| Shepherds of Christ Daily Writing |
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| Shepherds of Christ Daily Writing |
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February 14, 2016
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February 15th Holy Spirit Novena |
The Novena Rosary
Mysteries |
Pray for special intentions.
Pray for Dan & Melanie, Jimmy,
Fr. Joe, Mary, Blue Book 16.
Please pray for funds & grace.
Give the gift that Counts.
Blow Out Sale for Reprinting of Blue Book 1, 2 & 3
While Supplies Last
Blue Book 1 - $4 each plus postage
Blue Book 2 - $4 each plus postage
Blue Book 3 - $3 each plus postageCall 1-888-211-3041 for Doris
New Homily Book - Cycle C
Available $10.00 plus postage
February 14, 2016
1st Sunday of Lent
Deuteronomy 26: 4-10
‘The priest will then take the basket from your hand and lay it before the altar of Yahweh your God. In the presence of Yahweh your God, you will then pronounce these words:
“My father was a wandering Aramaean, who went down to Egypt with a small group of men, and stayed there, until he there became a great, powerful and numerous nation.The Egyptians ill–treated us, they oppressed us and inflicted harsh slavery on us.But we called on Yahweh, God of our ancestors. Yahweh heard our voice and saw our misery, our toil and our oppression;and Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with mighty hand and outstretched arm, with great terror, and with signs and wonders.He brought us here and has given us this country, a country flowing with milk and honey.Hence, I now bring the first–fruits of the soil that you, Yahweh, have given me.”
Psalm 91: 1-2, 10-15
You who live in the secret place of Elyon,
spend your nights in the shelter of Shaddai,
saying to Yahweh, ‘My refuge, my fortress,
my God in whom I trust!’No disaster can overtake you,
no plague come near your tent;
he has given his angels orders about you
to guard you wherever you go.They will carry you in their arms
in case you trip over a stone.
You will walk upon wild beast and adder,
you will trample young lions and snakes.‘Since he clings to me I rescue him,
I raise him high, since he acknowledges my name.
He calls to me and I answer him:
in distress I am at his side,
I rescue him and bring him honour.
Romans 10: 8-13
What does it say, then? The word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith, the faith which we preach, that if you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and if you believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved. It is by believing with the heart that you are justified, and by making the declaration with your lips that you are saved. When scripture says: No one who relies on this will be brought to disgrace, it makes no distinction between Jew and Greek: the same Lord is the Lord of all, and his generosity is offered to all who appeal to him, for all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Luke 4: 1-13
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert, for forty days being put to the test by the devil. During that time he ate nothing and at the end he was hungry. Then the devil said to him, ‘If you are Son of God, tell this stone to turn into a loaf.’ But Jesus replied, ‘Scripture says:
Human beings live not on bread alone.’
Then leading him to a height, the devil showed him in a moment of time all the kingdoms of the world and said to him, ‘I will give you all this power and their splendour, for it has been handed over to me, for me to give it to anyone I choose.& Do homage, then, to me, and it shall all be yours.’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Scripture says:
You must do homage to the Lord your God,
him alone you must serve.’Then he led him to Jerusalem and set him on the parapet of the Temple. ‘If you are Son of God,’ he said to him, ‘throw yourself down from here, for scripture says:
He has given his angels orders about you,
to guard you,and again:
They will carry you in their arms
in case you trip over a stone.’But Jesus answered him, ‘Scripture says:
Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’
Having exhausted every way of putting him to the test, the devil left him, until the opportune moment.
1st Sunday of Lent
February 17, 2013
INTRODUCTION
– (Deut. 26:4-10; Rom. 10:8-13; Lk.4:1-13) In our first reading from Deuteronomy, we hear Moses instructing the people in the proper way to offer God thanks and praise for their freedom and for the land God had given them. In gratitude for their blessings, they were to offer their tithes to the Lord – one tenth of the fruits of their land. Along with their offering they would profess they were once a people without freedom or land, and they would now bring their offering in gratitude for all the ways God had blessed them. The reading prepares us for the gospel where Satan tries to tempt Jesus into worshipping him so as to gain power over all earthly kingdoms. Jesus’ answer comes from another part of the book of Deuteronomy which says, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him alone shall you serve.” (Deut. 6:13)HOMILY –
Five weeks ago we celebrated the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist at the Jordan river. Since then we’ve heard about events that happened early on in Jesus’ ministry, such as his first miracle at the wedding feast at Cana. Today we back track a little, to hear what happened right after Jesus’ baptism. When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit came down upon him and God proclaimed that he was well pleased with Jesus, his Son. Suddenly, as we just heard in the gospel, the scene changed dramatically. The Spirit that came down on Jesus at his baptism led him into the desert. This dramatic shift tells us a lot about the dramatic ups and downs in our own spiritual journey. I trust most of you can remember times when you felt close to God as a loving Father, or you felt some special consolation. Without warning you felt as if you were in a spiritual desert. Suddenly God seemed far away, he seemed to be ignoring you and, as it were, hiding his face from you. Many saints I’ve read about have had experiences like this. In this desert a person often feels they’ve done something wrong, and God is angry. They don’t realize these ups and downs are part of everyone’s spiritua journey, including Jesus himself, and that it’s during those desert periods our faith will be growing deeper and stronger if we don’t give up or get discouraged. Thinking about the experience of Jesus has always been comforting to me when I feel as if I’m in a desert. Those desert times make us more vulnerable to temptation too. It’s easy to pray and to love God when we feel that he’s close to us and it’s harder when he feels far away. Luke tells us in today’s gospel that it was only after Jesus had fasted those 40 days that the devil showed up. In other words, Jesus was at his most vulnerable point, at least physically. So the devil suggested Jesus turn stones into bread to satisfy his hunger; he offered Jesus power and control over all earthly kingdoms; and, finally, the devil told him that he should come floating down from the peak of the Temple and the Jewish people would instantly recognize him as their messiah. These temptations, at first, seem so strange. They appear to be quite different from the run of the mill temptations most of us have to deal with: pride, lust, greed, envy, anger, etc., but in some ways our temptations are similar to those of Jesus. Basically, Jesus’ temptations involved the possibility of his using his divine powers for his own benefit. I would suspect temptations like these continued to suggest themselves to Jesus throughout his entire life. For example, we might remember how after he had fed the people miraculously, they wanted to make him their king. He may have found that tempting, but we know he turned away from that possibility. Remember too how when he was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane, he said: “don’t you know that I could call on my Father for help and at once he would send me more than twelve armies of angels?” (Mt. 26:53) Yet he would not call on his supernatural powers to save himself. Jesus came to serve and we see him time and time again using his unique powers to serve others, not himself. In this, the temptations of Jesus are similar to some of our own. Jesus has given us an example that when God has blessed us, we should not be greedy and selfish with what we’ve been given in terms of time, talent and treasure, but we should be willing to help others. Now, my last thought, I do not say to those who are already perfect. If you are already perfect you can tune me out, but if there is some room in your spiritual life for improvement, then I have one last word about temptation. During Lent we are encouraged to do something that will bring us closer to Christ or to give up doing something that may keep us from serving Christ more wholeheartedly. Whenever I decide to do something special for Lent, after a couple of weeks I discover that 40 days is a long time, and I begin to let my good intentions slip by the wayside. That’s one of my temptations during Lent. I think it’s true of others, that many people begin Lent with good intentions, but then get tired of doing what they promised themselves they would try to do better. You will be blessed greatly if you persevere. I say this not just to encourage you, but I say this to myself as well: “don’t quit the good work you planned on doing for Lent.” Amen.
February 9, 2016
Dear Friends,
I give my heart to Jesus and Mary with you in love.
If you read Fr. Joe's book like I did on the 13th you can see how awesome it is.
It helps me understand what is happening in the writings during the liturgical year.
It is so very good, it makes me so eager to live the liturgy in my life,
live in the liturgical year.Well we have sent over 13,000 of Fr. Joe's new cycle books since the beginning of November to priests and hierarchy
all over the world.It can enrich so many lives with the weekly sermon rooted in the Word, the Eucharist,
the liturgy,
the Mass,Baptism, love and unity.
When a priest uses the book weekly he focuses on the Bread of Life to feed the people.
Say a priest says 4 or 5 Masses weekly
Think of how many souls could be reached with the people attending Mass.Fr. Joe speaks of love and being a member of the body of Christ, living in relationships
all in the context of the scripture.We see salvation history and its ups and downs -
we see our calling from God
and we see our part in salvation history.God calls - we respond.
The body of Christ can help the world to raise up to greater perfection.
What are you doing to help this coming election in the United States.
This book of Fr. Joe's can help so many people every week.
We have sent over 13,000 books out to priests and hierarchy to every priest in your state.
We have sent the books to so many priests in the United States and all Bishops.
Can't you help us.
We also send a Prayer Brochure with the Shepherds of Christ prayers praying for the priests, the Church and the world.
We pray in adoration 8 days a month with usually 6 Masses for you, your family and the priests the Church and the world.
We pray in 24 hour adoration before the Exposed Blessed Eucharist in China for all this and for you.
The China mortgage is due tomorrow
and we are struggling because of giving so much money to the Ministries.
Can anyone help us with a donation.
Also we are printing another 20,000 of Fr. Joe's books
going to all the priests in the United States.This can enormously help for this coming election.
A weekly Priestly Newsletter used about the scriptures and everything at Sunday Mass.
Please we need your help.
If you want to know what to do to help the world and especially all active priests in the United States please help us with a donation.
We need your help today.
Thanks for your prayers and help in advance.God Bless you and love you.
Rita Robinson Ring
Give the gift that keeps giving.
6 different Blue Books for $30.00 including postage
$6.00
$5.00
$4.00
$2.00
$2.00
$3.00
$3.00
$3.00
$3.00
$3.00
$3.00
$3.00
$3.00
$3.00
$3.00
$5.00 $5.00Books available in limited supply for this sale.
The more you use the Blue Books and
become one with Jesus – more
intimate with Jesus –
the more your lives are a blessing and
everything you do in life can help
to bring down great grace for the world
because of your being so
one with Jesus.
Guiding Light Homily Book Series
Fr. Joe’s Books
Cycle A –
Steadfast to the Son
Cycle B –
Focusing on the Word
Cycle C –
Feed My Soul
Cycle A –
Inspired to be Genuine4 for $20 plus postage of $5.95
These books can be given to:
1) All Priests
2) Good for Music Ministers
3) Good for DRE's
4) Good for Deacons
5) Good for Principals of Schools
6) Good for Teachers
7) Good for Mom and Dads
Given March 21, 2014
R. Pray for These Things
1) Pray for the Pope & hierarchy to help us start prayer chapters.
2) Pray for Dan, Sally Jo, Richard, Carol, Margaret, Sue,
Jack, Jean, Amanda, Matthew, Special intentions.
3) Pray for the priests, the Church and the world!
4) Pray for the spread of prayer chapters,
also for the spread of priests doing prayer chapters.
5) Pray for the spread of Blue Books.
6) People going to Florida and China.
7) Vocations to all 7 categories.
8) Pray for spread of Consecration and Rosary.
9) Pray for pope helping us.
10) Pray for Jeff - sales & health. Pray for Nick.
11) Blue Book 16 and cover and all involved.
For our Publisher and all involved
12) All intentions on my list, Jerry's list.
13) Priests getting Fr. Joe's book.
14) Pray for Fr. Joe's new book, cover & funds for printing & postage.
15) Donors and members and their families.
16) Healing of the Family tree.
17) Dan & Melanie, Catherine & mom, Gary, Mary Jo,
Jim & statues, Fr. Ken, Monsignor, Kerry, Tom & wife.
18) All who asked us to pray for them.
19) All we promised to pray for.
20) Rita, John, Doris, Sheila, Jerry, Regina, Sanja,
Betty, Sophie, Lisa, Eileen, Fr. Mike, Louie, Laverne,
2 Dons, Mary Ellen, Fr. Joe, all priests helping us,
Ed, Jimmy, Steve, a special couple, Rosie & all involved.
21) 2 babies and moms.
22) Funds and insurance.
23) Jerry's garage.
24) In thanksgiving for gifts, graces, & blessings received.
25) Spread the Blood of Jesus on all of us here.
26) Consecrate all hearts.
27) Cast the devil out of all of us here and all in Movement.
The Wedding Rosary
Crystal Image Rosary
$40 plus shipping
Original Image Rosary
8mm glass beads
in a matching gift box$40 plus shipping
Give the gift that counts.
Give to your priests Fr. Carter's Books plus postage.
Tell My People $5.00
Response to God's Love $8.00
Response in Christ $8.00
Old Mass Books with the Imprimatur
$2.00 plus postage
New Mass Book with Imprimatur
$8.00 plus postage
New Parents & Children's Book with the Imprimatur
$8.00 plus postage
Fr. Joe's Cycle A – Steadfast to the Sun – Starts in Advent
$5.00 plus postage
Give the gift that keeps on giving!
Give to your priest.
Fr. Carter's Priestly Newsletters Book II
$6.00 plus postage
Get a canvas print of Mary's image
with a sliver of glass and a little
bottle of Jesus and Mary water.
The glass will be fixed behind the
back of the picture.
$200.00 plus postage
Shepherds of Christ Ministries
P.O. Box 627 China, Indiana 47250
Telephone: (toll free) 1-888-211-3041 or (812) 273-8405
FAX: (812) 273-3182
Copyright © 2014 Shepherds of Christ.
Rights for non–commercial reproduction granted:
May be copied in its entirety, but neither re–typed nor edited.
Translations are welcome but they must be reviewed for moral and
theological accuracy by a source approved by Shepherds of Christ Ministries
before any distribution takes place. Please contact us for more information.
