they grew disobedient,
    rebelled against you
and thrust your law behind their backs;
they slaughtered your prophets
who had reproved them
to bring them back to you,
and committed monstrous impieties.

Romans 11: 3

Lord, they have put your prophets to the sword, torn down your altars. I am the only one left, and now they want to kill me?

 

2 Kings 6: 32

Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead but, before the man arrived, Elisha had said to the elders, 'Do you see how this son of a murderer has given orders to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door; hold the door against him. Isn't that the sound of his master's step behind him?'

Jeremiah 11: 21

Against the people of Anathoth who are determined to kill me and say to me, 'Do not prophesy in the name of Yahweh or you will die at our hands!'

Matthew 23: 35

saying, "We would never have joined in shedding the blood of the prophets, had we lived in our ancestors' day." So! Your own evidence tells against you! You are the children of those who murdered the prophets!

Jeremiah 2: 30

In vain I have struck your children,
they have not accepted correction;
your own sword has devoured
    your prophets
like a marauding lion.

 

                R. When Jesus was baptized by John in
                    the Jordon –
                    Jesus was introduced by God the Father
                        as His beloved Son –
                    "This is My beloved Son in whom
                        I am well pleased"

                At St. Gertrude's I genuflected
                    before the gold crucifix and I
                    heard clearly
                    "This is My beloved Son in
                        whom I am well pleased."

Matthew 21: 35

But the tenants seized his servants, thrashed one, killed another and stoned a third.

R. On August 20, 1997, He appeared in the most glorious light, transfigured before me at St. Gertrude's Church in Cincinnati. I heard the Father speak and He said:

"This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. LISTEN TO HIM."

Matthew 22: 6

and the rest seized his servants, maltreated them and killed them.

Mark 12: 3-8

But they seized the man, thrashed him and sent him away empty handed. Next he sent another servant to them; him they beat about the head and treated shamefully. And he sent another and him they killed; then a number of others, and they thrashed some and killed the rest. He had still someone left: his beloved son. He sent him to them last of all, thinking, "They will respect my son." But those tenants said to each other, "This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours." So they seized him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard.

Matthew 23: 30-31

saying, "We would never have joined in shedding the blood of the prophets, had we lived in our ancestors' day." So! Your own evidence tells against you! You are the children of those who murdered the prophets!

1 Thessalonians 2: 15

who put the Lord Jesus to death, and the prophets too, and persecuted us also. Their conduct does not please God, and makes them the enemies of the whole human race,

                R. Pope John Paul II made the Baptism
                    of Jesus one of the mysteries
                    of the rosary.

                So along with the Visitation we
                    see there is great importance
                    attached to St. John the Baptist –

                We see in the scriptures the important
                    role that the prophets play in
                    salvation history and
                    how people wanted to shed
                    their blood.

                We see Mary's apparitions at Fatima –
                    she was sent as a messenger
                    from God and they did not
                    listen and 66,000,000
                    people were killed in World War II.

                Mary is the Queen of Peace –

                    Mary has appeared to me for 22 years
                        telling me this message she
                        wants us to spread.
 

                    R. Mary appeared 7 and 1/2 years
                        in Clearwater –

                    Then her image head was destroyed –

                    We think of John the Baptist who
                        lost his head.

                    John was called to prepare the
                        way for Jesus.

                    Mary wanted this message
                        with her apparition in Florida.
 

                R. God calls us to holiness –

                Holiness is in living a virtuous
                    life –

                In baptism we receive a sharing
                    in His life –
                    and the handprint of God
                    is placed on us –
                    we receive the virtues
                    of faith, hope and love.

                But baptism takes away original
                    sin, but the tendencies
                    of the deadly sins remain –

                In yesterday's message I talked about
                    habits –
                    Vices are bad habits
                    Virtues are good habits –

                The more a person is truthful they
                    acquire a habit of being
                    truthful –
                    they have like grooves that are
                        in them that they will
                        quickly tell the truth –

                The more a person is a liar – the
                    more they acquire the habit
                    of not telling the truth and
                    they quickly lie to manipulate events –

                God is Absolute truth –

                When we do not tell the truth more and
                    more and more we move further
                    and further from God –

                Pride is a deadly sin – giving glory
                    to oneself can become a
                    very bad habit if as soon as
                    a person speaks, they are
                    trying to raise above everybody
                    else and not even thinking
                    about anybody but seeking
                    dominance for dominance
                    sake to give glory to themselves
                    and tell everybody they are
                    'smarter' than them –

                This is how pride works – it becomes
                    a habit where a person raises
                    themselves up above everybody –
                    Pride is like a groove too –
                    like truthfulness – we can
                    give into vices, not tell the truth
                    and give selfish glory to ourselves
                    as soon as we open our mouth –
                    Or we can think of ourselves as
                    never receiving any direction or
                    correction and wanting to fight
                    to prove we are right when we
                    need to change –

                God shows us at the beginning of the
                    Bible, Genesis 3 how
                    Adam and Eve sinned and were
                    thrown out of the Garden of Paradise,
                    but He promised a Savior.

                We have tendencies toward the deadly sins –
                    pride, greed, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth.

                We can develop good habits or virtues
                    and we will quickly be virtuous
                    because we practiced
                    being good –
                    being virtuous –
                    staying deeply united to God –

                Or we can develop bad habits –
                    which deaden our spirits –
                    the more we give into the
                    deadly sins – the more dark
                    and miserable we become
                    inside –

                God is light –

                We were created for God.

                The devil will go to hell for all
                    eternity –
                    he is jealous and envious that
                    a baptized man can go to confession
                    and have his sins forgiven
                    and if he is sorry and repents
                    he can go to heaven forever –

                The devil is jealous of this –

                The devil wants souls for hell –
                    as many as he can take to
                    hell –
                    he lies to people to give
                    into the deadly sins –

                He wants them to be prideful and
                    hateful and argumentative –
                    he wants people to be jealous
                    and hateful of their brothers –

                Jesus woke me in the night and I
                    had a message –
                    I didn't write it down –
                    He said if a person wants
                        division with others they
                        work for division and
                        isolation

                    And when they want it and
                        work for it – there is
                        division and isolation
                        because everything they
                        said and did was to bring that –

                If God wants a community and calls
                    people to come and the person
                    is like a bull dog at the fence –
                    who will keep coming back –

                Wanting our way and fighting for it
                    causes much darkness inside
                    of us when it is opposed to
                    God's will. And this darkness
                    causes depression and anger
                    and the other deadly sins
                    grow very well in this
                    dark closet –
                    jealousy, envy, slothfulness
                    etc., because the person doesn't feel
                    good when they have conflict in
                    their soul with God.

                God gives us confession and venial sins
                    can be forgiven at the beginning
                    of Mass – because we are to
                    examine our conscience and see
                    how we went off away from
                    what God was calling us to do.

                Fr. Joe talked about anger one morning
                    at Mass – he said that anger
                    where we just start blaming
                    someone for our own darkness
                    is wrong and we are to pray when
                    we are tempted to do this – to
                    get grace so we don't give
                    into it –

                Satan tempts with the deadly sins –

                Think of this – the sins of men
                    can be under these 7 deadly
                    sins –
                pride, anger, envy, jealousy,
                    slothfulness, lust, gluttony.

                Over all these years - the sins of man
                    can fall under these and they
                    are tendencies in our fallen
                    human nature –
                    so even though we are baptized
                    we want to choose good
                    habits to live by –
                    not give into these tendencies
                        in our wounded human
                        nature –

                When satan tempts a person with
                    anger and they give in – get
                    some sadistical pleasure out
                    of nursing it – holding on to it –
                    blaming others and holding back
                    what is needed for the building
                    of God's Kingdom to force
                    their anger on an innocent
                    other –
                Fr. Joe says many times such a
                    person was abused and is
                    very angry inside because
                    of this –
                    so they hold on –
                    nurse it –
                    force it on others –
                    hold onto what others need to
                        use force for their punishment
                        and revenge –
 

                R. Fr. Carter says in Response in Christ --
 

^SIX    The Christian and Sin (excerpt)

1. The Nature of Sin

What is the nature of sin? Contemporary theology emphasizes that sin is not primarily a violation of a law, but a disruption of personal relationships. Sin is a refusal to love. Serious sin is a radical refusal to love. Venial sin is a partial refusal to love. 

The most obvious personal relationship that is affected by sin is that between God and the sinner. In sinning a man fails, to a lesser or greater degree, to accept God's loving gift of Himself. He fails also to respond with his own gift of love. In serious sin man refuses intimate friendship with God. In venial sin he dulls the ardor of that friendship. Man, in so far as he sins, maintains that he does not want his life to be directed by the loving hand of his heavenly Father. He wants to be a law for himself; he wants to be the one who decides what is good for himself and what is not. Schoonenberg observes: "Especially in the prophets sin is an aversion from and an unfaithfulness to Yahweh himself; hence it is placed in the heart rather than in the wrong deed. We see that aversion, that rebelliousness, that lack of faith which precede the act of transgressing the Law already in the story of the sin in paradise, where it is presented as the wish of possessing autonomously the knowledge of good and evil, of being independently the Law unto oneself. . .”¹ 

As we sin and fail to love God, we close in upon ourselves. We prevent a further growth in openness to transcendence, to God and to His grace. We block off the source of our only real self-development and fulfillment. To the extent that we close in upon ourselves in sin, to that extent we feel the misery of sin. This misery of spiritual "self-enclosedness" is a faint participation in the essential pain of hell. The damned are eternally and completely closed in upon themselves, completely deprived of God and other personal relationships. This, then, is hell – the damned really experiencing no one but themselves. Hell is God's ratification of the choice which the unrepentant serious sinner has himself made. This choice is one of radical self-isolation. 

Sin is primarily a refusal to love God, a refusal to be loved by Him, to be guided by Him. In sinning, man seeks for a false fulfillment, and therefore actually becomes impoverished. The great St. Augustine puts it this way: "For when the soul loves its own power, it slips from the common whole to its own particular part. Had it followed God as its ruler in the universal creature, it could have been most excellently governed by His laws. But in that apostatizing pride, which is called 'the beginning of sin', it sought for something more that the whole; and while it struggled to govern by its own laws, it was thrust into caring for a part, since there is nothing more than the whole; and so by desiring something more, it becomes less. . .”² 

Yes, sin is an act disruptive of one's relationship with God. But sin has other dimensions also. It is a refusal to love other men as we should. For the Christian, sin is an offense against the covenant life of the People of God. In some way the sinfulness of the individual Christian makes itself felt in the corporate body which is the Church. The Christian, in sinning, is failing to love the corporate good of the People of God. He is failing to contribute his share to the progressive maturation in Christ of the total Christian community. The Christian in his sin becomes a burden to the People of God.  

Sin also is an obvious refusal to love others in those instances when one directly harms others through his transgression. So many sins come under this category: theft, all forms of uncharity, social injustice, scandal, detraction. Furthermore, not only does one man often sin against another, but he frequently leads another into sin. In God's plan man is supposed to help his neighbor achieve his temporal and eternal happiness, but how often, even among Christians, the opposite is true. Not to make a positive contribution to the true growth of others is failure enough, but to be a positive hindrance is a far greater evil. 

1. P. Schoonenberg, Man and Sin (Notre Dame, Indiana: Fides, 1965), p. 8.
2. St. Augustine, The Trinity, Bk. 12, Ch. 14 (Washington: Fathers of the Church, 1963), p. 356.
 
   

                R. Yesterday I saw how Christ showed
                    us reconciliation must be done
                    for sin –

                He came and died for our sins –
                    there is that mending of
                    relationships with God and others
                    when we sin –

                Some people think they can habitually
                    offend God and others and they
                    don't even have to recognize
                    their sin –

                This is abuse to not learn to come
                    and admit offenses that one
                    does against another and
                    shove one offense, after
                    another under the rug –

                God shows us that we are to be
                    reconciled with one another
                    and restore the breech
                    made by our sins as much
                    as possible –

                Confession is about responsibility
                    and accountability for our sins.

                Examing our conscience is to happen
                    through the day –

                Fr. Carter examined his conscience for
                    10 minutes, twice a day –

                We are accountable for our actions
                    before God –

                God has commanded us to love Him
                    and love others –

                We can't be unloving and hateful
                    and hold out in anger
                    trying to punish others and
                    not realizing that habit of
                    anger acts like grooves in us
                    that our disposition becomes dark
                    and angry and then blame others
                    for what we have developed in
                    ourselves instead of love and light –

                R. Loving others, working things out,
                    problem solving in love
                    and light become habits –

                If people were taught as children to
                    be angry and never work out
                    anything – no problems –
                    people hollering – it is
                    displeasing and offensive to God
                    when people would rather punish
                    people to keep their dark, angry
                    divided ways as survival tactics
                    when a place is to be serving God,
                    being witnesses of love and
                    growth and bearing fruit for
                    the Kingdom –

                God is light and in Him is no
                    darkness –

                Spreading devotion to the Sacred Heart and
                    Immaculate Heart is spreading love –

                This Movement is to help people
                    consecrate their hearts to
                    Jesus and Mary in love –

                Fr. Carter wrote on my birthday
                    August 8th

                R. Love of God before the Blessed Sacrament
                    means working on our
                    relationships with God and
                    others before we spend
                    time ignoring what we
                    have in anger on our plate
                    before God –

                Love of God means making
                    recompense for our offenses
                    against God and others and
                    being reconciled to them if
                    possible

                Love of God means not harboring
                    age old anger –
                    so if satan comes and gives
                    us an angry thought
                    we feel we are unjustly
                    treated and go and
                    take out revenge
                    on others – this is
                    sinful –

         

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

                Excerpt from Response in Christ by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.

     ... We are one – begging for grace to be outpoured on this sinful world – We tell God we are so sorry for our sins and the sins of this world – I cry in my heart begging to God to hear My prayer –
 

                Excerpt from Response in Christ by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.

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                R. This Movement is about love –
                    about helping us dwell
                    in the Hearts of greatest
                    love, Jesus and Mary.

                Excerpt from Response in Christ by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.

        a)  Christ as Prophet

The historical Christ was the central figure in the long list of God's prophets who have assumed such a vital role throughout the course of salvation history. As Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah and the rest of the Old Testament prophets were the spokesmen for Yahweh, so most perfectly is Christ the spokesman for His Father. A prophet, then, in terms of salvation history is a specially commissioned teacher sent by God to His People. What is the task of the prophet? His role is in some way to reveal God and God's plan for man's salvation and sanctification.

    Christ accomplished the task of the prophet in an eminently perfect manner. Through His unique words of wisdom He made a deep impression upon His hearers: "Jesus had now finished what he wanted to say, and his teaching made a deep impression on the people because he taught them with authority, and not like their own scribes." (Mt 7:28-29). Through this teaching Christ gradually revealed the nature of God. He revealed this nature, not only as It is in Itself, but also as It is in Its relationship to men. Above all, He taught men the love and mercy which their Heavenly Father has for them. He did this in a manner which was radically adapted to their understanding, using the language and mode of speech which was familiar to them. Through the use of the most simple story Christ would often bring out the most sublime truths concerning God. His story of the Prodigal Son as given in St. Luke is an exquisite, graphic presentation of the loving and merciful attitude of God toward the repentant sinner.

    Yet Christ did not reveal the Father and the Father's plan only through word. He also did so through His actions. At times the events of His life were a more eloquent revelation than His words. The crucified Christ, as He hangs in silence upon the cross, speaks volumes to the world concerning the love and mercy of God, the justice of God, and the heinousness of sin. In short, it is the total person of Christ in all His words, actions, gestures – in everything – who reveals the Father to men.¹ This revelation of the Father includes within itself God's desire for man's response. For God does not reveal Himself in Christ to man for any empty purpose. God tells us He loves us, that He gives Himself to us in Christ, and that He wants us to respond with a love of our own as we live the way Our Father wants us to live: in Christ, Who is the way, the truth and the life.

    The Church, the People of God, is destined to continue Christ's prophetic, revelatory office.² The most obvious way she does this is through her official teaching mission. Primarily through the pope and the bishops, the Church has the responsibility of continually presenting the message of Christ in a manner which is relevant to the men of various ages. Yet it is not only the pope and the other bishops who accomplish this teaching mission. The theologian, the priest in the pulpit, the teacher of religion and theology, the mother and father educating their children according to the principles of Christ – all such people offer examples of the various ways in which the members of the People of God contribute to the continuation of Christ's prophetic or teaching office.

         1. Cf. R. Latourelle, The Theology of Revelation (New York: Alba House, 1966), p. 359.
         2. For a contemporary, creative approach to the Church's prophetic office, cf. H. Nouwen, Creative Ministry (New York: Doubleday, 1971), pp. 1-40.
    

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