China Retreat

Aug 13th begins at 12 noon
 

There will be Mass in China

Aug 13th - 1:30 pm

Exposed Eucharist

Please come and pray.

July 12, 2008

transcribed from a tape as it was delivered live

  

  Isaiah 6: 1-8

In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne; his train filled the sanctuary. Above him stood seraphs, each one with six wings: two to cover its face, two to cover its feet and two for flying; and they were shouting these words to each other: 

    Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh Sabaoth. 
    His glory fills the whole earth. 

    The door–posts shook at the sound of their shouting, and the Temple was full of smoke. Then I said: 

    ‘Woe is me! I am lost, 
    for I am a man of unclean lips 
    and I live among a people of unclean lips, 
    and my eyes have seen the King, 
        Yahweh Sabaoth.’ 

    Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding in its hand a live coal which it had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. With this it touched my mouth and said: 

    ‘Look, this has touched your lips, 
    your guilt has been removed 
    and your sin forgiven.’

    I then heard the voice of the Lord saying: 

    ‘Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?’

     And I said, ‘Here am I, send me.’

 

Matthew 10: 24-33

‘Disciple is not superior to teacher, nor slave to master. It is enough for disciple to grow to be like teacher, and slave like master. If they have called the master of the house "Beelzebul", how much more the members of his household?

'So do not be afraid of them. Everything now covered up will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the daylight; what you hear in whispers, proclaim from the housetops.

'Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; fear him rather who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Can you not buy two sparrows for a penny? And yet not one falls to the ground without your Father knowing. Why, every hair on your head has been counted. So there is no need to be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

'So if anyone declares himself for me in the presence of human beings, I will declare myself for him in the presence of my Father in heaven. But the one who disowns me in the presence of human beings, I will disown in the presence of my Father in heaven.

   

Homily by Fr. Barth

    You may or may not have heard this story, but when Sheila called me to ask me to come and to preside and celebrate this Mass with you, she actually reached me in China. I had the great fortune of having a trip offered to me to go to Beijing and Xi'an in China. And so it was actually kind of a joke between Sheila and myself that indeed China was calling China.

    But when I was there, one of the things that I toured was the ancient Forbidden City. Perhaps you have seen the first entrance to the Forbidden City. It's seen many times whenever there is pictures from China, because it is at the far extreme of Tiananmen Square. It's where that great huge picture of Mao hangs and then there's these 3 archways that go somewhere — that somewhere is the Forbidden City. But within the Forbidden City, things are constructed to humble the person who enters. For instance, baseboards, if you will, are about a story and a half high. And so the person who enters this place of the ancient Emperor, that person who was thought to be a god, it made you feel very small.

    The reason why I bring up this picture is that for us who are Christians, we hold that God loved us and loves us so much that God came, and became one of us in the Incarnation. And sometimes because of this closeness of God, many times, I think, we forget about the majesty of God. Entering into the Forbidden City, one is dwarfed and made to feel humble, because of the way that it is constructed, and I think that picture then can help us to hear the words from Isaiah.

    Isaiah says that — In the year of King Uzziah — when he died, this is what he saw — he saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne. Are you getting the picture? Putting the two images together? Maybe now you can imagine it, a throne set maybe, numerous stories high, with baseboards around you, a story and a half high. You are dwarfed by the scene. Isaiah is insignificant in the majesty of the palace of our God — with the train of His garment filling the temple  — Are you picking up the scene? — Seraphim were stationed above, each of them had six wings: with two they veiled their faces — let us not see God, for God is that which is beyond comprehension, God cannot be looked at because God is too, way too splendorous, too glorious, too magnificent to be able to beheld. It's interesting.

    In China, the Emperor, who would have stood and before His throne, had a crown with pearls that hung over his face, for the same reason. One cannot see the face of the Emperor. We're not worthy. One cannot see the face of the Emperor because indeed, as a god — can't be beheld.

    And so these angels flying about at that highest level ministering and attending to Our Lord, have their faces covered with one set of their wings — with two they veiled their feet — because feet are not holy, wholesome things that we like to show. What do we think about feet? Oh, they're dirty! Right? So we keep them hidden, especially before the majesty of the King - before the majesty, the wondrous God that we serve — and with the two that remain that is what keeps them aloft as they attend to God and then they cry out one to the other: Holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts. All the earth is filled with His glory. 

    I hope that line sounds very familiar to us, because we are going to proclaim it ourselves as we enter the Eucharistic sacrifice in just a few moments, because this is where we are standing. This is where we are, we are sitting. This is where we are right now, my dear friends in Christ. You're in the temple of the Lord. The magnificent God, the God who is depicted here in the book of the prophet Isaiah, the God whose train fills the temple, the God who indeed is ministered by Seraphim, the God whose throne is seated on high, lofty and majestic. Not an earthly Emperor who parades as a King, as a god, but the one who has created all that is, and continues to sustain it in being even now. God, magnificent, majestic, beyond imagining.

    It's interesting. This is the God who we hear in the Gospel — this is how magnificent God is. Every hair on our head is counted. Can you imagine doing that for yourself? Now it's easier for some of us than for others. I understand that. But can you imagine trying to count every hair on your own head? Or can you imagine counting your friend or somebody else's - every hair on their head? If you are like me, I would want to say, that's a task that is not capable of being done. It's impossible to do that. Somewhere along the line you would have to say - did I count this hair or not - don't you think? But think of a reality, a being, who not only knows how many hairs are on your head, but on the number of hairs on everyone's head. And not just on everyone's head whose in existence in this moment of time, but who has existed at any moment in time, before us, now and even after us. If it is not in the mind of God, it does not exist. Magnificent, majestic, wondrous, beyond imagining is our God.

    This is a God who knows whenever a sparrow falls from the sky, for whatever reason. You know, there's that age old philosophy question, right? When a tree falls in the wood, does it make a sound? For us who are gathered here, we believe that indeed it must, for God takes note of the fact that the tree has fallen and would know what it does, it must make a sound. Can you imagine knowing that at every moment, at every portion of time, past — present and future — can you imagine a being so magnificent, that every droplet of water that comes across Niagara Falls is known in its perfection. Our God is magnificent and beyond imagining.

    And this is the God whom we are called to serve. That's the next step that happens for Isaiah here, and I think it's a common step for all of us, whatever walk in life that we find ourselves, when we finally enter into the real service of God — this magnificent, wondrous, beyond imagining God, when we finally accept our calling — no matter where we are in life, we all are called to this — to serve God — what's the next step — we are humbled and we wonder how is it that we can serve this magnificent, beyond imagining, majestic God of ours.

    Isaiah had the same problem. He said as he stands there in the magnificent temple of God and recognizes that he is dwarfed by the reality and insignificant — he exclaims — from the reading we hear him say, then I said woe to me I am doomed, for I am a man of unclean lips living among a people of unclean lips, yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.

    But what happens to him? See the response back from our magnificent God isn't — Your right! And so now you are going to fall out of existence. No - that's not the response back. What happens? The angels that attend God, who do the will of God, they, symbolically - they take a coal, do they not — that's what it says — he holds an ember, this seraphim, that's flying to Isaiah, he takes this ember with tongs from the altar, right - that attests to the holiness of God, and he flies forth and touches the lips of Isaiah with that ember — to transform, to make holy the prophet — and that's true for us as well.

    But the ember that touches our lips and our lives is not the ember burning within some sort of brazier, but it is the very Son of God, given to us as the Eucharist. And we should be reminded this day as we hear this story of Isaiah, that it is God who makes us worthy, that we really are unworthy, and we are humbled in the presence of our magnificent and wondrous God. But God reaches out to us and wants us to be who God has created us to be, the image and likeness of God. God wants us to be who God has re-created us to be, in the waters of baptism, members of God's own household, and truly vibrant members of Christ's own body — for we are by the waters of baptism made into the mystical body of Christ.

    And so, given to us is a great gift to purify us and to make us worthy, to continue to transform us, is the great gift of the Eucharist that touches our lips and truly enters into our very being — transforming every fiber and morsel, every sinus, every ligament, every bone, every vessel, even unto the depths of our souls — into that which we eat and drink, that we might truly become the body of Christ.

    My dear friends in Christ, then the scriptures this day, pushes us onward. When we recognize the magnificence of our God and the fact that our God does indeed purify us and make us worthy, because God loves us that much and wants us to be who God has created and re-created us to be. The scriptures then push us farther. Jesus says to the Apostles, and the Apostles then end up saying to the whole Church, what Jesus — what God has said to us in the darkness, speak in the light — what we hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And so we need to go forth from this place to share our faith, to lift up a world so that it might be renewed by the grace of God. Not that we have those words, but that God gives us those words so that the Lord might be lifted up and others might be drawn unto Him.

    I was asked before this liturgy what the Church was like in China. It's very controlled and so there is still the underground Church, which is faithful to Rome and keeps the Gospel in its fullness. But progress is being made. But in places like that, places that are worse in other places in the world, like in Iraq, where Christians are being killed in Iran. Like in our own world where Christians are being silenced because there's other voices that are speaking over top. We need to be spurred on to continue to speak our faith, and as the scriptures proclaim to us — do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.

    My dear friends in Christ, we have received a wondrous, humbling call from God, to be in God's service and to proclaim the Gospel message in the manner in which we are called to do that, by the places we find ourselves in our lives. Let us not shrink from that calling, but let us be spurred on this day by the scriptures, and by the fact that indeed it is Our God who makes us worthy from this altar, who transforms us and gives us all that we need so that we can fulfill this holy calling from this altar — just like God did for Isaiah, from the altar with the ember that touched his lips.

end of homily

 

Jiffy Sheet: 108 day Novena beginning August 12, 2008 to November 27, 2008

You will need:           1. This sheet
                                2. Holy Spirit Novena Book
                                3. Shepherds of Christ Prayer Manual

I. Begin at 6:20 p.m. by singing, "Come Holy Ghost" (verse 1).

1. Say, "I want to make a Spiritual Communion." 

2. "I give my heart to Jesus and Mary with you in love." (This will unite us in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.) 

3. Cast out Satan: "We cast Satan into the fires of hell, far from us, our families, our Movement, Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Center, the Church and the world in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

Holy Spirit Novena and Rosary Novena Chart

Day:	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Period I	Aug 12 - J	13 - L	14 - S	15 - G	16 - J	17 - L	18 - S	19 - G	20 - J
II	21 - L	22 - S	23 - G	24 - J	25 - L	26 - S	27 - G	28- J	29 - L
Period I	30 - S	31 - G	Sep 1 - J	2 - L	3 - S	4 - G	5- J	6 - L	7 - S
II	8 - G	9 - J	10 - L	11 - S	12 - G	13 - J	14 - L	15 - S	16 - G
Period I	17 - J	18 - L	19 - S	20 - G	21 - J	22 - L	23 - S	24 - G	25 - J
II	26 - L	27 - S	28 - G	29 - J	30 - L	Oct 1 - S	2 - G	3 - J	4 - L
Period I	5 - S	6 - G	7 - J	8 - L	9 - S	10 - G	11 - J	12 - L	13 - S
II	14 - G	15 - J	16 - L	17 - S	18 - G	19 - J	20 - L	21 - S	22 - G
Period I	23 - J	24 - L	25 - S	26 - G	27 - J	28 - L	29 - S	30 - G	31 - J
II	Nov 1 - L	2 - S	3 - G	4 - J	5 - L	6 - S	7 - G	8 - J	9 - L
Period I	10 - S	11 - G	12 - J	13 - L	14 - S	15 - G	16 - J	17 - L	18 - S
II	19 - G	20 - J	21 - L	22 - S	23 - G	24 - J	25 - L	26 - S	27 - G

4. Pray the Holy Spirit Novena using the Holy Spirit Novena Booklet.

5. After the novena, read the appropriate meditation. For example: period 1, day 1; period 1, day 2; etc. This will continue until further indicated.

   • It is enormously important that you feel as a body praying together, asking for the special coming of the Holy Spirit.

6. After the meditation say: "We consecrate the Movement, Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Center, the Church and the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary."

7. Ask that the Blood of Jesus be spread on the Movement, Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Center, the Church and the world.

8. Begin the 6:30 p.m. prayer service as usual.

II. Begin the 6:30 prayer service

1. Begin praying:  Dear Father in the name of Your Son Jesus, in the Holy Spirit, through the powerful intercession of the Virgin Mary, with all the angels and the saints and the souls in purgatory, we join in one mind and one heart and ask the Holy Spirit to come to all the world in a special way, especially to our priests. We pray all prayers for the priests and the renewal of the Church and the world and for the Shepherds of Christ intentions. By the precious Body and Blood of Jesus we cast out Satan far from this place, our families, the Shepherds of Christ Movement, Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Center, the Church and the world. We ask the Blood of Jesus be spread on us, the Shepherds of Christ Movement, Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Center, the Church and the world. We beg for grace and mercy for the world and wish to make reparation to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. We give our hearts to Jesus and Mary with all gathered here in love. We wish to be forgiven for offending one another. We love You God, help us.

2. Sing A Song from Jesus.   Refrain:  "I come to you with greatest love, I am your loving Savior.  I am your God, I died for you, I come to you this day."

3. Then begin the prayers of the Good Shepherd (Shepherds of Christ Prayer Manual).

4. Sing The Rosary song   Refrain:  "Oh the rosary, the rosary is the love of Their two Hearts,   Oh the rosary, the rosary is the love of Their two Hearts."
         1) Ave Maria, Ave Maria.
         2) Jesus we love You, Mary we love you.
         3) This is her peace plan, Children must pray it.
         4) We turn to Mary, She is the Queen of Peace.
         5) Oh Sacred Heart Divine, Oh Heart of Mary pure, Ave Maria, We love to pray it!

5. Begin the rosary. Please use the Rosary Books and the Rosary Aves.  The important thing is to pray the prayers and the rosary at 6:30 p.m., if possible. (Rosary mysteries need to be according to the Rosary Novena.)

6. Read the Ten Commandments.

   1.  I, the Lord, am your God. You shall not have other gods besides me.
   2.  You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain.
   3.  Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.
   4.  Honor your father and your mother.
   5.  You shall not kill.
   6.  You shall not commit adultery.
   7.  You shall not steal.
   8.  You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
   9.  You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.
   10.  You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.
     

7. Pray A Prayer of Thanksgiving then read the Daily Message for the day.