Shepherds of Christ Daily Writing        

July 31, 2016

August 1st Holy Spirit Novena
 Scripture selection is Day 5 Period II.

The Novena Rosary Mysteries 
for August 1st are Glorious.

 

Please pray for Cole.
   

Pray for special intentions.
  

Pray for Dan & Melanie, Mary W, Jimmy,
Fr. Joe, Mary, Catherine, Blue Book 17.

Please pray for funds & grace.

Pray for Father's Day Mailing,
Fr. Joe's new book, a special couple.

    

 Give the gift that Counts.

Blow Out Sale for Reprinting of Blue Book 1, 2 & 3

While Supplies Last

Blue Book 1   -  $4 each plus postage
Blue Book 2   -  $4 each plus postage
Blue Book 3   -  $3 each plus postage

Call 1-888-211-3041 for Doris

       

 

  Blue Book 16 is available.

 

                July 31, 2016 - Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola

22 Years Ago

July 31, 1994

Words of Jesus to Members of
Shepherds of Christ Associates:

"My beloved priest-companion, I intend to use the priestly newsletter, Shepherds of Christ, and the movement, Shepherds of Christ Associates, in a powerful way for the renewal of My Church and the world.

"I will use the newsletter and the chapters of Shepherds of Christ Associates as a powerful instrument for spreading devotion to My Heart and My Mother's Heart.

"I am calling many to become members of Shepherds of Christ Associates. To all of them I will give great blessings. I will use them as instruments to help bring about the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart. I will give great graces to the members of Shepherds of Christ Associates. I will call them to be deeply united to My Heart and to Mary's Heart as I lead them ever closer to My Father in the Holy Spirit."

- Message from Jesus to Father Edward J. Carter, S.J., Founder, as given on July 31, 1994,
feast of Saint Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus (The Jesuits)

 

 

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Ecclesiastes 1: 2; 2: 21-23

Sheer futility, Qoheleth says. Sheer futility: everything is futile!

For here is one who has laboured wisely, skilfully and successfully and must leave what is his own to someone who has not toiled for it at all. This is futile too, and grossly unjust; for what does he gain for all the toil and strain that he has undergone under the son – since his days are full of sorrow, his work is full of stress and even at night he has no peace of mind? This is futile too.

 

Psalm 90: 3-6, 12-14, 17

You bring human beings to the dust, 
by saying, ‘Return, children of Adam.’ 
A thousand years are to you 
like a yesterday which has passed, 
like a watch of the night. 

You flood them with sleep
—in the morning they will be like growing grass: 
in the morning it is blossoming and growing, 
by evening it is withered and dry.

Teach us to count up the days that are ours, 
and we shall come to the heart of wisdom. 
Come back, Yahweh! How long must we wait? 
Take pity on your servants. 

Each morning fill us with your faithful love, 
we shall sing and be happy all our days;

May the sweetness of the Lord be upon us, 
to confirm the work we have done!

 

Colossians 3: 1-5, 9-11

Since you have been raised up to be with Christ, you must look for the things that are above, where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand. Let your thoughts be on things above, not on the things that are on the earth, because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ is revealed-and he is your life-you, too, will be revealed with him in glory. That is why you must kill everything in you that is earthly: sexual vice, impurity, uncontrolled passion, evil desires and especially greed, which is the same thing as worshipping a false god;

and do not lie to each other. You have stripped off your old behaviour with your old self, and you have put on a new self which will progress towards true knowledge the more it is renewed in the image of its Creator; and in that image there is no room for distinction between Greek and Jew, between the circumcised and uncircumcised, or between barbarian and Scythian, slave and free. There is only Christ: he is everything and he is in everything.

 

Luke 12: 15-21

Then he said to them, ‘Watch, and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, for life does not consist in possessions, even when someone has more than he needs.’ 

    Then he told them a parable, ‘There was once a rich man who, having had a good harvest from his land, thought to himself, "What am I to do? I have not enough room to store my crops." Then he said, "This is what I will do: I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and store all my grain and my goods in them, and I will say to my soul: My soul, you have plenty of good things laid by for many years to come; take things easy, eat, drink, have a good time." But God said to him, "Fool! This very night the demand will be made for your soul; and this hoard of yours, whose will it be then?" So it is when someone stores up treasure for himself instead of becoming rich in the sight of God.’

 

 

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

August 5, 2007

INTRODUCTION – (Eccl 1:2, 2:21-23; Col 3:1-5, 9-11; Luke 12:13-21) Today’s first reading comes from one of the wisdom books in the Old Testament. This book is sometimes called by its Hebrew title, Qoheleth. The name means simply “one who convenes an assembly.” The author was probably a teacher or preacher. When the name Qoheleth is translated into the Greek, it comes out Ecclesiastes. It’s a book we hear from only once in the three-year Sunday cycle of readings. And it’s a short passage at that. Most of us are familiar with another passage in Qoheleth that begins: “For everything there is a season...a time for every matter under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die, and so on....” Today’s passage reminds us of the passing nature of all things.

HOMILY – A sign outside of church announced: “Don’t wait for the hearse to take you to church.” Today’s gospel shows us the folly of failing to grow rich spiritually. It’s the only thing that’s will outlast everything else. Billy Graham once pointed out “You never see a hearse pulling a U-Haul trailer.” When the richest man in a town died, the local news reporter asked his pastor, “how much did he leave.” The pastor replied, “All of it!”

    Qoheleth said “All things are vanity.” The Hebrew word used here for “vanity” means something without substance, something like a puff of smoke. If you read the book of Qoheleth, you get the impression that the author enjoyed all the best things life had to offer: pleasure, wealth, power and knowledge. Yet he found nothing of lasting value or satisfaction. The conclusion of this book tells us to enjoy each day as it comes and not become too attached to anything this world has to offer. It was a practical way of looking at life considering Jewish faith at this time in history had not yet come to a faith in the existence of heaven or hell, reward or punishment. They believed in a kind of existence after death, but it was an existence that was neither happy nor unhappy. With whatever information he had, Qoheleth’s conclusion to just enjoy each day as it comes was the best idea anyone could come up with. But Jesus has more to offer. Jesus offers us something that is lasting. Jesus called the rich farmer a “fool” in today’s parable, because the farmer thought he was set for life, he had all he needed. He was wealthy in worldly goods but he did not grow rich in the sight of God. The word “fool” here means someone with limited thinking, someone without good sense! St. Paul gives us the same message in today’s second reading: “Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.”

    The parable Jesus gives us follows a few comments he made about greed and how dangerous it is. Greed certainly is dangerous. It is one of the capital sins and gives rise to things like cheating, stealing, lying, quarreling, fighting and even war. It doesn’t sound as if the farmer did any of these bad things. It sounds as if he made his fortune by good weather and good old fashioned hard work. Is Jesus saying it is sinful to be rich and successful? Jesus seems to be saying it is a sin if that is our main focus in life, if we build our security only on the things this world can give us, if we forget where our blessings come from. It is also a sin to be rich if our hearts are cold to the sufferings of those not so fortunate as we are. I’m not trying to make anyone here feel guilty about not giving a buck to every bum who asks for it. I don’t do that myself and I don’t feel guilty about it, because I know, from past experience, most of the people who got money out of me were just con artists. I tend to let legitimate agencies, which I support, help the really poor. Going back to the rich farmer, he forgot he was not in control. He owned so much he thought he owned the future and he didn’t. He didn’t know he had no future and all his wealth would be left behind. His priorities were wrong, Jesus said. There are two remedies that help us keep our priorities in balance. First of all there is the third commandment, which tells us to keep holy the Lord’s day. Honoring God reminds us of who God is and that we owe God everything we have and everything we are. Secondly there’s a remedy to help us not forget about the needs of others. It’s called tithing.

    Giving away some of our money reminds us it’s not all ours. (10% was required of the Jewish people.) It keeps us aware that what we have has been given to us in the first place. People like to say, “I earned it.” Maybe so, but where did we get the health, the talent, the energy, the education, the opportunities to earn it. That was all given to us. We do have to provide for ourselves and our families and we have to save for that proverbial rainy day, but we can’t become totally selfish either. That’s greed. We have to keep things in balance and loving God and loving our neighbor is part of the balance.

    You’ve heard this story before, but it’s worth repeating. An American tourist, traveling in Europe, paid a visit to a famous wise and holy rabbi who lived there. The American was surprised when he saw how simply the man lived – in a single room with only books and a table and chair. “Rabbi! Where is your furniture?” asked the tourist. “Where is yours?” the rabbi asked. The American tourist answered, “My furniture? I’m only passing through here.” The wise rabbi responded: “So am I!”


 

 

Give the gift that keeps giving.

Blue Book 1 & 2 – $4.00 each plus postage

 

 

Blue Books 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6A, B, C, 3 – 
$3.00 each plus postage

  

Blue Books 4 & 5 –$2.00 each plus postage

Blue Books 14, 15 & 16 –$5.00 each plus postage

   

The more you use the Blue Books and
    become one with Jesus – more
    intimate with Jesus –
    the more your lives are a blessing and
    everything you do in life can help
    to bring down great grace for the world
    because of your being so
    one with Jesus.

 

Guiding Light Homily Book Series

Fr. Joe’s Books


Cycle A –
Steadfast to the Son


Cycle B –
Focusing on the Word


Cycle C –
Feed My Soul

 
Cycle A – 
Inspired to be Genuine

4 for $20 plus postage of $6.95 

 

These books can be given to:

1) All Priests

       2) Good for Music Ministers
       3) Good for DRE's
       4) Good for Deacons
       5) Good for Principals of Schools
       6) Good for Teachers
        7) Good for Mom and Dads

     

 

                Given March 21, 2014

                R. Pray for These Things

                1) Pray for the Pope & hierarchy to help us start prayer chapters.
                2) Pray for Dan, Sally Jo, Richard, Carol, Margaret, Sue,
                    Jack, Jean, Amanda, Matthew, Special intentions.
                3) Pray for the priests, the Church and the world!
                4) Pray for the spread of prayer chapters,
                    also for the spread of priests doing prayer chapters.
                5) Pray for the spread of Blue Books.
                6) People going to Florida and China.
                7) Vocations to all 7 categories.
                8) Pray for spread of Consecration and Rosary.
                9) Pray for pope helping us.
               10) Pray for Jeff - sales & health. Pray for Nick.
               11) Blue Book 17 and cover and all involved.
                    For our Publisher and all involved
               12) All intentions on my list, Jerry's list.
               13) Priests getting Fr. Joe's book.
               14) Pray for Fr. Joe's new book, cover & funds for printing & postage.
               15) Donors and members and their families.
               16) Healing of the Family tree.
               17) Dan & Melanie, Catherine & mom, Gary, Mary Jo,
                    Jim & statues, Fr. Ken, Monsignor, Kerry, Tom & wife.
               18) All who asked us to pray for them.
               19) All we promised to pray for.
               20) Rita, John, Doris, Sheila, Jerry, Regina, Sanja,
                    Betty, Sophie, Lisa, Eileen, Fr. Mike, Louie, Laverne,
                    2 Dons, Mary Ellen, Fr. Joe, all priests helping us,
                    Ed, Jimmy, Steve, a special couple, Rosie & all involved.
               21) 2 babies and moms.
               22) Funds and insurance.
               23) Jerry's garage.
               24) In thanksgiving for gifts, graces, & blessings received.
               25) Spread the Blood of Jesus on all of us here.
               26) Consecrate all hearts.
               27) Cast the devil out of all of us here and all in Movement.

 

 

 The Wedding Rosary 

Crystal Image Rosary

$40 plus shipping

 

Original Image Rosary

8mm glass beads
in a matching gift box

$40 plus shipping

 

  

Give the gift that counts.

                Give to your priests Fr. Carter's Books plus postage.

Tell My People                    $5.00
Response to God's Love    $8.00
Response in Christ              $8.00

      

 

Old Mass Books with the Imprimatur 
$2.00 plus postage


 

New Mass Book with Imprimatur   
$8.00 plus postage


 

New Parents & Children's Book with the Imprimatur
$8.00 plus postage


 

Fr. Joe's Cycle A – Steadfast to the Sun – Starts in Advent
$5.00 plus postage

Give the gift that keeps on giving!

Give to your priest.


Fr. Carter's Priestly Newsletters Book II
$6.00 plus postage

     

Get a canvas print of Mary's image
with a sliver of glass and a little
bottle of Jesus and Mary water.
The glass will be fixed behind the
back of the picture.
$200.00 plus postage

    

 

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Telephone: (toll free) 1-888-211-3041 or (812) 273-8405  
FAX: (812) 273-3182

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