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.

         

        We absolutely do not have
        funds for the Virgin Mary 
        building payment which
        was due on the 1st - $10,000.

        Pray for 2 very urgent intentions.

        Pray for a particular bishop and cardinal.

        Pray for the pope.

        Pray for all the bishops of the world.

August 6, 2002 - Feast of the Transfiguration
   

Excerpt from August 6, 2001

                    I see the transfigured Lord in my mind's eye
                        as I once saw Him and I hear the
                        Father speak as He did
                        January 9, 1994
                            "...This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."
                        January 9, 1996
                            "...This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."
                        August 20, 1997
                            "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. 
                                Listen to Him"

                        end of excerpt from August 6, 2001

Excerpt from
The Newsletter Book II

Christ and the World

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep. The hired man, since he is not the shepherd and the sheep do not belong to him, abandons the sheep and runs away as soon as he sees a wolf coming, and then the wolf attacks and scatters the sheep; this is because he is only a hired man and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep. (Jn 10:11-15¹)

Yes, the Good Shepherd has laid down His life for us. Through His brutal death on the cross and His glorious resurrection, Jesus has given us a new life. Indeed, He has established a new world order. He has drawn all things to Himself. St. Paul speaks eloquently concerning this in his Letter to the Colossians:

He is the image of the unseen God
and the first-born of all creation,
for in him were created
all things in heaven and on earth:
everything visible and everything invisible,
Thrones, Dominations, Sovereignties, Powers—
all things were created through him and for him.
Before anything was created, he existed,
and he holds all things in unity.
Now the Church is his body,
he is its head.
As he is the Beginning,
he was first to be born from the dead,
so that he should be first in every way;
because God wanted all perfection
to be found in him,
and all things to be reconciled through him and for him,
everything in heaven and everything on earth,
when he made peace
by his death on the cross. (Col. 1:15-20).

    Pope John Paul II also reminds us of the cosmic dimension of Christ’s redemptive Incarnation: "The Incarnation of God the Son signifies the taking up into unity with God not only of human nature, but in this human nature, in a sense, of everything that is ‘flesh’: the whole of humanity, the entire visible and material world. The Incarnation, then, also has a cosmic significance, a cosmic dimension. The 'first born of all creation’ becoming incarnate in the individual humanity of Christ, unites himself in some way with the entire reality of man, which is also ‘flesh’—and in this reality with all ‘flesh’, with the whole of creation."²

    Yes, through His enfleshment Christ has assumed, or united to Himself, not only the human family, but the entire world order. The Christian’s attitude toward authentic human values should therefore be obvious. He or she should love the world as redeemed by Jesus more than does the non-believer. The Christian should be the first to love all authentic human values. The Christian should be the first to promote these values. Obviously, the real progress of these values can only be according to their Christic design, however hidden this design may be at times.

    Yes, the Christian should be the first to be willing to suffer for the authentic progress of the human race and the entire world order. And why? We reiterate—because it all belongs to Christ.

    The Christian should grieve because all is not well with the temporal order. He or she should be duly disturbed that there is so much violence, murder, social injustice, lust for power, drug peddling, pursuit of hedonism, increased alienation from God. These and other evils sadly mar the name and image of Jesus which He imprinted upon the world through His life, death, and resurrection. The Christian should grieve because the cosmic face of Christ is thus so often covered by the sinful dust of the market place.

    However, the market place, the temporal order, is not all evil. Far from it, it is basically good with the creative goodness of God. It’s basic goodness and beauty have been deepened by the grandeur of Jesus’ redemptive effort. There is so much good in so many human hearts, and this goodness manifests itself in so many ways.

    Each Christian, grieving at the world’s evil, but rejoicing in its goodness and potential for greater good, must be inspired to action. He or she should deeply love the world because it belongs to Christ. He or she should deeply love the people who cover the face of this world, because they have been redeemed by the sacred Blood of Jesus, and are precious to our Savior to a degree we can never fully comprehend.

    The love of the Christian for the human family and the world which encompasses this family must be an operative, an efficacious love. Permeated with this love, a person must be willing to do, to accomplish, and, in rare cases, to die for the cause of Christ. Whatever one’s state of life—whether one is a social activist or a cloistered contemplative—this is the privilege and the responsibility of the Christian. The Christian cannot be committed to Jesus in love without concomitantly being dedicated in love to one’s neighbors and the entire God-given world order.

    If the Christian is to promote the good of the world order, one must be free regarding it. The more one possesses this freedom, the more one helps promote the Christic progress of the world. We must be free so that we use the things of this world, or not use them, depending upon what God’s will directs us to. Indeed, the one involved in the affairs of the world according to God’s will is the one who helps promote the world’s true progress.

    There follow various thoughts concerning Christ, the Christian, and the world.

    The face stares out at us from the magazine page. It is the face of a little child, a war orphan. Hunger, loneliness, fear, physical pain—all this is revealed in the tiny features.

    The child has not placed these afflictions upon herself. No, forces over which she has no control have put these severe sufferings upon such little shoulders.

    As we look at the picture, what is our reaction? Do we quickly turn to another page to find more pleasant material? Do we remain basically unmoved by what we see? Do we say others are to blame, and therefore, we have no responsibility toward such children? Or are we seriously moved? Do we tell ourselves we all have a responsibility to do something so that the number of these ravaged children will decrease rather than increase?

    The picture of the child is there for all of us to see. What picture of ourselves emerges from our particular kind of reaction?

    Pope John Paul II makes this observation concerning today’s world: "The development of technology and the development of contemporary civilization, which is marked by the ascendency of technology, demand a proportionate development of morals and ethics. For the present, this last development seems unfortunately to be always left behind. Accordingly, in spite of the marvel of this progress, in which it is difficult not to see also authentic signs of man’s greatness, signs that in their creative seeds are revealed to us in the pages of the book of Genesis, as early as where it describes man’s creation, this progress cannot fail to give rise to disquiet on many counts. The first reason for disquiet concerns the essential and fundamental question: Does this progress, which has man for its author and promoter, make human life on earth ‘more human’ in every aspect of that life? Does it make it more ‘worthy of man’? There can be no doubt that in various aspects it does. But the question keeps coming back with regard to what is more essential: whether in the context of this progress man, as man, is becoming truly better, that is to say more mature spiritually, more aware of the dignity of his humanity, more responsible, more open to others, especially the neediest and the weakest, and readier to give and to aid all."³

    Here is another observation of Pope John Paul II concerning our present-day world: "A disconcerting conclusion about the most recent period should serve to enlighten us: side by side with the miseries of under development, themselves unacceptable, we find ourselves up against a form of superdevelopment, equally inadmissible, because like the former it is contrary to what is good and to true happiness. This superdevelopment, which consists in an excessive availability of every kind of material goods for the benefit of certain social groups, easily makes people slaves of ‘possession’ and of immediate gratification, with no other horizon than the multiplication or continual replacement of the things already owned with others still better. This is the so-called civilization of ‘consumption’ or ‘consumerism’, which involves so much ‘throwing-away’ and ‘waste’. An object already owned but now superseded by something better is discarded, with no thought of its possible lasting value in itself, nor of some other human being who is poorer.

    "All of us experience firsthand the sad effects of this blind submission to pure consumerism: in the first place a crass materialism, and at the same time a radical dissatisfaction, because one quickly learns—unless one is shielded from the flood of publicity and the ceaseless and tempting offers of products—that the more one possesses the more one wants, while deeper aspirations remain unsatisfied and perhaps even stifled."⁴

    Vatican II reminds us that Christ in His paschal mystery has entered into the world’s history, has taken this history to Himself, and has summarized it:

    "For God’s Word, through whom all things were made, was Himself made flesh and dwelt on the earth of men. Thus He entered the world’s history as a perfect man, taking that history up into Himself and summarizing it. He Himself revealed to us that ‘God is love’ (l Jn 4:8). At the same time He taught us that the new command of love was the basic law of human perfection and hence of the world’s transformation.

    "To those, therefore, who believe in divine love, He gives assurance that the way of divine love lies open to all men and that the effort to establish a universal brotherhood is not a hopeless one. He cautions them at the same time that this love is not something to be reserved for important matters, but must be pursued chiefly in the ordinary circumstances of life.

    "Undergoing death itself for all of us sinners, He taught us by example that we too must shoulder that cross which the world and the flesh inflict upon those who search after peace and justice. Appointed Lord by His resurrection and given plenary power in heaven and on earth, Christ is now at work in the hearts of men through the energy of His Spirit. He arouses not only a desire for the age to come, but, by that very fact, He animates, purifies, and strengthens those noble longings too by which the human family strives to make its life more human and to render the whole earth submissive to this goal.

    "Now, the gifts of the Spirit are diverse. He calls some to give clear witness to the desire for a heavenly home and to keep that desire green among the human family. He summons others to dedicate themselves to the earthly service of men and to make ready the material of the celestial realm by this ministry of theirs. Yet He frees all of them so that by putting aside love of self and bringing all earthly resources into the service of human life they can devote themselves to that future when humanity itself will become an offering accepted by God.

    "The Lord left behind a pledge of this hope and strength for life’s journey in that sacrament of faith where natural elements refined by man are changed into His glorified Body and Blood, providing a meal of brotherly solidarity and a foretaste of the heavenly banquet."⁵

Our Life in Christ

    Pope Paul VI speaks to us about our life in Christ: "One could well meditate the ‘distinctive mark’ imprinted on the Christian; it is a seal superimposed on the divine image already naturally outlined in the soul of rational man, giving him with ever-increasing clearness the face of Christ, which the face of the Christian becomes when stamped with this mystic impression.

    "This is a stupendous anthropology, often too little realized in the conception of man become Christian. Indeed, today the tendency to secularization, or to neglect of religious values and duties, leads to disregard of the Christian physiognomy molded by the sacramental character, so that it often becomes masked (for it cannot be erased) by a profane appearance.

    This very nearly results in a return to a purely natural or even pagan aspect, the fact being forgotten that the term ‘Christian’ is not simply nominal, but real, involving entrance into the life of Christ, a decisive act for whoever follows Him, committing him utterly—if he does not want to betray the honour of his title—to fidelity, danger, and testimony (Acts 11,26; l Pet 4, 16).⁶

    Here are certain stanzas from one of the poems of St. Therese of Lisieux, who has recently been declared to be a doctor of the Church by Pope John Paul II:

It’s to you alone Jesus, that I’m attached.
It’s into your arms that I run and hide.
I want to love you like a little child.
I want to fight like a brave warrior.
Like a child full of little attentions,
Lord, I want to overwhelm you with caresses,
And in the field of my apostolate,
Like a warrior I throw myself into the fight!…

Your heart that preserves and restores innocence
Won’t betray my trust!
In you, Lord, rests my hope.
After this exile, I’ll go to see you in Heaven…
When in my heart the storm arises,
To you, Jesus, I lift up my head.
In your merciful look,
I read: "Child, for you I made the Heavens".

I know well, my sighs and tears
are before you, all radiant with charms,
The seraphim in Heaven form your court,
And yet you beg for my love!…

You want my heart, Jesus, I give it to you.
I surrender all my desires to you,
And those whom I love, O my Spouse, my King,
From now on I only want to love them for you.⁷

    Here is an excerpt from a spiritual journal: "And I opened my heart, but I waited and felt suspended in mid-air for my whole desire was to embrace Him and it felt as if He did not come. I suffered and suffered and wanted only to experience Him with this outpouring of His grace. Then His grace overtook my weary soul and He dwelt in me in this heightened form. The Bridegroom made Himself known to me and then it felt as if this intensity had left, but the lingering memory of this moment when He intimately united Himself to me was implanted forever on my weary soul, as I sit and wait for that day when I will experience the fulfillment of myself existing only in Him. I long to have oneness in the Divine Master, the Bridegroom of my soul. I love you Jesus, come to me, that I may know you most intimately. Embrace my soul and fill me with your gifts. I desire to experience the deepest union with you, my Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, Savior of the world, Lamb of God. Through my union with you, My Jesus, I desire to experience the deepest union with the Father in the Holy Spirit."

    And, "I rested my head on the pierced chest of my Savior. I felt His presence and put my head on His pierced wound. I see His side and I experience the wound within my own heart. His Heart was wounded by our sins, and I rest upon this wound.

    "Open up the wound and go into His burning Heart. See the wound opening and enter into the great, red abyss of His fiery love. It is in the wound that I enter.

    "His glorified body has this wound. It is from His pierced Heart that our life flows.

    "The glorified wounds of Christ are my delight. He carried the cross. He bore the pain. He was pierced that we could live in Him!"
    

NOTES:

1. Scriptural quotations are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, Doubleday & Co.
2. Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Dominum et Vivificantem, as in The Encyclicals of John Paul II, edited with introductions by J. Michael Miller, C.S.B., Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, No. 50. 3.
3. Pope John Paul II, (Encyclical) Redemptor Hominis, as in The Encyclicals of John Paul II, (see above note), No. 15. 4.
4. Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, as in The Encyclicals of John Paul II, (see note 2 above), No. 28. 2&3.
5. The Documents of Vatican II, "Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World", America Press Edition, No. 38.
6. The Teachings of Pope Paul VI, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, p. 125.

end of excerpt from Newsletter 1998 - Issue 3

August 11, 1994

Excerpt from the Red Rosary Book
  

Jesus speaks:  Oh, how I watched you, child. I watched you as I gave you each little sign of My love. I watched you grow in your faith and trust in Me. I watched you suffer and stood so close you could have touched Me, but you didn't know that this suffering would be that which led you to My tender love for you.

    I watched you when you surrendered and turned your will over to Me and I watched you cry, knowing this was the most joyous day of your life. I watched you see visions of doors and knew you would want to go through those doors, but they were not the doors you thought, they were the doors I gave you for greater union with Me. I watched you, child, when you wrote down My first letter to you and I saw your confusion and joy, knowing what these letters would do to touch so many hearts.

    I watched you, child. I watched you when I showed you My Heart and you were so warmed by this Heart and so awed by its vision, but you didn't know what this vision would mean for many to draw their hearts to My burning love.

    I watched you surrender each time as you let go of each little thing, as you were dying to self. I watched you through this surrender grow closer to Me. I watched you grow in this deep love for Me, step by step. I watched our love grow as you gave more of yourself in prayer. I watched you, child, and I loved being ever closer to you.

    I watched you struggle in such trials that you thought tomorrow would never come, knowing that this trial was what would give you more freedom and love for Me. I watched you learn each lesson through hard tests and I was so close while you struggled, but did not remove the struggle, knowing you would not learn your lesson if I had.

    I watched you, child, through each joy and pain and I loved you silently, always with you, and you never knew how close I truly was to you.

Song: From the day you were born…

    From the day you were born, I watched you. Forever by your side, I guarded you, I loved you. I know the most secret desire of your heart far better than you yourself know. I know the Father's plan for you. I know the Father's love for you. I know the love poured on you from the Holy Spirit and how Mary is forever by your side.

    I watch you, child, constantly guarding you and your ways and you do not know the love I have for you. You do not know how My Heart burns for love of you. And, someday, My beautiful child, you will know what I have in store for you, My beloved.

    Come and be with Me. Grow in your love with Me. I never leave you, My beloved. Remember, I am forever watching you.

end of August 11, 1995 message

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Shepherds of Christ Ministries
PO Box 193
Morrow, Ohio 45152-0193

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