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April 24, 2008

April 25th Holy Spirit Novena
Scripture selection is Day 8 Period II.

The Novena Rosary Mysteries  
for April 25th are Sorrowful.

  

We need funds for the newsletter.

 

 

April 24, 2008

 

                At the heart of the message of Jesus is
                    LOVE

                God is love
                Love is in the person
                Love is seen in a person who has a deep
                    relationship with God
                Love is seen in one knowing God and having a friendship
                    with God and with others.
                Love is friendship.

      

John 15: 11-17

I have told you this
so that my own joy may be in you
and your joy be complete.
This is my commandment:
love one another,
as I have loved you.
No one can have greater love
than to lay down his life for his friends.
You are my friends,
if you do what I command you.
I shall no longer call you servants,
because a servant does not know
the master’s business;
I call you friends,
because I have made known to you
everything I have learnt from my Father.
You did not choose me,
no, I chose you;
and I commissioned you
to go out and to bear fruit,
fruit that will last;
so that the Father will give you
anything you ask him in my name.
My command to you
is to love one another.

    

                I know more and more my Creator —
                I have a relationship with Him —
                I am the creature of the Creator —
                I was created in the image and likeness of God —
                In the statue — Fatima we have — we have a little piece
                    of glass from the image of Mary that was destroyed —
                    her image face was destroyed with a sling shot.

  

 

                What remains is the image of Jesus' face

  

February 5, 2001


                But people can have these beautiful hand-painted statues
                    in their homes

    

 

                We pray the prayers from the Prayer Manual with
                    others, by ourselves before the statue with the
                    little piece of glass

                Why would one rebel against love —
                    God calls us to love
                    God gives us the greatest commandment

   

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.'

       

                Heaven is a reward promised to those who love
                    and serve the Lord
                Why act in hate, why rebel against love

       

    

                God has loaned us this world —

    

Matthew 21: 33-46

‘Listen to another parable. There was a man, a landowner, who planted a vineyard; he fenced it round, dug a winepress in it and built a tower; then he leased it to tenants and went abroad. When vintage time drew near he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his servants, thrashed one, killed another and stoned a third. Next he sent some more servants, this time a larger number, and they dealt with them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them thinking, "They will respect my son." But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, "This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him and take over his inheritance." So they seized him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?’ They answered, ‘He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will deliver the produce to him at the proper time.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the scriptures:

   The stone which the builders rejected
   has become the cornerstone;
   this is the Lord’s doing
   and we marvel at it? 

‘I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.’ 
   When they heard his parables, the chief priests and the scribes realised he was speaking about them, but though they would have liked to arrest him they were afraid of the crowds, who looked on him as a prophet.

    

                God is the Creator —

                    We dwell here below on the earth He lets us
                        use
                    God has ordered the universe
                    God has ordered so many things
                    When a baby is to be born

  

                    When flowers come back

 

 

 

                    Grass appears

                    Trees grow leaves in spring

 

 

                We hurt ourselves, our happiness when we
                    do not recognize the Father's Plan
                God is all Powerful
                God gives power to men

  

  

                God gives us Himself
                God's gift is pure gift

   

 

        

                God loves us with an unselfish love —
                God is all Good.
                God gives us baptism a sharing in His
                    Divine Life —
                    Sharing in His Divine Happiness

                In His infinite goodness — He shares
                    this with us —
                    After God gives us all these gifts —
                        we, men, can be so selfish in
                        sharing God's gifts to us with others

                    God gives us gifts and talents to build up
                        His Kingdom
                    Man shares in God's love and His goodness
                        God gives us His love —
                        God gives us all these gifts —
                        The gift of the Church, the priest, the sacraments —

                These days of retreat God has called to ask us to praise
                    Him in song and prayer —
                    In justice we are to give praise and love and honor and
                        adoration to God —
                    We can never repay God —
                    God gives us Himself in the Eucharist and He is ignored
                        by so many, He is not given the gratitude
                        that is His due  

 

 

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.

 

  

                    We were created to love God —

            

December 27, 1995

LET US LOVE THE TWO HEARTS OF JESUS AND MARY
IN THE RECEPTION OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST.

HE GAVE HIMSELF TO US ON THE CROSS. HE GIVES HIMSELF TO US IN THE EUCHARIST.

How great was the act of love, God gave to this world, when He gave Himself and died on the cross. He gives Himself to us this day in the Holy Eucharist.

The greatest commandment is that we must love God with our whole heart, our whole soul, and our whole being. This is a commandment. If we are to enter heaven, we must follow the commandments. They are commands given by God for us to follow.

The greatest act we can do on this earth is an act of loving God. The reason for our existence is to love God. In the sacrament of His greatest love, He gives Himself to us. This is an act of love on His part. We are called to respond by giving ourselves in love to Him.

This is the purpose of the Holy Eucharist: to unite in such oneness with our Holy, Loving God. Our all consuming passion should be that of loving God. How many go to the Eucharist with the sole purpose of giving great love to God? He wants us to love Him. He wants souls to tell Him how much they truly love Him. This is the most intimate act of love when Jesus gives Himself-Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity to man. If it is such an act of love, how are we receiving Him in Communion? We should beg God, in this most intimate union with Him, to help us to love Him with greatest love.

Jesus is a Person. He wants our love. The Holy Spirit wants such intimacy with us. Our Father wants us to love Him. In the Eucharist, we unite with God. In this intimate act of uniting with our beloved God, with Divinity, we must pour out our love to God. We must pour out our heart to the most adorable Heart of Jesus. Jesus is so unjustly treated by many of His beloved souls He loves so much. Let us help make reparation to the Almighty God by loving God with our whole heart, our whole soul, and our whole being in the sacrament of His greatest love. This is the Gift of Himself.

Think of how it is to love someone and give your all for that person, to pour out your heart to him or her and then be treated with coldness and neglect. It hurts our heart so much more when we deeply love someone to be rejected by that person. Jesus loves us with the deepest love. We cannot fully comprehend this love. Let us love Him with the deepest love. Let us love Mary and her Immaculate Heart. Let us love her as the Mother of God. Let us love her as the virgin who bore the Son of God. May we, in the reception of the Eucharist pour out our love to Him, to this adorable Heart. May we pour out our love to His Holy Mother.

Mary said at Fatima that Jesus wants His Heart venerated next to the heart of His Mother. Let us love these two Hearts as we receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Then we are so deeply united with God. We see Their two Hearts surrounded with thorns for the injustices against Their Hearts. Let us help make reparation daily as we receive Him in the Eucharist. This is a special time to help make reparation to Their wounded Hearts.

Let us remember how He poured His love out to us on the cross and how He pours out His love to us now when He gives us Himself in the Eucharist, the Eucharist which contains His Heart of burning love. His Heart was pierced with a lance. Her heart was invisibly pierced with a sword. As the wounds in Their Hearts are deep, so too is Their love so deep.

He does not want "surface love". He wants hearts filled with deep burning love.

end of December 27, 1995

        


  

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.

-God's Blue Book, December 27, 1995

 

                God wants our love
                God gives us Himself in the Mass —
                The giving of Jesus to us in the Eucharist is the
                    gift of His great love —
                    We are to return this gift with such love for Him!
                    In this we please God
                    In this we are happy — we are living as we
                    creatures are supposed to — loving God

                We crave to be with God —
                We are to love the will of the Father.
                Our will transformed to His will.
                Mary loved the Father's will
                Jesus showed us how He obeyed the Father's will

   

 

John 8: 28-29

   When you have lifted up the Son of man,
   then you will know that I am He
   and that I do nothing of my own accord.
   What I say
   is what the Father has taught me;
   he who sent me is with me,
   and has not left me to myself,
   for I always do what pleases him.

   

                God is the giver

                We owe praise and love and gratitude to God —
                    God has called the retreats in China
                    and Florida from the building to do
                    this — to give back to God what
                    is His due.

                God gives us the grace to love Him —
                    We must pray for the grace to love God
                    more as we outpour our love to
                    God in adoration and in our lives —

                The greatest act we can do is loving God!!
                We were created for this.
                To grow in love of God — we are to strive to avoid sin —
                We must pursue to be more like God —
                We were created to be pure

 

February 5, 2001

 

Genesis 1:27

God created man in the image of himself,
in the image of God he created him,
male and female he created them.

     

                God tells us about the prodigal son

  

Luke 15: 11-31

Then he said, ‘There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, "Father, let me have the share of the estate that will come to me," So the father divided the property between them. A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery.

When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch; so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs. And he would willingly have filled himself with the husks the pigs were eating but no one would let him have them. Then he came to his senses and said, "How many of my father’s hired men have all the food they want and more, and here am I dying of hunger! I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired men." So he left the place and went back to his father.

‘While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him. Then his son said, : "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son." But the father said to his servants, "Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the calf we have been fattening and kill it; we will celebrate by having a feast, because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found." And they began to celebrate.

‘Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing. Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about. The servant told him, "Your brother has come, and your father has killed the calf we had been fattening because he has got him back safe and sound." He was angry then and refused to go in, and His father came out and began to urge him to come in; but he retorted to his father, "All these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed any orders of yours, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends. But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your propertyhe and his loose womenyou kill the calf we have been fattening.

‘The father said, "My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours. But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.’

     

                Love can decline

                    I can love Suzie Q today and
                        love her less tomorrow
                        less after that etc. —

                Look at the marriages that started in love
                    and ended in divorce

                Mortal sin drives us away from God
                    We must keep growing in our love of God —
                    Spend time before the Blessed Sacrament
                    Do not give into jealousy, anger, lust,
                        envy, seeking dominance for dominance
                        sake

                    Sin is not in accord with the will
                        of God

 

 

 

Excerpt from the Spirituality Handbook

 

Life Within the Church

God calls us to live Christian existence, the spiritual life, within the Church--the Church which Christ has established. This Church is a many splendored reality. It has many different names, images and dimensions that variously attest to and manifest this multifaceted richness. All of them, however, speak of the one, same reality. Here is a message of Jesus which speaks of His Church:

"My beloved priest-companion, remind My people that the Church was born from My Heart, pierced with the soldier's lance on Calvary. From My pierced Heart the Church and her sacraments were born. Two of these sacraments, the Eucharist and Baptism, were symbolized by the blood and water which flowed from My pierced side.

"As the Church was born from My pierced Heart, so does the Church's life grow from the graces I continually give to her from My pierced Heart, this Heart which is now glorified.

"I call all the members of My Church to help build up My Body, the Church, by coming to My pierced Heart. United to My Heart and dwelling within It, I will give to each the light and strength to carry out My Father's will in the building up of My Church.

"Mary is Mother and Model of the Church. As Mother of the Church, she intercedes for all the graces the members need to contribute to the building up of My Church. As Model of the Church, as perfect imitator of Me, she shows the children of the Church how all, individually and collectively, are to be increasingly formed in My image. As all come to My Heart for the building up of My Church, let them do so united in the Heart of Mary.

"My Church is experiencing critical and difficult times. There are many divisions within My Church. There are many false teachings, including some put forth by certain theologians. These false teachings occur because those responsible for such are not in proper union with My vicar, the Pope, and the Church's Magisterium. I want all My children to pray daily for the cure of the many and serious ills of the Church. With the increase of prayers and sacrifices for the health of the Church, that day will soon come when the Church will be purified and revitalized. When that day comes, the renewed Church will be characterized by the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart. Thus the message of Fatima will have reached its completion.

"I am Lord and Master. I request that all My people listen to My words and respond to them. I love My people with a tremendous love and, in this great love, I give them this message!" (Message from Jesus given to Father Carter). (7)

end of excerpt

 

                    The genuine love that God asks us for
                is benevolence — In loving someone
                we wish good for him or her —
                There can be so-called love in which one
                    does not wish good to the person loved
                    but wishes that person's good for themselves!!
                    A selfish — self-centered action —
                        reversal thing —
                        where one actually does not love the other,
                        but wants good for themselves —

                There is to be restraint and discipline in
                    our lives —
                    We see that people can have sex
                        and then want to kill an embryo
                        if they don't want to be pregnant

                Marriage is a gift God gives us —
                    It is sacred — there is to be discipline
                    with regard to sex — not self-indulgence
                    against God's will

 

Matthew 6: 24

‘No one can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or be attached to the first and despise the second...

 

 

 

 

 

        

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