Mary has requested that the daily message be given each day to the world. It is read nightly at the prayer service from her Image Building in Clearwater, Florida, U.S.A. This is according to her request. All attempts will be made to publish this daily message to the world at 11 p.m. Eastern time, U.S.A. We acknowledge that the final authority regarding these messages rests with the Holy See of Rome.

September 6, 2006

September 7th Holy Spirit Novena Scripture selection is Day 9 Period II.

The Novena Rosary Mysteries   for September 7th are Glorious.

Retreat in China 

September 10 - 13, 2006

Messenger:         Think of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles —
                                Our souls are not English —
                                Anger comes from the heart —
                                Love comes from the heart —

                            We communicate with language.
                            Satan can work to help block communication.

                            We can become frustrated explaining something
                                simple like mailing a package —

                            But the desire of the heart is love — even though
                                communication is blocked — a way we may
                                be sure we need to act to accomplish our goal!!

                            Look at the dirty vessels of the Gospel —

                            Frustration no matter how hard cannot lead us to
                                despair.

                            The graced filled soul always sees the wide
                                vision —
                                Our focus must be on the Big picture, not
                                    the baby frustrations.

                            You know I went to Clearwater today and there is
                                one turn I must take on 60 West — once I
                                went to 60 East and I ended up at the 
                                Atlantic ocean and really off my mark at
                                the wrong coast —

                            It was definitely the wrong way to the 5th and
                                Clearwater and I just didn't know it —
                                I was new taking this route and I kept
                                going and going and going and ended up in the
                                opposite direction —

                            How is our life?
                            If we fail to see that life comes with suffering and
                                every time we are met with frustration we
                                take a road that gives us pleasures to release
                                the suffering.

                             Did not Jesus show us the Paschal mystery of
                                death - resurrection.

                            I sure know so.

                            I have meditated on the mysteries of the rosary and
                                read the scriptures about the passion and death
                                of Christ.

                            God-made-man — all perfection — whipped, crowned
                                with thorns, spit on, mocked, rejected,
                                scorn — and in the garden —
                                He knew how He would bleed and
                                    He knew how His head would
                                        be crowned with thorns
                                    He knew the nails in His hands —
                                    The pain, the pain, the pain He
                                        knew —

                            And like a runner, running to the finish line — He
                                was consumed with love in His heart for you
                                and me — knowing full well the anguish, the pain —
                                He ran literally in His Heart to the finish
                                line of mounting the cross and dying —
                                saying with a mouth that could barely
                                move —
                                Here is your mother —
                                He gave us His words of love —
                                He gave us Mary our Mother —
                            When He could barely speak — He gave
                                us Mary —

                            He was so consumed with love for me and you — even
                                hanging on the cross —
                                He shed the last drop of His Blood for you
                                    and me — knowing full well how
                                    awful it would be

                                I remember having my first child 36 years
                                    ago —
                                    In the pregnancy I did not know how
                                        the birth would be, but I knew
                                        I couldn't do anything, but go
                                        through it — to have the baby —

                                    He knew how awful it would be to die
                                        on the cross and He said
                                        Thy Will be done —
                                        I thirst —

                            Yes Jesus, thirsted for the souls that He loved
                                so much and would reject Him — treat
                                His great gift of the Eucharist without
                                the recognition of the great gift it is and
                                the gift of the priest and
                                the gift of the Church.

                            He suffered during the bitter passion for those
                                who would sin and hate Him, reject Him —
                                hurt each other and

                                He took all their sins on Himself and He died
                                    for our sins so we could share in His life.

                            Today the priest at Mass had a little cup and he
                                used it to explain what "full of grace"
                                means.

                            I used to think and even drew these pictures in my
                                notebook — what I though full of grace
                                might look like. (this is a demonstration to show full of grace, 
                                but grace is really not like these pictures)

Messenger:         A theologian would probably not like my description.

                            But ponder the words of the Hail Mary — I say it
                                and see Mary before me ——                      
                                Radiant in light
                                So beautiful
                                Full of light beaming from her

                            And I say the Hail Mary —
                                Hail Mary, full of grace —
                                It is a proclamation "full of grace"
                                I want it —
                                I want that state of being fuller and fuller of
                                    grace, filled with His life —
                                I know when I go to the Eucharist He
                                    gives me abundant grace!

                            When I sit before the tabernacle — lots of grace —

                            I went to confession every day to Fr. Carter and
                                when he died it seemed such a loss for
                                me, I would cry.

                            Priests would tell me — that venial sins were
                                forgiven at the beginning of Mass and
                                it seemed to play down what importance
                                I once put on confession for just
                                receiving a special grace I wanted to
                                help me to be holy.

                            I want to go to confession for grace — I am
                                never without sin — I am always
                                able to do things with less imperfections, I know
                                I am imperfect, but even though I am imperfect
                                and it seems to surface when I am interacting
                                with others — I continue to interact because
                                I can't do the work He has called me to alone —
                                It takes oneness, sacrifice, forgiveness, love and
                                dealing with my own imperfect self also.

                            I see the relationship between Jesus and Mary so
                                important to know and study — Jesus
                                is the Divine God and Mary the highest
                                human person — Jesus is a Divine person
                                with 2 natures, human and Divine.

                            The 4th Blue Book to me shows the gentleness of Mary
                                and Jesus, the love of the Two Hearts — Mary the most
                                perfect disciple of Jesus. Mary was sinless —

                                Fr. Carter would say — "Rita, if you could
                            see the beauty of your own graced soul..."
                            Can we comprehend the sufferings of Jesus and how
                            He died to give us this sharing in His life
                            through baptism —

                                Through His pierced Heart the sacramental
                            life of the Church was born —

                                The Fountain of life

                            I never saw the cup — but its like I could see it
                                full and brimming over when the priest said
                                this —

                                I wanted to be full of grace — as permeated
                                    with grace as I can be here below and
                                    I am so imperfect, but so filled
                                    with love for God and others — I want
                                    to be saturated with His grace —

                                I love to say the Hail Mary and say
                                    Hail Mary — looking up like I see her
                                    full of grace — with such a proclamation
                                    of the gift of Mary, our Mother —

                            Fr. Carter always said that to have deeper and deeper
                                intimacy with Christ we need a relationship
                                with Mary —

                            I believed with all my soul — the role of the Priestly Newsletter
                                with consecration to the Hearts of Jesus
                                and Mary is to take priests deeper and
                                deeper in their intimacy with Christ —
                                with the Triune God —
                                through Mary's Immaculate Heart —

                            The Litany to Mary is so awesome and
                                sung too — where we honor Mary as
                                Mother, Virgin, Queen

                            Mary is a great gift to sinful man —
                                The spotless Virgin —
                                The Immaculate Mother —

                            I see in the title
                                "FULL OF GRACE" a burning in my heart
                            The title "singular vessel" —
                                I see as a door of deeper intimacy
                                    to the Trinity —
                                    Father, Son and Holy Spirit

                                — SINGULAR VESSEL —

                            God the Father loves Mary so much and
                            God the Father wants us to honor her and
                            God the Father wants us to recognize the gift
                                    Mary is to us human creatures.

Messenger:         I love the Litany to Mary —

                            I like the beginning

                                Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.
                                Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
                                God, the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.
                                God, the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
                                God, the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
                                Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us. (from the Litany)

                  Then we sing the Litany a lot
                        and we start singing here —
                        It is so beautiful
                            Holy Mary ...
                            Holy Mother of God (isn't that awesome —
                                                            such dignity for the
                                                            human race —
                                                            I love to say Mother of God
                                                            with such devotion and
                                                            love)

                            Holy Virgin of Virgins — espoused to the Holy Spirit
                            And the Word was made Flesh —
                            I love it!! — God is so good to us

                    Sing the Litany to Mary with all your heart

  

Given September 3, 2006

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.

 

Messenger:         I remember going to Kindergarten and my mom got
                        sicker and sicker and finally they took me out of
                        Kindergarten.

                            That summer, the month of the Sacred Heart,
                        my mom died of cancer, I was five. I was the
                        youngest of 5 and my dad reacted by having
                        a nervous breakdown — he stayed in the
                        dark rooms trying to deal with the situation,
                        doors closed during the day.

                            Then I went to first grade and everybody knew
                        everybody else, I had to learn to listen — I
                        remember Sr. Margaret something calling on
                        me and I was in another world.

                            But I was afraid, I was shy and my mom
                        just died and my dad was mourning and us
                        children were dealing with it ourselves. My oldest
                        sister was in the 7th grade and she didn't cook
                        too good, but the food wasn't the issue, it was
                        the grief to lose the most important person
                        in my life, then, my mom.

                            I remember sitting by the window upstairs
                        and looking at the rain drops — they were so
                        beautiful — I never knew where they came from,
                        but there they were.

                            I knew a lot about God from losing my
                        mom, they told me she went to heaven and
                        soon it started — we prayed a lot and went to
                        Mass daily and benediction and prayed the
                        rosary as a family.

                            My brother became a priest and we were all
                        proud of him and my sister a nun for 26 years.
                        Relationships are important — loving and healing,
                        fearing and learning trust — having faith.
                        I remember a message in Blue Book I about trust —
                        how we learn it a step at a time — like I ascend
                        the staircase of trust and

                            Well I was with a little baby and she just learned
                        to go up the stairs — she was so little — the
                        house seemed as if it had about 30 steps it seemed when
                        the little one was going up the steps at the birthday
                        party — everybody was outside — all the little guests and
                        I was left to watch the baby — who was going up
                        the stairs and down — her mother asked me to do so and
                        she said "It's okay — she knows how, just watch her"
                        One by one she went up those stairs and I really
                        held my breath when she was near the top — each stair I
                        was intent watching her

                            God watches us learn to trust Him —
                        He watches us grow in faith — step by step like
                        the baby we ascend the stairs and the higher
                        we go we are trusting on bigger matters — it
                        takes more trust it seems.

                            Does Mary say "It's okay Rita, just keep
                        on going and hold onto Jesus — all the way"
                        I have heard this and the conviction of my heart
                        is never determined by a fear that may be
                        gripping me. I see the light, the day of
                        hope, the joy of unity, the Power of God and
                        like the little 6 year old entering
                        1st grade after mom died and daddy
                        was grieving himself — I carried myself
                        in the first grade class room where every
                        body knew each other and when Sr. Margaret
                        called on me and I was day dreaming or whatever and
                        wanted to run out in fear and cry — I just stayed
                        and didn't show it. God wanted me in the
                        1st grade and I had to stay there no matter how
                        I felt.

                            I remember teaching my first piano lesson,
                        I stood behind the little child and played
                        standing up because I was afraid. But since
                        I have played enough music before people to last
                        for years, in Church etc.

                            When I taught at UC I had to stick it out —
                        I made it and taught college before adults for
                        17 years at UC and over 6 at Xavier to adults
                        and students of all kinds.

                            Why am I telling you this at all, because
                        I do what God wants me to do, I cannot be
                        crippled by my feelings.

                            My brother, the priest, really got me started
                        playing at Mass in the early 80's. I went the
                        Sunday before I was to play to see how it would be —
                        it was 12:00 Mass and I was so afraid after
                        I saw about 1200 people, I ran to the bathroom
                        afraid.

                            The next Sunday I went to play Mass and the
                        Church was packed and you can't make any
                        mistakes on the organ or everybody knows —
                        A couple of girls came up because it was
                        so crowded and put their hands on my organ —
                        I stayed and everything worked out.

                            When God calls us to do something, the devil
                        can envelope us with fear, this is not doing
                        weird things — for me I was afraid to stay
                        in the 1st grade class room, but I
                        never left even when I was embarrassed.

                            The devil can press on people when they
                        need to do something and then they feel
                        they have to leave. I have watched this as I
                        work with people. The more important the
                        task, the more we may be tempted to run
                        away.

                            The Holy Spirit can give us courage. Even
                        the apostles hid in the upper room after
                        the Ascension. The Holy Spirit descended
                        upon them and they were transformed
                        from fear to fearlessness.

                            If God gives us a task, a calling,
                        He will give us the grace to do it, if
                        we ask. The baby knew she could get
                        to the top of what seemed 30 stairs
                        to me — then she stood there her hand on
                        the pillars — like she was a Queen of
                        Victory and I was standing below still
                        holding my breath.

                            When we really are called to do
                        something by God we must have faith.
                        We ascend the staircase of trust a little
                        at a time.

                            When I began writing in 1991 I hid
                        my notebooks under my bed and read
                        them to myself behind closed doors.
                        They changed my life. Step by step I
                        advanced a little more — I was afraid when
                        I met Fr. Carter, but he told me the Blue Books
                        were as much his as mine — then he began
                        the Shepherds of Christ Movement — but
                        6 months before I had the writing

                            "I Want My Priests to Come Back"

                            God has all the power.

                            A young man called to a vocation as
                        a priest must not suppress it, he must
                        pray for grace and courage, pray to the Holy
                        Spirit to dispel the fear.

                            How we are feeling may not be the
                        answer to how we should act. We are
                        always discerning God's will for us, asking
                        the Holy Spirit to make it clear, praying for
                        courage when you may feel like running
                        away. If we give in to the feelings we can
                        get down the end of the street and say —
                        "What have I done." We always want to
                        follow God's plan.

                            God has a plan for this earth. He is the
                        Creator, we are the creatures. We
                        are to live our lives according to His
                        will, live by His Word and the Commandments —

                        I have learned what loving God is — I learn
                        every minute of every day more and more and I
                        have learned how I can't do it alone. Every person
                        in the Shepherds of Christ contributes to this
                        work, every one is vital — It is important
                        to work, to do our part as God wills, but
                        we have to love and forgive, bear with our
                        imperfections and see the vision —

                            The vision to reach the souls of this
                        earth with the love of the Sacred Heart of
                        Jesus, praying for the priests, the Church and
                        the world.

                            Doing God's will takes discipline and
                        prayer. It is because of the prayers and
                        everybody's love for souls and God's desire
                        for us to spread the Priestly Newsletter we
                        were able to send out 2006 #1.

                        Thank you — This is by God's grace and your
                        saying yes — this was done.

                        Jesus wants us to do this like Fr. Carter did
                        every two months —

                        With His might we can do it, but we must
                        pray the prayers and I try to do them daily.

                        There are Bishops who will distribute the
                            Newsletters to their priests and
                            the yellow book of prayers.

                        They wait every 2 months like they did with
                            Fr. Carter for this to come (the Newsletter,
                            prayer manual, prayer books by Fr. John)

                        Listen to these letters we received already.   

                        We need to reach the foreign countries
                            with the importance of the
                            consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and
                            Mary —

    

  

Diocese of _______

August 25, 2006

Dear Mr. Weickert:

I am grateful for your work of promoting prayer chapters for the perseverance and sanctification of priests. This is an intention that is certainly close to the heart of the Church.

The Diocese of _____ is a small diocese in the Philippines with more than half a million Catholics. We have only forty eight priests serving thirty five parishes.

May I respectfully request you to send us fifty copies of the red prayer manual and fifty copies of the book "Authenticity" for the priests of our diocese. I promise you my full support for this worthy apostolate.

I will lift you up to the Lord when I lift the host and chalice in my Masses at the Cathedral of Saint _____.

Sincerely yours,

Bishop of _____

  

  

Date:   Sun, 3 Sep 2006 07:30:34 +0530
From:   Bishop in India
To:  info@sofc.org

Dear and Rev. Fr. Weickert,
Thank you for your kind letter that you sent recently with the Authencity by Fr. John. Yes, we had been receiving the newletter for sometime and we send them to the priests in the diocese. I know of many priests who used the same for their meditation and prayer. I would like to continue getting the same. It was sent in the name of my Vicar General.... Now that he is transferred and has gone to a parish, please send the same to my address to the new residence of the bishop which is 75 km away from ___. I am giving below the new address:  _______

I would also like to get 200 (two hundred) copies of the book Authenticity by Fr. John. It is a very useful book for us. Ours is a missionary diocese in the _____ part of India with 35 parishes catering to 55,000 catholics. Our state is predominently a christian state. The rest are all baptists who were evangelized by the American Baptists about 130 years ago. Hence, the vast majority are Christians.

Wishing you all the best and praying for you,
I remain,
Yours in Christ Jesus,

Bishop of ____

Messenger:     Mary said at Fatima
                            a certain era of peace will follow
                            the Sacred Heart of Jesus will Reign
                            the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph.

Messenger:     Help us reach the priests with this gift
                        Help us reach the world begging them to
                            begin prayer chapters, praying
                            for the priests, the Church and
                            the world.

                            I can measure, just so many days and then
                        this will happen.

                            Fr. Carter told me and John — some day I will
                        be gone and you will run the Movement and
                        he spent lots of time with me.

                            He knew what God wanted — He wanted this
                        Movement to go on, it is still in its infancy in
                        God's time.

                            We have been praying for the priests, the
                        Church and the world out of the red prayer
                        manual since the middle of 1994 when the
                        first Newsletter was published by Fr. Carter.
                        The summer of 1994 he wrote the Spirituality
                        Handbook, the Prayer Manual and Tell My
                        People and the First Priestly Newsletter.
                        That was 12 years ago July 31, 1994.

                            He was intent on writing a synopsis of
                        the spiritual life

                            1) Tell My People
                            2) Spirituality Handbook
                            3) Newsletter 2000 #3 his
                                    second to last Newsletter
                                    when he was alive

We need to know if you have a

prayer chapter.

Please e-mail this information today.

Your name - complete address -

how many members.

info@sofc.org

You need only have 2 members.

  

           

 

     

Donations    

  

^{Main Mailing Address for Shepherds of Christ}

 Shepherds of Christ Ministries
P. O. Box 627
China, IN  47250

1-888-211-3041

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