Shepherds of Christ  
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April 27, 2007

April 28th Holy Spirit Novena
Scripture selection is Day 6 Period II.

The Novena Rosary Mysteries  
for April 28th are Joyful.

 

 

Come to May 5th in Florida!

Rita Ring will be there.

Special graces are granted on the 5th.

It is important that we gather and pray together

or please tune in to the radio at 6:20 pm!

 

                  

Retreat in China

will be May 10th - 13th.

Please come and pray!!

 

 

The 90th Anniversary of Fatima

is May 13, 2007.

There will be a big celebration.

Come to China!!

                     

 

 

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Light, Happiness and Peace

by Fr. John J. Pasquini 

pp. 36-38

 

 

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Priestly Newsletter Book I

by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.

   

 

 

Shepherds of Christ

Priestly Newsletter

November/December 1994

 

Act of Consecration

Dear Blessed Virgin Mary, I consecrate myself to your maternal and Immaculate Heart, this Heart which is symbol of your life and love. You are the Mother of my Savior. You are also my Mother. You love me with the most special love as this unique priest-son. In 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, who leads me to the Father in the Holy Spirit.

 

Chief Shepherd of the Flock

“I am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd is one who lays down His life for His sheep. The hired man, since he is not the shepherd and the sheep do not belong to him, abandons the sheep and runs away as soon as he sees a wolf coming, and then the wolf attacks and scatters the sheep. This is because he is only a hired man and has no concern for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd. I know My own and My own know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father. And I lay down My life for My sheep.” (Jn 10: 11-151).

Yes, the Good Shepherd has laid down His life for His sheep. The Good Shepherd’s magnificent Heart, overflowing with love for His Father and all of us, was pierced so that the waters of our salvation might flow forth: “It was Preparation Day, and to prevent the bodies remaining on the cross during the sabbath—since that sabbath was a day of special solemnity—the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken away. Consequently the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with him and then of the other. When they came to Jesus, they found he was already dead, and so instead of breaking his legs one of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance. And immediately there came out blood and water.” (Jn 19: 31-34).

Bonaventure, the Franciscan saint and doctor of the Church, comments on the pierced Heart of the Good Shepherd: “Then, in order that the Church might be formed out of the side of Christ sleeping on the cross…the divine plan permitted that one of the soldiers pierce open His sacred side with a lance. While blood mixed with water flowed, the price of our salvation was poured forth, which gushing forth from the sacred fountain of the heart gave power to the sacraments of the Church…”2

Another doctor of the Church, St. Augustine, also refers to the source of life which is the pierced Heart of Jesus: “On the cross he made a great exchange. There the purse which held our price was opened, for when the soldier’s spear opened his side, the price of the whole world flowed forth.”3

Finally, we have the words of the Church herself concerning the pierced Heart of Jesus. In the preface for the Mass of the Sacred Heart we read in part: “Lifted high on the cross, Christ gave his life for us, so much did he love us. From his wounded side flowed blood and water, the fountain of sacramental life in the Church. To his open heart the Savior invites all…to draw water in joy from the springs of salvation.”4

Yes, the Church reminds us that Jesus the Good Shepherd invites all to come to His open Heart, this Heart which symbolizes His love and calls for our love in return. The Church invites all to come to Jesus’ pierced Heart in order to be clothed with the graces which the Heart of Jesus longs to give us in abundance. We priests have the privilege and responsibility to lead the members of Jesus’ flock to the pierced Heart of Jesus in order that they may be showered with the graces which are necessary for their salvation and ongoing sanctification. As a good shepherd under Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the Flock, the priest has to lead the sheep to the only source of true nourishment, the pierced Heart of Christ. The more we priests ourselves dwell within the pierced Heart of Jesus, as the Church invites all to do, the more we are able to lead others to this sacred refuge and source of all spiritual nourishment. As we ourselves dwell within the pierced Heart of Jesus, Christ gives us an increased awareness of how much He loves each person with the most special and unique love. Jesus has chosen each priest to be a most special ambassador to spread the message of this overwhelming love of His Heart for each individual. The more we priests ourselves grow in the awareness of how much Jesus loves each of us as His priest-companions, the more we are able to teach to others the truth of Jesus’ special love for each individual. And the more we priests realize how much Jesus wants the love of each individual, the more we are also able to teach His truth to others.

Jesus suffered and died for the entire human race, but He did it in a manner which makes it true to say He also did it for each individual in a most special way. Notice how personalized St. Paul makes the redemptive suffering and death and love of Jesus. In the letter to the Galatians he does not use the plural, but the singular: “I have been crucified with Christ, and the life I live now is not my own; Christ is living in me. I still live my human life, but it is a life of faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2: 19-20).

  

Promises of Our Lord & Rahner’s Commentary

The following promises of Our Lord were given to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque regarding those who are devoted to His Heart. Following the promises is Karl Rahner’s commentary on the same.

  1. I will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life.
  2. I will establish peace in their homes.
  3. I will comfort them in all their afflictions.
  4. I will be their secure refuge during life, and above all in death.
  5. I will bestow abundant blessings. upon all their undertakings.
  6. Sinners shall find in My Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
  7. Lukewarm souls shall become fervent.
  8. Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection.
  9. I will bless every place in which an image of My Heart is exposed and honored.
  10. I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts.
  11. Those who promote this devotion shall have their names written in My Heart, never to be blotted out.
  12. I promise you in the excessive mercy of My Heart that My all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on the First Fridays in nine consecutive months the grace of final penitence; they shall not die in My disgrace, nor without receiving their Sacraments. My Divine Heart shall be their refuge.9

Here is Rahner’s commentary regarding these promises: “Taken in their entirety, these promises affirm and offer no more than our Lord promised in the Gospel to absolute faith…What is new in these promises is therefore not their content, but the circumstances of their fulfillment, the fact that what has already been promised in substance in the Gospels is now attached precisely to devotion to the Sacred Heart. To anyone with a grasp of the devotion, who practices it in the deep unconditional faith that it demands, this ‘new’ element in the promises will offer no special problem.”10

  ___________________

NOTES

  1. Scriptural quotations are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, Doubleday & Co.
  2. Bonaventure, tr. by E. Cousins, Paulist Press, pp. 154-155.
  3. The Liturgy of the Hours, Catholic Book Publishing Co., Vol. IV, 1727.
  4. The Sacramentary, Catholic Book Publishing Co., p. 463.

     9. Alban Dachauer, S.J., The Sacred Heart, Bruce Pub., pp. 147-148.
   10. Karl Rahner, S.J., as in The Heart of the Redeemer, Trinity Communications, p. 140.

   

 

 

In Imitation of Two Hearts

by Fr. John J. Pasquini

 

 

 

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                We want to help souls to get to heaven.

                Jesus died.

            In His infinite love He wanted His precious souls to
                go to heaven.

            God wants us to love Him.
            God wants us to help souls to get to heaven.

             St. Joseph Patron of the Universal Church help us.

            From the sterile, the barren, the small —
                God works His marvelous plan —
                We are called to be faithful.
                We are tested to see if we will say yes.

           God's plan is different from our limited vision.

           God always calls us to choose life —
                see the tension between life and death
                choose - life in Him.

            God gives us new - life through the sacraments
                of baptism —

            In the beginning
                      God created the heavens and the earth
                      God created the light and the darkness
                      God created the sky and the waters.
                      God created the plants
                      God created the birds.
                      God created the animals, the fish of the sea.

 

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 shows us the pride and disobedience of man in
                  the garden.

            God shows us how Eve was taken from the side of the man, Adam.
            The Church was born from the side of Christ.

            Eve ate the Apple —

            Eve got Adam to eat the apple.

            Mary - the New Eve
                is called by God to bear the New Adam —
                    the God made man.

            Mary's heart is the heart of a woman gentle, kind, loving.

            Mary is Jesus' mother. Jesus was a baby. Jesus is the Son of God.

            Jesus' Sacred Heart was formed in a woman.

            From the pierced side of Christ the Church was born.

            Jesus wants Mary to be Mother of the Church.

            God made men and women different.
                A woman bears and nurses the babies.

 

                 

John 19: 31-37

It was the Day of Preparation, and to avoid the bodies’ remaining on the cross during the Sabbath—since that Sabbath was a day of special solemnity—the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken away. Consequently the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with him and then of the other. When they came to Jesus, they saw he was already dead, and so instead of breaking his legs one of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance; and immediately there came out blood and water. This is the evidence of one who saw it—true evidence, and he knows that what he says is true—and he gives it so that you may believe as well. Because all this happened to fulfil the words of scripture:

Not one bone of his will be broken;

and again, in another place scripture says:

They will look to the one
   whom they have pierced.

 

           

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Excerpt from Mother at Our Side by Fr. Edward Carter, S.J.

 

thirteen

St. Joseph 

... the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him." Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. (Mt. 2:13-14).

Since St. Joseph is the Patron of the Universal Church, it is fitting that we place this chapter on Joseph immediately after our chapters on the Church and the Church's liturgy.

The above Scripture passage reminds us that Joseph was the protector of Jesus and Mary. Being the foster father of Jesus and the husband of Mary, Joseph had the extraordinary privilege and responsibility of taking care of them.

Because of his privileged position regarding Jesus and Mary, Joseph's role in Christianity is both powerful and diverse. Besides being Patron of the Universal Church, he also has many other titles. In the Litany of St. Joseph he is invoked as patron of workers, families, virgins, the sick, and the dying. In papal documents and by popular acclaim he has been hailed as patron of prayer and the interior life, of the poor, of those in authority, fathers, priests and religious, travelers, and because of his closeness to Our Lady, as patron of devotion to Mary.30

Let us ask Joseph—this man who enjoyed extraordinary intimacy with Christ and Our Blessed Mother—to aid us in coming closer to Jesus and Mary. Let us ask Joseph, patron of prayer and the interior life, to help us develop that spirit of silence and prayer which is so necessary if we wish to grow in union with Christ and Mary our Mother.

Joseph will aid us in focusing our attention more and more upon Jesus and Mary. He is a powerful intercessor who desires to help us live out our daily consecration to the Heart of Christ and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In Joseph we have a great model in what constitutes this gift of self. Each day he committed himself to Christ and the Blessed Virgin. His gift of self was extraordinary.

St. Teresa of Avila, one of the greatest teachers of the spiritual life, had an outstanding devotion to St. Joseph:

"I do not remember ever having asked anything of St. Joseph that he did not grant me, nor can I think without wonder of the graces God has given me through His intercession, nor of the dangers of soul or body from which he has delivered me."31

____________

30.  New Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: McGraw Hill Book Company, 1967), Vol. VII, p. 1111.
        31.  Michael  Gasnier, O.P., Joseph the Silent (New York: Kennedy & Sons, 1962),  p. 9.

  

 

From Priestly Newsletter 1998 Issue 5

Mother at Our Side

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

Yes, the Good Shepherd has laid down His life for us. As He was near death, an awesome episode in the work of redemption took place: 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 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 moment the disciple made a place for her in his home." (Jn 19:25-27).

Speaking of Mary, Vatican II tells us: "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." 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.

Yes, Jesus has given us Mary as our spiritual Mother. As He hung on the cross, Jesus told John to look upon Mary as his Mother, this John who represented all of us. In His moment of deepest anguish and suffering, Jesus was thinking of us. As the undescribable physical pain racked His body from head to toe, as the unfathomable spiritual anguish penetrated to the depths of His magnificent 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, sorrow, and tenderness of the scene.

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: "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 her loving, maternal role, Mary cooperates with the Holy Spirit in forming Christ in us. Pope John Paul II tells us: "The Church knows 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." 6

This is the awesome and consoling truth-you and I are very precious to Mary. She shows us her Heart as a symbol of her life of love, including her most special, unique love for each of us individually. Yes, she loves each of 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, she asks us to come to her maternal and Immaculate Heart, so that she can lead us ever closer to the Heart of her Son, Jesus.

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 especially 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.

Yes, Mary 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!"

______________

NOTES

  1. Scriptural quotations are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, Doubleday & Co.
  2. The Documents of Vatican II, "Dogmatic Constitution on the Church", America Press edition, no. 61
  3. Ibid., No. 45.
  4. Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Letter, The Mother of the Redeemer, United States Catholic Conference, No. 38.
  5. Ibid., No. 45.
  6. Ibid., No. 45.

 

 

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           Our life is to be lived to do God's will in
                love.

            Fr. Carter always said
                "not too much"
                "not too little"

            Doing God's will in love.

            One of the problems can be where somebody
                thinks -

                "all black"

                "all white"

            We must want all our relationships as
                God wants them.

                All our strength being other-focused —
                     not inward and full of self pity —
                     self-focused

                    Seeing through the eyes of Jesus
                        looking out upon the world.

                    Not focused inward — not seeing the world —
                        only seeing ourselves.

                    A man had a calling to go out and
                        spread the Good News —
                        every time he had the opportunity —
                            a bird would come and drop
                            on him

                    so he just kept feeling frustrated,
                        cleaning up and going home.

                    At long last he went to his death and
                        he met Jesus and Jesus said "why did
                        the frustration of a bird stop you."

                    He said he was blind — he focused on
                        himself and got angry — all his life
 

                    energy became negative
                    looking only inward.

           A man had a big book of instructions to
                assemble a "gismoe"  — he was
                overwhelmed and felt like quitting —
                soon he learned all of the words of the
                instruction book and it became
                easier because the book was not
                unknown to him, but known.

            A lady went into a room — She spoke
                only English and every one in there
                spoke only French.
                Soon she began to understand some things —
                the mystery was taken out of it —
                she stayed and learned and interacted —
                she could have run away.

           To go in the door —

           To be engaged to do the will of God
                      in love.

           To do the next thing — being able to
                 leave when the time is to do
                 something else — to go back and
                 unite, building on what went
                 before — not acting like the well
                 was dry — when it was full of
                 water from previous rains — even
                 though they didn't happen 2
                 minutes ago.

           Some people want to possess another —
                Unity is why we were created to
                be in one mind and one heart
                but he must go his way when God
                wants this and I must go this way
                when God wants that. —

                What is the lesson (one of them) I learn from
            Abraham and Isaac —

                   Abraham was tested before he had
            descendants as numerous as the stars
            of the sky —

                Whenever God calls us to something big
            we may be tested to see if we will
            do it or if under pressure we will
            abandon the mission.

                A man had 7 sons and all wanted
            to be priests — one by one they died and
            the old man was left alone —

                He said to God, why did this happen
            to me, I have served You and loved You
            and my children wanted to be priests
            to help build your Kingdom.

                           We never know why God may snatch
                    a person in the prime of life. My
                    mom was 48, her brothers, sister, and
                    Mother lived to be 90 and more
                    and her Father died in the middle
                    seventies, but my mom was very close
                    to Jesus, her prayer book worn like the
                    piano music she played, she went to daily Mass —
                    she met my dad when he served at Mass —
                    she was "my saint Alice." My dad said
                    that Jesus loved her so much — he wanted her
                    with Him.

                        Now a child loves their mom and dad deeply,
                    but when I was five the most important
                    person in my life taken away and my dad
                    withdrew and had a "nervous breakdown" but
                    he sent me to Church, he told me about
                    Jesus, we began to pray nightly, we prayed the
                    rosary and I knew it very young — I loved
                    the rosary and meditating on Jesus' life.

                        When other children knew the love of their
                    real parents — I was given the ache in my
                    heart from my mom's death and my family took that
                    ache and told me about heaven, the Eucharist,
                    the Church, I sought to fill my yearning heart
                    crushed at the death of my mom with Jesus,
                    they all led me this way, my dad really prayed,
                    he led us to Mass, the world was different — my
                    loving heart had a corner here below knocked
                    off of it and I had to reach for the mystical then
                    to survive this tragedy.

                        Do you see "not too much" — "not too little"
                    for me, I knew mom who got cancer when I
                    was so little and Jesus gave me my mom to
                    love me until I was 5 here below and he took
                    her home at 48. He sent Our Lady to appear to me
                    when I was 48 and I met Fr. Carter too and went
                    to his Mass daily.

                        God does that — look at Abraham — He tested
                    him then He made his descendants as numerous
                    as the stars of the sky.

                        I know in my life, God has taught me to love
                    deeply those around me, but to reach for my
                    strength in Him, always wanting to be satisfied
                    to some degree in love — learning more and more
                    the magnificence of God's Power, God's love —
                    loving souls — being other focused — not self-
                    focused —

                        On January 17, 1994 I got my first message about
                    leading the priests to the Eucharist —

                        That day in two minutes I got this prayer

 

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

 

 

                        To be possessed by God
                        Oh God that is my delight
                        To love You for You

                        To seek You ever more
                        To love Your precious souls You died for
                        To beg You to keep me for this mission
                        Because I love the priests, the Church and the world.

                    Let's not focus on the negative —
                    Who could ever exhaust the workings of satan —
                    Do you grab a snake that is hissing at you and you count
                    its stripes — I DON'T

                    I stay away from the jungle
                    I treed where the flowers grow
                    I feast on the beauty of the ocean

                    A person went out because they were tense inside and
                        grumpy, wounded — they looked for things
                        to blame their discontent on

                    If an angel of the Lord appeared they would say —
                        see how snow covers a street —
                        when the snow plows come —
                        you can pass

                    Let the snow plows go down the street
                    Let the Light of the Son of God clean the debris in your heart
                    Let a sweeper come and get anger from the walls of your
                        precious heart.

                    Then you will not be so tense to blame and
                        look at the black, dark things —

                    Open your heart to the Light of the Son of God
                        Let joy fill your angry heart —
                        Pray for grace to heal.

                    Help me God not to give into the impurities of
                        my wounded human nature, but love
                        You to purely love You

                    To love souls, to purely want souls to go to heaven —
                    To have a heart like Mary —
                    A heart that suffered, struggled, but was pure,
                        sinless, loving

                    There is but one path to greater holiness —
                    It is following God's will — the way He wants —
                    In that lies our peace

                    There is not room for giving into jealousy and pride
                        in a heart dedicated to Jesus —
                    Jealousy and pride can block God's work when
                    we impurely try to control others for our
                    selfish gain.

                        We want to willingly follow God's plan —
                        In this lies our productivity —
                        We submit to our vocation in love —
                        We see ourselves — all as part of God's family
                        Created by God for a purpose
                        Not being inordinately attached to anyone or thing
                        We want God's will

                    Song:  God's Love

  

 

 

Order your prayers and meditations

 

 

Authenticity

 

 

                    Song:  Give me Your Heart Oh Jesus

 

Acts 9: 1-20

Meanwhile Saul was still breathing threats to slaughter the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and asked for letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, that would authorise him to arrest and take to Jerusalem any followers of the Way, men or women, that he might find.

It happened that while he was travelling to Damascus and approaching the city, suddenly a light from heaven shone all round him. He fell to the ground, and then he heard a voice saying, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?' 'Who are you, Lord?' he asked, and the answer came, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you are to do.' The men travelling with Saul stood there speechless, for though they heard the voice they could see no one. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing at all, and they had to lead him into Damascus by the hand. For three days he was without his sight and took neither food nor drink.

There was a disciple in Damascus called Ananias, and he had a vision in which the Lord said to him, 'Ananias!' When he replied, 'Here I am, Lord,' the Lord said, 'Get up and go to Straight Street and ask at the house of Judas for someone called Saul, who comes from Tarsus. At this moment he is praying, and has seen a man called Ananias coming in and laying hands on him to give him back his sight.'

But in response, Ananias said, 'Lord, I have heard from many people about this man and all the harm he has been doing to your holy people in Jerusalem. He has come here with a warrant from the chief priests to arrest everybody who invokes your name.' The Lord replied, 'Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to bring my name before gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for my name.' Then Ananias went. He entered the house, and laid his hands on Saul and said, 'Brother Saul, I have been sent by the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, so that you may recover your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.' It was as though scales fell away from his eyes and immediately he was able to see again. So he got up and was baptised, and after taking some food he regained his strength.

After he had spent only a few days with the disciples in Damascus, he began preaching in the synagogues, 'Jesus is the Son of God.'

 

 

   

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Special Offer

 

Fr. John J. Pasquini's book

Light, Happiness and Peace

$5.00 plus postage

 

Call Glaci

1-888-211-3041 

 

For this one time special offer we offer these
books so you can spread these special prayers.
 

 

The book Light Happiness and Peace is a

companion to the

Authenticity book of prayers —

it is a masterpiece —

 

 

      

$5.00 plus postage

 

This will help spread these beautiful

writings and prayers.

 

This will help us with the Newsletter.

 

 

 

 

Giclee Art Print

Canvas Stretched on a wood frame

Print is suitable for direct hanging

12 x 16  -  $150.00

18 x 24  -  $200.00

Call Glaci

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Crucifix - hand carved by Felix

who carved the crucifix  22'

at the Virgin Mary building.

 

   

 


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