June 4, 2017 - Pentecost 

 

                R. Love never dies. God loves us so much and
                He elevates our loving capacity in baptism.
                Love goes on in eternity.
                Love is everlasting. Love given to help
                the world be more Christic in the image
                of Jesus goes on after we have left this
                world.

                    Love Fr. Carter gave in beginning this
                Movement and giving us the Prayers of
                devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary goes
                on even though Fr. Carter has been dead over
                16 years. I remember his teachings about
                love and God's will he gave me. He spent
                time every day celebrating Mass, hearing my
                confession, listening and helping me get
                the Blue Books published. God knew He
                would give me Fr. Carter and he communicated
                to me in St. Ignatian retreats what the Mission
                was as God gave to him for the Shepherds of Christ.
                Fr. Carter communicated, he supported, he went out
                as Jesus called him to do. As co-founder I
                was told the Mission from God and I shared
                with Fr. Carter my spiritual director. Fr. Carter
                spent so much of his last 6 years launching
                this Mission to go on after his death. He was
                motivated, he was sure, like the Tell My People
                Messages – He sent the Priestly Newsletter to 75,000
                priests and hierarchy every other month – When
                people who were to help him distracted him he
                stopped that relationship and he continued
                focusing on God's Plan for the Movement.
                The Falmouth Farm, the visionaries from the
                Holy Spirit Center, the arguing and darkness of those
                called – trying to force Fr. Carter to put up with
                antics did not stop him from removing
                himself from that and moving ahead with
                the solid Plan God had given him. He
                spent lots of time listening on the way
                to China almost daily so I knew that
                God was speaking clearly to me. It was
                over 3 hours Monday thru Friday. He taught
                me to do God's will not too much, not too little.
                He taught me discipline and order and
                direction His plan was for the Shepherds of Christ
                to reach the whole world with the prayers,
                the Priestly Newsletter and the messages
                Jesus and Mary gave to me.

                    When a soul is full of love, the Holy Spirit dwells
                in the soul. When the Holy Spirit dwells in a
                soul He pours love into that soul.

                    How much love in a soul depends on the
                outpouring of love from the Holy Spirit – pouring
                love in the soul and growing more and
                more in the relationship of the Holy Spirit on
                the soul. So we ask the Holy Spirit to come and
                possess our soul. We ask the Holy Spirit for an
                increase of the infused virtues in our
                soul – for our soul to be more perfected
                in love. We beg the Holy Spirit for His gifts in
                our soul. We are the soul waiting the
                favor, the Movement, the possess of our
                soul from God the Holy Spirit.

                    When Jesus walked the earth – we hear
                in the scriptures how Jesus' enemies
                challenged Jesus, tried to trip Him up as
                He was before others. The devil hates God
                giving gifts to a prophet. The devil uses
                people to challenge and try to bring down
                the man given gifts and prophesy from
                God.

                    God the Holy Spirit wants to fill us with His life
                in us – outpour grace in our soul, help
                us to be instruments of love. God is
                love. God gives us a share in His loving
                activity in baptism. We seek to be
                possessed more and more with the Holy Spirit
                working in us. The Holy Spirit helps our soul
                to be more and more perfected in Him.
                We are to give ourselves in love – constantly
                like a person practicing to play a piece
                of music and to harmonize with others living
                under the direction of the conductor –
                A person who is filled with the Holy Spirit sees the
                goal of his existence to be eternally loving
                in heaven and therefore is practicing
                here below as he lives his days in love
                with others, as God calls him and
                he exists eternally loving in the embrace
                of the Trinity in heaven.

                    What a flop it would be for one to
                do a concert in music having never
                played the music and did everything else
                willfully rather than listen to the
                director. It would sure be a sour note
                of great discord like a note that sounds
                loud in such discord among the backdrop
                of those many, playing in unison in the
                concert.

                    We were created to eternally live in
                heaven and see God face to face.
                God is love. God is light and in Him
                is no darkness. There are no imperfections
                in heaven. God is perfect love. God
                is all powerful – God is perfection –
                Being possessed by the Holy Spirit brings
                more and more perfection in the soul
                and so it is behoving to beg the Holy Spirit
                to constantly be the Guest of our soul.

                    God wants our acts of love given
                to Him and others. Acts of love
                bring down great merit for our souls.
                In loving we are most likened to God and
                we were created for this that is why
                acts of love can bring down such merit.
                We were created in the image and likeness
                of God. God commands us to love – It is
                pleasing to God when we love. Look
                at Jesus on the cross – look at the pure
                gift of His love. Love is the greatest
                of the virtues. Love in the soul
                moves the soul to be more perfected
                in the other virtues. Love impels
                a person to seek to serve God – to give to God –
                to serve others in their vocation and to
                be a giving person in their vocation –
                giving in great joy to serve God.

                    Did you ever see a child told to pick up
                their room instead of playing – They may
                show with such resistance their dislike
                of being told to work rather than play –

                    A person who understands authority
                and love and directions has learned to
                serve diligently by motivation in moving
                under just authority, another may strut,
                stamper and not produce what they
                were asked to give at all because they
                have practiced "not giving" while
                the first is compelled to give by love in
                their hearts.

                    Giving as God is calling us to do
                in joy and love is what love is
                about –

 

Definition of Love

The definition of love used by Father Carter is as follows.

Love is the gift of self to promote the true good of those loved. He states the reception of love is the receiving of the gift of the other, so my good will be promoted. 

 

                R. If God calls a person to do something
                and they resist before others under them,
                showing up with intimidation, late,
                being busy with other things, distracting
                what is to be done to sabotage it –
                the practice of giving love shows the
                rebellion of one holding out and
                disharmony much like the immature
                child that hasn't learned to obey
                the 4th commandment.

                    We are to learn to be a "giver". To
                have an attitude that we are to know,
                love and serve God. We are to
                model our lives after Mary, the
                perfect handmaid of the Lord.
                We are to grow in the image of
                Jesus – look at how He willingly
                gave Himself in the bitter passion
                and on the cross. What a price
                Jesus, the Son of God, paid to teach
                us about giving. To give in love is to be
                like Jesus. To give in love is what we
                need to practice as the Holy Spirit possesses
                our soul and we give love to God in
                our giving to others and serving God.

                    Acts of love bring down great
                merit for our eternal salvation –
                We serve satan when we practice
                hatred and holding back – show
                others how we can demonstrate an
                attitude of rebellion – not showing up
                when asked by authority to go along –
                displaying a late entrance, letting
                every one see our dismay and
                disharmony and rebellion –

                    The Father wants to send the Holy Spirit
                to help us, to be our Advocate
                in virtue, to fill us with love
                and help us practice giving love to
                others.

                    God the Father so loved the world He gave
                His only begotten Son. The person who loves
                gives – gives gifts – gifts of oneself
                as God calls them to give – love is
                the gift of giving oneself as God
                commands us to do. The Holy Spirit is the
                Love of God. The Holy Spirit is the Gift of God!

                    Jesus is the gift of all gifts. The
                heavenly Father gave His Son. Abraham
                was tested to see if he would give his son.
                Jesus teaches us about intimate love –
                He gives Himself in the Eucharist,
                Body and Blood. Jesus teaches us
                about this gift of Himself – He
                gives us His body and blood.

                    The Gift of God in our souls
                is the Holy Spirit. We pray for this
                possession of the Holy Spirit in our soul.
                God commands us to love. The
                gift of love is the Holy Spirit in our souls.

                    Satan is the evil spirit. Satan wants
                to get us to give into him. To disobey
                authority, structure – to strut around
                in a dark cloud, to hold out, to   
                rebel before others. The gift of giving
                love is not practiced when satan is
                the counselor. The attitude is hatred,
                anger, envy, jealousy, slothfulness –
                the person allows the darkness
                of satan to be the ruler of the
                spirit in them.

                    You can tell satan gives lots of negative
                dark, secretive energy to hold out,
                trick, watch people suffer –
                to seek power over authority, to
                operate in pride and lies and
                with this being dominant in the
                heart and soul comes a hard
                heart, not like the Heart of Jesus
                at all. Depriving oneself of the Divine
                love of God in their hearts and souls and
                disobeying the commandments of God
                to give love distances a person
                from God as they oppose God's
                will and they grow in greater and
                greater anger and darkness –
                they don't want to give –
                they want to show the attitude
                of holding back and refusing
                giving with love and joy.

                    When one has the Holy Spirit as
                the Guest of their soul – they seek
                possession of God the Holy Spirit, the
                Gift of God in the soul, the gift
                of love – When a man is filled of
                grace in his soul – he has the
                indwelling of the Father, Son and
                Holy Spirit in him. He seeks to
                be more and more loving in his
                actions. Love gives – we see Jesus
                taught us ultimately the gift of love
                when He died for our sins on the cross.
                Love is giving! God is love. When
                we seek the relationship of
                intimacy with God, we seek
                greater knowledge in relationship
                with the Persons of the Trinity:
                Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We seek
                to be more and more in the image of God
                for this is how we were created
                and our actions are those of love –
                God is love –               

1 John 4: 7-11

My dear friends, let us love one another, since love is from God and everyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. Whoever fails to love does not know God, because God is love. This is the revelation of God's love for us, that God sent his only Son into the world that we might have life through him. Love consists in this: it is not we who loved God, but God loved us and sent his Son to expiate our sins. My dear friends, if God loved us so much, we too should love one another.

 

                R. God gives Himself to us. Jesus gives
                    Himself in the Eucharist.

                Gift means something is given.
                There is interaction between the
                giver and the one to which something
                is given.

                To live independently where we don't
                communicate or share ourselves
                with others is not a relationship.
                The giver doesn't hold back and
                punish a person with another's
                gift to hurt others. How twisted
                is this.

                God gives us His Movement to give
                this gift, His writings, His
                prayers to others. It is our
                gift from God to give to others.
                This is our vocation here – To deliver
                the prayers, the homilies, the
                messages of Jesus and Mary, the writings
                of Fr. Carter to help souls to know
                about God and His Plan for
                us. To help teach people to pray.
                To help people to know God and
                love Him more and more.

                It is a gift from God – the Virgin
                Mary building, the waters, the
                Church in China all the materials
                to give to others from God for
                the renewal of the Church and
                the world.

 

Through Him, With Him, In Him

 

October 13, 1994

The Birth of the Full Ministries
of the Shepherds of Christ

    "I wish to share with you part of a message which Jesus gave us on October 13, 1994. The message tells us about the expansion of the Shepherds of Christ movement:

    'My beloved priest-companion, today I come to you with another mission. I am asking you to establish Shepherds of Christ Ministries. At My request you have already begun the priestly newsletter, "Shepherds of Christ", and the prayer chapters, Shepherds of Christ Associates...

    'I am giving you this message on this day, the 77th Anniversary of the Great Apparition at Fatima, because of the close connection between the Shepherds of Christ movement and the Fatima message. The Fatima message is centered in devotion to My Heart and My Mother's Heart, especially in consecration to Our Hearts. Shepherds of Christ Ministries is also centered in devotion to Our Hearts. I will use Shepherds of Christ Ministries as a great instrument in helping to bring about the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart. When this occurs, My Church and the world will be experiencing the great era of peace promised by My Mother at Fatima.

    'Today, then, October 13, 1994, the 77th Anniversary of the Great Apparition at Fatima, marks the birth of Shepherds of Christ Ministries. I pour forth the great love of My Sacred Heart to all. I am Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the flock.'

    "Jesus has told us that Shepherds of Christ Ministries includes: the priestly newsletter, Shepherds of Christ, Shepherds of Christ Associates prayer chapters, various publications, including books, whatever else Our Lord directs us to undertake.

    "As members of Shepherds of Christ Associates, you are an extremely important part of Shepherds of Christ Ministries. You have given great joy to the Heart of Jesus by responding to His invitation to become members of Shepherds of Christ Associates. As He draws you closer to His Heart and to His Mother's Heart as Associates members, He will fill you with an ever-increasing experience of His love, peace, and joy."

- From In the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Newsletter of Shepherds of Christ Associates
by Fr. Edward J. Carter S.J., Volume 1, No. 1, 1995. p. 2.

 

 

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)

 

 

Apostles of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus

My dear fellow Associate Members,

Jesus is calling special apostles to join a new division of the Shepherds of Christ Movement. Here is a message from Jesus given to Father Carter:

    My beloved priest-companion, I am requesting that a new prayer movement be started under the direction of Shepherds of Christ Ministries. I am asking for volunteers who are willing to pray before the Blessed Sacrament for one hour, twice-weekly. Members of the Shepherds of Christ prayer chapters, as well as others, are to be invited to join this movement.

    These apostles are to pray for the intentions I am giving you. For part of the hour they are to use the prayers of the Shepherds of Christ Associates Handbook. They may spend the rest of the hour as they so choose.

    I will use this new prayer movement within My Shepherds of Christ Ministries in a powerful way to help in the renewal of My Church and the world. I will give great graces to those who join this movement. The name, Apostles of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, is to be given to this movement.

    I am inviting My beloved Rita Ring to be coordinator for this activity.

    I pour out the great love of My Sacred Heart to all. I am Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the flock.

    This is indeed a special calling for us to unite in one heart with His Eucharistic Heart and pray for the following intentions:

    1. For the spread of the devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary culminating in the reign of the Sacred Heart and the triumph of the Immaculate Heart.
    2. For the Pope.
    3. For all bishops of the world.
    4. For all priests.
    5. For all sisters and brothers in the religious life.
    6. For all members of the Shepherds of Christ Movement, and for the spread of this movement to the world.
    7. For all members of the Catholic Church.
    8. For all members of the human family.
    9. For all souls in purgatory.

end of Apostles of the Eucharistic Heart message

             

           From Tell My People by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.

        Age of the Two Hearts

Jesus:  "My beloved priest-companion, I have allowed you to experience in extraordinary fashion the riches contained in My Heart and My Mother's Heart. I desire that you tell all My people about these riches. I desire that My people consecrate themselves to My Sacred Heart and to Mary's Immaculate Heart. My people are living in the beginnings of the age of the Two Hearts.

    "After the time of the purification is completed, this new era of the Church and the world will become firmly established. This era will be characterized by the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart. All those who consecrate themselves to My Heart and to My Mother's Heart will help to establish this glorious new age. I am Lord and Master. Please listen to My urgent request. Within Our Hearts you will experience the love and security, the peace and the joy, which you all desire. I love My people with a tremendous love, and in My love I give them this message!"

 
 

"What I say to you in the dark, tell in the day-
light; what you hear in whispers, proclaim
from the housetops." (Matthew 10:27)  

Jesus Has Come to Give Us Life

Jesus: "This is the day celebrating My Resurrection (Easter). The day of newness of life. I am Lord and Master. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Tell My people to come to Me if they wish to experience life in abundance. I want to give all an ever greater share in the life of My Resurrection. Without Me you cannot be happy, nor have peace, nor have real joy. Tell My people to surrender to Me more and more. The more they do so, the more they will experience My love, wisdom, power, peace, joy, happiness, mercy, and goodness. Within My Heart My people will find these riches. I am Lord and Master! Please listen to My words."

Reflection: Through His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus has come to give us life, and to give us this life in abundance.

When we were baptized, we were incorporated into Christ and His Church. When we were baptized, we received the life of sanctifying grace. This life is a created sharing in the life of the Trinity. Truly, we are called to live a God-like existence according to the teaching and example of Jesus! It is our duty and our privilege to develop our life of grace—our Christ-life—through our participation in the Mass, through the reception of the sacraments, through prayer, and through all other good works. Indeed, we are called to love God and neighbor more and more.

What a glorious life has been given to us! In a spirit of thanksgiving, and together with Mary our Mother, let us always strive to know Christ more intimately, to love Him more ardently, and to follow Him more closely, so that He will always bring us to a closer union with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit.   end of excerpt

 

 

     

April 3, 2017

A Prayer for Grace and Holiness today
A prayer to work in love and holiness
 

John 16: 23

"If you ask the Father anything in my name,
    He will give it to you"

R. God wants our unity – we ask for this
    unity – that the Spirit of God fill
    us and help us to be holy –
    that we do not hold onto any of the deadly
    sins that block us from this unity –
    that the Holy Spirit can work in our souls,
    so we can be His instruments of love
    and peace and joy among our brothers.

We pray this heavenly Father in the name of
    Jesus who said ask in my name and
    it will be given to you.

    Let us experience the joy of unity and love
    on a supernatural level and know You
    our beloved God – more and more supernaturally.
    We want our hearts to be sanctified in
    our love and work so we are holy and
    pleasing to You God.

Come to us Lord and possess our soul.

We want to walk as God intends us
    to walk today in the plan of God,
    in the work He has called us to do today.

We know that we must cooperate with the grace
    You are giving us – now and today to
    bring unity and peace and love to this
    day as we serve to do the work – You are
    calling us in our vocation to do.

Dear Heavenly Father, hear our prayer,
    in the name of Jesus, we pray,
    we ask, heavenly Father for these
    graces necessary this day to
    bring peace, love and joy to
    our relationships and work – as You
    work in us.

    We seek perfection in our souls to be holy
    souls likened to You – in work
    and in play – to be holy in prayer –
    we invite You Holy Spirit to be
    the Guest of our soul.

We seek order in our lives, not disorder.

We beg for the virtues of faith, hope, love,
    prudence, temperance, fortitude, justice,
    and humility. We seek to be obedient
    to the will of God and live obedient to
    the will of God in love.

Come Holy Spirit Come into our hearts. Transform
    us from fear to fearlessness to serve
    You as You desire in our lives.

Help our actions to be for the glory and honor
    of God with the goal of these actions
    to one day be in heaven with Thee,
    our beloved God.

Heal our hearts and our bodies – Help
    us to have health of body now in
    this work you call us to do.

Instill in us a desire to want to only
    do the will of the heavenly Father
    and to walk in holiness and love.

We pray all these prayers heavenly Father,
    united to Jesus, in His name for
    grace and holiness today and always.

Help us to live by right reasoning in
    our lives – to have the truth
    in our every thought and to live
    in order as You operate in us
    in unity and love.

Come to me Lord and possess my soul.

We seek order in our lives – Your order
    to love in us, to help us to act as
    You desire, to have the thoughts
    that are in right reasoning and in
    Your order, Lord.

Give us the grace to use our faculties
    to love and serve You and do
    Your work.

Give us faith and right reasoning.

Help us to love and be just in our actions.

Help us to seek Your Divine Will and to
    perform those actions, which are actions
    pleasing to You in everything.

Come to us Lord and purify our consciences,
    our souls.

Help us to hope and love in Thee.

We seek heavenly vision – to see
    things through the eyes of
    the heavenly Father and to be
    perfected more and more in doing
    God's will in our lives.

We pray for the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit.

We pray for this purity in our souls –
    to live virtuously, to be perfected
    more and more and filled with the
    gifts of the Holy Spirit –
    Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel,
    Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety
    and Fear of the Lord 

    and to have the fruits of the Holy Spirit –
    charity, joy, peace, patience,
    benignity (kindness), goodness,
    long-suffering, mildness,
    faith, modesty, continency,
    and chastity.

We do not want the enemies to
    invade our thoughts, our
    actions, our lives –

We pray to give up ugly bad habits of the
    deadly sins –
    pride, greed, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth

We know on this journey we will
    experience sufferings and joys
    and we accept the struggles
    in life and ask You to help us,
    strengthen us in our lives to
    suffer and rejoice as You
    desire us to do in our lives.

We want to be a reflection of Your
    heavenly love – to be full of light –
    Your light in us. To operate in
    light and not darkness – IN You,
    our beloved God.

We want to follow in the footsteps
    of Jesus in giving love and
    light and unity to those
    we contact in our lives –

         

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

 

 

April 4, 2017

                R. Dear Holy Spirit please come to me the
                Guest of my soul. Please pour
                into me Your virtues and gifts.

                    Dear Father, Son and Holy Spirit dwell in me.
                Please fill me with the
                supernatural gifts I received at
                baptism – that they may grow
                ever greater to know and love supernaturally.

                Dear Holy Spirit,

                    Please mold in me more and
                more the image of Jesus in my
                heart and soul.

                                

           From Tell My People by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.

The Holy Spirit

Jesus: "My beloved friend, tell My people to pray daily to the Holy Spirit. They are to pray for an increase in His gifts. My people must realize that the Holy Spirit comes to transform them. The Spirit desires to transform you more and more according to My image. Those who are docile to His touch become increasingly shaped in My likeness. He performs this marvel within Mary's Immaculate Heart. The more one dwells in My Mother's Heart, the more active are the workings of the Spirit. The Spirit leads Mary to place you within My own Heart. In both Our Hearts, then, your transformation continues. The more you are formed after My own Heart, the more I lead you to the bosom of My Father. Tell My people all this. Tell them to pray daily for a greater appreciation of these wondrous gifts. I am Lord and Master. All who come to My Heart will be on fire to receive the gifts of the Spirit in ever greater measure! I love and bless My people!"

Reflection: The Holy Spirit is given to us to fashion us ever more according to the likeness of Jesus. And the more we are like Jesus, the more Jesus leads us to the Father. Do we, each day, pray to the Holy Spirit to be more open to His transforming influence? Do we strive each day to grow in union with Mary? The greater our union with our Mother, the spouse of the Holy Spirit, the greater is the transforming action of the Holy Spirit within us.

Prayer: Come, Holy Spirit, fill us with your gifts of wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord. As we dwell in the Heart of Mary, Your spouse, fashion us more and more according to the Heart of Jesus.

end of excerpt

  

                R. Help me to live my life praising
                and loving God in love and
                being as God wants me to be.
                Holy Spirit be the Guest of my soul.
                Come Holy Spirit fill me with the Spirit –
                Let the Spirit of God be in me.
 

John 16:12-15

I still have many things to say to you
but they would be too much for you
    to bear now.
However, when the Spirit of truth comes
he will lead you to the complete truth,
since he will not be speaking
    of his own accord,
but will say only what he has been told;
and he will reveal to you
    the things to come.
He will glorify me,
since all he reveals to you
will be taken from what is mine.
Everything the Father has is mine;
that is why I said:
all he reveals to you
will be taken from what is mine.

 

                Sing: Come Holy Ghost

                Sing: Come Holy Spirit

                R. Let the Light of Christ live
                in my soul. Amen.

                    We see when the Holy Spirit lives
                in us there is cooperation with
                the Plan of God, Our heavenly Father.
                The Holy Spirit brings unity to the soul –
                order in our hearts – direction
                according to and with God,
                our heavenly Father who
                created us in the image and
                likeness of God.

             

Genesis 1: 26-27

God said, ‘Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild animals and all the creatures that creep along the ground.’

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

 

                R. The Holy Spirit opens our hearts and
                souls to God – so God can dwell
                in us more abundantly.

                    Come to me God and possess my
                soul –

                Sing: 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.

                    We are imperfect – the Holy Spirit
                comes to transform our souls
                more and more in the image and
                likeness of Jesus –

                    Come to me Lord and possess
                my soul –

                    God fills us more and more abundantly
                with His life –

                Sing Song: I Love You Jesus

 

                R. The Holy Spirit is the Spouse of the
                Virgin Mary – perfect handmaid
                of the Lord.

                    The Holy Spirit wants to transform
                us more and more into the image of Jesus.
                We were created for this –

                    Oh God, we are so grateful for
                the sacrament of baptism and
                the other sacraments. We are
                so grateful for the Eucharist
                whereby, you feed the life you
                gave to us.

                    God gives us a sharing in
                His life in baptism and feeds
                us with the Body and Blood
                of Jesus in the Eucharist.

                Come to me Lord and possess my soul –               

Sing: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

               

1 Corinthians 3: 16

    Do you not realise that you are a temple of God with the Spirit of God living in you?

   

                R. We consecrate ourselves to God.
                We give ourselves to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
 

   

From the Shepherds of Christ 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.

 

Act of consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
 and the Immaculate Heart of Mary

"Lord Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the flock, I consecrate myself to Your most Sacred Heart. From Your pierced Heart the Church was born, the Church You have called me, as a member of Shepherds of Christ Associates, to serve in a most special way. You reveal Your Heart as a symbol of Your love in all its aspects, including Your most special love for me, whom You have chosen as Your companion in this most important work. Help me to always love You in return. Help me to give myself entirely to You. Help me always to pour out my life in love of God and neighbor! Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in You!

"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."

 

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Holy Spirit Novena

Daily Novena Prayers

Opening Prayer

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Dear Father, we come to You in the name of Jesus, in union with Him in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in the Holy Spirit. We come to You united to the Child Jesus of Good Health and the Infant of Prague. We come to You in the perfect, sinless heart of Our Mother Mary, asking her powerful intercession, uniting ourselves to her holy tears. We come to You united to all the angels and saints, and the souls in purgatory.

Prayer for Holy Spirit

We pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on us, to be baptized by the Holy Spirit, that He will descend mightily on us as He did on the Apostles at Pentecost. That the Holy Spirit will transform us from fear to fearlessness and that He will give us courage to do all the Father is asking of us to help bring about the Reign of the Sacred Heart and the triumph of Mary's Immaculate Heart. We pray for the Holy Spirit to descend mightily on the Jesuits and the Poor Clares on the Shepherds of Christ leaders and members and on the whole Body of Christ and the world.

Protection by the Blood of Jesus

We pray that the Blood of Jesus will be spread on us, everyone in our families, and the Shepherds of Christ Movement, that we will be able to move steadfastly ahead and be protected from the evil one.

Healing

We pray for healing in body, mind, and soul and generational healing in ourselves, in all members in our families, and in all members of the Shepherds of Christ Movement, the Jesuit Community, the Poor Clares, the Body of Christ, and the world.

Prayer for Strength and Light

We adore You, oh Holy Spirit. Give us strength, give us light, console us. We give ourselves entirely to You. Oh Spirit of light and grace, we want to only do the will of the Father. Enlighten us that we may live always in the Father's will.

Eternal Spirit fill us with Your Divine Wisdom that we may comprehend more fully insight into Your Divine Mysteries.

Give us lights, Oh Holy Spirit that we may know God. Work within the heart, the spiritual womb of the Virgin Mary, to form us more and more into the image of Jesus.

Prayer to Be One with God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit

We long for You, Oh Spirit of Light, we long to know God, we want to be one with Him, our Divine God. We want to be one with the Father, know Him as a Person most intimately. We want to know the beloved One, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and live and dwell in Him at all times, every moment of our lives. We want to be one with You, Oh Spirit of Light, that You move in us in our every breath.

Prayer to Be One in Jesus

Let us experience life in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, so we can say as Saint Paul, "I have been crucified with Christ and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but Christ living in me...." Let us live, united to the Mass, all through the day being one in Him. Let us be able to love and know in this elevated state of oneness with our God. We long for Thee, oh beauteous God, we love You, we love You, we love You. We praise You, worship You, honor You, adore You, and thank You, our beloved God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Prayer to Dwell in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

We seek to be one in God, to live and dwell in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, our little heaven on earth, to experience life in the all perfect, pure, sinless heart of our Mother. We want the Holy Spirit to move in us and to be united to Jesus as the Bridegroom of our souls and be a most perfect sacrifice offered to the Father at every moment as we unite in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass around the world to help in the salvation of souls.

Prayer for the Holy Spirit and His Gifts

Come Holy Spirit, come, come into our hearts, inflame all people with the fire of Your love.

Leader: Send forth Your Spirit and all will be reborn.
All:  And You will renew the face of the earth.

We pray for the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, we ask for perfection in our souls to make us holy, holy souls likened to God.

Dear Holy Spirit, we give ourselves to You soul and body. We ask You to give us the Spirit of Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord.

Prayer for the Word Alive in Our Hearts

We know, dear Holy Spirit, the Word in His human nature was brought forth within the womb of the woman. We pray that His word will be brought forth in our hearts as He lives and dwells in us. We want the incarnation to go on in our lives. Dear Holy Spirit, work in us.

Little Prayers to the Holy Spirit

Dear Holy Spirit, help us not to be ignorant or indifferent or weak, help us to be strong with the love of God.

Dear Holy Spirit, please pray for our needs for us.

Dear Holy Spirit, help us to respect God and to avoid sin. Help us to live in the Father's will.

Dear Holy Spirit, help us to keep Your commandments and to respect authority. Help us to love all things as You will us to love them. Help us to want to pray and always serve God with the greatest love. Help us to know the truth. Help us to have the gift of faith, hope, and love. Help us to know what is right and what is wrong.

A Prayer for Intimacy with the Lamb, the Bridegroom of the Soul

Oh Lamb of God, Who take away the sins of the world, come and act on my soul most intimately. I surrender myself, as I ask for the grace to let go, to just be as I exist in You and You act most intimately on my soul. You are the Initiator. I am the soul waiting Your favors as You act in me. I love You. I adore You. I worship You. Come and possess my soul with Your Divine Grace, as I experience You most intimately.

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First Period
Meditations Nine Days

1. Romans 8:14-17

All who are guided by the Spirit of God are sons of God; for what you received was not the spirit of slavery to bring you back into fear; you received the Spirit of adoption, enabling us to cry out, 'Abba, Father!' The Spirit himself joins with our spirit to bear witness that we are children of God. And if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, provided that we share his suffering, so as to share his glory.

2. Romans 8:5-9

Those who are living by their natural inclinations have their minds on the things human nature desires; those who live in the Spirit have their minds on spiritual things. And human nature has nothing to look forward to but death, while the Spirit looks forward to life and peace, because the outlook of disordered human nature is opposed to God, since it does not submit to God's Law, and indeed it cannot, and those who live by their natural inclinations can never be pleasing to God. You, however, live not by your natural inclinations, but by the Spirit, since the Spirit of God has made a home in you. Indeed, anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

3. 1 John 4:12-16

No one has ever seen God, but as long as we love one another God remains in us and his love comes to its perfection in us. This is the proof that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us a share in his Spirit. We ourselves have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as Saviour of the world. Anyone who acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. We have recognised for ourselves, and put our faith in, the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.

4. 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.

5. 1 John 4:7-11

My dear friends, let us love one another, since love is from God and everyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. Whoever fails to love does not know God, because God is love. This is the revelation of God's love for us, that God sent his only Son into the world that we might have life through him. Love consists in this: it is not we who loved God, but God loved us and sent his Son to expiate our sins. My dear friends, if God loved us so much, we too should love one another.

6. Acts of the Apostles 1:1-5

In my earlier work, Theophilus, I dealt with everything Jesus had done and taught from the beginning until the day he gave his instructions to the apostles he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken up to heaven. He had shown himself alive to them after his Passion by many demonstrations: for forty days he had continued to appear to them and tell them about the kingdom of God. While at table with them, he had told them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for what the Father had promised. 'It is', he had said, 'what you have heard me speak about: John baptised with water but, not many days from now, you are going to be baptised with the Holy Spirit.'

7. Acts of the Apostles 1:6-9

Now having met together, they asked him, 'Lord, has the time come for you to restore the kingdom to Israel?' He replied, 'It is not for you to know times or dates that the Father has decided by his own authority, but you will receive the power of the Holy Spirit which will come on you, and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judaea and Samaria, and indeed to earth's remotest end.'

As he said this he was lifted up while they looked on, and a cloud took him from their sight.

8. Acts of the Apostles 1:12-14

So from the Mount of Olives, as it is called, they went back to Jerusalem, a short distance away, no more than a Sabbath walk; and when they reached the city they went to the upper room where they were staying; there were Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Jude son of James. With one heart all these joined constantly in prayer, together with some women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

9. Acts of the Apostles 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.

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Second Period
Meditations Nine Days

1. John 14:21-31

Whoever holds to my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me; and whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I shall love him and reveal myself to him.'

Judas-not Judas Iscariot-said to him, 'Lord, what has happened, that you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?' Jesus replied:

Anyone who loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make a home in him. Anyone who does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not my own: it is the word of the Father who sent me. I have said these things to you while still with you; but the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you. Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you, a peace which the world cannot give, this is my gift to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You heard me say: I am going away and shall return. If you loved me you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I have told you this now, before it happens, so that when it does happen you may believe. I shall not talk to you much longer, because the prince of this world is on his way. He has no power over me, but the world must recognise that I love the Father and that I act just as the Father commanded. Come now, let us go.

2. John 17:11-26

I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep those you have given me true to your name, so that they may be one like us. While I was with them, I kept those you had given me true to your name. I have watched over them and not one is lost except one who was destined to be lost, and this was to fulfil the scriptures. But now I am coming to you and I say these things in the world to share my joy with them to the full. I passed your word on to them, and the world hated them, because they belong to the world no more than I belong to the world. I am not asking you to remove them from the world, but to protect them from the Evil One. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world, and for their sake I consecrate myself so that they too may be consecrated in truth. I pray not only for these but also for those who through their teaching will come to believe in me. May they all be one, just as, Father, you are in me and I am in you, so that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe it was you who sent me. I have given them the glory you gave to me, that they may be one as we are one. With me in them and you in me, may they be so perfected in unity that the world will recognise that it was you who sent me and that you have loved them as you have loved me.

Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they may always see my glory which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Father, Upright One, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have known that you have sent me. I have made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and so that I may be in them.

3. I Corinthians 15:20-28

In fact, however, Christ has been raised from the dead, as the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep. As it was by one man that death came, so through one man has come the resurrection of the dead. Just as all die in Adam, so in Christ all will be brought to life; but all of them in their proper order: Christ the first-fruits, and next, at his coming, those who belong to him. After that will come the end, when he will hand over the kingdom to God the Father, having abolished every principality, every ruling force and power. For he is to be king until he has made his enemies his footstool, and the last of the enemies to be done away with is death, for he has put all things under his feet. But when it is said everything is subjected, this obviously cannot include the One who subjected everything to him. When everything has been subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to the One who has subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.

4. Revelation 3:1-3,12,16-19

'Write to the angel of the church in Sardis and say, "Here is the message of the one who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: I know about your behaviour: how you are reputed to be alive and yet are dead. Wake up; put some resolve into what little vigour you have left: it is dying fast. So far I have failed to notice anything in your behaviour that my God could possibly call perfect; remember how you first heard the message. Hold on to that. Repent! If you do not wake up, I shall come to you like a thief, and you will have no idea at what hour I shall come upon you.

Anyone who proves victorious I will make into a pillar in the sanctuary of my God, and it will stay there for ever; I will inscribe on it the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which is coming down from my God in heaven, and my own new name as well.

'...but since you are neither hot nor cold, but only lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth. You say to yourself: I am rich, I have made a fortune and have everything I want, never realising that you are wretchedly and pitiably poor, and blind and naked too. I warn you, buy from me the gold that has been tested in the fire to make you truly rich, and white robes to clothe you and hide your shameful nakedness, and ointment to put on your eyes to enable you to see. I reprove and train those whom I love: so repent in real earnest.'

5. Revelation 5:9-14

They sang a new hymn: You are worthy to take the scroll and to break its seals, because you were sacrificed, and with your blood you bought people for God of every race, language, people and nation and made them a line of kings and priests for God, to rule the world.

In my vision, I heard the sound of an immense number of angels gathered round the throne and the living creatures and the elders; there were ten thousand times ten thousand of them and thousands upon thousands, loudly chanting:

Worthy is the Lamb that was sacrificed to receive power, riches, wisdom, strength, honour, glory and blessing.

Then I heard all the living things in creation-everything that lives in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and in the sea, crying:

To the One seated on the throne and to the Lamb, be all praise, honour, glory and power, for ever and ever.

And the four living creatures said, 'Amen'; and the elders prostrated themselves to worship.

6. Revelation 7:14-17

I answered him, 'You can tell me, sir.' Then he said, 'These are the people who have been through the great trial; they have washed their robes white again in the blood of the Lamb. That is why they are standing in front of God's throne and serving him day and night in his sanctuary; and the One who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. They will never hunger or thirst again; sun and scorching wind will never plague them, because the Lamb who is at the heart of the throne will be their shepherd and will guide them to springs of living water; and God will wipe away all tears from their eyes.'

7. Revelation 12:1-8

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. Then a second sign appeared in the sky: there was a huge red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and each of the seven heads crowned with a coronet. Its tail swept a third of the stars from the sky and hurled them to the ground, and the dragon stopped in front of the woman as she was at the point of giving birth, so that it could eat the child as soon as it was born. The woman was delivered of a boy, the son who was to rule all the nations with an iron sceptre, and the child was taken straight up to God and to his throne, while the woman escaped into the desert, where God had prepared a place for her to be looked after for twelve hundred and sixty days.

And now war broke out in heaven, when Michael with his angels attacked the dragon. The dragon fought back with his angels, but they were defeated and driven out of heaven.

8. Revelation 14:1-7

Next in my vision I saw Mount Zion, and standing on it the Lamb who had with him a hundred and forty-four thousand people, all with his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. I heard a sound coming out of heaven like the sound of the ocean or the roar of thunder; it was like the sound of harpists playing their harps. There before the throne they were singing a new hymn in the presence of the four living creatures and the elders, a hymn that could be learnt only by the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been redeemed from the world. These are the sons who have kept their virginity and not been defiled with women they follow the Lamb wherever he goes; they, out of all people, have been redeemed to be the first-fruits for God and for the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths and no fault can be found in them.

Then I saw another angel, flying high overhead, sent to announce the gospel of eternity to all who live on the earth, every nation, race, language and tribe. He was calling, 'Fear God and glorify him, because the time has come for him to sit in judgement; worship the maker of heaven and earth and sea and the springs of water.'

Revelation 19: 7-8

let us be glad and joyful and give glory to God, because this is the time for the marriage of the Lamb. His bride is ready, and she has been able to dress herself in dazzling white linen, because her linen is made of the good deeds of the saints.'

9. Revelation 21:1-10

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared now, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride dressed for her husband. Then I heard a loud voice call from the throne, 'Look, here God lives among human beings. He will make his home among them; they will be his people, and he will be their God, God-with-them. He will wipe away all tears from their eyes; there will be no more death, and no more mourning or sadness or pain. The world of the past has gone.'

Then the One sitting on the throne spoke. 'Look, I am making the whole of creation new. Write this, "What I am saying is trustworthy and will come true."' Then he said to me, 'It has already happened. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give water from the well of life free to anybody who is thirsty; anyone who proves victorious will inherit these things; and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the legacy for cowards, for those who break their word, or worship obscenities, for murderers and the sexually immoral, and for sorcerers, worshippers of false gods or any other sort of liars, is the second death in the burning lake of sulphur.'

One of the seven angels that had the seven bowls full of the seven final plagues came to speak to me and said, 'Come here and I will show you the bride that the Lamb has married.' In the spirit, he carried me to the top of a very high mountain, and showed me Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down out of heaven from God.

Revelation 22:20

The one who attests these things says: I am indeed coming soon.

Amen; come, Lord Jesus.

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Scriptural quotations are taken from The New Jerusalem Bible, Doubleday & Co.
Imprimatur granted by Cardinal Hume.