Given August 12, 2008

                    A world at War —

                    Rebelliousness

                    Religious Persecution

                The Grand Plan of the Father

                The Father's Plan for love and unity on this
                    earth

                Salvation History

                God is always renewing the people

                Willfulness — Disobedience

                Noah —

                God allowed the earth to be flooded —

                All that survived were those on the Ark

                Clearwater

                An Ark to the world

                Mary said at Fatima — we must pray the rosary

                We are to venerate her Immaculate Heart —
                    next to the Heart of Jesus

                At the heart of the Fatima message
                    reparation to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

                World War II

                Rise of secularism

                Mary pure gift

                God the Father wants us to recognize the gift of
                    Mary, our spiritual mother, Mother of God,
                    Mary conceived without sin, Mary —
                    pure — Mary - sinless —
                    Mary — FULL OF GRACE

                Devotion to the Blessed Mother will help the
                    purity of the souls —

                In heaven there are not marriages as on earth

                Mary is Mother — from the first moment of
                    her conception — she was conceived without
                    sin

                Every other human creature from the moment
                    of conception was conceived with original
                    sin

                Mary is Virgin

                We have the scripture about the virgins

Matthew 25: 1-13

‘Then the kingdom of Heaven will be like this: Ten wedding attendants took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were sensible: the foolish ones, though they took their lamps, took no oil with them, whereas the sensible ones took flasks of oil as well as their lamps. The bridegroom was late, and they all grew drowsy and fell asleep. But at midnight there was a cry, "Look! The bridegroom! Go out and meet him." Then all those wedding attendants woke up and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish ones said to the sensible ones, "Give us some of your oil: our lamps are going out." But they replied, "There may not be enough for us and for you; you had better go to those who sell it and buy some for yourselves." They had gone off to buy it when the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding hall and the door was closed. The other attendants arrived later. "Lord, Lord," they said, "open the door for us." But he replied, "In truth I tell you, I do not know you." So stay awake, because you do not know either the day or the hour.

                In heaven there is perfect poverty, chastity and
                    obedience —

                The religious orders are to prepare the people
                    for this special gift of heaven —
                    there is no money in heaven
                    there is no marriages in heaven
                    and as it says in the Our Father
                    ... "thy will be done on earth as
                        it is in heaven"

                We have the weakness of the tainted vision due to
                    original sin —
                    we see each other through tainted vision
                    we see God with tainted vision
                    we see ourselves with tainted vision

Excerpt

Transcribed from a tape entitled

The Blessed Mother 

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
Conference given for priests - Conference 18
Ministr-o media, Inc. 1974

Lovely Lady dressed in blue,
    teach me how to pray.
God was just your little Boy,
    tell me what to say.

Did you lift Him up sometimes,
    gently on your knee?
Did you sing to Him the way
    mother does to me?

Did you ever try telling Him
    stories of the world?
And oh, did He cry?

Do you think He cares
    if I tell Him things?
Just little things that happen.

And do angels wings make a noise?
    Can He hear me if I speak low?
Does He understand me now?
    Tell me for you know.

Lovely Lady dressed in blue,
    teach me how to pray.
God was just your little boy
    and you know the way.”

                We seek to see through the eyes of God

                Mary and Jesus have given us Rosaries from the Hearts
                    of Jesus and Mary to see from Their pure
                    and holy Hearts —
                    the plan of the Father for the world — more clearly —
                    The Holy Spirit to help us see —
                        insight into the Divine Mysteries

                    Let my ears hear Your melody Oh God —
                        a melody many saints heard as they were
                        led to martyrdom

                The Sounds of heaven — the love of the Hearts of
                    Jesus and Mary

                With eyes I see the beauty of this world and
                    the spiritual grandeur is veiled, but you
                    unveil it more and more to me as I live a
                    life of holiness — for You my God —
                    I seek the harps of heaven —
                    The embrace of the beatific vision
                    Knowing to satisfy my aching soul —

                Knowing and loving You God for I want to be
                    in heaven filled with Your life —
                    I seek You God
                    I love You God
                    You, Oh God are my delight

                When the rain comes it can come to refresh the
                    earth and water the land, give drink
                    to us creatures —

                Or in fury — a hurricane with torrential rains —
                    comes not gently but with disorder and
                    it seems venom — tearing up the well cared
                    gardens and fancy fields

                The disorder in the elements —

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.

                What disorder do I see in this world —                   
                    men and women many not loving at all —
                    having babies and divorcing
                    conceiving babies and jerking them from the
                    womb in murder

                The lack of respect for life —
                    abuse to the young
                    disrespect for the aged
                    killing babies in the womb —

                Who can show such lack of compassion and
                    have such acts of selfishness when
                    the command of God is to love Him with
                    our whole heart, our whole mind, and our whole
                    soul, and to love our neighbor as ourselves —

                God created us and He is love —
                He created us in love — to give love — to love
                    Him and one another —

                Giving

                God sent His only begotten Son and He gave Himself
                    on the cross —
                    He died for our sins —

                Do we make reparation to God —
                Do we act like He isn't there
                    and He doesn't see?

                Jesus paid for our sins
                Jesus carried our sins on His back
                Jesus shed His Blood for our sins —

                Jesus gives us the Mass today — the sacrifice
                    of Calvary sacramentally made present,
                    to help make reparation for our sins —
                    to offer sacrifice to the Father — united to Jesus'
                        sacrifice in the Holy Spirit

                God gives us the Mass — so thank Him
                God gives us the Mass to petition Him

                The Theme of death/resurrection is at the
                    center of salvation history

                Any form of suffering is meant to lead to
                    greater life —

                Dying to oneself to be more likened to God —
                Dying to our selfish ways to be more
                    loving and more likened to Jesus

                Theme of death/resurrection is at the heart of
                    Old Testament History

                Moses experienced death/resurrection as the Jews were
                    formed into the people of the covenant

                On the great Exodus event they escaped Egyptian
                    slavery —

                They experienced a new experience to a more intimate
                    union with God —
                    they went to the promised land
                    they became people of the covenant —
                    they remained so and
                    grew in the life of the covenant —

                They had to go through a mystical death.
                The Jews had to pay the price.
                They had to bear what was difficult in
                    covenant life.

                They had to die to that, that was not Yahweh's
                    will —
                    this mystical death had a very positive purpose —
                    the death was aimed at resurrection —
                    living in the covenant
                    growth in the covenant

                Death was aimed at resurrection —

                This fulfilled the Old Testament theme of death/resurrection

                Christ showed us this structure of
                    death/resurrection

                Death/resurrection is at the heart of
                    the Church's life —
                    our life centers in death/resurrection

                We must discipline ourselves to grow
                    in this life of resurrection —

                We cannot be lazy
                Seeking that which is pleasurable —

                We live the life of death/resurrection
                    as Christ, as members of the body of
                    Christ — our lives are lived in dying
                    to self — to be more loving and growing
                    in the ways of Christ —

                Mary is the perfect disciple of Christ
                    She lived her life as she did as His
                        perfect disciple — loving and giving
                        and living by God's will —

                Mary is our model —

                Mary is Virgin

                In this world today with sexual promiscuity —
                    we see more and more lack of respect for
                    Mary as model and mother —
                    we see the sins brought out because of
                        sexual disorder —
                        using sex against God's will —

                    Help us God to see how important
                Mary is —

                Mary with her Immaculate Heart —
                    teaches us about Jesus —
                    teaches us about the will of God —
                    teaches us about being a handmaid —
                    teaches us how to be pure
                        celibate in our vocation —

                Mary told us to pray the rosary every day in
                    her last message of Fatima October 13, 1917
                    when there was the miracle of the sun —

                The rosary teaches us about the Hearts of Jesus and
                    Mary — the lives of Jesus and Mary —
                    the will of the Father —
                    the Holy Spirit works in us as we pray the rosary —
                    teaching us about death/resurrection —
                    growth in the spiritual life from the
                    spiritual mother with the Light, inspiration
                    of the Holy Spirit — guiding us — filing us with
                    Truth — about God —

                The New Adam and the New Eve —

                Mary's message at Fatima

                Mary — Queen of Peace

                Mary — Virgin and Mother

                Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit —
                    the child Jesus — Savior of the World

                Spiritual Mother

                CLEAR - WATER — denoting purity

                Death — brought about because of the fall
                    we die to our impure ways —
                    to grow in greater life IN HIM —

                Death — Jesus died on the cross —
                    the New Adam —

                To give us this gift —
                    the Church —
                    LIFE in Him —
                    the fountain of life —

                passing over — to greater life in Him —
                our life lived in death/resurrection —
                    dying to self —
                    to be likened to Jesus —
                    to grow in the life of resurrection
                    Growth in the life of resurrection
                    LIFE IN HIM
                    LIFE IN the MASS 

                    the Eucharist the Center of the Church's
                        life —

                The Mass — The sacrifice of Calvary — sacramentally
                    made present

                    From the sacraments His life flows

                Dying to self —

                Living life of Covenant with God

                Progression

                    Death/Resurrection — Old Testament to
                    Jesus dying for us —
                        so we can live the life of resurrection
                            in Him

                    The Egyptians went through the Red Sea —
                        passed over to a more
                        intimate life with God
                        in the promised land

                Death/Resurrection of Jesus
                    Jesus died —

Luke 24: 13-35  

Now that very same day, two of them were on their way to a village called Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking together about all that had happened. And it happened that as they were talking together and discussing it, Jesus himself came up and walked by their side; but their eyes were prevented from recognising him. He said to them, ‘What are all these things that you are discussing as you walk along?’ They stopped, their faces downcast. 

    Then one of them, called Cleopas, answered him, ‘You must be the only person staying in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have been happening there these last few days.’ He asked, ‘What things?’ They answered, ‘All about Jesus of Nazareth, who showed himself a prophet powerful in action and speech before God and the whole people; and how our chief priests and our leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and had him crucified. Our own hope had been that he would be the one to set Israel free. And this is not all: two whole days have now gone by since it all happened; and some women from our group have astounded us: they went to the tomb in the early morning, and when they could not find the body, they came back to tell us they had seen a vision of angels who declared he was alive. Some of our friends went to the tomb and found everything exactly as the women had reported, but of him they saw nothing.’ 

    Then he said to them, ‘You foolish men! So slow to believe all that the prophets have said! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer before entering into his glory?’ Then, starting with Moses and going through all the prophets, he explained to them the passages throughout the scriptures that were about himself. 

    When they drew near to the village to which they were going, he made as if to go on; but they pressed him to stay with them saying, ‘It is nearly evening, and the day is almost over.’ So he went in to stay with them. Now while he was with them at table, he took the bread and said the blessing; then he broke it and handed it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognised him; but he had vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?’ 

    They set out that instant and returned to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven assembled together with their companions, who said to them, ‘The Lord has indeed risen and has appeared to Simon.’ Then they told their story of what had happened on the road and how they had recognised him at the breaking of bread.

                Rise in Him

                Baptism — sharing in His life
                    Father, Son and Holy Spirit live in the
                        graced baptized soul

                    elevation of knowing and loving capacity —
                    He feeds us with Himself —
                    He nurtures this life with His Word
                                                the Eucharist —

                God is with us
                Jesus is truly present

                Red Rosary Book
                    Blue Book 6 about baptism

Given to Father Carter
on the Feast of St. Ignatius

~ 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)

                    Prayer Chapters were called by Jesus

                    Priestly Newsletter was to be circulated

                    Movement set up so people can grow in
                deep intimacy with God with lives consecrated to
                the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary —

                    Lives consecrated to Jesus as the Sacred Heart.

August 13, 2008

                Fishing

                God has sent us fishing for souls —

                Fishing means we are looking to
                    catch them —

                We can think of ourselves and our
                    spiritual life, but God calls
                    us to spread the Good News —

                We are called to go out
                We are called to go fishing

                Not to hold back and think only of
                    ourselves

                As members of the body of Christ
                    through baptism we see we are
                    connected with each other —

                We want to work in the body with
                    our unique gifts — giving our
                    love to God —
                    God created us uniquely to be
                        united

                Fr. Carter says in the Spirituality Handbook
 

An Overview of the Spiritual Life

The Christian life is rooted in the great event of the Incarnation. We must consequently always focus our gaze upon Christ, realizing that everything the Father wishes to tell us has been summed up in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. It only remains for us, then, to strive to understand with greater insight the inexhaustible truth of the Word Incarnate: "In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days He has spoken to us by a Son, Whom He appointed the heir of all things, through Whom also He created the world." (Heb. 1: 1-2) (1)

What was the condition of the human race at the time of Christ's coming? In some ways, people were much the same as we are today. There were those just being born into this world of human drama. There were those who, in death, were leaving it, some of whom had grasped but little of life's meaning. There were those who were healthy and vigorous. There were those who were sick and lame. Some especially felt the burdens, the grief, the suffering of the human condition. Others were ebullient and desired all the pleasures life could provide. There was some good being accomplished. Immorality, however, was rampant. What St. Paul tells us concerning the time that immediately followed Christ's existence certainly could also be applied to the time of His entrance into the world. It is, in short, an ugly picture that St. Paul depicts for us (Rom. 1: 22-32).

Into such a depraved condition Jesus entered, with a full and generous Heart, to lead the human race from the depths of sinfulness to the vibrant richness of a new life in Himself. Through His enfleshment, this Christ became the focal point of all history. The authentic hopes and dreams of the human family, now so overshadowed by the ugliness of sin, came converging upon this Christ. He would gather them up in Himself, give them a new luster and brilliance and dynamism, and would lead the human family back to the Father in the Holy Spirit.

Christ was radically to release us from the dominion of sin and elevate us to a new level of existence. This life Christ has given us is not a type of superstructure which is erected atop human existence. Although nature and grace are distinct, they do not lie side by side as separate entities. Rather, grace permeates nature. The Christian is one graced person. The Christian is one who has been raised up, caught up, into a deeper form of life in Christ Jesus. Nothing that is authentically human in the life of the Christian has been excluded from this new existence. Whatever is really human in the life of the Christian is meant to be an expression of the Christ-life. The simple but deep joys of family life, the wonderment at nature's beauty, the warm embrace of a mother for her child, the agony of crucial decision making, the success or frustration that is experienced in one's work, the joy of being well received by others, and the heartache of being misunderstood--all these experiences are intended to be caught up in Christ and made more deeply human because of Him.

Jesus has come, then, not to destroy anything that is authentically human, but to perfect it by leading it to a graced fulfillment. This is the meaning of the Word's becoming flesh, the meaning of the Incarnation. The more God-like we become through Christ, the more human we become.

We, through our incorporation into Christ which occurs at Baptism, are meant to relive the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. In doing so, we are not only accomplishing our own salvation, but we are assisting in the salvation of others also. The Incarnation continues all the time. Christ, of course, is the one Who fundamentally continues the Incarnation. But He enlists our help. The world no longer sees Jesus, no longer is able to reach out and touch Him. We are the ones who now, in some way, make Christ visible and tangible. In union with the invisible, glorified Christ, and depending on Him as our source of life, we continue the Incarnation in its visible and temporal dimensions. This is our great privilege. This is our great responsibility.

The Christian is initiated into the mystery of Christ, into his or her role in prolonging the Incarnation, through Baptism. In the words of St. Paul: "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by Baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." (Rom. 6: 3-4).

It is not sufficient, however, that we be incorporated into Christ through Baptism. All forms of life require nourishment. So, too, our life in Christ must be continually nourished. How can we continually keep in contact with Christ? There are various ways. We contact Christ in a most special way through the liturgy, above all in the Eucharistic liturgy. Here the entire course of salvation history, as centered in Jesus, is sacramentally renewed and continued. Through our most special and most personal meeting with Jesus in the Mass, we are more deeply incorporated into Christ. Also, we should remember that all the sacraments make up part of the Church's liturgy.

The reading of Scripture provides another special opportunity for meeting Jesus. This is true for both Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament prefigures the New Testament and leads to it. It is obvious, however, that we meet Christ especially in the pages of the New Testament. How true it is to say that not to be familiar with Scripture is not to know Jesus properly. We should resolve to read from Scripture daily.

We also meet Jesus in our interaction with others. Everyone we meet, everyone we serve, is in the image of Jesus. We have to take the means to grow in this awareness. If I truly believe that everyone has been redeemed by the blood of Jesus, how should I treat everyone?

These, then, are some of the ways we keep in contact with Jesus. Common to the various ways of meeting Jesus is a certain degree of prayerful reflection. Our contact with Jesus in the liturgy, in Scripture, and in our interaction with others, and so forth, will not be all that it should be unless we are persons of prayer. The light and strength of prayer enables us to keep in contact with Jesus as we should.

We live out our Christ-life in an atmosphere of love. Indeed, the life Jesus has given us is centered in love. It has its origins in the mysterious love of God: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" (Jn 3: 16).

Our new life in Jesus has arisen out of God's fathomless love. Christ, in His descent into human flesh, has established a milieu of love. The life He came to give can flourish only in the framework of love. Indeed, we can summarize the meaning of the Christian life by stating that it is our loving response to God's love. The pierced Heart of Jesus, this Heart which shed its last drop of blood in the greatest love for each one of us, is the symbol of God's tremendous love for us. Christ's Heart also calls us to respond by giving ourselves in love to God and neighbor. Yes, Jesus invites us to respond to God's love by giving ourselves in love to Him in an ever closer union. The more closely we are united to Him, the greater is our capacity to love God and neighbor. The more closely we are united with Jesus, the more closely He unites us to the Father in the Holy Spirit, with Mary our Mother at our side.

 

Consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

We have already spoken of how we are incorporated into Christ at Baptism. Now we shall speak of the life which comes to us in Baptism in terms of consecration:

"To consecrate means to make sacred, to make holy. Only God can make a being holy. So to speak of our consecration is to speak of God's activity in making us holy, His activity of giving us a share in His own holiness. At Baptism we receive a share in God's life, a share in His holiness. Christ is the Mediator of this grace life. We are baptized into Christ, into His death and resurrection. In Baptism we become holy by sharing in the holiness of Christ. We become consecrated, sealed with the divine holiness. We belong to the Father, through Christ, in the Holy Spirit.

"On our part, we must respond to God's consecration of us. We must live out the consecration of Baptism. We must realize what God has done for us in Christ and live according to this awareness. We need to live the life of holiness and grow in it. In other words, we must develop the life of grace, the Christ-life.

"What God has done for us in Christ involves Mary. God has given us a Christ-life, our life of grace, and Mary is the Mother of this Christ-life. Consequently, living out our life of consecration to God--living out the Christ-life--includes allowing Mary to increasingly be the Mother of our Christ-life.

"Consecration to Mary, therefore, is an aspect of our consecration to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is entrusting ourselves entirely to her maternal love so that she can bring us ever closer to Jesus, so that we can increasingly live out our consecration to God in Christ.

"At Fatima, Our Lady asked that we consecrate ourselves to her Immaculate Heart. Mary shows us her heart as a symbol of her love for God and us. She asks us to make a return of love to her, to consecrate ourselves to her, to give ourselves to her completely. She wants us to entrust ourselves to her completely so that she may help us love God and neighbor.

"As stated above, consecration to Mary is an aspect of our consecration to God in Christ and she has asked for consecration to her Heart so that she may assist us. Christ, in turn, invites us to live out this consecration to Him through consecration to His Sacred Heart. We see the divine symmetry: consecration to the Immaculate Heart helps us to live out consecration to Christ Who reveals His Heart as symbol of His life of love in all its aspects, including His tremendous love for each of us individually. His Heart also asks for our love in return, a return which ideally is summed up in consecration to Jesus' Heart. Through this consecration we give ourselves completely to Jesus through the Immaculate Heart. In this consecration to Jesus, we promise to strive to live according to His Father's will in all things." (2)

2. Edward Carter, S.J., Mother at Our Side, Faith Publishing, Milford, Ohio, 1993, pp. 15-17.

end of excerpt from Spirituality Handbook

                    The Mass is the chief source of
                growth in our life of consecration —
                Everything in the life of the Church —
                    including the sacraments — centers
                    around the Eucharistic Sacrifice

                    Mary is Mother of our Christ life —
                Christ asks us to live out this life
                in consecration to her Immaculate
                Heart.

Excerpts from Spirituality Handbook

Let us always thank Mary that she is the Mother of each of us according to each one's uniqueness. I can truly say that Mary is my Mother in an unrepeatable way, and you can truly say that she is your Mother in an unrepeatable way. Realizing what a great and unique love Mary has for each of us, what reason could we ever have for not always going to her? What reason could we ever have for not asking her to take us as her beloved children and to hold us close to her maternal and Immaculate Heart where we always experience the love, the warmth, the tenderness of this magnificent Mother? ...

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

The Spiritual Life and the Christian Virtues

The life of sanctifying grace expresses itself through the various Christian virtues. Let us take a brief look at this life:

"The Persons of the Blessed Trinity have communicated Themselves to us in lavish love. When a person is in the state of grace, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit dwell within that person in an extraordinary fashion.

"Such is the intimacy of this Trinitarian communication that the Persons of the Trinity imprint Their image upon us. This image is our life of grace, our created participation in the life of the Trinity. We receive this life at Baptism, and our privilege and responsibility are to develop it as fully as possible during our earthly journey before experiencing its culmination in eternal life.

"Because Christ in His humanity is Mediator of our life of grace, it possesses not only a Trinitarian dimension, but a Christic aspect as well. We can readily understand, then, why our grace-life is very appropriately also called the Christ-life.

"Our Christ-life is centered in faith and love. Christian faith gives us an extraordinary capacity to know realities about God and the things of God. The virtue of Christian love allows us to accompany this faith-knowledge with an appropriate love-response. Christian hope is the chief support of faith and love. Finally, all the other Christian virtues are variously connected with these three main Christian capacities." (8)

We hear much about faith and love, the two main Christian virtues. However, hope is also extremely important. One of the aspects of the virtue of hope is trust. Let's listen to a message of Jesus regarding trust:

"My beloved priest-companion, tell my people to trust Me unreservedly. I am Lord and Master. I am God. So many fail to trust Me as they should. I love all My people much more than they love themselves! The great love I have for each person should encourage all to trust Me! The more you realize how much a friend loves you, the more you place your trust in that person. I am your perfect Friend. I love you much, much more than your best earthly friend! Tell My people to trust Me completely. Tell them to say often, 'Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in You.'" (Message of Jesus as given to Father Carter). (9)
 

The Cross Leads to Life

Our incorporation into Christ at Baptism, and the gradual nurturing in that life, is centered in the pattern of death-resurrection. Indeed, the theme of death-resurrection is at the heart of salvation history. Let us briefly consider its place in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, and in our own lives, always remembering that any form of death--that is, any form of suffering--is meant to lead to greater life, greater peace, greater happiness.

The theme of death-resurrection is at the heart of Old Testament history. The Jewish people, under the leadership of Moses, experienced death-resurrection as they were formed into the people of the covenant, God's people. In the great Exodus event, they escaped Egyptian slavery, went on to Mt. Sinai where the covenant was ratified, and then progressed to the Promised Land. As members of the Mosaic covenant, as God's people, the Jews experienced religious transition. They passed over to a higher level of religious existence, to a more intimate union with God.

This religious transition contained death-resurrection. For the Jews to become people of the covenant, to remain so, and to grow in the life of the covenant, it was necessary that they undergo a mystical or spiritual death. In short, the Jewish people had to be willing to bear that which was difficult in covenant life. They had to be willing to die to that which was not according to God's will. This mystical death, however, had a very positive purpose. It was directed at life in the covenant and at growth in that life. This spiritual death, in other words, was aimed at resurrection.

Christ perfectly fulfilled the Old Testament theme of death-resurrection. In doing so, He, too, was experiencing a religious transition. He was passing over--gradually at first, then definitively in His death--to a new kind of existence, to the life of His resurrection, which He achieved not only for Himself, but for the entire human race. To achieve this newness of life, Jesus was willing to pay the price. Jesus was willing to suffer, even unto death. That it had to be that way, that the only way Christ could have achieved resurrection was through suffering and death, was pointed out by Jesus Himself to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus: "O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His Glory?" (Lk 24: 25-26).

Christ has structured the Christian life by the way He lived, died, and rose from the dead. It is obvious, then, that the pattern of death-resurrection must be at the heart of the Church's life. Individually and collectively, we continually die with Christ so that we may continually rise with Him. Thus we pass over, in a process of continued religious transition, to a greater participation in Jesus' resurrection. It is true that our participation in Jesus' resurrection will reach its completion only in eternal life. Nevertheless, we begin the life of resurrection here on earth, in the here and now of human life, in the midst of joy and pain, in the experience of success and failure, in the sweat of our brow, in the enjoyment of all of God's gifts. As Christians, we should have a sense of growth concerning our here-and-now life of resurrection. Some seem to have a rather static view of the Christian life. They do not seem to have a vital and efficacious realization that the spiritual life, centered in death-resurrection, should become more conscious, more experiential, more dynamically relative to daily existence.

We cannot maintain the life of resurrection--our newness of life in Christ--without a willingness to suffer, a willingness to follow Jesus in the carrying of the cross. This does not mean that we need to feel overwhelmed and heavily burdened by the suffering in our lives. The greater portion of suffering for most Christians seems to be an accumulation of ordinary hardships, difficulties, and pains. At times, however, deep suffering, even suffering of agonizing proportions, can enter one's life. Whether our sufferings are of either the ordinary variety or the extreme and rare type, we must convince ourselves that to properly relate to the cross is to grow in resurrection. And to grow in resurrection ourselves means that we have an increased capacity to help give resurrection to others.

The pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary are the great symbols reminding us that to love God and neighbor requires a willingness to suffer. How much Jesus and Mary suffered for love of you and me! Our consecration to Their Hearts includes a willingness to carry the cross, not as an end in itself, but as a means to greater life. As we bear the cross in loving conformity to the Father's will, we grow in the Christ-life. With Mary at our side we come closer to Christ. Jesus, in turn, leads us closer to the Father in the Holy Spirit. And as we ourselves grow in the Christ-life, we become more apt instruments in helping to channel this life to others. Yes, the cross of Christ always points to life!

7. From Tell My People, Shepherds of Christ Publications, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1994, p. 9.
8. Edward Carter, S.J., Prayer Perspectives, Alba House, Staten Island, New York, 1987, p. 12.
9. Tell My People, op. cit.

end of excerpt from Spirituality Handbook