| Shepherds of Christ Daily Writing |
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August 9, 2024
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August 10th Holy Spirit Novena |
The Novena Rosary
Mysteries |
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Consecration Prayer for Peace
I consecrate Russia and the Ukraine to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
I further consecrate the priests, the Church and the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary.
I do this in the name of Jesus in as far as I am able, united to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, praying to the Father, in the Holy Spirit, with all the angels and saints and the souls in purgatory through the powerful intercession of Mary, Queen of Peace. Amen.
I further consecrate myself, all members of my family and ask the Holy Spirit to fill us. I spread the Blood of Jesus on all above, I cast the devil into hell away from all of us and consecrate all persons, in as far as I am able, to the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart.
Prayer for Grace for Election and our Country
Dear Father united to Jesus in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Sacrifice of Calvary sacramentally made present, celebrated around the world, in the Holy Spirit. We offer up all we do united to the Mass. We unite in one mind and one heart as members of the mystical body of Christ, with Christ our head in the pure and holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary, through the powerful intercession of Mary with all the angels and saints and souls in purgatory, and we beg for the saving grace, for our country, the United States. Please help us. We further pray for unity to always do the will of God in love. We spread the Blood of Jesus on the leaders and people of the United States and cast the devil into hell. We consecrate our country to the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart and all our dioceses, and beg for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. God help us. We pray for our families, the priests, the Church and the world. In the Name of Jesus please hear us, we pray. We pray for our president and leaders. We pray that we are united as one nation under God to work together in love as God wants. We pray for the upcoming election.
Morning Offering
Dear Father,
I offer up all I do all day united to Jesus
in the Mass, in the Holy Spirit, through
the powerful intercession of Mary, our
spiritual Mother, with all the angels and
saints, and the souls in purgatory, for
the priest, the Church, and the world.
We love You God so much.
We thank You and adore You and
petition You for our needs. Amen.
Shepherds of Christ
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August 9, 2024R. It is better to have loved and lost, than never
to have loved at all.
God calls us to love.
Love is giving for the good of the other.
We were created in the image and likeness of
Jesus.
Being in the image and likeness of Jesus means
loving like Jesus.
Jesus loved so much, He gave Himself for all.
All creatures were created by God.
Love is beautiful, beyond our earthly hearts,
beyond our understanding.
God is love!!Jesus' Heart is on fire with love for His precious
souls.
Perfect love casts out fear.
Dear God come and possess my soul.
Love makes the world go around.What the world needs now is love, sweet love!
Excerpt from Priestly Newsletter Book II - Issue Sept/Oct 1996
God Is Love"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)
He hung upon a cross on a hill called Calvary. Death was near. How much Jesus had already suffered! He had been brutally scourged. Much of His sacred body was a bloody, open wound. He had been derisively crowned with thorns. In a terribly weakened condition, He carried the heavy cross to the hill of Golgotha. There He was stripped of His garments and mercilessly nailed to the cross.
Truly the Good Shepherd had laid down His life for His sheep. That magnificent Heart, overflowing with love for His Father and all of us, had beat its last.
Jesus' life was a life of love. He mightily loved His Father and all of us. The poverty, the hiddenness, the disappointments, the accomplishments, the weariness, the joy and the happiness, the pain and the agony-all that constituted the earthly life of the Incarnate Son of the Father, was experienced within the framework of love. Jesus, Who is divine and human, was the great man that He was as He walked this earth because He loved tremendously. He loved in everything He did-tenderly, manfully, with understanding and sympathy. He loved with complete devotedness and a deep concern for the individual. He loved with a passion for that which was true and beautiful and good. He loved with a complete conformity to the Father's Will. He loved always and completely. He loved with the gift of Himself, always pouring Himself out, even to the point of death. He gave Himself in love to His Father and to us until there was no more to give. This was the poignant beauty of Christ's life. He was a giant of greatness because He was one Who loved tremendously.
We can be tempted to reject this marvelous example of Christ. We can seek our greatness and fulfillment in a manner that necessarily results in disappointment. We can strive after greatness in ways that God does not intend. These wayward wanderings, however, result in a feeling of dissatisfaction and frustration. If we follow these false leads, we will eventually come to realize that they have betrayed us. Indeed, these wayward wanderings possess the potential for nothing but betrayal, because they are not rooted in Christ and His way of life-which is the way to true greatness.
We must incessantly remind ourselves of the example that Jesus has given us. We must deepen our realization that our fundamental greatness consists in what we are, and we are to the extent we love God and others. St. Paul, in his own inimitable way, tells us of this: "If I had all the eloquence of men or of angels, but speak without love, I am simply a gong booming or a cymbal clashing. If I have the gift of prophecy, understanding all the mysteries there are, and knowing everything, and if I have faith in all its fullness, to move mountains, but without love, then I am nothing at all. If I give away all that I possess, piece by piece, and if I even let them take my body to burn it, but am without love, it will do me no good whatever." (1 Cor 13: 1-3)
Our greatness, then, lies in our relating in love to both God and others-yes, even to that vast majority whom we will never see or know directly, but whom our love can nevertheless reach out and touch because of our union with Christ. With Christ, there are no space barriers, and, therefore, uniting our love to His can unite us to people the world over.
We grow as Christians through a life that is centered in love within the milieu of the human condition. This is the only framework we have for achieving our greatness, our true personhood, and, consequently, we must not shirk the human condition. Jesus did not shirk it, but rather accepted it and manifested His greatness within it, despite the pain and agony that the human condition at times heaped upon Him. It is true that Jesus rejoiced during the course of His life because of the goodness, sincerity, and response of some of those with whom He dealt. The love that Mary and Joseph showered on Jesus, for instance, gave Him great joy. During His life, however, Jesus often suffered because of the evil side of others-their pettiness, cowardice, insensitivity, selfishness, egotism. In other words, Jesus suffered at the hands of others because they were not what they should have been. However, these experiences did not thwart the greatness of Jesus. He was always what He should have been. Jesus was always the tremendous lover, and He loved even at those times when it was very painful to do so.
Our own greatness in Christ, our growth as Christians, can develop smoothly and joyfully because we, in a special way, experience the goodness and love within the hearts of others, and this makes it easy for us to love as we should. Sometimes, however, the less wholesome side of others crowds in upon us, and we find it difficult to go on loving as we should. In the same way that Christ suffered because of others, we, too, as we try to love, suffer because of others. We suffer because others do not always understand us-this can be true even of those who dearly love us. We suffer because some do not appreciate what we do for them, and sometimes what we do exacts great personal cost. We suffer because others either reject us or make us the objects of their meanness and selfishness. We suffer because there are some who ignore us. At times we suffer so much that we are tempted to withdraw from the pain of giving ourselves in love into an egotistic enclosure of self-seeking, where, we think, we will no longer suffer at the hands of others, or at least will not suffer so much. To surrender to such a temptation, however, is to forget what Christian greatness really is, namely, a life of love for God and others, a love that does not shrink from the pain that results from loving in an imperfect world, a love that is meant to become greater and more selfless regardless of the way other might treat us. Love, then, accepts both the joy and the pain of life and carries on under both conditions. Yes, we are made for love.
The first letter of John tells us: "God is love and anyone who lives in love lives in God, and God lives in him. Love will come to its perfection in us when we can face the day of judgment without fear; because even in this world we have become as he is.
"In love there can be no fear, but fear is driven out by perfect love: because to fear is to expect punishment, and anyone who is afraid is still imperfect in love."We are to love, then, because he loved us first. Anyone who says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, is a liar, since a man who does not love the brother that he can see, cannot love God, whom he has never seen.
"So this is the commandment that he has given us, that anyone who loves God must also love his brother." (1 Jn 4:16-21)
1. Scriptural quotations are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, Doubleday & Co.
May 14, 2024
R. Dear Holy Spirit come to me, possess
my soul, I love You, Holy Spirit.
When I am weak, I am strong in You.
Outpour Your precious love to me. Amen.
I love You, God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Dear Holy Spirit infuse in my intellect
wisdom, knowledge and understanding.
Counsel me Holy Spirit from the mind of
God.
Help me, dear Holy Spirit to know the loving
embrace of God all the days of my life.
I turn to You. Amen.
When I find doing God's desire for my life
difficult give me the gift of fortitude, dear
Holy Spirit.
Sanctify my heart to act purely for the
honor and glory of God.
I may be willing, but I need Your gift to
give me courage to act as You desire.
Help me to know and love the heavenly
Father's will for me and to do it in love
for the honor and glory of God.
Help me to always put God first in my life,
in love for God in my heart.
Help me to walk realizing, I am the creature,
God is the Creator.
Help me to be patient and strong and
persevere in my life until I rest with Thee
forever in heaven.
Please Holy Spirit give me the gift of fear
of God that I do not offend you in sins
of unloving ways against God.
You are so good and deserving of all my
love.
I worship You and love You -
Help my interior disposition at Mass to be
that of purity in pleasing the Heavenly
Father, in my offering united to Jesus in
the Mass.
Dear Holy Spirit please help me in the gift
of piety to do that which pleases my Heavenly
Father with the tenderness as His little child.
Thank you God for all You give to me.
I pray this "All for the honor and Glory of
God". Amen.
Matthew 22: 36-40
'Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?' Jesus said to him, 'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets too.'
Dear Holy Spirit, strengthen our will and
move like a Divine breath in our soul, to
be docile sons and daughters of our
Heavenly Father. Amen.
Alleluia.
March 10, 2024
Novena to St. Joseph, Patron and Father (2024)
Begins March 11, 2024 - March 19, 2024
Dear Saint Joseph,
I turn to you, you who cared and
protected the child Jesus and the
Virgin Mary.
You taught men and women, the
love of God by your example in life,
and by your faithfulness of living
your calling in greatest commitment
and love.
You loved Mary and Jesus with the
most gentle, bonds of love.
You showed us how you
lived in loving conformity to the
Heavenly Father's will.
You guided Jesus and Mary's precious
lives with the Holy Spirit, Spouse of
the Virgin Mother of God.
Protect us and our family this day and
every day of our lives, like
you did the Holy Family of Nazareth.
We seek your powerful intercession.
How intimately you knew and loved
Jesus and Mary. You were so close to
them. You showed us love.
Your heart was pure and gentle and
yet you were strong in being their
manly protector on earth, intercede
for us to depend more and more on
God for all our needs, for when we
are weak we are strong in God.
St. Joseph please intercede for a
peaceful and holy death for us and
our sick loved ones.
Amen.
St. Joseph help us now in this nine
day novena to you.
Amen.
March 23, 2024
Prayer for Sick and Caregivers at Home
R. Dear God,
I pray Heavenly Father with all my heart,
in the Name of Jesus, united to the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass, in the Holy Spirit,
with all the angels and saints and souls
in purgatory, through the powerful
intercession of Our Lady of Clearwater
to come to my aid now.
My loved one is very sick and he (she)
needs your help, God.
Outpour Your grace for me in this time
of need to have patience and wisdom to
deal with this now.
I give this sickness up to You, my God.
Please help me in dealing with this and
helping them in doing the right thing
and dealing with this.
I surrender this problem to You, my
Divine God.
Please send Your angels to help me.
Spread us all with the Precious Blood of
Jesus, cast the devil into the fires of hell,
dear Holy Spirit come to my aid.
I consecrate my home, ourselves to the
Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate
Heart of Mary, Thank You.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus I place my
trust in Thee.
Child Jesus of Good Health, help us.
St. Joseph, Patron of a Holy Death
come to our aid.
Amen.
August 4, 2024
Mysteries of Light
The Baptism of Jesus
1. Mark 1: 9-11
It was at this time that Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptised in the Jordan by John. And at once, as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit, like a dove, descending on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on you.’
2. We hear the Father introduce Jesus to the world.
Jesus is not only the servant, but God’s beloved Son.
3. ”This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”
4. The Father is pleased at Jesus, the Father wants us
to be in the image and likeness of Jesus.
5. To be in the image and likeness of Jesus, we must
try to love like Jesus.
6. Many went before us and sacrificed in their lives for us.
7. We were all created by the Father for a special purpose.
8. Romans 8:14-17
All who are guided by the Spirit of God are sons of God; for what you received was not the spirit of slavery to bring you back into fear; you received the Spirit of adoption, enabling us to cry out, 'Abba, Father!' The Spirit himself joins with our spirit to bear witness that we are children of God. And if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, provided that we share his suffering, so as to share his glory.
9. The greatest sacrifice is Jesus dying on the cross.
10. The Mass is the sacrifice of Calvary,
sacramentally made present.
The Marriage at Cana
1. John
2: 1-10
On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited. And they ran out of wine, since the wine provided for the feast had all been used, and the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ Jesus said, ‘Woman, what do you want from me? My hour has not come yet.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ There were six stone water jars standing there, meant for the ablutions that are customary among the Jews: each could hold twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water,’ and they filled them to the brim. Then he said to them, ‘Draw some out now and take it to the president of the feast.’ They did this; the president tasted the water, and it had turned into wine. Having no idea where it came from—though the servants who had drawn the water knew—the president of the feast called the bridegroom and said, ‘Everyone serves good wine first and the worse wine when the guests are well wined; but you have kept the best wine till now.’
2. Jesus began His public life at the Baptism of Jesus.
3. Jesus performed His first miracle at Cana.
4. Jesus lived the quiet life for 30 years.
5. Romans 6:3-5
You cannot have forgotten that all of us, when we were baptised into Christ Jesus, were baptised into his death. So by our baptism into his death we were buried with him, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glorious power, we too should begin living a new life. If we have been joined to him by dying a death like his, so we shall be by a resurrection like his;
6. Jesus performed so many miracles in His public life.
7. God is a God of miracles.
8. Prayer for Union with Jesus
Come to me, Lord, and possess my soul. Come into my heart and permeate my soul. Help me to sit in silence with You and let You work in my heart.
I am Yours to possess. I am Yours to use. I want to be selfless and only exist in You. Help me to spoon out all that is me and be an empty vessel ready to be filled by You. Help me to die to myself and live only for You. Use me as You will. Let me never draw my attention back to myself. I only want to operate as You do, dwelling within me.
I am Yours, Lord. I want to have my life in You. I want to do the will of the Father. Give me the strength to put aside the world and let You operate my very being. Help me to act as You desire. Strengthen me against the distractions of the devil to take me from Your work.
When I worry, I have taken my focus off of You and placed it on myself. Help me not to give in to the promptings of others to change what in my heart You are making very clear to me. I worship You, I adore You and I love You. Come and dwell in me now.
-God's Blue Book, January 17, 1994
9. 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.
10. A Prayer before the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
Let me be a holy sacrifice and unite with God in the sacrament of His greatest
love.
I want to be one in Him in this act of love, where He gives Himself to me and I give myself as a sacrifice to Him. Let me be a holy sacrifice as I become one with Him in this my act of greatest love to Him.
Let me unite with Him more, that I may more deeply love Him. May I help make reparation to His adorable Heart and the heart of His Mother, Mary. With greatest love, I offer myself to You and pray that You will accept my sacrifice of greatest love. I give myself to You and unite in Your gift of Yourself to me. Come and possess my soul.
Cleanse me, strengthen me, heal me. Dear Holy Spirit act in the heart of Mary to make me more and more like Jesus.
Father, I offer this my sacrifice, myself united to Jesus in the Holy Spirit to You. Help me to love God more deeply in this act of my greatest love.
Give me the grace to grow in my knowledge, love and service of You and for this to be my greatest participation in the Mass. Give me the greatest graces to love You so deeply in this Mass, You who are so worthy of my love.
-Mass Book, December 27, 1995
Building the Kingdom of God
1. John
18: 36-37
Jesus replied, ‘Mine is not a kingdom of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my men would have fought to prevent my being surrendered to the Jews. As it is, my kingdom does not belong here.’ Pilate said, ‘So, then you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘It is you who say that I am a king. I was born for this, I came into the world for this, to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice.’
2. When we love someone we give them what is
most precious to us.
We give them ourselves.
3. God the Father gives us Jesus.
Jesus is most precious to God the Father.
4. Love gives for the good of the other.
The Father accepts our sacrifice united to Jesus
in the Mass and the Father gives us Jesus in
Holy communion.
5. Then Jesus emptied Himself for us, His beloved ones.
Jesus comes to us - Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity
in the Eucharist!!!
6. This is love.
This is His message!
Love gives of oneself, like Jesus the greatest lover!!!!!!
7. Pedro Arrupe
“Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in a love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the mornings, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.”
8. Sing: The King of Glory
9. Sing: In My Heart
10. Sing: Our Lady of Clearwater
The Transfiguration
1. Mark 9: 2-8Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain on their own by themselves. There in their presence he was transfigured: his clothes became brilliantly white, whiter than any earthly bleacher could make them. Elijah appeared to them with Moses; and they were talking to Jesus. Then Peter spoke to Jesus, ‘Rabbi,’ he said, ‘it is wonderful for us to be here; so let us make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ He did not know what to say; they were so frightened. And a cloud came, covering them in shadow; and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.’ Then suddenly, when they looked round, they saw no one with them any more but only Jesus.
2. The Father’s voice was heard.
3. "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased, listen to Him."
4. Jesus took Peter, James and John up Mt. Tabor,
that was a big walk.
5. Jesus appeared transfigured at the top.
6. Our life can be a hard journey, up rocks etc and then
if we go to heaven we can have the beatific vision.
7. I saw Jesus appear to me 4 times in January of
1996 at Holy Cross Immaculata.
It is written in Blue Book 10.
8. I saw Jesus appear that way February 5, when we
opened up the rosary factory.
All these apparitions were in the Sacred Heart statue.
9. Fr. Carter said we could hardly stand the beauty
of our own graced, baptized soul.
10. I love the Mass, so much it makes me cry to be there.
The Institution of the Eucharist
1.
Matthew 26: 26-29
Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had said the blessing he broke it and gave it to the disciples. ‘Take it and eat,’ he said, ‘this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he handed it to them saying, ‘Drink from this, all of you, for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. From now on, I tell you, I shall never again drink wine until the day I drink the new wine with you in the kingdom of my Father.’
2. We were created for more, we cannot be completely
happy here below.
We were created for heaven and eternity with God.
3. Prepare for the beatific vision.
Relationship eternally with Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
4. The Mass helps us enormously to grow in that
relationship with the Trinity.
We know and see the relationship with the Persons
of the Trinity at Mass.
This helps us know God as 3 Persons and know
God as one.
5. God the ultimate mystery!!
We know greater insight into the Divine mystery at
Mass and greater relationship with God: Father, Son
and Holy Spirit.
We will spend all eternity in this relationship in
heaven, if we go to heaven.
6. With every Mass we should be changed in growing
spiritually with God and others.
It takes surrendering to God and asking Him to
permeate our soul more and more.
7. Oh Holy Spirit infuse in our intellect wisdom,
understanding and knowledge!
Increase in our heart Your capacity more fully to
love like Jesus, for when we love more like Jesus,
we are more in His image and likeness.
This is our treasure to be likened to Jesus.
8. Reach and believe in that which is infinite, that
which lasts forever.
We were created for more than what we know and
experience here on this earth.
Love is ineffable, beyond our comprehension here
below.
9. Knowledge and relationship and love of the Trinity,
makes my chest swell with greater fullness, and
there is more to know.
His love is, indeed, infinite, above and beyond.
10. Sing: God's Love
Sing: I Love You Jesus
