Mary has requested that the daily message be given each day to the world. It is read nightly at the prayer service from her Image Building in Clearwater, Florida, U.S.A. This is according to her request. All attempts will be made to publish this daily message to the world at 11 p.m. Eastern time, U.S.A. We acknowledge that the final authority regarding these messages rests with the Holy See of Rome.

August 15, 2000 - Feast of the Assumption

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.

Messenger: Include Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Center in 6:20 prayers.

Readings from Mass today

Psalm 45:10,11,12,16

Listen, my daughter, attend to my words and hear;
forget your own nation and your ancestral home,
then the king will fall in love with your beauty;
he is your lord, bow down before him.
The daughter of Tyre will court your favour with gifts,
and the richest of peoples

Instead of your ancestors you will have sons;

  Revelation 11:19, 12:1-6, 10

Then the sanctuary of God in heaven opened, and the ark of the covenant could be seen inside it. Then came flashes of lightning, peals of thunder and an earthquake and violent hail.

     Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman, robed with the sun, standing on the moon, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant, and in labour, crying aloud in the pangs of childbirth. Then a second sign appeared in the sky: there was a huge red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and each of the seven heads crowned with a coronet. Its tail swept a third of the stars from the sky and hurled them to the ground, and the dragon stopped in front of the woman as she was at the point of giving birth, so that it could eat the child as soon as it was born. The woman was delivered of a boy, the son who was to rule all the nations with an iron sceptre, and the child was taken straight up to God and to his throne, while the woman escaped into the desert, where God had prepared a place for her to be looked after for twelve hundred and sixty days.

Then I heard a voice shout from heaven, 'Salvation and power and empire forever have been won by our God, and all authority for his Christ,...'

    In fact, however, Christ has been raised from the dead, as the first–fruits of all who have fallen asleep. As it was by one man that death came, so through one man has come the resurrection of the dead. Just as all die in Adam, so in Christ all will be brought to life; but all of them in their proper order: Christ the first–fruits, and next, at his coming, those who belong to him. After that will come the end, when he will hand over the kingdom to God the Father, having abolished every principality, every ruling force and power. For he is to be king until he has made his enemies his footstool, and the last of the enemies to be done away with is death, for he has put all things under his feet. 

        Luke 1: 39-56

The visitation

     Mary set out at that time and went as quickly as she could into the hill country to a town in Judah. She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. Now it happened that as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? Look, the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’

The Magnificat

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.

Mary stayed with her some three months and then went home.

---

Messenger: What does it mean to be a Shepherd of Christ?

It means to be so closely connected to Him in this mission of helping to redeem souls for the Kingdom.

It means no matter how many obstacles are placed before us we never lose that vision at the top of the mountain of Him.

It means being a SHEPHERD OF CHRIST, one who takes seriously his mission to help lead souls to Him.

The days may seem dark, the money may seem scarce, and yet we see with sunlit eyes a Lady Clothed with the Sun, one covered with a golden light that looks as the glowing light of fire. We see God in His glory, and we want Him and want the world to be as He desires, and we want to lead souls to Him. 

Messenger: I remember one of the cold 5ths in Florida in 1998 when we prayed beneath Mary's image and I thought, "Oh, it will be cold for them to pray here," and Jesus spoke and He said, "My child, My Mother is appearing on this building."

We must not lose sight of what a gift this is that God has given to us, and that He is directing us daily in this mission. We must believe He is with us and watching us and helping us to grow in greater holiness and helping us to lead more souls to Him.

It is in oneness this will be accomplished. As we work side by side in the Shepherds of Christ we must want what He wants and follow His plan. Our intention cannot be for self-promotion, but should be after the example of Mary who speaks of herself in the Magnificat. We are the handmaid of the Lord.

God is all powerful. In one Mass that we attend with a true heart of love, He can release such grace for our needs.

We must see our fellow members and really love them and work toward oneness in this mission as brothers and sisters, not sacrificing the things He has asked us to do, but pulling together as a body, especially in intercessory prayer. We want to be united to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass always, praying as a body and trusting in Him.

What does it mean to be a Shepherd of Christ? It means, first of all, growing in greater holiness ourselves, and it means praying as an intercessor for our priests, our Church and our world. It means trying to reach bishops and priest with the priestly newsletter that they will consecrate their dioceses to the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart.

Being a Shepherd of Christ means trying to help with the mission Mary began at Fatima 1917, to get the world to pray and give their hearts to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary and to pray the rosary as she asked at Fatima and help others to know about the rosary and tell them Mary wants them to pray. 

Excerpt from The Spirituality of Fatima and Medjugorje, p. 3

Fatima: The Setting

On October 13, 1917, there were more than 70,000 people gathered in the Cova da Iria in Fatima, Portugal. They had come to observe a miracle which had been foretold by the Blessed Virgin to three young visionaries: Lucia dos Santos, and her two cousins, Jacinta and Francisco Marto. ¹ Shortly after noon, Our Lady appeared to the three visionaries:

As the Lady was about to leave, she pointed to the sun. Lucy excitedly repeated the gesture, and the people looked into the sky. The rain had ceased, the clouds parted, and the sun shone forth, but not in its usual brilliance. Instead, it appeared like a silver disc, pale as the moon, at which all could gaze without straining their eyes. Suddenly, impelled by some mysterious force, the disc began to whirl in the sky, casting off great shafts of multicolored light. Red, green, blue, yellow, violet--the enormous rays shot across the sky at all angles, lighting up the entire countryside for many miles around, but particularly the upturned faces of those 70,000 spellbound people.

After a few moments the wonder stopped, but resumed again a second and a third time--three times in all--within about 12 minutes. It seemed that the whole world was on fire, with the sun spinning at a greater speed each time.

Then a gasp of terror rose from the crowd, for the sun seemed to tear itself from the heavens and come crashing down upon the horrified multitude.... Just when it seemed that the ball of fire would fall upon and destroy them, the miracle ceased, and the sun resumed its normal place in the sky, shining forth as peacefully as ever.

When the people arose from the ground, cries of astonishment were heard on all sides. Their clothes, which had been soaking wet and muddy, now were clean and dry. Many of the sick and crippled had been cured of their afflictions. ²

---

¹For background material on Fatima, I am particularly indebted to Our Lady of Fatima's Peace Plan from Heaven (Rockford: TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., 1983).
² Ibid., pp.7-8.

(End of Excerpt from The Spirituality of Fatima and Medjugorje, p. 3)

Excerpt from The Spirituality of Fatima and Medjugorje, p. 12

Fatima: The Message

May 13, 1917, marks the first appearance of Our Lady of Fatima to Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco. On this occasion, she said to the visionaries:

Do not be afraid, I will do you no harm..... I am from Heaven.

I have come to ask you to come here for six months in succession, on the 13th day, at the same hour. Later on, I will tell you who I am and what I want

Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners?

Pray the Rosary every day in order to obtain peace for the world, and the end of the war. ⁸

---

⁸Frere Michael de la Trinite', The Whole Truth about Fatima (Buffalo: Immaculate Heart Publications, 1989), pp. 112-114 (The words in brackets are my own-added for clarification).

(End of Excerpt from The Spirituality of Fatima and Medjugorje, p. 12)

Messenger: Today is the Feast of the Assumption. Mary was taken into heaven body and soul.

Messenger: Today we are asked as His apostles and/or shepherds in the Shepherds of Christ, to carry on the mission of the Good Shepherd Who once walked the earth.

Today we are asked by Our Lady to spread the message of His love so that men will pray. Click on message, Pentecost June 11, 2000, that tells how to pray at 6:20 pm.

Prayer manuals, Holy Spirit Novena books, rosaries, rosary meditations are available.

Give your priest a priestly newsletter. The priestly newsletter goes to about 45,000 priests in the United States. These are the seeds we plant for Jesus. Help us through your prayers and anyway you can to reach the people, the priests, the nursing homes, prisons, the children.

We need your prayers and your support.

Shepherds of Christ is a Movement given by our Lord to help renew the Church and the world.

Please pray with us.

Excerpt from August 14, 2000, Daily Message

A message from Mary: please help circulate these photos to my children. Please tell them to pray as indicated by my Son at 6:20 p.m. if possible. Prayers given from Jesus are the Shepherds of Christ Prayer Manual and the Holy Spirit Novena.

(End of excerpt)

Please pray with us.

August 15, 2000 - Second Message

Jesus speaks: My dear Sidney Sub-Center and other Sub-Centers:

I write to you to pray for Fr. Willig and all priests that are dying. I write to you to pray for your priests. I write to you because I want you at Sidney to take a special interest in sisters and pray also for the handmaids and servants.

Today is healing day. On September 5, 2000, there will be a special rosary for healing in Florida. Please begin praying for this healing rosary and all who go there and all those united with the prayers that special day. Pray for the grace to be released for healing and for all attending to cooperate with these graces. Please pray for prayer chapters all over the world to be begun, especially on Tuesdays for healing and Sundays for the youth. The prayers of the Good Shepherd are most powerful when recited near Mass times and when recited in churches. I will give special grace to that church and its people when the Shepherd of Christ prayers are prayed in churches. They will help that church to become a little city of light.

Oh, My Sidney group, do not lose heart, pray fervently. I am with you. The devil does not want this Center started. Fight the temptation to not participate. I love you so much. I have called you to help Me here in this area. I love you, Jesus.

Jesus speaks: Dear Sidney area,

Please come for a special healing rosary August 22, 2000, Feast of the Queenship of Mary.

Please tell your friends in that area.

Special healing graces will be granted.

I love you, Jesus.

Jesus speaks: PLEASE COME TO FLORIDA SEPTEMBER 5, 2000, FOR A Special Healing Rosary.

Jesus speaks: Social and prayer service, August 17, 2000, at the Morrow Center with the 6:20 prayers, social begins about 7:20 - 7:30, please come.

Mary's Message from the Rosary of August 27, 1996

Mary speaks: 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.

Song: O Lady of Light, shining so bright, be with us this day, guiding our way, O Lady, O Lady of Light.

Mary speaks: I appear to you as Our Mother of Sorrows.

^{(End of Mary's Message)}

Question for married couples and others in intimate relationships:

Q: How can I spread the Shepherds of Christ Mission? How do I tell about the gift of being a Shepherd of Christ?

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Revised: August 15, 2000
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