Daily Writing
| Shepherds of Christ Daily Writing |
|
April 21, 2009
|
April 22nd Holy
Spirit Novena |
The Novena Rosary
Mysteries |
The church needs to have the stucco replaced
and also the community building.
It is about $38,000 to repair it.
People pray in the church 24 hours a day.
We have prayed in there for 11 years.
The archdiocese gave the church to us
for this purpose for a small price.
Can you help us?
Available for $10.00 plus postage
1-888-211-3041
April 21, 2009
If we love God we hate sin. Fr. Carter says
Excerpt from Response in Christ by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.
SIX The Christian and Sin (excerpt)
The Nature of Sin
What is the nature of sin? Contemporary theology emphasizes that sin is not primarily a violation of a law, but a disruption of personal relationships. Sin is a refusal to love. Serious sin is a radical refusal to love. Venial sin is a partial refusal to love.
The most obvious personal relationship that is affected by sin is that between God and the sinner. In sinning a man fails, to a lesser or greater degree, to accept God's loving gift of Himself. He fails also to respond with his own gift of love. In serious sin man refuses intimate friendship with God. In venial sin he dulls the ardor of that friendship. Man, in so far as he sins, maintains that he does not want his life to be directed by the loving hand of his heavenly Father. He wants to be a law for himself; he wants to be the one who decides what is good for himself and what is not. Schoonenberg observes: "Especially in the prophets sin is an aversion from and an unfaithfulness to Yahweh himself; hence it is placed in the heart rather than in the wrong deed. We see that aversion, that rebelliousness, that lack of faith which precede the act of transgressing the Law already in the story of the sin in paradise, where it is presented as the wish of possessing autonomously the knowledge of good and evil, of being independently the Law unto oneself. . .”1
As we sin and fail to love God, we close in upon ourselves. We prevent a further growth in openness to transcendence, to God and to His grace. We block off the source of our only real self-development and fulfillment. To the extent that we close in upon ourselves in sin, to that extent we feel the misery of sin. This misery of spiritual "self-enclosedness" is a faint participation in the essential pain of hell. The damned are eternally and completely closed in upon themselves, completely deprived of God and other personal relationships. This, then, is hell – the damned really experiencing no one but themselves. Hell is God's ratification of the choice which the unrepentant serious sinner has himself made. This choice is one of radical self-isolation.
Sin is primarily a refusal to love God, a refusal to be loved by Him, to be guided by Him. In sinning, man seeks for a false fulfillment, and therefore actually becomes impoverished. The great St. Augustine puts it this way: "For when the soul loves its own power, it slips from the common whole to its own particular part. Had it followed God as its ruler in the universal creature, it could have been most excellently governed by His laws. But in that apostatizing pride, which is called 'the beginning of sin', it sought for something more that the whole; and while it struggled to govern by its own laws, it was thrust into caring for a part, since there is nothing more than the whole; and so by desiring something more, it becomes less. . .”2
Yes, sin is an act disruptive of one's relationship with God. But sin has other dimensions also. It is a refusal to love other men as we should. For the Christian, sin is an offense against the covenant life of the People of God. In some way the sinfulness of the individual Christian makes itself felt in the corporate body which is the Church. The Christian, in sinning, is failing to love the corporate good of the People of God. He is failing to contribute his share to the progressive maturation in Christ of the total Christian community. The Christian in his sin becomes a burden to the People of God.
Sin also is an obvious refusal to love others in those instances when one directly harms others through his transgression. So many sins come under this category: theft, all forms of uncharity, social injustice, scandal, detraction. Furthermore, not only does one man often sin against another, but he frequently leads another into sin. In God's plan man is supposed to help his neighbor achieve his temporal and eternal happiness, but how often, even among Christians, the opposite is true. Not to make a positive contribution to the true growth of others is failure enough, but to be a positive hindrance is a far greater evil.
There is still another way in which the sinner refuses love to his fellowmen; when man sins he makes his contribution to the "sin of the world.”3 He thus adds to that huge, negative weight, nourished by the sins of the centuries, a weight which is always trying to draw man away from his God-given destiny. This mass of sinful ugliness, this "sin of the world," always has its considerable influence, but at times its hideousness makes itself especially manifest. The great race riots which have tragically risen up recently in various parts of the United States are examples of these special manifestations of the "sin of the world." Such events are not isolated instances of sins connected with race. In back of such tragedies there is a long history of grave social and racial sins, of seething hatred of white for black, and black for white. Such accumulated sinfulness in regard to race is part of the "sin of the world."
There are many other examples of these special manifestations of the "sin of the world." There are the world wars and the lesser wars, with their share of unbelievable accounts of the hatred which man can impose upon his fellowman. There are the histories of the various crime syndicates throughout the world with all their blatant categories of human degradation – narcotics, prostitution, terrorization and the rest. There are the sins of colonialism and the sins of communism.
The "sin of the world" with its stark and bold manifestations is a sickening reality. But a reality it is. And each man's sinfulness adds a little to this universal world sin. Each man's sinfulness contributes to sin's divisiveness. Man is intended to help Christ progressively unify all creation more and more into Himself. When man sins, he contributes to the disruptive and disunifying force of the "sin of the world."
Sin, then, because it is a failure to love God, man and the world, is selfishness. Sin seems to offer some sort of happiness, or advantage, or fulfillment. But this is a delusion. Sin can accomplish none of these things, because man's only real happiness and fulfillment comes from his authentic relationship in love with God, his fellowman and the rest of creation. Sin works against all these relationships.
Sin is so hard to understand because it is an absurdity. But if we are to grow properly in the Christian life, we must have some basic realization of what sin is, and of God's attitude towards sin and the sinner. Our best source for such a mature realization is given to us in the crucified Christ. In this figure we can know all the Father wants us to comprehend concerning sin. First of all, Christ crucified tells us very starkly of the overwhelming heinousness of sin. We know that sin is overwhelmingly evil because it alone could nail Incarnate Goodness to the cross. Secondly, Christ crucified speaks to us concerning the justice of God. God's justice does ask satisfaction for sin – yes, even that satisfaction which is the death of His Son. Thirdly, and very importantly for us poor sinners, the crucified Christ speaks to us unmistakably and overwhelmingly of the Father's great love and mercy towards us. Because of this love and mercy we can be so positive about human existence, for great as is the power of sin, the love and mercy of the Father, incarnated in His Son, is infinitely greater. This is our peace and consolation.
God's love and mercy moves the sinner toward repentance, and when the sinner repents, God's love changes him. In Isaiah the prophet we read: " 'Come now, let us talk this over, says Yahweh. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.' " (Is 1:18).
Included in our sorrow for sin is a resolve to take the proper means and precautions to avoid sin in the future. One of the reasons we fall into the same sins with the same frequency is that we tend often enough not to go to the root causes of our failures, and, consequently, we often fail to apply the more efficacious remedies. All this not to say that we should become morbidly introspective in looking at sinfulness. However, without succumbing to this type of introspection, we all must allow for appropriate self-examination and self-knowledge.
Part of this self-examination and self-knowledge includes the manner in which I handle temptation in my life. The proper attitude toward temptation lies between two extremes. The person at one extreme is overly fearful of temptation, concentrates too much on avoiding it, and can even tend to equate temptation with sin. Such an attitude toward temptation breeds a negative mentality toward the Christian life, and detracts from the peace, joy and happiness which Christ wants us to experience.
The opposite attitude is that which is careless towards temptation. To take reasonable and grace-inspired precautions against temptation is not to be negativistic, but realistic. It is to realize that I am a sinner, and that there are various ways by which I can be led to sin. I cannot avoid all temptations, but out of loyalty to Christ, man and the world, I should not recklessly bring temptation upon myself.
Despite our best efforts there will always be some sin in our lives, unless God were to give extraordinary graces. There is only one human person, as far as our certain knowledge goes, who has been preserved from all sin. This person is Christ's mother, Mary. Let us remember this very important point, however. The Church's teaching that we cannot avoid all venial sin without a very special assistance from God refers to semi-deliberate venial sin. With God's ordinary graces we can avoid all fully deliberate sin, both serious and venial. It is this fully deliberate sin which is such an obstacle to our proper growth in the Christian life. Finally, let us remember that as we grow in Christ, even the number of semi-deliberate sins become fewer.
_______
1. P. Schoonenberg, Man and Sin (Notre Dame, Indiana: Fides, 1965), p. 8.
2. St. Augustine, The Trinity, Bk. 12, Ch. 14 (Washington: Fathers of the Church, 1963), p. 356.
3. For one description of the "sin of the world", see Schoonenberg, Op. cit., pp. 98-123.
The person who loves God - hates sin —
The desire to keep His commandments —
If we want to be like Jesus we must
focus on loving —
Loving is living to Please our heavenly
Father and do His will —
Loving can be tough love obeying
God and trying to live a holy life preparing
ourselves for heaven and spreading the
Good News to help build God's Kingdom.
We are to love our neighbor in thought,
word and deed.
Our mission the Shepherds of Christ is to
help bring about the Reign of the
Sacred Heart, Jesus is the King
of heaven and earth —
We see in these writings in the
Acts of the Apostles their brotherly
love. We see their sacrifice
Barnabas giving his wealth to the
Church —
Loving is a lesson in giving and receiving in
love —
We see Jesus come a baby — He took flesh
in the womb of a human person GIVING —
Jesus gave His love to the Apostles, the
people, Mary, Joseph, John the
Baptist
Jesus gave Himself . . .
Jesus received the love of Mary Magdalene,
John, Peter —
Jesus, the Almighty God, the Son of God
walked the earth and showed
love and compassion —
Jesus' actions were pure love —
Love to honor God
Love to build the Kingdom of God
Jesus was persecuted
Jesus loved —
Jesus gave and received love —
Acts 4: 32-37
The whole group of believers was united, heart and soul; no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, as everything they owned was held in common. The apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with great power, and they were all accorded great respect. None of their members was ever in want, as all those who owned land or houses would sell them, and bring the money from the sale of them, to present it to the apostles; it was then distributed to any who might be in need.
There was a Levite of Cypriot origin called Joseph whom the apostles surnamed Barnabas (which means 'son of encouragement'). He owned a piece of land and he sold it and brought the money and presented it to the apostles.
Psalm 93: 1-2, 5
Yahweh is king, robed in majesty,
robed is Yahweh and girded with power.The world is indeed set firm, it can never be shaken;
your throne is set firm from of old,
from all eternity you exist.Your decrees stand firm, unshakeable,
holiness is the beauty of your house,
Yahweh, for all time to come.
Seek the things above
Live the life of resurrection
Die to those things not like God
John 3: 7-15
Do not be surprised when I say:
You must be born from above.
The wind blows where it pleases;
you can hear its sound,
but you cannot tell where it comes from
or where it is going.
So it is with everyone
who is born of the Spirit.‘How is that possible?’ asked Nicodemus. Jesus replied, ‘You are the Teacher of Israel, and you do not know these things!
‘In all truth I tell you,
we speak only about what we know
and witness only to what we have seen
and yet you people reject our evidence.
If you do not believe me
when I speak to you about earthly things,
how will you believe me
when I speak to you about heavenly things?
No one has gone up to heaven
except the one
who came down from heaven,
the Son of man;
as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert,
so must the Son of man be lifted up
so that everyone who believes
may have eternal life in him.
God allows us to suffer —
Jesus was betrayed by Judas —
Jesus shows us despite His wounds,
His flesh torn, His crowned
Head, being spit on, carrying
a cross — poked to fall under
the cross — poked to get up from
under the cross —
nails through His Hands and Feet —
Wounds like this
He loved
He did the Father's will
Friends can be mean, say things —
parents, divorces because
of betrayal, deaths
These little wounds are nothings
like the wounding of Jesus —
People wounded, angry and bitter
with a frozen heart and not
expressing anger — can provoke
and hurt others to get a
rise out of them when they are
angry — since they don't
express their own anger — they
can provoke and provoke until they
make another scream to get an ordinary
job accomplished
Wounding others, putting a cross on
others' back trying to do a job
of love for Jesus is putting the
cross on Jesus' back —
doing it to Jesus when we
take out our old wounds
on innocent others
Luke 24: 46, 26
and he said to them, ‘So it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer before entering into his glory?’
Our God is loving and merciful —
Peter asked for forgiveness and
he was made head of the
Church —
Judas because of pride — his lack of
knowing Jesus and His plan —
killed himself
Judas sold Jesus for 30 pieces
of silver to the guys on
the other side
NOT the side of Jesus
The Apostles were arrested —
but an angel opens the prison door —
Acts 5: 17-26
Then the high priest intervened with all his supporters from the party of the Sadducees. Filled with jealousy, they arrested the apostles and had them put in the public gaol.
But at night the angel of the Lord opened the prison gates and said as he led them out, 'Go and take up position in the Temple, and tell the people all about this new Life.' They did as they were told; they went into the Temple at dawn and began to preach.
When the high priest arrived, he and his supporters convened the Sanhedrin-this was the full Senate of Israel-and sent to the gaol for them to be brought. But when the officials arrived at the prison they found they were not inside, so they went back and reported, 'We found the gaol securely locked and the warders on duty at the gates, but when we unlocked the door we found no one inside.' When the captain of the Temple and the chief priests heard this news they wondered what could be happening. Then a man arrived with fresh news. 'Look!' he said, 'the men you imprisoned are in the Temple. They are standing there preaching to the people.'
Song: A Song from Jesus
Jesus is our Savior —
John 3: 16
For this is how God loved the world:
he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him
may not perish
but may have eternal life.
Christ came into this world to bring
eternal life —
The devil comes and he wants
souls for hell —
I am the Way; I am Truth and Life....
Jesus is light
CHRIST our LIGHT
Satan is darkness
father of deception and lies
John 3: 16-21
For this is how God loved the world:
he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him
may not perish
but may have eternal life.
For God sent his Son into the world
not to judge the world,
but so that through him
the world might be saved.
No one who believes in him
will be judged;
but whoever does not believe
is judged already,
because that person does not believe
in the Name of God’s only Son.
And the judgement is this:
though the light has come into the world
people have preferred
darkness to the light
because their deeds were evil.
And indeed, everybody who does wrong
hates the light and avoids it,
to prevent his actions
from being shown up;
but whoever does the truth
comes out into the light,
so that what he is doing
may plainly appear as done in God.’
We were created to be with God
in heaven, but we must love and
serve Him — We are here to prepare
ourselves for heaven —
Our true home is in heaven —
We should celebrate especially
the resurrection and ascension these
50 days of Lent —
We realize we will die in our
mortal bodies, now, but we will,
if we serve God and do what God
wants, we can go to our true
home in heaven —
We are to witness to God
in this world — to spread the
Good News —
God is merciful
God gives us hope of the resurrection
We have dignity because
God loves us so much —
God created us —
The devil wants disorder
The devil wants men to not recognize
his dignity which God
wants
God created us in His image
and likeness
Because the Jewish religious
authorities were jealous
they arrested the Apostles —
Death - Resurrection
Romans 6: 3-9
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. If we have been joined to him by dying a death like his, so we shall be by a resurrection like his; realising that our former self was crucified with him, so that the self which belonged to sin should be destroyed and we should be freed from the slavery of sin. Someone who has died, of course, no longer has to answer for sin.
But we believe that, if we died with Christ, then we shall live with him too. We know that Christ has been raised from the dead and will never die again. Death has no power over him any more.
Psalm 67: 8-9, 20
the earth rocked, Pause
the heavens pelted down rain at the presence of God,
at the presence of God, the God of Israel.God, you rained down a shower of blessings,
when your heritage was weary you gave it strength.This God of ours is a God who saves;
from Lord Yahweh comes escape from death;
Oh God help us to celebrate the
Easter mysteries —
This is the Feast of Victory
of Our Lord —
John 3: 31-36
He who comes from above
is above all others;
he who is of the earth
is earthly himself
and speaks in an earthly way.
He who comes from heaven
bears witness to the things
he has seen and heard,
but his testimony
is not accepted by anybody;
though anyone
who does accept his testimony
is attesting that God is true,
since he whom God has sent
speaks God’s own words,
for God gives him the Spirit
without reserve.
The Father loves the Son
and has entrusted everything to his hands.
Anyone who believes in the Son
has eternal life,
but anyone who refuses
to believe in the Son
will never see life:
God’s retribution hangs over him.’
Matthew 28: 20
... And look, I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.'
We are to renew ourselves every
morning —
the sun comes up every day —
the night comes every day —
We start anew —
A NEW DAY TO
Love and Serve the Lord
We should turn to God as soon
as we wake —
Say our prayers
Say our Morning Offering
We have Mass and Communion —
We can be majorly filled with
His grace
The resurrection means —
I am changing more and more
to be like Jesus —
live in the joy of the
resurrection
Jesus said that He speaks and
we do not hear,
that we do not understand
His ways, many times
Jesus said: we are like blind men
that do not see,
much because of pride
and not having an open
heart to learn
We turn our eyes away, Jesus
says, we plug up our ears
and harden our hearts —
many of us, much of the time —
R. We must pray and Thank God
for helping us to do all we do —
Feel the burden lift when we
see with eyes lighted in recognizing
all God has helped us accomplish —
Please God let me see through Your
eyes
Please God let me know with
Your heart
Please God let me act as You
act in me.
Help me to thank You for the honor
to serve You — the honor to
be called in my vocation to
spread peace and joy to the
world —
Oh God - Oh God help me —
help me to help others — Help me
not to brood on this injury and
help me to admit it when I have
not acted as God the Father wanted
me to be —
Pray, pray, pray
Prayer means, I talk to God
and ask Him for help —
We tell God we are helpless —
we need His help — we seek
peace and security —
Talking to someone with
a closed, hard heart is like talking
to a wall, a person with a different
language
Love is found in giving and
receiving love — a person unwilling
to admit they are imperfect is
like talking to a wall —
I beg for help from God to help
me do His work, living in the moment —
helping hearts to be one — deeply one
in Him
The mission of the Shepherds of Christ is for this
connection of our hearts —
oneness in the power source —
The Heart of Jesus —
On fire for love of the souls
He died for
This is why He gave the Blue Book
writings
I pray for guidance and I am
not closed - with a humble
heart — I listen to God —
I seek God to take control
of my life
I surrender and
Seek to be more and more loving
according to God's will.
We are dependent on God —
In prayer we tell God we depend
on Him when we act
humbly
We pray and we are deeply connected
to God
I must improve myself —
not live troubled over the
problems of others —
I love God and live to
please Him — to surrender
to His Might —
To recognize my imperfections
and want to live more and more
the resurrected life in Him and
bring this joy to others
God help me to please You, to love
You, to serve You and in
so doing to realize that
my happiness and joy
lies in loving You and
loving others —
People who provoke others to
make them angry are very
unhappy inside —
God wants us to love Him and love
others —
to know the joy of serving
Him
God calls us to take responsibility
for our unloving actions toward
others and to have the intention
to not do it again —
Felix is coming to the site
next week —
Please come and get a
signed crucifix by
Felix and your picture
Betty is a handmaid who has prayed in the
China Church for 11 years. To get from her
house to the church she uses a walker and
must go over a creek and a little bridge.
We wanted a little place she could rest
by the Church. We need about $1,000 to
make this happen. Can you help us?
We are trying to get
Response to God's Love
and the Mass Book out.
Anybody who wants to help us
with a donation to get these 2 books
out in the Priestly/hierarchy mailing —
Please call Kathleen 1-888-211-3041
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)
The China Church is over 140 years old
and we pray in there 24 hours a day.
It needs stucco and so does
the community building.
Can you please help us?
Call Kathleen 1-888-211-3041
Likewise the priest house
is 150 years old.
Jesus told us to repair it
which we have been doing.
We need $13,000.00 for this work.
You can help put the Blue Book V
in the hands of 1,000 people
we need $1,200 postage for this
It is ready to go
Call Kathleen
1-888-211-3041
You can help put Fr. Joe's homily
book in the hands of
1,000 priests — it costs $1,100
This can help 1,000 parish priests
talk about Covenant for Lent
Please help us
It is ready to go
Call Kathleen 1-888-211-3041
Call Kathleen to Order any of the items below
1-888-211-3041
