4:00 a.m. - Mass
4:37 a.m. -
Response to God's Love chapter 2
5:35 a.m. -
Morning Offering & Prayer for Union
5:40 a.m. -
Mary's Message
5:46 a.m. -
Songs
6:20 a.m. -
6:20 prayers led by Father Carter
Holy Spirit Novena
Shepherds of Christ Prayer Manual
Rosary
7:24 a.m. -
Blue Book Reading from July 12, 2003
8:49 a.m. -
Handbook read by Rita Ring
10:04 a.m. -
Children's Joyful Rosary - July 15, 1995
10:56 a.m. -
Songs
11:18 a.m. -
Morning Offering & Prayer for Union
11:24 a.m. -
Rosary of Light - October 24, 2002
12:03 p.m. -
Songs & Messages October 1, 1995
1:07 p.m. -
Nursing Home #7
1:44 p.m. -
Mary's Message
1:51 p.m. -
Morning Offering & Prayers
2:02 p.m. -
Newsletter 1999 Issue 4 (God With Us)
3:30 p.m. -
Songs
3:58 p.m. -
A Prayer before the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
4:00 p.m.
- Mass
4:37 p.m. -
Rosary of Light - July 10, 2003 #3
5:12 p.m. -
Mary's Message
5:18 p.m. -
Nursing Home #15
5:56 p.m. -
Songs
6:20 p.m.
- 6:20 prayers led by Father Carter
Holy Spirit Novena
Shepherds of Christ Prayer Manual
7:24 p.m. -
Live Rosary May 13, 1997
9:30 p.m. -
Nursing Home January 5, 2003 feast of the Epiphany
10:02 p.m. -
Mary by Night January 5, 2003
11:04 p.m. -
Tell My People read by Father Carter
12:35 a.m. -
Children praying the Shepherds of Christ prayers
12:53 a.m. -
Mary's Message
1:00 a.m. -
Morning Offering & Prayer for Union
1:11 a.m. -
Songs
1:39 a.m. -
Joyful Rosary Aves
2:08 a.m. -
Blue Book Reading from July 12, 2003
3:33 a.m. -
Songs
3:58 a.m. -
A Prayer before the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
4:00 a.m. -
Mass
Well, it’s been a
long time since I’ve seen all of you at once in the same place. It’s a
tremendous treat for me. So praise be the Lord. Let’s start with the Holy
Spirit Prayer.
Come, Holy Spirit, almighty Sanctifier, God of love, who filled the Virgin
Mary with grace, who wonderfully changed the hearts of the apostles, who
endowed all Your martyrs with miraculous courage, come and sanctify us.
Enlighten our minds, strengthen our wills, purify our consciences, rectify
our judgment, set our hearts on fire, and preserve us from the misfortunes
of resisting Your inspirations. Amen.
...So after I talk here I will have to depart and leave the praying to you
at this place. I’ll be praying with you as I drive away...
...I’m spending much more time on the newsletter now. Our Lord had been
calling me to do that for months but it was when I was fully active it was
very, very hard to get the time to really spread it around the world like He
wanted to, although we had been working with the English edition trying to
get that in more and more countries. We are in about eighty or more
countries with the English edition...
And in cases where it needs translation, for instance, the Spanish edition
we translate that up here, we print it up here and we bulk mail it.
[Note: He talks about the spread of the Newsletter to priests and bishops in
Central, South America in Spanish, Africa, India, French speaking, England,
Scotland, New Zealand, Australia]
...It is Our Lord’s wish along with the prayer chapters that this be
considered our primary ministry, the Newsletter. So please, please, please,
please pray for it’s continued success and expansion. It is so
extremely important because as you know, if you can change the heart of one
priest, he is in a position to do so, so much good with even thousands of
people. And we have received extremely encouraging letters over the
years that the newsletters been published from priests, how it’s helped
them out on their own spiritual life but in their ministries, giving them
homilies and so forth. And from bishops which are highly encouraging
commending us on the quality and the worthwhileness of the newsletter.
- Dear Father Carter,
For years I have received Shepherds of Christ
Newsletter; I do not know who put me on your mailing list, but I’m
grateful to you both. Since I first began to receive the newsletter I
have been assigned as the Director of Formation Advising for the
Pontifical North American College in Rome.
I would like to know if it would be possible to make
a bulk order so that our seminarians could benefit from the newsletter
as well. I will make sure they are distributed to our seminarians. At
present we have about 200 seminarians and student priests on our campus,
all eager for good spiritual reading!
Please let me know if we can make an arrangement for
the delivery of the newsletter here at the college.
Please keep our faculty and seminarians in your
prayers.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Rev. J. Mark Williams
Director of Formation Advising
Pontifical North American College
00120 Vatican City State
[He
then talks about funds for the Newsletter.]
I think I came to speak to you today because I think we’re at a very, very
significant point of the Shepherds of Christ Movement as it marches into the
new era of which was promised by Our Lady of Fatima. And I think the
Movement is basically strong, basically healthy but I think we need a
recommitment of ourselves to the Movement precisely because much more is
being asked of us. We have three centers to staff not only with people but
with materials.
So as we go on in what Our Lord wants us to do, we just need a deeper
commitment to the Movement just like the spiritual life in general. You
never stand still on the spiritual journey. I mean spiritual masters have
always told us this, you either go back or you go forward.
And so it is with the Movement, we just don’t stand still. We have to keep
on deepening our commitment to the Movement individually and collectively or
it’s not going to move forward obviously. So I guess you can say that’s
the main reason I thought it was very important that I come here today to
speak to you to ask you to renew your commitment to Our Lord in the
Movement. And to put some thoughts before (you) which hopefully will
help you to renew your commitment.
I’ll begin by reminding all of us of the great, great privilege it is to
have been called to this Movement. I’ve said this before, I say it now
even with deeper conviction, I really believe that this will go down in
history as one of the great Movements in the history of the Church. And if
you reflect upon what we’ve been called to do, I don’t think it’s hard
to come to that conclusion. I don’t know of any just taking our ministry
to the priests with the newsletter and with the prayer chapters whose
primary duty is to pray for the priests as well as the whole human race. But
I am unaware of any other Movement in the history of the Church which has
tried to reach all priests the world over with the newsletter and the prayer
chapters to the extent that we are trying to do so. So just those two
ministries in themselves I think point to the greatness of this Movement.
Then our many other ministries: the rosaries, the consecration of the
schools, the nursing home, prison ministries are all our various
publications. So much wonderful literature, rosary in the homes, one of our
newest ministries, the couples rosary and the spirituality which comes out
of that and we hope to work more and more nationally to strengthen marriage
and family life through working with couples as couples.
So if you look at what we are doing with the tremendous amount of materials
which are being distributed from the Florida site and through orders from
this site and through other sites.
So again I think this is one of the great, great Movements in the history of
the Church. And we have to pinch ourselves every once in awhile and nudge
ourselves and realize the great calling we have been given to work in this
Movement. I think there has been a certain, despite all the great work which
is being done, I think there is a certain stagnation which has set in to a
certain degree and we have to jolt ourselves out of that and recommit
ourselves.
St. John of the Cross in one of his writings says—of course he is one of
the greatest mystical theologians in the history of the Church and in one of
his writings he says, “What does it profit you to give God one thing if He
wishes for another? Consider what it is God wants and then do it.”
Let’s read that again together “What does it profit you to give God one
thing if He wishes for another? Consider what it is God wants and then do
it.”
[Father Carter is speaking to Servants and Handmaids of the Good
Shepherd—]
[Apostles who dedicate themselves completely to the Shepherds of Christ
Ministries—]
Applying that to our calling to Shepherds of Christ—there’s more work to
this Movement than any of us, individually or all put together can ever
attend to properly. What I am getting at, if you really feel you’ve been
called to this Movement and especially to the apostle's level, I am
suggesting to you very fervently and hopefully, persuasively, the Shepherds
of Christ Ministries can use all the spare time, all the ministerial time
you have to give to the work of the Kingdom. You don’t have to go around
looking for other ministries to contribute your time to. You are free to do
that, you are free to leave the Movement at any time. We are not forcing
anyone to stay, we hope everybody stays but we have had people leave.
So there should always be that, that sense of freedom if you want to lessen
off your commitment or hopefully it would never happen, but if you would
chose to leave the commitment, Jesus respects your freewill.
But looking at it again positively I’m suggesting to you—there is so
much work to be done in the Movement. So this first day of February which
happened to be the month of the feast of St. Claude de la Columbiere,
February the 15th, who has been one of the greatest apostles to the devotion
to the Heart of Jesus in the history of the Church, so in a certain sense
it’s a type of month of the Sacred Heart because of his feast, so I ask
that all of us renew our commitment to the Movement. And again realize the
great privilege, that’s one of the first ways to persevere in the Movement
and to grow in the Movement, everyday to thank God for the great graces He
has given you in the Movement.
And I ask you just briefly to look back over your lives, now compared to
when you joined the Movement. Has not Our Lord through Our Lady drawn you
so, so, so much closer to Them. And He in turn has led you so much closer to
the Father and the Spirit. The chairman of our theology department, the
first departmental meeting when he took over, he said Xavier has been very
good to me, now I feel it’s payback time and I think I should serve the
University being chair of the Theology department. Being chair of a
department, it’s really a pain of any department. But those words stick in
my mind, he says now it is payback time. I should payback Xavier for all the
good Xavier has done to me. I suggest we keep that in mind in reference to
Jesus in His Movement. It’s always payback time. He does not give us
graces and gifts in the Movement just for ourselves. Every gift of Jesus has
a social dimension, it’s meant not only for my own spiritual growth, but
for growth of the Kingdom. And so if we find ourselves becoming somewhat
complacent in our gifts received through the Movement and not properly using
them at least to the full extent that we could and helping to spread the
Movement, helping to spread the Kingdom, then let us resolve here and now to
do better.
Perseverance in the Movement—all vocations, all callings need
perseverance. I pray for perseverance as a Jesuit every day of my life. I
pray for perseverance. I’m suggesting to all of us that we pray for
perseverance in the Movement and not just a status quo type of perseverance,
but pray for a perseverance which will allow us to dynamically grow and be
greater apostles in the Movement. And we have to take the means to
persevere.
First of all, of course, is Mass and communion, then our visit to the
Blessed Sacrament, saying the rosary and listening to at least five minutes
a day to a live rosary which Rita receives, praying the hourly prayers
without feeling overburdened. If you begin to feel overburdened by the
hourly novena just make a 30 second prayer, say Jesus, say the three
invocations, “Lord ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find,
knock and it shall be opened to you, through the intercession of Mary, thy
most holy mother I knock, I seek, I ask that my prayer be granted” and
just say we pray for all needs of the Shepherds of Christ Movement and the
other two invocations. You can do that in about 30 seconds. And then at
times of course when you have the time and you feel moved bring in the
specific intentions. But that hourly prayer has great power to keep our
motivation up but it should not on the other hand feel burdensome to you. If
it feels burdensome to you for any length of time, just use the short form
for quite a while.
[Note: servants and handmaids and apostles of the Good Shepherd of the
Shepherds of Christ Movement go to daily Mass and spend one hour before the
tabernacle and pray hourly for the priests, the Church and the world.]
Reading the Blue Book messages, at least just a few minutes a day, can do
wonders to help us persevere in the Movement. Renew your love and commitment
to the Movement. Included in that renewed love and commitment I think should
be a resolution that we don’t bad mouth the Movement, certainly not to
those outside the Movement, certainly not even to those within the Movement.
We have problems, we always have had some, we always will, the universal
Church has monumental problems. But we have to learn how to handle the
problems responsibly. If you have a significant problem please contact John
or Rita, talk it over with them, with me if you feel so called. They usually
report problems to me. I’m in constant contact with them. Currently I talk
to them each day about the Movement, what’s going on, strong points, weak
points and so forth. If you have problems with the Movement, don’t spread
your problem with the problems to somebody else who starts to think
negatively also.
I mean go to Jesus, of course, first of all, but then bring your problem to
somebody who has the authority in the Movement to handle it. That’s very,
very important, 'cause our loyalty and love for the Movement, I think are
significantly harmed when we don’t take that approach. Obedience in the
Movement is going to become more and more important as the Movement grows.
Any organization needs a certain structure, a hierarchy of command,
obedience to legitimate authority. When John asks you to do something,
please try to answer his request. If you can’t, just tell him I can’t do
it now. When he directs you to do something, which is stronger than a
request, don’t give him a hard time. Jesus wants obedience in the
Movement. No Movement can survive or progress without obedience, without a
structure of command. John has a terrifically difficult job. Don’t make it
more difficult for him by, as I say, giving him a hard time or by never
answering his request for help.
I understand that the level of volunteerism here at the center has gradually
slackened off over recent months, and it is very difficult to get people
together to do our mailings. We can’t keep depending on just a few people
all the time. Here again it’s payback time. I mean everyday is payback
time. You can never fully repay Jesus for what He has done for us or what He
continues to do for us. Now we have to use Christian prudence in all this,
we’ve got family duties; we’ve got other duties that’s God’s will
for us. We have to take care of those. But granting all those other calls on
our time and our energy, if Jesus has called you to this Movement, He’s
called each and every one of you, then He expects you to live up to your
commitment. And if it’s always looked upon, if you feel it’s always more
of a burden than a privilege, then I think a person has to consider, 'Shall
I stay in the Movement?' Jesus loves a cheerful giver. Suffering is
involved, is it not? Any following of Christ involves suffering. Any non
following of Christ brings suffering, and a greater suffering—those who
don’t believe, who don’t have any religious faith or conviction. They
end up suffering much more than we who suffer in the following of Christ.
I would like to read you something that I’ve written on suffering that
will appear in the next newsletter—
FATHER
CARTER'S VOICE WAS VERY SAD
and VERY LOVING.
Excerpt from Priestly Newsletter 1998 Issue 1
To
follow Jesus entails a willingness to suffer for Him and His cause. The
furthering of any worthwhile cause demands a spirit of sacrifice, a
willingness to endure a variety of hardships and difficulties. We cannot
expect it to be otherwise regarding the cause of Christ. To help further the
process of ongoing redemption demands a price.
There
is an almost endless variety of pains, sufferings, and difficulties which
can arise in following Jesus and promoting His cause. At times seeing few,
if any, visible results of our labors, feeling unappreciated, experiencing
opposition, sometimes comprehending that we are being hated precisely by
some of those whom we are striving to help, at times being laughed at and
ridiculed—these are some of the ways we experience the sufferings of an
apostle.
The
suffering involved in contributing to the process of ongoing redemption is
not, however, the complete picture. The happiness resulting from commitment
to Christ and His mission far outweighs the hardships. To be aware that one
is so intimately loved by Jesus, to experience the satisfaction that one is
contributing to a cause that cannot fail, to play a role in helping to bring
to others the love and peace of Jesus—all of this makes for a life that
has no equal. The committed follower of Christ, experiencing what it means
to be closely associated with Jesus, realizes why St. Peter said, Lord,…it
is wonderful for us to be here. (Mt. 17:4).
Father
Carter's talk continues
So in God’s plan in
the following of Christ, suffering is always meant to lead to greater life
here and hereafter, not only greater life for us as we grow in Jesus through
the proper handling of suffering, but also greater life in the sense that we
become more apt instruments for channeling His life to others, as we are
purified by His suffering, so that we may more and more allow Him to live in
and through and for us. One of the greatest Apostles of all times of
suffering showing us the place of suffering in the Christian dispensation is
St. Paul. He brings out this theme of death-resurrection of Jesus and our
participation in it in various places in his writing. I think one of the
most dramatic of those places is in
2
Corinthians 4: 7-11
The
hardships and hopes of the apostolate
But
we hold this treasure in pots of earthenware, so that the immensity of the
power is God’s and not our own. We are subjected to every kind of
hardship, but never distressed; we see no way out but we never despair; we
are pursued but never cut off; knocked down, but still have some life in
us; always we carry with us in our body the death of Jesus so that the
life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our body. Indeed, while we are still
alive, we are continually being handed over to death, for the sake of
Jesus, so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our mortal flesh.
Father
Carter's talk continues
So we suffer with Jesus, so that here below and in eternity, so that we may
live more with Him, and that we may become more fit instruments for helping
to channel His life to others. We have a particular way of doing that, a
magnificent way within the Shepherds of Christ Movement. He hung upon a
cross on a hill called Calvary. He had already suffered so much, had He not?
He had been brutally scourged at the pillar, crowned with thorns, laughed
at, ridiculed, without sleep. He had to carry the heavy cross up the hill,
upon reaching the hill He was mercilessly nailed to the cross. He hung there
in that agonizing suffering until death came. His side was pierced and from
His pierced Heart flowed blood and water, symbols of sacramental life in the
Church, Baptism and the Eucharist. And as He hung on that cross nearing
death in that brutalized suffering, St. Francis de Sales, who was a Doctor
of the Church—a Doctor of the Church means that the Church recognizes not
only the great holiness of the person, but the great learning, the great
wisdom—in one of his classic works, St. Francis de Sales, his work Treatise
on God's Divine Love, he says, “As Jesus hung upon the cross there in
that brutal suffering each of us was present to Him. He knew each of us
intimately and the perfect one gave His last drop of blood for you and for
me.” So if we ever have problems with our motivation in the Movement, I
suggest that we come to the foot of the cross and we realize what Jesus has
done for me and continues to do. It is payback time. St. Ignatius Loyola,
founder of the Jesuits, has left us this beautiful prayer,
“Lord teach me to be generous, teach me to serve you as you deserve, to
give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil
and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for reward save that of
knowing that I do your will.”
Now I will give the blessing. May the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son
and Holy Spirit descend upon you and remain forever. Amen.
end of Father Carter's talk February 1,
1998
Copyright
© 2003 Shepherds of
Christ.