C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\My Web\template.htm

Suffering: A Source of Life

Yet ours were the sufferings he was bearing, ours the sorrows he was carrying, while we thought of him as someone being punished and struck with affliction by God; whereas he was being wounded for our rebellions, crushed because of our guilt; the punishment reconciling us fell on him, and we have been healed by his bruises. We had all gone astray like sheep, each taking his own way, and Yahweh brought the acts of rebellion of all of us to bear on him. Ill-treated and afflicted, he never opened his mouth, like a lamb led to the slaughter-house, like a sheep dumb before its shearers he never opened his mouth. (Is 53:4-7)

He hung upon a cross on a hill called Calvary. Death was near. How much Jesus had already suffered! He had been derisively crowned with thorns. In a terribly weakened condition, He carried the heavy cross to the hill of Golgotha. There He was stripped of His garments and mercilessly nailed to the cross. After all this brutal and agonizing suffering, Jesus finally died.

Truly the Good Shepherd had laid down His life for His sheep. That magnificent Heart, overflowing with love for His Father and all of us, had beat its last.

On the third day, Jesus rose: ‘Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple: are you going to raise it up again in three days?’ But he was speaking of the Temple that was his body, and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and what he had said. (Jn 2:19-22)

Yes, the Good Shepherd died and rose for our salvation. Behold, the paschal mystery of Jesus!

When we are baptized we are incorporated into Christ's paschal mystery of death and resurrection. St. Paul speaks of this marvelous union with Jesus: You cannot have forgotten that all of us, when we were baptised into Christ Jesus, were baptised into his death. So by our baptism into his death we were buried with him, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glorious power, we too should begin living a new life. (Rm 6:3-4)

Christ has structured the Christian life by the way He lived, died, and rose from the dead. It is obvious, then, as Paul tells us above that the pattern of death-resurrection must be at the heart of the Church’s life. Individually and collectively, we continually die in Christ so that we may continually rise in Him. Thus we pass over in a process of ongoing religious transition to a greater participation in Christ’s resurrection. It is true that our participation in Christ’s resurrection will reach its completion only in eternal life. Nevertheless, we begin the life of resurrection here upon 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 God’s gifts. As Christians, we should have a sense of dynamic growth concerning our here and now life of resurrection.

We cannot maintain the life of resurrection or grow in it without a willingness to suffer. This does not mean that we need to feel overwhelmed and heavily burdened 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 into one’s life. Whether the sufferings one encounters are of the more ordinary variety or of the more rare and extreme type, Christians must convince themselves that to relate properly to the cross is to grow in resurrection, and growth in resurrection means we will also have an increased capacity to help give resurrection to others.

Pope John Paul II speaks of the role suffering plays in the Christian life: "Every man has his own share in the redemption. Each one is also called to share in that suffering through which the redemption was accomplished. He is called to share in that suffering through which all human suffering has also been redeemed. In bringing about the redemption through suffering, Christ has also raised human suffering to the level of the redemption. Thus each man in his suffering can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ…

"Those who share in Christ’s sufferings have before their eyes the paschal mystery of the cross and resurrection, in which Christ descends, in a first phace, to the ultimate limits of human weakness and impotence: Indeed, he dies nailed to the cross. But if at the same time in this weakness there is accomplished his lifting up, confirmed by the power of the resurrection, then this means that the weaknesses of all human sufferings are capable of being infused with the same power of God manifested in Christ’s cross. In such a concept, to suffer means to become particularly susceptible, particularly open, to the working of the salvific powers of God offered to humanity in Christ. In him God has confirmed his desire to act especially through suffering, which is man’s weakness and emptiness of self." ²

Dom Hubert Van Zeller observes: "Men and women who might be turning their afflictions over to God, who have only to unite themselves in spirit with Christ’s passion, are found so often to stop short, and even to make of their trial further matter for selfishness. Even if we do not rebel positively against God’s providential will, we can become so preoccupied with our troubles as to leave God out of account.

"Instead of making us compassionate for others we can squander compassion on ourselves. Suffering is meant to enlarge our hearts, not shrink them. With suffering goes the grace of patience, peace, fortitude, penitence and love. All this can be missed if we make the mistake of turning in upon ourselves as the result of our trials.

"To the Jews the cross was a stumbling block, and to the gentiles foolishness. What is it to us? Often it can be an emblem merely, the significance of the symbol forgotten. The cross is something in which we are, by reason of our Christian inheritance, inextricably involved. Do we yield to it or harden ourselves against it? The cross is not just two planks fitted together on a certain day in the history of the world, and of all the relics which we venerate the most sacred, but a fact of our human experience which may or may not be sacred according to what we do about it." ³

Contrary to what many think, Fr. Edward Leen reminds us that suffering is compatible with happiness: "If men are prone to err in conceiving the nature of happiness, they will necessarily err in judging of its opposite. They commonly think that a man cannot possibly be happy if he is a prey to constant sickness; if he is condemned to experience habitual poverty and to be buried in obscurity; if he fails to take an important part on the world stage; if he is unsuccessful in his enterprises; if he is deprived of the opportunities of intellectual or aesthetic development; and finally, if he fails to gain the applause and the esteem of his fellows. Now though all these things mean grievous sufferings for men, neither singly nor in combination have they the power to rob him of essential happiness.

"Apart from the consideration of the life of the Redeemer, certain undeniable facts of history justify this contention. The saints, in all ages, have been persons whose lot it was, generally speaking, to undergo greater trials and sufferings than others are called upon to endure. Yet they were habitually happy, buoyant and joyous human beings…

"The saints were not violently wresting words from their literal meaning when they proclaimed themselves happy. For the happiness they enjoyed was that which is proper to, and satisfying for man…

"God planned an unbroken life of happiness for man. The Fall modified, but did not prevent the realization of this plan. Suffering, but not unhappiness, becomes the condition of the earthly portion of men’s existence. God does not make unhappiness here to be the price to pay for happiness hereafter. To be happy, in the minds of all men, is to fare well, that is, to live excellently... The Saviour Himself suffered intensely, but He lived the highest life possible for men. He was, therefore, happy. He assured men that He could share His own blissful experience with them. It may appear paradoxical to associate happiness with the mental image of One Who is called the Man of Sorrows. But an analysis of the nature of happiness will show that it was fully realized in the earthly life of the Saviour…" ⁴

Caryll Houselander writes with great sensitivity regarding the second station of the Way of the Cross: "They put His own garments on Him again, and Jesus comes out from the judgment hall of Pilate to receive His cross.

"He comes to it gladly! This is a strange thing, for the cross is a symbol of shame, and it is to be His deathbed. Already He sees the very shape of His death in the wide-spread arms. From this moment He will be inseparable from it, until He dies on it. He will labour and struggle under the weight of it… Yet Christ welcomes the cross. He embraces it. He takes it into His arms. He lays His beautiful hands on it tenderly, those strong hands of a carpenter that are so familiar with the touch of wood." ⁵

Henri Nouwen tells this story: "I would like to tell you the story of a middle-aged man whose career was suddenly interrupted by the discovery of leukemia, a fatal blood cancer. All his life plans crumbled and all his ways had to change. But slowly he was able to ask himself no longer: ‘Why did this happen to me?’ but instead: ‘What is the promise hidden in this event?’ When his rebellion became a new quest, he felt that he could give strength and hope to other cancer patients and, that by facing his condition directly, he could make his pain a source of healing for others. To this day, this man not only does more for patients than many ministers are able to, but he also refound his life on a level that he had never known before." ⁶

St. Paul tells us: But we hold this treasure in pots of earthenware, so that the immensity of the power is God’s and not our own. We are subjected to every kind of hardship, but never distressed; we see no way out but we never despair; we are pursued but never cut off; knocked down, but still have some life in us; always we carry with us in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our body. Indeed, while we are still alive, we are continually being handed over to death, for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our mortal flesh. (2 Co 4:7-11)

Offering Our Lives to God

Written May 29, 2000:

When we come to Mass we make an offering of ourselves, all our sorrows, wounds, joys, our complete selves. We see our lives and we put ourselves in Mary’s Heart, ask to make the offering in greatest purity. In His Heart we offer the sacrifice IN HIM and WITH HIM.

We become one with Him as deeply as possible. We dwell in His most perfect Heart offering sacrifice to God for our sins and the sins of men. Our whole being is very active in the Mass as we realize more the power of this Sacrifice most worthily offered. We want to give ourselves as completely as possible, our past, all of ourselves, now become so one in the moment of sacrifice as we become one in Him pleading and begging to our God for purification, for help, for love of Him and all others. We give thanksgiving, worship and honor to Him, our whole being given as a sacrifice on the altar IN His pure and holy Heart. Being in the Immaculate Heart of our Mother, we offer sacrifice for the Church and the world.

We offer every precious moment of our lives, united to the Masses around the world, being one in Jesus. Every moment is a moment of sacrifice united to God. This is what we do in the Morning Offering.

The pages of the book of our lives are being written. These moments of our lives are so dear to God, for we offer our lives as a sacrifice for souls.

Are we spending the precious moments of our lives offering sacrifice to God for His honor and glory and giving our lives as a sacrifice for souls?

                R. When Fr. Carter died as co-founder I
                    continued the mission Jesus
                    gave to Fr. Carter.

                Jesus called servants and handmaids
                to be His bride and carry out
                this mission united to Jesus –
                to be the bride of Christ –

Excerpt from Priestly Newsletter 2001 #2

The Church is the Bride of Christ

As the bride of Christ we partake most fully in offering sacrifice with one another all day as we unite to the Mass and lay down our lives in union with Him.

The Church is sacrament. The Church is one with Christ. The Church is His Bride. As a body we unite in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and pray in union with Him. It is through His mediation that tremendous grace is released on the earth. We are the bride of Christ. He is the Chief Priest and Victim. We partake more fully in the sacrifice. We live the paschal mystery of death and resurrection in our lives. We tap the font of life. We unite to Him as His holy spouse. We are the members of His Church. We are the brides of Christ. We love Him. There is a holy union between us and our Spouse all through the day.

EVERY ACTION–EVERY PRAYER IN OUR LIVES IS UNITED TO THE MASS–IT IS A FONT OF GOD’S GRACE.

THE DIVINE BRIDEGROOM GAVE HIS LIFE ON THE CROSS AND HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD VICTORIOUS ON THE THIRD DAY. The sacrifice of Calvary is sacramentally made present in the Mass today. We unite to it pleading as a body for ourselves, the Church and the world. We beg for grace from our Divine Bridegroom. As members of the Church we live as His spouse our bridal union all day.

Christ is Chief Priest and Mediator. We are His flock, the ones He came to save.

EVERY PRAYER, EVERY ACT when done to serve our God should be united to the Mass, so that great grace will be released. From the newsletter 1999 Issue 4:

God With Us

The Son of God became Man for our salvation. Yes, He became incarnate. He took to Himself a real human nature. Because Jesus possessed a real human nature, He could die for us. As the Good Shepherd, He has laid down His life for us, His sheep.

There are indeed many thoughts which come to mind when we reflect upon the truth that the Son of God took to Himself a human nature and dwelt among us.

St. John puts it very simply in his Gospel: The Word was made flesh, he lived among us... (Jn 1:14) Yes, John states it so succinctly, yet these few words contain a wealth of meaning. We should expect nothing else, since this brief statement of the fourth Gospel points out the central event of all human history. These words sum up God’s creative and redemptive activity. They sum up God’s process of self-communication to us.

The Eucharist

At the Last Supper, on the night He was betrayed, our Saviour instituted the Eucharistic Sacrifice of His Body and Blood. He did this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross throughout the centuries until He should come again, and so to entrust to His beloved spouse, the Church, a memorial of His death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a paschal banquet in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us (Vatican II, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, No. 17)²

The Church, therefore, earnestly desires that Christ’s faithful, when present at this mystery of faith, should not be there as strangers or silent spectators. On the contrary, through a proper appreciation of the rites and prayers they should participate knowingly, devoutly, and actively. They should be instructed by God’s word and be refreshed at the table of the Lord’s body; they should give thanks to God; by offering the Immaculate Victim, not only through the hands of the priest, but also with him, they should learn to offer themselves too. Through Christ the Mediator, they should be drawn day by day into ever closer union with God and with each other, so that finally God may be all in all. (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, No. 48)³

Through the Eucharistic Sacrifice Christ the Lord desired to set before us in a very special way this remarkable union whereby we are united one with another and with our divine Head, a union that no word of praise can ever sufficiently express. For in this sacrifice the sacred ministers act not only as the representative of our Saviour, but as the representative of the whole Mystical Body and of each one of the faithful. Again, in this act of sacrifice, the faithful of Christ, united by the common bond of devotion and prayer, offer to the eternal Father through the hands of the priest, whose prayer alone has made it present on the altar, the Immaculate Lamb, the most acceptable victim of praise and propitiation for the Church’s universal need. Moreover, just as the divine Redeemer, while dying on the Cross, offered Himself to the eternal Father as Head of the whole human race, so now, ‘in this clean oblation’ He not only offers Himself as Head of the Church to His heavenly Father but in Himself His mystical members as well. He embraces them all, yes, even the weaker and more ailing members with the deepest love of His Heart. (Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis AAS. XXXV, 232-233)⁴

Pope Paul VI instructs us in his encyclical, The Mystery of Faith: "The Catholic Church has always devoutly guarded as a most precious treasure the mystery of faith, that is, the ineffable gift of the Eucharist which she received from Christ her Spouse as a pledge of His immense love, and during the Second Vatican Council in a new and solemn demonstration she professed her faith and veneration for this mystery. When dealing with the restoration of the sacred liturgy, the Fathers of the council, by reason of their pastoral concern for the whole Church, considered it of the highest importance to exhort the faithful to participate actively with sound faith and with the utmost devotion in the celebration of this Most Holy Mystery, to offer it with the priest to God as a sacrifice for their own salvation and for that of the whole world, and to find in it spiritual nourishment.

For if the sacred liturgy holds the first place in the life of the Church, the Eucharistic Mystery stands at the heart and center of the liturgy, since it is the font of life by which we are cleansed and strengthened to live not for ourselves but for God, and to be united in love among ourselves...

"It is to be desired that the faithful, every day and in great numbers, actively participate in the Sacrifice of the Mass, receive Holy Communion with a pure heart, and give thanks to Christ Our Lord for so great a gift...⁵

Ephesians 1: 11-14
And it is in him
    that we have received our heritage,
marked out beforehand as we were,
under the plan of the One
    who guides all things
as he decides by his own will,
chosen to be,
for the praise of his glory,
the people who
    would put their hopes in Christ
        before he came.
Now you too, in him,
have heard the message of the truth
    and the gospel of your salvation,
and having put your trust in it
you have been stamped with the seal
    of the Holy Spirit of the Promise,
who is the pledge of our inheritance,
for the freedom of the people
    whom God has taken for his own,
for the praise of his glory.

    Days pass and we grow older.

    Some of us wither and die.

    Some are killed in car wrecks.

    Today is the day to turn our lives over to God.

    Please help us pass out these little cards to all souls.

Say daily

God, I give you my life in union
with the Mass as an offering for
the souls, the Church and the
priests

Help us!

Your life is so important for souls,
you can help bring down great grace.

end of excerpt

Excerpt from Priestly Newsletter July/August 1994 Issue

Chief Shepherd of the Flock.

He hung upon a cross on a hill called Calvary. Death was near. How much Jesus had already suffered! He had been brutally scourged. Much of His sacred body was a bloody, open wound. He had been derisively crowned with thorns. In a terribly weakened condition, He carried the heavy cross to the hill of Golgotha. There He was stripped of His garments and mercilessly nailed to the cross. After all this brutal and agonizing suffering, Jesus finally died.

Truly, the Good Shepherd had laid down His life for His sheep. That magnificent Heart, overflowing with love for His Father and all of us, had beat Its last:

“It was Preparation Day, and to prevent the bodies remaining on the cross during the sabbath—since that sabbath was a day of special solemnity—the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken away. Consequently the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with him and then of the other. When they came to Jesus, they found He was already dead, and so instead of breaking His legs one of the soldiers pierced His side with a lance. And immediately there came out blood and water.” (Jn 19: 31-34).

Indeed, from the pierced Heart of Christ the Church with her sacraments was born. Two of these sacraments, the Eucharist and Baptism, are symbolized by the blood and water flowing from Christ’s side. The sacrament of Orders was, of course, also born from the pierced Heart of Christ. We who are priests can never adequately thank Jesus for allowing us to receive this great and most special sacrament. The best way we can try to thank Him, though, is to utilize our priesthood to the fullest. We priests have the great privilege and the great responsibility of being special companions of the Chief Shepherd of the flock, Jesus Himself.

Jesus laid down His life for His sheep. Being shepherds of the Chief Shepherd we, too, are called to lay down our lives for the flock. Relatively few priests in the course of the Church’s history have been called to lay down their lives in physical martyrdom. All, though, have been and are called to lay down their lives for the flock by giving themselves in loving service according to the Father’s will.

We are effective shepherds to the extent we are united with Christ. Let’s resolve each day of our priestly existence to utilize all the means available to deepen our union with Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the flock.

1. Scriptural quotations are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, Doubleday & Co.

end of excerpt from July/August 1994 Issue

Excerpt from the Priestly Newsletter Newsletter July/August 1997

A faithful shepherd takes care of his sheep in all their needs. This includes providing them with the proper food. Jesus, the perfect Shepherd, abundantly provides for the nourishment of His flock. In the Eucharist He gives Himself in His body, blood, soul and divinity for our spiritual growth. He also feeds us through His word, through His teaching. The gospel of John, in Chapter 6:35-59 combines both of these ways-Christ nourishing us through His teaching and through the Eucharist. This particular section of John's gospel gives us Jesus' great discourse on the Bread of Life. The first part, verses 35-50, speaks of the teaching of Jesus as nourishment, as the bread of life. This first part contains, therefore, the so-called sapiential theme. The second part, verses 51-59, speaks of the Eucharist as our heavenly nourishment. This part, therefore, contains the sacramental theme. The Mass, of course, contains both aspects of John's Bread of Life theme. In the Mass we have the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist-and they are profoundly connected.

Both aspects of the Bread of Life theme reveal God's tremendous love for us. The Eucharist is the sacrament of Jesus' great love for us, and His teaching is summed up in terms of love-God's overwhelming love for us and our duty to love God and neighbor. Each day we should pray for an increased realization of how much God, in Christ Jesus Our Lord, loves each of us with a most special, unique love. Growing in this awareness and living according to this awareness are keys to growth in the spiritual life. The more we are convinced of how much Jesus loves us as unique individuals, the more able are we to enter into a deep love relationship with Jesus. And, if we have the proper love relationship with Jesus, everything else falls into place. Yes, as our union with Jesus grows, He leads us, amid all the pain and all the joy, to an ever closer union with the Father in the Holy Spirit with Mary, our Mother, at our side.

Excerpts from the Priestly Newsletter November/December 1994

Chief Shepherd of the Flock

Yes, the Good Shepherd has laid down His life for His sheep. The Good Shepherd’s magnificent Heart, overflowing with love for His Father and all of us, was pierced so that the waters of our salvation might flow forth: “It was Preparation Day, and to prevent the bodies remaining on the cross during the sabbath—since that sabbath was a day of special solemnity—the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken away. Consequently the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with him and then of the other. When they came to Jesus, they found he was already dead, and so instead of breaking his legs one of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance. And immediately there came out blood and water.” (Jn 19: 31-34).

Bonaventure, the Franciscan saint and doctor of the Church, comments on the pierced Heart of the Good Shepherd: “Then, in order that the Church might be formed out of the side of Christ sleeping on the cross…the divine plan permitted that one of the soldiers pierce open His sacred side with a lance. While blood mixed with water flowed, the price of our salvation was poured forth, which gushing forth from the sacred fountain of the heart gave power to the sacraments of the Church…”²

Another doctor of the Church, St. Augustine, also refers to the source of life which is the pierced Heart of Jesus: “On the cross he made a great exchange. There the purse which held our price was opened, for when the soldier’s spear opened his side, the price of the whole world flowed forth.”³

Finally, we have the words of the Church herself concerning the pierced Heart of Jesus. In the preface for the Mass of the Sacred Heart we read in part: “Lifted high on the cross, Christ gave his life for us, so much did he love us. From his wounded side flowed blood and water, the fountain of sacramental life in the Church. To his open heart the Savior invites all…to draw water in joy from the springs of salvation.”⁴

Yes, the Church reminds us that Jesus the Good Shepherd invites all to come to His open Heart, this Heart which symbolizes His love and calls for our love in return. The Church invites all to come to Jesus’ pierced Heart in order to be clothed with the graces which the Heart of Jesus longs to give us in abundance. We priests have the privilege and responsibility to lead the members of Jesus’ flock to the pierced Heart of Jesus in order that they may be showered with the graces which are necessary for their salvation and ongoing sanctification. As a good shepherd under Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the Flock, the priest has to lead the sheep to the only source of true nourishment, the pierced Heart of Christ. The more we priests ourselves dwell within the pierced Heart of Jesus, as the Church invites all to do, the more we are able to lead others to this sacred refuge and source of all spiritual nourishment. As we ourselves dwell within the pierced Heart of Jesus, Christ gives us an increased awareness of how much He loves each person with the most special and unique love. Jesus has chosen each priest to be a most special ambassador to spread the message of this overwhelming love of His Heart for each individual. The more we priests ourselves grow in the awareness of how much Jesus loves each of us as His priest-companions, the more we are able to teach to others the truth of Jesus’ special love for each individual. And the more we priests realize how much Jesus wants the love of each individual, the more we are also able to teach His truth to others.

Jesus suffered and died for the entire human race, but He did it in a manner which makes it true to say He also did it for each individual in a most special way. Notice how personalized St. Paul makes the redemptive suffering and death and love of Jesus. In the letter to the Galatians he does not use the plural, but the singular: “I have been crucified with Christ, and the life I live now is not my own; Christ is living in me. I still live my human life, but it is a life of faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2: 19-20).

2. Bonaventure, tr. by E. Cousins, Paulist Press, pp. 154-155.
3. The Liturgy of the Hours, Catholic Book Publishing Co., Vol. IV, 1727.
4. The Sacramentary, Catholic Book Publishing Co., p. 463.

Excerpt from the Priestly Newsletter March/April 1995

Chief Shepherd of the Flock

Indeed, the Good Shepherd has laid down His life for His sheep. During the recent events of Holy Week, we have called this truth to memory in a most special way. And on Easter, we have called to memory also in a most special fashion that the death of Jesus the Good Shepherd was for the purpose of life. In rising from the dead, Jesus achieved the life of resurrection, not only for Himself, but for us also.

The theme of death-resurrection is at the heart of Salvation history. In the Old Testament we see how the Jewish people, under the leadership of Moses, experienced death-resurrection as they were formed into the people of the covenant—Yahweh’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 Yahweh’s people, the Jews experienced a 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 pay a price; they had to be willing to bear with 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 and resurrection. In doing so He, too, was experiencing a religious transition. He was passing over—gradually, at first, and 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 family. To achieve this new life of resurrection, Jesus was willing to pay the price. Jesus was willing to suffer, even unto a horrible death. That it had to be this way Jesus Himself pointed out to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus: “‘You foolish men! So slow to believe the full message of the prophets! Was it not ordained that the Christ should suffer and so enter 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” (Lk 24: 25-27).

Excerpt from the Priestly Newsletter 1998 Issue 2

The Life of Prayer

Yes, the Good Shepherd has laid down His life for us. He has laid down His life for us so that we may have life, and have it more abundantly. The life which Jesus gives us, the life of grace, to a very great extent depends on the life of prayer for its sustenance and growth. There follow several prayers and various thoughts on prayer.

Here is a prayer for union with Jesus. "Come to me, Lord, and possess my soul. Come into my heart and permeate my soul. Help me to sit in silence with You and let You work in my heart.

"I am Yours to possess. I am Yours to use. I want to be selfless and only exist in You. Help me to die to myself and live only for You. Use me as You will. Let me never draw my attention back to myself. I only want to operate as You do, dwelling within me.

"I am Yours, Lord. I want to have my life in You. I want to do the will of the Father. Give me the strength to let You operate my very being. Help me to act as You desire. Strengthen me against the distractions of the devil to take me from your work.

"When I worry, I have taken my focus off of You and placed it on myself. Help me not to give in to the promptings of others to change what in my heart You are making very clear to me. I worship You, I adore You and I love You. Come and dwell in me now."

Excerpt from Fr. Joe's homily - Fourth Sunday of Easter - April 21, 2013

Today is vocation Sunday. We pray every week for vocations, but on Good Shepherd Sunday we are reminded of the important role religious vocations have in guiding us in the ways of Christ. This is the life I have been living for almost 49 years now and it has been a privilege. I’ve had wonderful times as a priest and difficult times too, but has anyone ever been able to escape difficult times in this life. As I look back over the years, I suspect if I had lived my life in any other way than as a priest, I would not have found the happiness I did. I just wanted to put in a good word for the religious life and I would like to see others come forward with a similar desire to serve him as a priest, deacon (permanent deacon), religious brother or sister. Please keep that in your prayers today. Amen.

HOMILY: Today is often referred to as Good Shepherd Sunday. Sheep and shepherds were a major part of the economy and culture of the Middle East in Jesus’ time, and they still are. So when Jesus wanted to teach some difficult lesson, he could explain it by using farming and shepherding as an example. Today’s example is about the sheep gate. The gate was important in that it kept the sheep from wandering or getting stolen by robbers or getting killed by wolves. In that sense the gate was protective. It also had the function of letting the shepherd take the sheep out to give them a field where they could graze and a stream where they could drink. In this sense, the gate allowed the shepherd to provide for the sheep. Jesus uses this simple example to describe who he was. Jesus’ enemies couldn’t understand it (or they didn’t want to understand it). Notice that Jesus called himself the gate twice. When he said he was the gate, he was saying he would protect us and care for us and he would provide for us. So let me show how describing Jesus as the door of the sheep pen applies to us. In other words, we all want to get to heaven in the next life and Jesus is the one and only one who makes it possible to get in. Too many people, with their new age theology, act and believe that somehow we all are going to get there. They don’t want to accept that there is a door or a gate they need to enter through, and Jesus is the only entry point. If we are to be saved, it is through Jesus. If we are not seeking to be saved through him, we are going to miss out on all the wonderful things God has planned for us. We all would like to believe there is no such thing as hell. One seldom hears about it even in church. Truth is, I don’t enjoy talking about it. I would rather even give a money talk. But it is part of the gospel; it is part of our faith. I have to be fair and talk about everything our faith teaches us. Jesus was certainly very aware of the reality of hell. There are many ways in which Jesus addresses the topic, but none more clearly than the Last Judgment scene where he says: Depart from me you accursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was hungry and you gave me no food, thirsty and you gave me no drink, etc. When I preach, I usually don’t like to talk about things that are negative and so I stress the blessings that come from serving and loving God and others. That is what we need to keep our mind fixed on. I love that statement of Jesus that ended today’s gospel: “I came that they may have life and may have it abundantly.” Jesus is telling us that he is the source of that abundant life. The prayers and good works we have offered in this life will be greatly rewarded in the next. That is a positive note to end on. Amen.

November 29, 2016

                    Walk in the truth and
                ask God to help us to be holy
                and forgive our sins.

                    Jesus is the Good Shepherd –
                He leads us, but if we do not
                listen to His voice, we will
                not hear what He says. God
                gives us strength to fight off
                temptation, but we must seek Him
                and want the Father's will.

The Good Shepherd

October 15, 1993 - 1:45p.m.

Jesus: Come to Me, My little lamb. You are so dear to Me. I make this day for you to enjoy My air, hear the birds, see the glory in the autumn day with all its beautiful color. You are so favored. If I make this for you on earth to enjoy, how much more I will give you in heaven. I am the God of this universe. I am in everything I have created. I have given you all the little worms and all the leaves. I have given you all that you see that is in nature. I am such a good God and I love you so much. Trust in Me and know I never leave your side and I am present in all you do. But you must come and be filled by Me. I appreciate your sacrifices. The very hairs of your head are numbered. I make the crooked ways straight and I bless you in all your trials. Every day I sit and am attentive to all your cares, like the greatest lover. I watch by your side and I never slumber or sleep. I am there, watching you and guarding you and I tell you all the little promptings in your head. How would I know if I am not right with you always, guarding you from the trouble ahead? How many times I push a truck from your path. By all rights, you should be dead, but who knows how you and the truck did not crash in the same space. I do. I made you come out of it unharmed. I guarded you.

I wait for you. I long for you. I am He Who never leaves you and never takes a vacation. I tell you all you need to know in your head. I am not talking to some and not to others. I am talking to all in the silence of their hearts. I do not love some of My children better than others. I love you all so much. I wait and wait for each child to come and when they stay away and hurt, I am most hurt. I am the giver of all good gifts, yet you go to empty wells for that which you need and never find except in Me. I am the Good Shepherd. I know Mine and Mine know Me and I make Myself attentive to all My sheep. Some wander and insist on staying away. I try to get them to come home but they must graze other lands. Their hearts ache and they wander in darkness, never feeling satisfied, always searching, always unsettled, but never finding that which is right before them.

Oh children, I love you. You are lost and I seek you so diligently and you stay far from Me. You do not even speak My name. I am the Good Shepherd. You are little lost lambs. I want to hold you and caress you and take you to your home. I want you not to worry but to follow Me and you do your own things and are miserable inside. Come that you might have the life I give, life eternal, a life that is not even able to be understood by you, but is so much more than the most beautiful day. I watch. I wait. I never leave your side. You are little fearful lambs. What do you have to fear? Join My flock, feel My love, know My face and all I have to give you. You wander in a valley of darkness, ready to fall or bump your head or be really dumb, but you take the lumps and proceed on your willful little ways.

All works out in My plan. I am the Good Shepherd. I love My sheep. I watch out for them. I tend My flock. I sit patiently by you and I prompt you on what you must do but you do not listen. You do your own will. You create your own problems. You do not sit quietly with Me. Please come. I am waiting. Be converted to My ways and you are fed. I am the Good Shepherd. Come, little scared sheep. Come to Me and be saved.

Jesus: There will be one flock with one Shepherd. I will lead the strayed ones home to My Heart.

You will be one the more you unite to the Mass and live your lives consecrated to Our Hearts.

Ezekiel 34: 11-16

“For the Lord Yahweh says this: Look, I myself shall take care of my flock and look after it. As a shepherd looks after his flock when he is with his scattered sheep, so shall I look after my sheep. I shall rescue them from wherever they have been scattered on the day of clouds and darkness. I shall bring them back from the peoples where they are; I shall gather them back from the countries and bring them back to their own land. I shall pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the inhabited parts of the country. I shall feed them in good pasturage; the highest mountains of Israel will be their grazing ground. There they will rest in good grazing grounds; they will browse in rich pastures on the mountains of Israel. I myself shall pasture my sheep, I myself shall give them rest–declares the Lord Yahweh. I shall look for the lost one, bring back the stray, bandage the injured and make the sick strong. I shall watch over the fat and healthy. I shall be a true shepherd to them.

A message for the Earth from Jesus

January 22, 1998

I am the Good Shepherd, these are My prayers, the prayers I give to help renew the Church and the world, all prayer chapters are asked to include these prayers (found in the Shepherds of Christ Prayer Manual). As My Apostles and Shepherds I ask you to encourage all existing Chapters to try to encourage all existing prayer groups to pray the Shepherds of Christ prayers. Encourage all Churches to pray these prayers. It is most urgent that the people of this earth concur with the Father's wishes to begin Prayer Chapters. This is an urgent request from the Good Shepherd. The flock will become one when they have given their hearts to Jesus and Mary. Encourage all priests to pray the Shepherds of Christ prayers. Your world will be lighted with great light as the people of this earth pray these prayers.

My promise is this to you My beloved earth: When you give your heart to Me and spread the devotion to My Sacred Heart, I will write your name In My Heart. I promise to give the greatest graces when you pray these prayers for renewal of the Church and the world and take all who pray them deeply into My Heart. The prayers I give will bring about the reign of My Sacred Heart and the triumph of Mary's Immaculate Heart. I am Jesus Christ, this is My message of January 22, 1998, Please circulate this message to your world. I am the Good Shepherd, I know Mine and Mine know Me and they follow Me. Grace My Shepherds, I will give you the greatest graces for spreading these words to this earth and to your Church. I love you, I am Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, it is the Plan of the Father that Prayer Chapters are begun immediately and the Priestly Newsletter is given to all priests. The Voice of the Good Shepherd speaks through it.

end of January 22, 1998

^{^{Given

October 29, 2016



R.
Please spread blessed holy water

(You can also mix Jesus and Mary water

with your blessed Holy Water if you have it.)

in your yard, around your house,

in the state you live in.


    And ask God to bless your state


Ask God to bless the United States

Pray all prayers through the intercession of

Our Lady of CLEAR – WATER.

Ask the Lady of CLEAR - WATER

to help with the blessed water.

Mary has appeared to me for 22 years,

in Ohio and Florida.}}

Suffering: A Source of Life

I Lay Down My Life for My Sheep

Offering Our Lives to God

God With Us

The Eucharist

Chief Shepherd of the Flock

Excerpt from the Priestly Newsletter March/April 1995

Chief Shepherd of the Flock

Excerpt from the Priestly Newsletter 1998 Issue 2

The Life of Prayer

January 22, 1998