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On the way to China
Front of St. Anthony's - our church in China
Front door of St. Anthony's - our church in China
Mural over the altar in China
China, Indiana
China, Indiana
China, Indiana
China, Indiana
Homilies
delivered by Fr. Carter
A month before he was diagnosed with cancer last year.
July 28, 2000
Father Carter's Homily
John 19: 31-37
The pierced Christ
It was the Day of Preparation, and to avoid the bodies’ remaining on the cross during the Sabbath—since that Sabbath was a day of special solemnity—the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken away. Consequently the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with him and then of the other. When they came to Jesus, they saw he was already dead, and so instead of breaking his legs one of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance; and immediately there came out blood and water. This is the evidence of one who saw it—true evidence, and he knows that what he says is true—and he gives it so that you may believe as well. Because all this happened to fulfil the words of scripture:
Not one bone of his will be broken;
and again, in another place scripture says:
They will look to the one
whom they have pierced.
Fr. Carter's homily:
Today's Gospel tells us about
the piercing of Jesus' side with a lance, and that from that pierced side Blood
and water flowed out. So from the pierced side and Heart of Jesus, the
sacramental life of the Church is born upon Calvary: water
symbolizing that fundamental sacrament of the Church—Baptism—and of course
blood symbolizing the heart of the Church's sacramental system, the Eucharist. 
Jesus, in the great love of His Heart, found a miraculous way to remain with us
in such an intimate way through the Eucharist.
I remember reading about a non-Catholic who knew of course of our belief in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. He, of course, did not have the faith. And he said, "If I believed what you Catholics say you believe about the Eucharist, how differently I would act compared to so many of you." "...how differently I would act compared to so many of you," referring to those Catholics who do not have a proper appreciation of the Eucharist. What a great gift it is: that each day for us living here in the United States, practically every Catholic, great, great majority at least have readily available the daily Eucharist as Sacrifice in the Mass, as Sacrament in receiving Jesus at Communion time. In the tabernacle we have the Eucharist, the Eucharistic Jesus ready to be adored by us. How blessed we are! And what is our appreciation of this great gift of the Heart of Christ? We can always grow, can we not, in thanking Him for this great Eucharistic gift?
Pope John Paul II in one of
his letters, I think it was from one of his Holy Thursday letters which he
writes to all priests of the world, has this very moving
story to tell us. I
think some of you have heard it before, but we could repeat it day after day and
still not exhaust its beauty in its meaning relative to both the priesthood and
the Eucharist. He says, "Dear brothers:..." addressing himself to
priests, "Dear brothers: ...you who have put your hand to the plough and do
not turn back, and perhaps
even more those of you who are doubtful of the meaning of your vocation or of
the value of your service: think of the places where people anxiously await a
priest, and where for many years, feeling the lack of such a priest, they do not
cease to hope for his presence. And sometimes it happens that they meet in an
abandoned shrine, and place on the altar a stole which they still keep, and
recite all the prayers of the Eucharistic Liturgy; and then, at the moment that
corresponds to the transubstantiation a deep silence comes down upon them, a
silence sometimes broken by a sob... so ardently do they desire to hear the
words that only the lips of a priest can efficaciously utter... So deeply do
they feel the absence of a priest among them! [and correspondingly of course the
lack of the Eucharist amongst them]... Such places are not lacking in the world.
So if one of you doubts the meaning of his Priesthood, if he thinks it is
‘socially’ fruitless or useless, reflect on this!"1
Note:
1. Pope John Paul II, Holy Thursday Letters to My Brother Priests, edited by James P. Socias, Scepter Publications and Midwestern Theological Forum, pp. 38-40. Brackets as noted by Father Carter.
end of July 28, 2000 homily
August
4, 2000Father Carter's Homily
John 15: 1-8
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that bears no fruit he cuts away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes to make it bear even more. You are clean already, by means of the word that I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself, unless it remains part of the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a branch—and withers; these branches are collected and thrown on the fire and are burnt. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for whatever you please and you will get it. It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much fruit and be my disciples."
Fr. Carter's homily:
I remember reading in one of the writings of John Henry Cardinal Newman long ago, something to this effect, and I think I capture his thought basically correctly. He says many people live as if they are never going to die. They refuse God, map out their own plan of existence, and say no, time and again, to the call of His grace, again, acting as if life upon this earth is to last forever.
I have a Jesuit friend with whom I've lived and taught at Xavier for many years, who is apparently rather close to death with cancer, and one more Jesuit whom I
Me so to bear more fruit for the Kingdom, and without Me you can do nothing," He tells us. Let us focus on this, because our growing union with God in love, our growing union with Christ in love contains everything else. For our union with Jesus in love, is what it should be, everything else falls into place.
And so let us not waste the days of our existence. One of the psalms says something like this, if I remember correctly: even if you live to 70 or 80 years old, your life passes so swiftly. And how true that is—people tell you the older you get, the more quickly time passes. And so let the idea of death be our good companion, let us not be afraid of it, but let the thought of it remind us each day not to waste the opportunities of each day but to use them to come closer to the Sacred Heart, to the Vine. Let us, the branches, become grafted to the Vine ever more closely, for love of Jesus, for love of all those for whom He died the brutal death on the cross.
end of August 4, 2000 homily
August 25, 2000
Father Carter's Homily
John 19:31-37
The pierced Christ
It was the Day of Preparation, and to avoid the bodies’ remaining on the cross during the Sabbath—since that Sabbath was a day of special solemnity—the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken away. Consequently the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with him and then of the other. When they came to Jesus, they saw he was already dead, and so instead of breaking his legs one of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance; and immediately there came out blood and water. This is the evidence of one who saw it—true evidence, and he knows that what he says is true—and he gives it so that you may believe as well. Because all this happened to fulfil the words of scripture:
Not one bone of his will be broken;
and again, in another place scripture says:
They will look to the one
whom they have pierced.Fr. Carter's homily:
Here is an account from Mother Teresa concerning one of the many dying people that she in her lifetime ministered to in the slums of Calcutta: She says, "To die in peace with God is the culmination of any human life. Of those who have died in our houses, I have never seen anyone die in despair or cursing. They have all died
serenely. I took a man I had picked up from the street to our house for the dying in Calcutta. When I was leaving he told me, 'I have lived like an animal on the streets, but I am going to die like an angel. I will die smiling.' He did die smiling because he felt loved and surrounded by care. That is the greatness of the poor. He did die smiling because he felt loved and surrounded by care."
This is such a great desire of the human heart, put there by God: the desire to be loved and to love, and as we well know, our identity rests on the fact that God has loved us overwhelmingly in Christ Jesus. And we have to allow this truth to penetrate our beings more and more. God has allowed this to take place so easily, giving us devotion to the Heart of Christ, which if only we allow it day after day does the symbol of Christ's Heart remind us of God's overwhelming love for us in Jesus, and that in regard to each one of us, this is our sense of security. If this poor man could
be so overwhelmed by the human love given by a human person, human persons, as he was dying, if this could make such a difference in his existence at that last moment so that he died as he said, "like an angel," how much more should the growing realization of the fact that we are loved by Jesus Christ, how much more that should make us serene despite all the crosses we have to endure.
And so each day let us remember this pierced, glorified Heart of Jesus, symbol of His life of love including His most special love for each of us and respond to that love with a love of our own as we love God and our neighbor in the Heart of Christ. What a wonderful existence to know that I am overwhelmingly loved by Christ Jesus.
end of August 25, 2000 homily
September 1, 2000
Father Carter's Homily
Matthew 11: 25-30
The good news revealed to the simple
The Father and the SonAt that time Jesus exclaimed, ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to little children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
The gentle mastery of Christ
‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.’
This is Father Carter delivering a homily
Fr. Carter's homily:
In words from today's Gospel, Jesus tells us, "Shoulder my yoke and learn from
me, for I am gentle and humble in heart." (Mt 11:29) Yes, He bids us, come to His heart to learn all the lessons of the spiritual life. Going to His Heart we certainly learn about love, love of the Father, love of our neighbor in Christ, this magnificent Heart of Jesus which loved His Father even to a brutal death on the Cross for the love of us for our salvation.
We certainly learn about suffering, how to suffer, from the pierced Heart of Jesus. We also certainly learn that even in the midst of deepest suffering, Jesus wants us to have a spiritual joy and a peace, because He says, "My yoke is easy and my burden light if you unite yourself to Me." He certainly teaches us how to be spiritually
sensitive and kind and gentle, and of course – humility. All these and other lessons of the spiritual life, Jesus will teach us if only we come to His Heart.
An outstanding example of one who I'm sure went constantly to the Heart of Christ was one of the greatest apostles of Jesus' Heart, Claude, St. Claude de la Columbière; and in words which I'm about now to read to you from Claude, you see his complete dedication to Christ, his trust in Christ, his love of Christ, you see his sensitivity of heart. Claude tells us:
"You share my burdens,
(He is speaking to Jesus)
1You take them upon yourself.
You listen to me fondly when I tell you my troubles.
You never fail to lighten them.
I find You at all times and in all places.
You never leave me.
I will always find You wherever I go.Old age or misfortune will not cause You to abandon me.
You will never be closer to me than
When all seems to go against me.
No matter how miserable I may be,
You will never cease to be my friend.You tolerate my faults with admirable patience.
You are always ready to come to me, if I so desire it.Jesus, may I die praising you!
May I die loving you!
May I die for the love of you."
Note:
St. Claude de la Columbiere, as published by Apostleship of Prayer, Detroit Province of the Society of Jesus.
end of September 1, 2000 homily
September
8, 2000Father Carter's Homily
Matthew 1:18-23
Joseph adopts Jesus as his son
This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being an upright man and wanting to spare her disgrace, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken through the prophet:
Look! the virgin is with child
and will give birth to a son
whom they will call Immanuel,
a name which means ‘God–is–with–us’.
September 7, 2000 |
Fr. Carter's homily:
We notice that the Church in Her liturgy for the celebration of the birthday, the Birth of Mary, immediately puts her with Jesus:
"She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins." (Mt 1:21) – words from today's Gospel.
And so the Church reminds us that Mary was born for the sake of Jesus. Again, in celebrating her birth, the Church links her very, very directly with Jesus. Yes, this is the reason for her birth: to be Mother of Jesus, and in doing that, everything else about her takes its proper place.
And just as Mary was dedicated entirely to Jesus and to His cause, we in giving her a birthday present of the highest value can only promise her, "Mary, as you were completely dedicated to Jesus, help me be completely dedicated to Him. You were His first and perfect disciple. Teach me to imitate you in the putting on of Christ."
end of September 8, 2000 homily
September 7, 2000
Letters
India
August 4, 2001Dear _____,
"Shepherds of Christ" helps the spirituality of a
priest. We need to be in constant touch with Jesus.
We are invited to live a life of grace. The newsletter
provides spiritual and theological truths to the life
of a priest and christian so that our life becomes fruitful.It gave me immense joy to receive your letter.
Thank you for sending me "Shepherds of Christ" book
by Rev. Edward J. Carter S.J. I acknowledge your letter
dated May 28, 2001. Thank you for sending me the tapes
They are a source of spiritual inspiration and strength.
You are fondly remembered in my Eucharistic celebration
and prayers.With best luck Yours sincerely
Rev. Fr. V. M.
USA
August 14, 2001Dear Friends,
I don't have a great deal to contribute to
Shepherds of Christ Ministries. I'm sending three
dollars ($3.00) and some rosaries I collected;
also a small amount of wire that may be helpful.
The blue glass bead rosary belonged to my sister
who died suddenly last year. I know she would be
pleased for you to get it.I try to make a Holy Hour each day in reparation
to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart
of Mary and for priests. I don't always succeed.Be assured of my appreciation of all I have received
from Shepherds of Christ Ministries. Be assured of a
continued remembrance in my prayers.Gratefully,
Sr. M. C. W.
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