C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\My Web\template.htm

R. God is order –

                If we think about the human body, the
                    eye, ear, teeth, the insides –
                    There is a purpose for what
                    operates in the body –
                    A master plan for us to move –
                    to live in the physical existence –

                There is a Plan in the Divine God
                    who created us and gave us
                    a soul –

                Adam and Eve disobeyed God's law given
                    to them –
                    With this destruction, disorder,
                    came into the world.

God has a Plan –

God's watchful eye sees what
men are doing!!

God created us in love with a
purpose.

From the Priestly Newsletter

Cardinal Newman said

                    "... everyone who breathes, high and low,
                    educated and ignorant, young and old, man and woman,
                    has a mission, has a work. We are not sent
                    into this world for nothing; we are not born at
                    random. . . God sees every one of us;
                    He creates every soul, He lodges it in
                    a body, one by one, for a purpose. He needs,
                    He deigns to need, every one of us.
                    He has an end for each of us... we are
                    placed in our different ranks and stations, not to
                    get what we can out of them for ourselves, but to
                    labor in them for Him, as He rejoiced to do His work,
                    we must rejoice in ours also."
                                    (Discourses addressed to mixed congregations)

                R. God sent His only begotten Son Jesus
                    who paid for our sins –
                    Jesus rose on the 3rd day –
                    Through His pierced Heart
                        the Church was born –

                Water and Blood flowed from His Heart –
                    Water for Baptism
                    Blood for the Eucharist

Joyful Mysteries

The Annunciation

(1) Luke 1: 26-38

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, you who enjoy God’s favour! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Look! You are to conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I have no knowledge of man?’ The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. And I tell you this too: your cousin Elizabeth also, in her old age, has conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ Mary said, ‘You see before you the Lord’s servant, let it happen to me as you have said.’ And the angel left her.

(2) Mary was conceived without sin –

(3) Mary is the Mother of Jesus –

(4) Mary is our spiritual Mother –

(5) Mary shows us her Immaculate Heart –

(6) Mary wants us to go to her Immaculate Heart –

(7) From the Priestly Newsletter Book III by Fr. Edward Carter, S.J.

The Holy Spirit And Mary

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(8) From Tell My People by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.

The Holy Spirit

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

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

Prayer: Come, Holy Spirit, fill us with your gifts of wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord. As we dwell in the Heart of Mary, Your spouse, fashion us more and more according to the Heart of Jesus. end of excerpt

                (9) God calls us to live more and more the
                    life of being a son of God –
                    God gives us baptism and the
                    other sacraments.

                (10) God gives us rules to obey – God
                    calls religious to follow their vows –
                    We are to control ourselves –

The Ten Commandments

1. I, the Lord, am your God. You shall not have other gods besides me.
  2. You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain.
  3. Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.
  4. Honor your father and your mother.
  5. You shall not kill.
  6. You shall not commit adultery.
  7. You shall not steal.
  8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
  9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.
  10. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.

The Visitation

(1) The Magnificat

Luke 1: 46-55

And Mary said:

My soul proclaims
    the greatness of the Lord
and my spirit rejoices
    in God my Saviour;
because he has looked upon
    the humiliation of his servant.
Yes, from now onwards
    all generations will call me blessed,
for the Almighty
    has done great things for me.
Holy is his name,
and his faithful love extends age after age
    to those who fear him.
He has used the power of his arm,
he has routed the arrogant of heart.
He has pulled down princes
    from their thrones
        and raised high the lowly.
He has filled the starving with good things,
    sent the rich away empty.
He has come to the help
    of Israel his servant,
        mindful of his faithful love
—according to the promise
    he made to our ancestors—
of his mercy to Abraham
    and to his descendants for ever.

                (2) God has made us for Himself!
                    We must put God first before
                    we make decisions, choices
                    etc.

(3) A Prayer for Intimacy with the Lamb, the Bridegroom of the Soul

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

(4) 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

(5) God commands us to love.

Matthew 22: 36-40

‘Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’ Jesus said to him, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets too.’

                (6) We are to obey God and control
                    our will to not give into
                    inordinate attachments.

We seek the will of God and
live in His will in love.

                (7) Sin is being unloving – God
                    calls us to love our neighbors
                    as ourselves –

                (8) We have tendencies toward the deadly
                    sins, even though we are baptized,
                    these are DEADLY SINS –
                    We have a wounded human nature –
                    We cannot have holiness and live
                    giving into these deadly sins
                    deliberately as a way of life.

                (9) Jesus gives us a sharing in His life
                    in baptism – He opens the
                    supernatural life to us –
                    God created us in His image and likeness.
                    We are to do God's will.

Galatians 2: 19-20

...I have been crucified with Christ and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but Christ living in me.

                 (10) He must increase, we must decrease.
                    God calls us to live a virtuous
                    life.
                    In baptism we receive the supernatural
                    virtues of faith, hope and love –
                    These are theological virtues –
                    We must go to God to receive an
                    increase of these virtues on a supernatural
                    level –

The Birth of Jesus

                (1) Dear God – help me to recognize
                    disordered, bad habits in my
                    behavior actions –
                    God calls us to love our neighbor
                    as ourselves –

                    How do we use other creatures
                        that are evil in committing
                        deadly sins –
                    These disordered, compulsive behavior
                    patterns hinder holiness of the
                    soul.

                    God give me the grace I need most
                    to admit the evil in disordered
                    habitual behaviors that are
                    sinful toward my brothers.

                (2) Sin brings spiritual disorder.
                    The soul is to be growing in
                        greater holiness in union with
                        one's body –

                    The body in doing habits of sin
                        brings disorder between
                        body and soul –
                    The soul is to seek sanctity –
                        to be holy –
                    The soul is to seek God –
                        keep its focus on God first.
                    We are to be focused on being
                        a faithful son of God.
                    Sin is slavery

                    Think of how many people are lost
                        because of one mortal sin
                        that one fails to admit and
                        hides –

Son ship –

                    Jesus was born in a stable in Bethlehem,
                        showing us how we are the
                        children of God –

We are to meditate on Christ's life –

Mary is our spiritual Mother –

God is our Father –

(3) We are sons of God.

                    We are to be formed more and more
                        in that image of God
                        through the power of the
                        Holy Spirit.

                (4) God is so good to us. Despite the sin
                    of disobedience of Adam and Eve – God
                        wants us to be with Him forever
                        in eternal salvation.

Jesus is our Savior.

(5) Sing: A Song from Jesus

R. Think of Adam and Eve's sin
of disobedience before God –

Shepherds of Christ Priestly Newsletter 2000 Issue 3

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

Pope John Paul II instructs us: "The Church, as a reconciled and reconciling community, cannot forget that at the source of her gift and mission of reconciliation is the initiative, full of compassionate love and mercy, of that God who is love (see 1 John 4:8) and who out of love created human beings (see Wisdom 11:23-26; Genesis 1:27: Psalms 8:4-8)…He created them so that they might live in friendship with Him and in communion with one another.

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

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

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

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

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

                (6) Sinning in mortal sin is
                    spiritual death – Many men
                    refuse to admit their sins and
                    offenses against God because of
                    pride, they can lie to themselves
                    about their sin and may not seek
                    forgiveness or mercy from God.

(7) Mary's Message - from the Rosary of August 27, 1996

Mary: I stood beneath the cross of my Son, and my Heart was in such pain for I saw Him before my eyes. I saw Him covered with blood. I saw Him die. My Heart, my children, my Heart to watch my Son, but my Heart, my Heart, how I suffered for my little children of the world that give in to this world and give up the love of my Son. O my little children of light, I give you this message. Carry this light into the darkness for your Mother Mary, for I stood beneath the cross and I cried. I cried for the little ones. I cried for the young ones, the ones that do not care and will lose their souls. How do I make you see for you will not listen to me? What can I do? I come. I appear. I beg. I plead. I give you these gifts from my Son, and you reject me. I do not deliver messages very often anymore for I have been ignored. The message is the same. You do not read the messages I have given to you. Please help me. Help the little children. I appear. I appear. I appear, and I am ignored. I stood beneath the cross, and I cried. I cried, and my Heart was in such anguish for my little children, for I am searching for them this day as I searched for the Child Jesus. Please, please help me. I cannot hold back the hand of my Son any longer. I am Mary, your Mother. I ask you to help my children. You are my children of light. end of Mary's Message

(8) From St. Ignatius of Loyola

                    What have I done for Christ?
                    What am I now doing for Christ?
                    What ought I to do for Christ?

                (9) To be one with God we need a pure,
                    truthful, loving heart. An honest
                    heart, a humble heart –

                (10) We see Christ comes as a baby –
                    Pride puffs a man up –
                    We need to have sorrow for
                    wrong doing –
                    Offenses against God –
                    Offenses against other creatures
                        we have sinned against
                        deliberately in hatred
                        and unforgiveness –

We must go to God and ask in
humility to be forgiven for our sins –

We are to forgive others and pray for
the grace to do this –

We are to give love to God and others –

Jesus shows us love –

R. Sin is ugliness –

We offend God, who loves us so much,
when we sin –

In sin we set ourselves before God.

                    We are to be honest about our
                        actions and motives that
                        are hateful in our heart,
                        unloving motives –
                        prideful motives –
                        jealous motives –
                        UGLY motives –
                        DARK motives –

Littleness, humbleness –

Christ came a baby – in poverty –
in love!

Sin is foulness – ugliness –

                    Sin sets oneself in opposition
                        to God –
                        How could a person feel
                        anything but black,
                        dead inside in mortal sin?

                (1) God is a Supreme Being.
                    God is Majesty
                    God is Divine
                    God created us in His image and likeness –
                    We are weak –
                    God is all powerful

May 13, 1993

Jesus: My dear child, if you stay close to Me, then I live in you and you live in Me. I am He Who created you and I love you with such an intensity that you will never know. My words are your truth. You must abide in My heart in all things. There is no room for doubt. My ways are steadfast, direct, and without error.

You must stay rooted in Me to ward off the power of the evil one. His grip is paralyzing and crippling. His power is stronger every day.

When you live in Me, I am in your heart and he has no power over Me. I am your God. I am your true lover. I want to protect you. I want to guard you from this force. Stay rooted firmly in Me and he will have no power.

I am He Who comforts you. My hand is upon you. Hold tight to Me, My child. My eyes are fixed right on you. You are My most precious child. I love you as no other can. My arms are about you. My tenderness surrounds you. My love is in your heart. You go not alone. I walk with you.

I share every aspect of your life with you. Cling to Me, feel My presence. It is warm and secure within your chest. There is no room for fear, for I cast out fear and bring you comfort and joy. end of May 13, 1993

                (4) There are no deadly sins in heaven –
                    We are to prepare by living
                    holy and sanctified lives
                    according to God's law.

                (5) God is love –
                    He gifts us abundantly –
                    Love is giving without expecting
                        "stuff" back for ourselves!

All 5ths - *Our Lady of Clearwater Florida*
July 5, 2000	September 5, 2000	October 5, 2000	November 5, 2000	December 5, 2000