Shepherds of Christ  
       Daily Writing        
 

April 9, 2008

April 10th Holy Spirit Novena
Scripture selection is Day 3 Period I.

The Novena Rosary Mysteries  
for April 10th are Joyful.

 

China Retreat  Rita
April 10, 11, 12, 13
Mass April 10, 11, 12

Mass 8:00am - Thursday
Mass 6:00pm - Friday
Mass 11:00am - Saturday

 

Thursday afternoon - start 1:00pm
Friday afternoon - start 1:00pm

There will be a candlelight rosary
on Friday night.

 

 

April 9, 2008

      

July 31, 1994

Words of Jesus to Members of
Shepherds of Christ Associates:

"My beloved priest-companion, I intend to use the priestly newsletter, Shepherds of Christ, and the movement, Shepherds of Christ Associates, in a powerful way for the renewal of My Church and the world.

"I will use the newsletter and the chapters of Shepherds of Christ Associates as a powerful instrument for spreading devotion to My Heart and My Mother's Heart.

"I am calling many to become members of Shepherds of Christ Associates. To all of them I will give great blessings. I will use them as instruments to help bring about the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart. I will give great graces to the members of Shepherds of Christ Associates. I will call them to be deeply united to My Heart and to Mary's Heart as I lead them ever closer to My Father in the Holy Spirit."

- Message from Jesus to Father Edward J. Carter, S.J., Founder, as given on July 31, 1994,
feast of Saint Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus (The Jesuits)

    

        Jesus asked Peter 3 times "do you
            love me"

        What does it mean to love Jesus?

        It means we recognize God is above us.

        We recognize the truth — we recognize our
            imperfect human nature —

        We are humble and self-giving at heart.
        We want to develop ourselves in greater
            ways of holiness, develop ourselves
            spiritually — preparing ourselves
            for heaven —

        God said — the greatest commandment
            is we are to love.

  

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.'

     

        We experience the goodness of God in
            a person who is loving — who
            is genuinely doing things for
            the honor and glory of God.

        The rule of God's Kingdom is love —
        Love means we recognize truth —
        Love means we don't manipulate others
            to gain power for our old unmet
            needs.

        Love means we have wounds and
            we want God to heal them —

        Love means we obey authority —
        The devil presses on authority —
            Without authority — especially
            recognizing God's authority
            over us — we have big troubles

        Satan is aggressive — when he presses
            on a person and they are in
            desolation then the devil can counsel
            him like the good angel counsels
            one who is in consolation and being
            acted on by the Holy Spirit

        God gave us rules to live by
        God's rules were centered in love, peace
            and justice.

        When one gives of themselves — like Jesus
            dying for us, the Father giving His
            Son, God giving us life — our
            talents — we are to be forever
            grateful to God and recognize
            His gifts to us
            responding in generous love to
                God and to others

            Satan is selfish —
            Satan wants to take over and teach
                others his ways

            The Shepherds of Christ Movement is to
                help renew the Church and the world —

        Did you ever put salt in a wound — it hurts,
            it may cleanse it though —
            When the devil is pressing down to
                keep his ways around with his
                sneaky scheme to block God's work,
                to disobey authority, a spiritual
                director with the vision of
                the Holy Spirit and the plan
                of the Father who tries to unveil the
                workings of satan will be opposed many times.

         Satan works in pride, secrecy
            to mask his lies and
            try to oppose the authority
            or spiritual director.

        When God fills a person with His truth —
            you can see the truth in what God
            is teaching. It will be rooted in the scriptures,
            the commandments, the true doctrines
            of the Catholic faith.

            It is a choice one makes to give into their
        wounded human nature and try to move others
        to thinking that is not the truth. We
        can go against the basic rules of God
        and teach others wrongly through
        unloving, selfish, self-promoting,
        prideful, jealous acts.

            God gave to us the authority of the Church.
            God gave to us the authority of the parents.
            God gave authority to Bishops and priests.

        Christ teaches us that authority is for
            our good. Christ is our friend.
            Christ is head of the Church.
            Christ is King of the Kingdom.

   

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.

 

John 15: 1-8

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that bears no fruit he cuts away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes to make it bear even more. You are clean already, by means of the word that I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself, unless it remains part of the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a branch—and withers; these branches are collected and thrown on the fire and are burnt. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for whatever you please and you will get it. It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much fruit and be my disciples."

end of scripture

     

        If a branch does not stay attached to the
            vine it withers and dies —

        The Father loves us so much —

        The Father, by the name Father, shows
            us He wants good relationships with us and
            He wants to love us and be loved by us.

        Priests are called 'Father', but we are
            not to become slavishly dependent
            on those who are spiritual directors,
            fathers, ones who guide us —
            they help us to be empowered
            spiritually and to be deeply
            united to the vine, Jesus, to love
            the Church, love His Word,
            to be 'other-focused' modeling ourselves
            after Christ.

            God gives to us this special sharing in His
        life at Baptism and He nourishes
        this life with the Eucharist. God lives in the
        graced baptized soul, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

            We were created in the image and likeness
        of God —

 

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.

  

            Adam and Eve sinned
            God gave us life —
            God wants us to love
            Love Him and love each other

            We cannot use others who help us
                and try to make them slavishly
                dependent on us — we must
                be stronger and stronger in
                Christ — like strong branches
                rooted in the vine.

            We must love individuals who sin,
        but we don't condone what they do.
        We love all the souls Jesus died for
        even though we do not agree with
        what they may be saying and doing.
        God is just, it is up to us to discern
        what is according to God's will, but
        still love those doing wrong things and
        praying deeply for their conversion —
        praying they will live by the truth.
        We must love groups of people even
        when they have done wrong. We are
        called in the Shepherds of Christ to help
        strengthen the body of Christ with our lives
        lived in greater holiness and praying
        for all the souls of this earth as we do.

            We are to teach others through our works
        the truth about God's love, that He is
        like we write about in these writings —
        most loving, and tender of Heart.

            We see our heavenly Father as a Father,
        one who is loving us.

           

1 John 4: 17-21

Love comes to its perfection in us when we can face the Day of Judgement fearlessly, because even in this world we have become as he is. In love there is no room for fear, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear implies punishment and no one who is afraid has come to perfection in love. Let us love, then, because he first loved us. Anyone who says 'I love God' and hates his brother, is a liar, since whoever does not love the brother whom he can see cannot love God whom he has not seen. Indeed this is the commandment we have received from him, that whoever loves God, must also love his brother.

end of scripture

          

            When we are abused by others who are
        unloving and jealous, prideful, we
        can spend time thinking of how we
        are children of the Father, He loves
        us so much — He created us and
        He wants our friendship with Him —
        God the Father wants our love — He wants
        us to live by His plan — He wants us
        to turn our wills and our lives over to Him.

            God gives us families to have relationships.
        We come from a father and mother and
        most of us have brothers and sisters —
        God wants this family joined in love.
        God allows the parents to co-create
        the children. How beautiful it is we
        can say — "my son looks like me" or
        "my granddaughter looks like my daughter
        she reminds me of when my daughter
        was two —"

            How tender is our God —
            God wants love —
            God wants gratitude

            Too often men respond to God with
        anger — 'they didn't get enough' — blaming
        God for the imperfections of others who
        hurt them and their own sinful choices
        and consequences. We, in the Shepherds
        of Christ, are to tell people how
        God loves them and wants to be
        friends with them, but God is over us
        and must be obeyed — We ourselves must
        obey authority and live by His Plan, His
        vision for the Shepherds of Christ.

            Look at the mess because Adam and Eve
        disobeyed God.

            When we love someone we wish
        good for them. God wants good for
        us. God wants us in heaven with
        Him forever — God loves us so much —
        When we love others — we want good
        for them — when we act in imperfect
        ways of jealousy, envy, pride this results
        in not wishing good for others —
        Because of our wounded human
        nature we - instead of wanting good
        for others — can be slavishly dependent —
        wanting to control others — even hating
        them so much through giving into
        jealousy and envy and pride,
        man can hurt others with sinful,
        premediated traps to punish
        others and not wish the other good
        as God desires. God calls us to live in
        a certain vocation. We are pleasing Him
        doing so according to God's will in love.
        Punishing others out of jealousy and
        envy is evil.

            We can become greedy, abusive,
        hurting others' vocations using
        them for selfish wounds we
        may have suffered, projecting our
        unfinished business on innocent others.

            Christ loved and they put Him
        to death. The prophets were punished —
        they acted many times like salt in
        the wound. Many do not want to
        take a stand and stand up for what will
        make them more like Jesus. If we are
        acting like Christ in this secular
        world, many may ridicule us.

        Dear God — please make us holy —
            help us to be like Jesus.

 

Isaiah 52: 13 - 53: 12

Look, my servant will prosper,
will grow great, will rise to great heights.

As many people were aghast at him
—he was so inhumanly disfigured
that he no longer looked like a man—
so many nations will be astonished
and kings will stay tight–lipped
    before him,
seeing what had never been told them,
learning what they had not heard before.
Who has given credence
    to what we have heard?
And who has seen in it
    a revelation of Yahweh’s arm?
Like a sapling he grew up before him,
like a root in arid ground.
He had no form or charm to attract us,
no beauty to win our hearts; 
he was despised, the lowest of men,
a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering,
one from whom, as it were,
   we averted our gaze,
despised, for whom we had no regard.
Yet ours were the sufferings
   he was bearing,
ours the sorrows he was carrying,
while we thought of him
   as someone being punished
and struck with affliction by God;
whereas he was being wounded
   for our rebellions,
crushed because of our guilt;
the punishment reconciling us fell on him,
and we have been healed by his bruises.
We had all gone astray like sheep,
each taking his own way,
and Yahweh brought the acts of rebellion
of all of us to bear on him.
Ill-treated and afflicted,
he never opened his mouth,
like a lamb led to the slaughter-house,
like a sheep dumb before its shearers
he never opened his mouth.

Forcibly, after sentence, he was taken.
Which of his contemporaries
   was concerned
at his having been cut off
   from the land of the living,
at his having been struck dead
   for his people’s rebellion?
He was given a grave with the wicked,
and his tomb is with the rich,
although he had done no violence,
had spoken no deceit.

It was Yahweh’s good pleasure
   to crush him with pain;
if he gives his life as a sin offering,
he will see his offspring
   and prolong his life,
and through him
   Yahweh’s good pleasure will be done.

After the ordeal he has endured,
he will see the light and be content.
By his knowledge, the upright one,
   my servant will justify many
by taking their guilt on himself.

Hence I shall give him a portion
    with the many,
and he will share the booty
    with the mighty,
for having exposed himself to death
and for being counted
    as one of the rebellious,
whereas he was bearing the sin of many
and interceding for the rebellious.

 

Psalm 63: 1-2

God, you are my God, I pine for you;
my heart thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
as a land parched, dreary and waterless.
Thus I have gazed on you in the sanctuary,
seeing your power and your glory.

 


 

 

        

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