| Shepherds of Christ Daily Writing |
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| Shepherds of Christ Daily Writing |
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September 20, 2021
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September 21st Holy Spirit Novena |
The Novena Rosary
Mysteries |
Pray the Rosary for the World
Please Pray for Fr. Joe & Bob, Sanja
Prayer for Grace for 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.
September 20, 2021
John 19: 25-27
Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, this is your son.’ Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
From Mother at Our Side by Fr. Carter S.J.
two
Mother At Our Side
"In an utterly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the Savior's work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is a mother to us in the order of grace." (Vatican II).2
Mary is the Mother of Jesus. She is also our Mother. The above words of Scripture and of the Second Vatican Council attest to this.Jesus has given us Mary as our spiritual mother. As He hung upon the cross, Jesus told John to look upon Mary as his mother, this John who represents all of us. In His moment of deepest anguish and suffering, Jesus was thinking of us. As the indescribable physical pain racked His body from head to toe, as the unfathomable spiritual anguish penetrated to the depths of His Heart, Jesus was thinking of us. If we allow this scene to penetrate into our hearts, if we take the time to contemplate the depth of Jesus' and Mary's love for us as Their Hearts were pierced with grief, we are truly overwhelmed with the magnificent greatness and tenderness of the scene. Jesus was proclaiming Mary to be Mother of the Redemption. He was telling us that Mary is Mother to all peoples.
The fact that Mary is our mother, the fact that she has such a powerful role to play in our salvation in no way detracts from the mediatorship of Christ. Vatican II states:
"We have but one Mediator, as we know from the words of the Apostle: "For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself as ransom for all." (1 Tim. 2:5-6). The maternal duty of Mary toward men in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power. For all the saving influences of the Blessed Virgin on men originate, not from some inner necessity, but from the divine pleasure. They flow forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rest on His mediation, depend entirely on it, and draw all their power from it. In no way do they impede the immediate union of the faithful with Christ. Rather they foster this union."3
In saying that Mary is our spiritual mother, we are saying that Mary is the mother of our Christ-life. What is this life? Can we define it?
At Baptism the Persons of the Trinity communicate so intimately to us that, as a result, they leave their imprint or image upon us. This Trinitarian image is our life of sanctifying grace. This life of grace is a created participation in God's life, and since this gift of grace is mediated by Christ in His humanity, this Trinitarian image also has a Christic aspect. Christ as man has shown us how to live a God-like existence. He has shown us how to live the life of grace. This life of grace we possess allows us to enjoy the special presence of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Truly, the divine Persons dwell within us.
Whether we refer to this life as the Christ-life, the life of grace, life in the Holy Spirit, or by other names, we are referring to one and the same reality. This reality, again, is the Christic, Trinitarian image given us through the Trinitarian communication.
St. Paul speaks of our life of grace in terms of our being baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus (Rom. 6:1-11). Again, Jesus mediates our life of grace. He has shown us how to live a Christ-like existence. Since Jesus' paschal mystery of death-resurrection sums up His own human existence, so it sums up our own. This is what St. Paul is telling us. Paul tells us that we live our life of Baptism, our life of grace, by continually dying and rising with Jesus—rising to a greater share in Christ's resurrection. Indeed, we live resurrection now and hereafter. Living death-resurrection involves all of our Christian activities. While not giving an all-inclusive list, we do include the following: the reading of Scripture, prayer, the performance of daily duties, the doing of penance, making sacrifices, our jobs, periods of rest and relaxation, sharing meals with loved ones, reception of the sacraments, and, especially, participation in the Eucharist which is both sacrifice and sacrament.This is our glorious existence made possible by God's great love for us and a major truth of this glorious existence is the fact that Jesus has given us Mary as our spiritual mother. Mary is the Mother of our Christ-life. In her loving, maternal role, she cooperates with the Holy Spirit in forming Christ in us. Pope John Paul II tells us:
"The Church knows and teaches that all the saving influences of the Blessed Virgin on mankind originate from the divine pleasure. . .This saving influence is sustained by the Holy Spirit, Who, just as He overshadowed the Virgin Mary when He began in her the divine motherhood, in a similar way constantly sustains her solicitude for the brothers and sisters of her Son.''4
Mary our mother is ever with us, guiding us, teaching us, caring for us, protecting us, loving us. With her maternal assistance we go to the Father through and with Christ in the Holy Spirit.
Mary nourishes our growth in Christ with a very tender and specialized love for each of us. She regards each of us as a precious, unique individual. John Paul II again speaks to us:
"Of the essence of motherhood is the fact that it concerns the person. Motherhood always establishes a unique and unrepeatable relationship between two people: between mother and child and between child and mother. Even when the same woman is the mother of many children, her personal relationship with each one of them is of the very essence of motherhood. For each child is generated in a unique and unrepeatable way, and this is true both for the mother and for the child."5
The Holy Father then applies these ideas to Mary and us:
"It can be said that motherhood in the order of grace preserves the analogy with what in the order of nature characterizes the union between mother and child. In the light of this fact it becomes easier to understand why in Christ's testament on Golgotha, His Mother's new motherhood is expressed in the singular, in reference to one man. Behold, your son."
Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, this is your son.’ Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
This is the awesome and consoling truth—you and I are very precious to Mary. She loves us much more than we can ever fathom. It is our great privilege and responsibility to love her in return. She asks for this love, she asks for our trust. As we give our love and trust to our mother, she wants us to come to her at all times and in all circumstances.
Are we sorrowful, anxious, troubled? Let us go to Mary our mother and ask her to console us. Let us ask her for the grace to handle our sorrow, our anxieties, our troubles properly—according to God's will. In this way our suffering will bring us closer to Christ as it simultaneously allows us to contribute to the ongoing Christianization of the world.
Are we joyful, happy, basking in the glow of a goal successfully accomplished? Let us go to Mary and ask her to help us handle our joy, our happiness, our success as God intends. Let us petition her not to allow our joy to make us forgetful of God, our God Who is the source of all true joy, success, and happiness.
Are we finding it particularly difficult to follow Christ in the here-and-now? In child-like trust we can approach our mother. Let us ask her for the grace to realize that the following of Christ is not always easy—that at times being a follower of Christ challenges our courage in a special way. We can also ask Mary to help us realize that even at such difficult times, Christ's grace makes our burden relatively light. Jesus has told us:
Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light. (Mt.11:28-30).
Are we finding it is particularly easy to follow Christ in the here-and-now? Let us go to Mary and ask her for the grace to remain humble. Let us beseech Mary to keep us from being inflated with pride, and ask her to help us realize that without Jesus we can do nothing.
Mary, then, asks for our complete trust. She wants us always to seek shelter under her maternal mantle. She invites us to come to her in all circumstances—whether it be in joy or sorrow, success or failure, laughter or tears. Mary wants us to share in her maternal wisdom so that we may understand how to use our various experiences to come closer to God in Christ. Sharing our lives with Mary in this fashion, and on a consistent basis, requires that we love her, that we trust her, that we surrender ourselves to her maternal love.
Help us, Mother Mary, to probe ever more deeply into the depths of your love for us. Help us to realize more and more that to be loved by you is to experience a sweetness, a warmth, a tenderness, a serenity, a security, which makes us cry out, "O Mother, how good and loving you are!"
2. The Documents of Vatican II (New York: The America Press, 1966), Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, No. 62.
3. Ibid., No. 60.
4. Pope John Paul II, The Mother of the Redeemer (Redemptoris Mater) (Washington: United States Catholic Conference, 1987), No. 38.
5. Ibid., No. 45.
Glorious Mysteries
The Resurrection
1. From the Priestly Newsletter Book III
Life In and With Jesus (excerpt)
The spiritual life centers in Christ. Here are words from the Jerusalem Catecheses: "When we were baptized into Christ and clothed ourselves in him, we were transformed into the likeness of the Son of God. Having destined us to be his adopted sons, God gave us a likeness to Christ in his glory, and living as we do in communion with Christ, God’s anointed, we ourselves are rightly called ‘the anointed ones.’ " 5
5. Jerusalem Catecheses, as in The Liturgy of the Hours, Catholic Book Publishing Co., Vol. II, p. 608.
2. Jesus
taught us to love the Father
with tender love as little children.
3. Jesus died ad rose on the 3rd day.
4. Loving
our Father is wishing to
do His will while we are on
earth.
5. From the Our Father
"...Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven."
6. We are
created to be with the Father
in heaven.
We pray to the Holy Spirit
to instruct us in the doing
the will of the heavenly Father.
7. Excerpt of The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, by Louis J. Puhl, S.J. pp.60-61
136. THE FOURTH DAY
A MEDITATION ON TWO STANDARDS
The one of Christ, our supreme leader and lord,
the other of Lucifer, the deadly enemy of our
human naturePRAYER. The usual preparatory prayer.
window at a former Jesuit Seminary
137. FIRST PRELUDE. This is the history. Here it will be that Christ calls and wants all beneath His standard, and Lucifer, on the other hand, wants all under his.
138. SECOND PRELUDE. This is a mental representation of the place. It will be here to see a great plain, comprising the whole region about Jerusalem, where the sovereign Commander-in-Chief of all the good is Christ our Lord; and another plain about the region of Babylon, where the chief of the enemy is Lucifer.
139. THIRD PRELUDE. This is to ask for what I desire. Here it will be to ask for a knowledge of the deceits of the rebel chief and help to guard myself against them; and also to ask for a knowledge of the true life exemplified in the sovereign and true Commander, and the grace to imitate Him.
FIRST PART
THE STANDARD OF SATAN
140. FIRST POINT. Imagine you see the chief of all the enemy in the vast plain about Babylon, seated on a great throne of fire and smoke, his appearance inspiring horror and terror.
141. SECOND POINT. Consider how he summons innumerable demons, and scatters them, some to one city and some to another, throughout the whole world, so that no province, no place, no state of life, no individual is overlooked.
142. THIRD POINT. Consider the address he makes to them, how he goads them on to lay snares for men and bind them with chains. First they are to tempt them to covet riches (as Satan himself is accustomed to do in most cases) that they may the more easily attain the empty honors of this world, and then come to overweening pride.
The first step, then, will be riches, the second honor, the third pride. From these three steps the evil one leads to all other vices.
SECOND PART
THE STANDARD OF CHRIST
143. In a similar way, we are to picture to ourselves the sovereign and true Commander, Christ our Lord.
144. FIRST POINT. Consider Christ our Lord, standing in a lowly place in a great plain about the region of Jerusalem, His appearance beautiful and attractive.
145. SECOND POINT. Consider how the Lord of all the world chooses so many persons, apostles, disciples, etc., and sends them throughout the whole world to spread His sacred doctrine among all men, no matter what their state or condition.
146. THIRD POINT. . . . end of excerpt
8. The Holy
Spirit moves in us like a Divine
breathe to be what God wants us to be.
9. Sing: Glory be to the Father
10. From the Priestly Newsletter Book III
"Our love for the Father tends to glorify Him; our love for the Son, to transform ourselves into Him; our love for the Holy Spirit, to let ourselves be possessed and moved by Him."4
4. Archbishop Martinez, op. cit., pp. 67-68,
The Ascension
1. Jesus
ascended into
heaven and a cloud took
Him out of sight.
2. Saints
are in heaven.
The saints had a deep relationship
with God -- They were on fire
for love of God!
3. Romans 6: 3-4
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.
4. We
continually die with Christ
so we can continually
rise with Him.
5. We begin
the life of resurrection
here on the earth, in the
here and now of human life.
6. To grow
in the life of
resurrection we must have
a willingness to suffer.
7. From the Priestly Newsletter Book III
Life In and With Jesus (excerpt)
The Church invites us to share deeply in the passion of Christ, in the cross of Christ. She does so that we might share deeply in His life of resurrection—here and hereafter. The more we die with Christ, the more we share in His life of resurrection—here and hereafter. Our ultimate goal here below is not the cross, but resurrection—the newness of life the cross leads to - here below as well as in eternity.
8. From the Priestly Newsletter Book III - Life In and With Jesus (excerpt) continues
We are meant to share in all of the mysteries of Christ here below—we are meant to relive them in our own lives. And all of these mysteries are directed to the crowning mystery of Jesus, His resurrection: "As the Church is ever re-enacting, during all the ages, the life story of her Divine Spouse—undergoing in the Mystical Body what He suffered in His Natural Body, so it must be too, in some measure, for every individual Christian that lives in real unity with Christ. It was thus that the saints understood the life of the Divine Master. They not merely contemplated it, they lived it. This was the source of the immense sympathy they were capable of experiencing for Him in His different states. They felt in a certain measure what He felt, and what is true of Our Lord’s life considered as a whole must be true in no imperfect or limited manner of that which was the supreme and crowning mystery in that life—namely, the Resurrection. This must be, not merely a fact in Christian history, but a phase of Christian experience …We do not readily perceive that, in God’s plan, not only the Cross, but the Risen Life that followed it, is meant to be part of our terrestrial existence. Christ did not pass from the Cross straight to heaven. The Christian is not meant to do so either. In the case of Jesus the Cross preceded, prepared and prefaced a risen life on earth. In the case of the Christian the Cross is meant to play a somewhat similar role—that is, to be the prelude to a risen life, even here below.
9. From the Priestly Newsletter Book III - Life In and With Jesus (excerpt) continues
"The Cross cannot be completely understood except it is viewed in the full light of the Resurrection. It is the latter, not the former, that is the ultimate mystery for us…The Cross is a means, not an end; it finds its explanation only in the empty tomb; it is an entrance into life, not a mode of death. Any death that enters into God’s plan must necessarily issue forth in life. If He lays upon us the necessity of dying it is in order that we may live…In order that we may live as we ought, our rebellious nature must be crucified. Crucifixion always remains the only mode of salvation.
10. From the Priestly Newsletter Book III - Life In and With Jesus (excerpt) continues
"God sends trials and crosses simply to deaden in us the activity of the forces that make for the decay of the spiritual life, in order that that spiritual life may develop and expand unimpeded. According as the life of perverse nature ebbs away from us on our cross united with Christ’s, the Divine Life that God has placed in all whom He has called begins to make itself more manifest and to display increased vigour and vitality…It is to that Resurrection, that life in death, that God directs all the circumstances of our life—it is the object He aims at in His dealing with us." 7
In his above words, Fr. Edward Leen, C.S.Sp., speaks about a special episode of our participation in the resurrection of Jesus. He speaks of our Christ-life, our life of grace, in the highly developed state. We should all strive for this state. We must realize, however, that all those who live in the state of grace are, in an essential way, living the life of resurrection. They are alive in Christ Jesus.
7. Edward Leen, In the Likeness of Christ, Sheed and Ward, pp. 290-300.
The Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles
1. Acts 2: 1-4
When Pentecost day came round, they had all met together, when suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a violent wind which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; and there appeared to them tongues as of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak different languages as the Spirit gave them power to express themselves.
2. 2 Corinthians 12: 10
and that is why I am glad of weaknesses, insults, constraints, persecutions and distress for Christ’s sake. For it is when I am weak that I am strong.
3. From the Priestly Newsletter Book III
According to the wisdom of the world, it is often thought to be a sign of weakness if one feels a sense of powerlessness and admits the same. According to the wisdom of Christ, it is of paramount importance that one admits weakness and powerlessness and builds upon this realization.
4. From the Priestly Newsletter Book III - Strength in Weakness continues
If we do not admit our weakness and our helplessness, then we are living a lie. Jesus has told us that without Him we can do nothing. It is a sign of Christian maturity if we not only admit to our weakness theoretically, but consistently live this realization. It is not a question of giving in to this weakness, of capitulating to it in an evil way. It is rather a question of realizing our helplessness and throwing ourselves into the arms of Christ. Then we become strong with his strength; then his grace more and more strengthens us and we actually are surprised at the depth of our Christian existence.
5. From the Priestly Newsletter Book III
Living in the Present Moment
I suggest that one of the most difficult acts of self-discipline in the spiritual journey is to concentrate on the present moment. We have a very strong tendency to often disregard the importance of the present moment by focusing in a wrong way on the past or in a wrong way on the future. When we give in to this tendency we suffer a significant spiritual loss. There are proper occasions for thinking of the past and the future. For example, we have to learn from the past and we have to prepare for the future, but our great emphasis has to be upon the present. There is a Latin axiom which says, age quod agis, which means: do what you are doing, concentrate on the present. And, of course, we are familiar with the term in the history of spirituality: the sacrament of the present moment. Growth in self-discipline should include a greater determination to get as much as we can out of the present moment. People with a terminal illness have an opportunity, as they prepare for death, for increased prayer, contrition, love of God. For those who have this opportunity of knowing with some certainty the time of their death, I’m sure as they look back on their lives, they are saddened by the times they did not use time and opportunities for the service of the Lord properly, and are overjoyed at those times in which they did use the present opportunity properly. A great means we have of living in the present properly is a greater focus upon our Lord. For if I have that awareness of the fact I am united with Jesus here and now, why should I be concerned so much about the future or the past? Yes, a great help in living in the present and deriving all the good we can from it for ourselves and others is an ever greater focus on Jesus, because the more I focus upon Jesus and the more I live with Him in the present moment, the more I am satisfied with the present moment. And so let us resolve to grow in that self-discipline which is required to really live in the present with the fullness of our being as much as is possible, with the help of God’s grace. To do so is extremely important for proper growth in the spiritual life.
Now is the time. Now is the time to live and to love. Now is the time to become more united to Christ, to be more one with Him. Now is not yesterday; now is not tomorrow; now is today, and today is a gift from the Lord.
6. From the Priestly Newsletter Book III
Surrender to God (excerpt)
God gives ultimate meaning to our lives. God reveals to us how the laughter and the tears, the work and the play, the pain and the joy, all fit together. As we live in God, God gathers up what would otherwise be the fragmented pieces of our lives, and arranges them into harmonious unity. This unity emanates from our living according to God’s plan, a plan embodying a way of existence that leads to an ever greater experience of the true, the good, and the beautiful.
7. From the Priestly Newsletter Book III - Surrender to God continues
We can put obstacles in the way of God’s transforming designs, of God’s plan for us. We can at times say "no" to God’s initiative. We can refuse to be open to God’s tender, loving touch. We can engage in a process of self-enclosure. We can determine to map out our own path to supposed happiness, forgetting that plans for happiness which exclude God are ultimately plans for experiencing frustration and emptiness. Briefly, we can act in an obstinate fashion regarding God’s offer of Self-communication.
8. From the Priestly Newsletter Book III - Surrender to God continues
At other times, it is not so much stubbornness which leads us to say "no" to God; it is fear. We realize that the closer we come to God, the more God will ask of us, gently but firmly. We fear the white heat of God’s love. Such episodes along the spiritual journey are crucial. If we keep pulling back from the intensity of God’s love, if we keep refusing what this love wants to accomplish in us and through us, then we will live on a rather superficial level.
9. From the Priestly Newsletter Book III - Surrender to God continues
We must strive to overcome whatever attitude prevents us from increasingly giving ourselves over to God. We must realize that progress in the spiritual life is measured by the degree to which we abandon ourselves to God. We must realize that, if we hope to grow spiritually, we must increasingly allow God to direct our lives.
Let us pray, then, for an increase in the spirit of abandonment to God. As we live more according to this attitude, we will experience in greater measure the warmth and security of God’s love, this God Who is the ground of our being, the goal of our existence, the source of our happiness.
10. 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 in 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.
From the Pentecost Sequence
Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.
The Assumption
1. From the Priestly Newsletter Book III
The late Archbishop Luis M. Martinez of Mexico strikingly speaks of the ongoing cooperation of Mary with the Holy Spirit regarding the reproduction of Jesus within us: "Christian life is the reproduction of Jesus in souls…
2. From the Priestly Newsletter Book III - The Holy Spirit and Mary continues
"Now, how will this mystical reproduction be brought about in souls? In the same way in which Jesus was brought into the world, for God gives a wonderful mark of unity to all His works. Divine acts have a wealth of variety because they are the work of omnipotence; nevertheless, a most perfect unity always shines forth from them because they are the fruit of wisdom; and this divine contrast of unity and variety stamps the works of God with sublime and unutterable beauty.
3. From the Priestly Newsletter Book III - The Holy Spirit and Mary continues
"In His miraculous birth, Jesus was the fruit of heaven and earth…The Holy Spirit conveyed the divine fruitfulness of the Father to Mary, and the virginal soil brought forth in an ineffable manner our most loving Savior, the divine Seed, as the prophets called Him…
4. From the Priestly Newsletter Book III - The Holy Spirit and Mary continues
"That is the way He is reproduced in souls. He is always the fruit of heaven and earth.
5. From the Priestly Newsletter Book III - The Holy Spirit and Mary continues
"Two artisans must concur in the work that is at once God’s masterpiece and humanity’s supreme product: the Holy Spirit and the most holy Virgin Mary. Two sanctifiers are necessary to souls, the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, for they are the only ones who can reproduce Christ.
6. From the Priestly Newsletter Book III - The Holy Spirit and Mary continues
"Undoubtedly, the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary sanctify us in different ways. The first is the Sanctifier by essence; because He is God, who is infinite sanctity; because He is the personal Love that completes, so to speak, the sanctity of God, consummating His life and His unity, and it belongs to Him to communicate to souls the mystery of that sanctity. The Virgin Mary, for her part, is the co-operator, the indispensable instrument in and by God’s design. From Mary’s maternal relation to the human body of Christ is derived her relation to His Mystical Body which is being formed through all the centuries until the end of time, when it will be lifted up to the heavens, beautiful, splendid, complete, and glorious.
7. From the Priestly Newsletter Book III - The Holy Spirit and Mary continues
"These two, then, the Holy Spirit and Mary, are the indispensable artificers of Jesus, the indispensable sanctifiers of souls. Any saint in heaven can co-operate in the sanctification of a soul, but his co-operation is not necessary, not profound, not constant: while the co-operation of these two artisans of Jesus of whom we have just been speaking is so necessary that without it souls are not sanctified (and this by the actual design of Providence), and so intimate that it reaches to the very depths of our soul. For the Holy Spirit pours charity into our heart, makes a habitation of our soul, and directs our spiritual life by means of His gifts. The Virgin Mary has the efficacious influence of Mediatrix in the most profound and delicate operations of grace in our souls. And, finally, the action of the Holy Spirit and the co-operation of the most holy Virgin Mary are constant; without them, not one single character of Jesus would be traced on our souls, no virtue grow, no gift be developed, no grace increased, no bond of union with God be strengthened in the rich flowering of the spiritual life.
8. From the Priestly Newsletter Book III - The Holy Spirit and Mary continues
"Such is the place that the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary have in the order of sanctification. Therefore, Christian piety should put these two artisans of Christ in their true place, making devotion to them something necessary, profound, and constant." 18
18. Archbishop Luis M. Martinez, The Sanctifier, op. cit. pp. 5-7.
9. From the Prayer Manual
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.
10. From the Prayer Manual
Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Dear Blessed Virgin Mary, I consecrate myself to your maternal and Immaculate Heart, this Heart which is symbol of your life of love. You are the Mother of my Savior. You are also my Mother. You love me with a most special love as a member of Shepherds of Christ Associates, a movement created by your Son as a powerful instrument for the renewal of the Church and the world. In a return of love, I give myself entirely to your motherly love and protection. You followed Jesus perfectly. You are His first and perfect disciple. Teach me to imitate you in the putting on of Christ. Be my motherly intercessor so that, through your Immaculate Heart, I may be guided to an ever closer union with the pierced Heart of Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the flock.
The Queenship of Mary
1. Sing: Hail Holy Queen
2. Sing: Immaculate Mary
3. Sing: See the Eyes That Look at Mary
4. August 22, 2000
Today is the Queenship of Mary
Messenger: The Queen mounts her throne among shouts of joy The angels surround this heavenly throne Her children love her and worship their God.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus reigns in the hearts of her children.
He is the King of their hearts.
She is the Queen of their hearts.
A New Adam, a New Eve are recognized by the once enslaved children of Adam and Eve.
A trumpet blare for one so fair, a blare of music for our starved ears.
From the Magnificat, Mary speaks with the lilt of the voice of one so pure and holy. (NOTE: Read this with the lightness of the voice of the Virgin filled with the Holy Spirit and in the humility of one so fair.
Among shouts of joy our Lady speaks liltingly in a heavenly voice and we gape at the sound of her sweet voice and behold the beauty of this maiden so sweet and fair.
God the Father speaks:
Amen, amen I say to you My beloved Apostles of the Sacred Heart. You may worry and struggle now, but a King looks on you with the greatest love as you surrender more and more everyday to do My will that this day will come to your earth, the day of the Reign of the Sacred Heart.
Do not get caught up in the mysteries of the way men act and perceive things, but put your gaze ever more on the mystery of My Divine Son and how much He truly loves you.
You are caught in the wonder of the earth and the firmament. My beloved, so much more glorious is the insight into My Divine Mysteries.
My plan is given here to bring about the Reign of My Son’s Sacred Heart and the triumph of your Mother’s Immaculate Heart.
I am a God of justice and of right.
I am your heavenly Father.
I am the Carpenter, the One with the plan.
You are but children of Mine, creatures of the earth, and yet My love for you is so great. I gave you My only begotten Son as One offered for your sins and, men, you smite Me, your Father.
You ignore your Mother when I give you such gifts in your churches of her presence forever with you and the Holy Spirit working with her bringing forth your holiness.
I painted with My hand your Mother pleading to her young ones, and she appears everyday, and you ignore this sign and gift I give you.
What more could convince you? You want another sign and another while you sheepishly continue your sinful ways.
My children, My children, help Me to reach your brothers, oh please, they have plugged up their ears and covered their eyes.
How is it your Creator cries to the creatures and they ignore Him?
Now the beauty of one so fair July 5, 2000, I painted as a golden wonder before you and allowed such photography that all might know Our heavenly presence when Mary speaks in the
Rosaries from the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. And My Son delivers, in these rosaries, the message I give to you as your heavenly Father.Oh children of the earth, be attentive and listen to Me, I plead as your heavenly Father that your wills be aligned to My will and you serve Me.
Oh children of Eve, your Mother Mary cries to Me, for she pleads your case, and I have given in to her requests that the children be spared if they turn from their ways and love their God.
She wanted to come to you as the Woman adorned in sunlight by day and fashioned in a special way by nightfall in golden mystical light in the dark night, as her favored children sing so fervently songs of praise and love to God, and they sing to her, a Mother who has never forgot them.
Oh children, listen to Me and help Me reach your willful brothers through your fervent prayers. My Son gave Himself as a Sacrifice for your sins, meriting the graces available to you the sinful children of Eve, and you will not even pray after I have granted this special gift of Mary on the building.
Your eyes do not see her, or you would have changed your ways by now.
What sign would you respond to, My silly earth?
I give you My Son with you in the Eucharist, and you do not treasure this gift as you should.
God remains with you today. Jesus, My Son, feeds you with His Body and Blood. He is truly present in His Divinity and Humanity. You need to pray as He has instructed, especially before the tabernacle.
Amen.
I am the Father, I have spoken, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.
Jesus speaks:
I am the Son of God, on this glorious feast sing songs of great praise to your God and love Him.
Unite to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and pray to be possessed by God.
Mary is your Mother, she is the one, pure, spotless, human person. She was conceived without sin, you must listen to her, it is the Father’s will. You must be brought forth from her Immaculate Heart, her spiritual womb, as a child of God, a child of the light.
Let the scales drop from your eyes as you sing praise and see, as never before, the glory and wonder of your God.
5. August 9, 2000
R.
Oh, there is not one so fair as thee, my beloved Mother Mary.Of all the maidens that God could have chosen it was you, oh shining Star of Heaven.
Oh Mary, Mother of us all. She doth appear as a wonder so fair indeed,
A permanent sign of God’s love.
A Woman clothed in gold.
One that glistens with the radiance of a golden tone,
Her beauty dancing in the sunlit hours of every day.
In morning splendor, in dancing light at noon day as the sun glistens on her rainbow glow and at night she has appeared on special dates in golden splendor and light.
Would you quote the Scripture for Mary so fair.
“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.” (Revelation 12: 1-2)
Would you see her as she appeared in little villages in the 20th century, tucked in hills and out of the way places.
If you missed these enormous signs from heaven, of one so fair, she appears there clothed in the golden sun of the day, reflecting her radiant beauty painted by the hand of the Father. She is His chosen maiden so fair.
She appears daily, she is there by day and beneath the black shadows of night, she does not slumber, but calls to her children of light to come through her golden doorway and let the light of Christ shine in their souls.
She appears one so fair, by day and sometimes by night clothed in radiance and golden, her garment hemmed with glistening sunlight. She once appeared to a few and her visits fleeting in remotest places, she remains a Woman Clothed with the Sun, the sun dancing on her garments of rainbow color on a busy, busy corner for all to see, in the state of the sun, sunny Florida. She is a Woman painted by the brush of God.
And do you know the wonder of one who calls the children far and wide, to hear the voice of her Son, Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the Flock.
Mary, the heavenly maiden, to call them home to His Heart.
Oh, of one so fair, do we not boast and praise our God and thank Him for such a wonder.
Oh, to Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, we cry, help us to do what you asked for at Fatima and help us in our mission of telling the world of your Son’s desire to spread His Movement so men will be Shepherds of Christ.
6. Revelation 12: 1-2
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.
7. From Blue Book 17 - November 13, 1997 Rosary excerpt
The Crucifixion
1. Mary: I stood beneath the cross of my Son and I cried. And you, my children, you delight my heart for it is in your fervor that many souls will be led to the Heart of my Son. I am Mary, your Mother and I speak to you, my children, for I am pleased with the work that you do. And I ask you to continue and to pray for my site in Florida for the waters are rough there and the devil aims to stop the Shepherds of Christ Movement. You must pray. Pray, my little ones, as never before for the site in Florida. Pray for the Jesuits. My sweet, little children, I am standing next to you and I am watching you and loving you. At this moment, I am with you, my little children. I am with you. These are rosaries from Our Hearts, rosaries from the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, to lead the children into Our Hearts. I am with you in every rosary that you pray, in every rosary meditation that you read and listen to, and my Son, Jesus is there in a special way. It is in the rosary, as you consecrate your heart to me, that the Holy Spirit fills you with His life and that you receive lights and know God. The rosary will be your weapon in these end times. For when you are taunted by the evil one, praying the rosary will bring you into my heart and the Holy Spirit will fill you with His life. The rosary is your weapon. You must hold the rosary when you are being taunted. You must spread the rosary to this world, for it is your weapon. Come aboard the Ark my little ones, it is my heart, my Immaculate Heart. And the Holy Spirit will move in you. Pray the rosary, my children. Pray the rosary. I stood beneath the cross of my Son and I cried.
8. From Blue Book 17 - November 13, 1997 Rosary excerpt
The Crucifixion
2. Song: I Rocked Him as a Baby
R.
Let us go to the heart of the Virgin Mary. Let us live from this moment on, in the Ark, Mary’s Immaculate Heart. Let us beg the Holy Spirit to move in us, that the working of satan will be nil in our lives, that although we are pressed on, although the waters come against us in the sea of life on our journey to the end, that we will not be stopped dead, but we will move ahead, despite the turmoil that we will move ahead in the heart of the Virgin Mary. And Mary took Jesus into her arms and she held Him. As we see, Mary carried Jesus in her womb in the first two mysteries of the Joyful Mysteries, and then she took Him to the Temple. And Simeon said to her, “A sword, too, shall pierce your heart.”Jesus:
Let My Word live in you.R.
And Simeon said that “this child is destined for the rise and fall of many in Israel.” And the word that we speak will hit their hearts as a seed. It can be planted in their hearts, or it can be rejected by them and they spend a lot of their time trying to say that we are wrong and this is not from God, because they do not wish to change. The Word that He plants in the scriptures is a two-edged sword. And He wants His Word planted in our hearts that we will bear great fruit. And the dead fruit fell from the tree and all that remained was the fruit of heaven. He hung on that tree that day for 3 long hours and we complain about the time that we pray! Do we know that it is in these prayers that God is giving to the earth great grace. Great grace is given when we are His little, holy family. Do not lose your fervor. I felt as if I was in a tomb for 3 days and death pressed in on me and I know as He lets me experience great favors and deep suffering. And I know what life is. It is in Him. It is in the Eucharist. It is a shot in the arm that He gives to us when He outpours His life. And when He says pray hourly, He’s telling us how to get a shot of this life. He’s telling us to keep our thoughts, thoughts of life and not death. For when I pray those prayers and I say for funds, I know it’s only in Him this is going to work. But I know that last year, we spent so much money that nobody could even imagine just in materials telling the world about this, His scroll of love He said, “I gave you that scroll with My letter written on it.” Well, you carried it and the priests hear it, but it is in going to the heart of Mary that the light will be seen. There is not another way. We must all come aboard the Ark And so, in that message on October the 8th, Jesus said, “Did anybody survive the flood that was not on the Ark?” We are spreading the good news. We go to the ones that are open. If they say ‘no’, we shake the dust off of our feet and look for ones that are hungry. We must be prudent. We must be led by the Spirit. We must be alive with His life inside of us. What we do today will make the difference to many souls. Do we really believe that we get this church with the thumbprint of the Father, (here is Father’s newsletter that says, “The Shepherd must lay down His life for His flock”) with the Good Shepherd hanging on the tree and the tape down in Florida, the Mary’s Message tape that says, “I stood beneath the cross of my Son and I cried,”, and we walk into this place and here is this mural over the tabernacle? When I got the message December the 12th on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe and we see Mary is pregnant bringing forth her children, is it an accident that Mary appeared on that building? On December the 17th of 1991, I saw the vision of Jesus’ Sacred Heart on fire, it is the second Blue Book. So that makes sense. December 17th, 1991, I had the vision and Jesus said, “You do not know how many souls will be drawn to My Heart because of the work you will do.” And then it would make sense why Mary would appear on the building, 5 years later, December the 17th, 1996. “I stood beneath the cross of my Son and I cried.” And each one of us are standing beneath His cross. And what we see on there is not a man that’s covered with blood as I saw Him, withered, but we see life and it is life in Him that this world will know. Sunday, I put my feet on the ground and I said to myself, “What is life?” and in that second I said, - life is the Eucharist. And I dressed myself and I ran to the tabernacle. There is the Spirit that is going to move in us that’s going to be so powerful that the devil’s influence will almost be nil, and in the end, his deadly influence will be no more. We are the leaders to help lead people into this new era.Jesus says:
I want you praying that novena everyday, talking to the Holy Spirit, loving the Holy Spirit, asking Him to move in you. If you don’t get the message, Rita, I’ll let you suffer. Because if it gets bad enough, you’re going to turn to your rosary and you’re going to turn to the Spirit, and then you will survive. But I love you, and I want you to survive.R.
So I tell you, today, to heed this strong message. He told us to pray for healing, healing of our families when we go to Mass, generational healing of all the families in the Shepherds of Christ Movement, healing of the families in the Jesuits and the Poor Clares, healing for the body of Christ. When He gives the message, He wants it obeyed. It’s for our own good. Beg the Holy Spirit to move in us. For I see Peter, and Christ said, “You denied Me three times.” How many times do we worry about what people think. If God told us to do something, we should do it and not worry what people think. That’s what Peter did. He worried what those people were thinking, I guess he was afraid too, but the Peter that is painted before the Holy Spirit descended upon him, is nothing like the Peter afterwards and Peter healed the sick and they went to prison and got out singing. We’ve got to be squeezed and squeezed and squeezed and squeezed and we don’t scream out when we’re squeezed. But if we’ve put into our heads thoughts of life all through the day, we choose life with every thought. We can’t look at the glass like it’s half empty.9. From Blue Book 17 - January 23, 1997
Mary: I appear on the building to draw men to the messages given in God’s Blue Book, Rosaries From the Hearts of Jesus and Mary and Tell My People. These books are the messages we give from our Hearts to draw men to our Hearts. They are the messages my Son gives to bring about the reign of His most Sacred Heart.
I ask you to circulate Mary’s Message in Florida and the rosaries (special Marian meditations and messages) of December 13, 1996, and January 13, 1997. These messages were given to reveal insights into His most intimate love. My appearance in Florida and the Shepherds of Christ Movement must be connected. Please work with great fervor to spread my messages and the message of my Son from this location. Do not be afraid. You will make great advances in helping with the completion of the Fatima Message there.
I am Mary, your Mother. Please obey me and help me spread these materials there. I love you, my little children.
10. From Blue Book 17 - January 25, 1997
Mary: I am Mary. I am requesting that you continue to pray the rosary novena daily for the following intentions:
1) For the spread of the rosary, circulation and publication of these rosary meditations, for the Rosary Book and Children’s Rosary Books, for the Rosary Aves and consecrations to be distributed and used by school children, for the Priestly Newsletter Books, for the Mass Book, for all materials receiving the imprimatur, for its publication and quick distribution, for the distribution of Mary’s Message tape and the Rosary Book and the connection with the Shepherds of Christ Movement and the apparition in Florida;
2) For Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Center, that the Father’s plan will unfold there as He intended;
3) For the new Center, for the new chapel, for the right to reserve the Blessed Sacrament there, for the funding, for the circulation of materials from there, for the beginning of new prayer chapters.
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