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.


I appear my children on this former bank building in Florida, Our Lady Clothed with the Sun.

July 17, 2003

July 18th Holy Spirit Novena
Scripture selection is Day 3 Period I.
The Novena Rosary Mystery
for July 18th is Joyful.

                      

We are going to do the Sidney Rosary
on July 22, 2003.

    
        

We need funds.

  
Shepherds of Christ Ministries
P.O. Box 193
Morrow, OH 45152

1-888-211-3041

   
  
 

Schedule for July 18, 2003

4:00 a.m. - Mass

4:37 a.m. - Nursing Home May 5, 2003

5:06 a.m. - Mary's Message & Father Carter's talk - February 13, 1997

5:46 a.m. - Morning Offering

5:50 a.m. - Songs from Jesus

6:20 a.m. - 6:20 prayers led by Father Carter
                 Holy Spirit Novena
                 Shepherds of Christ Prayer Manual
                 Rosary

7:24 a.m. - Morning Offering

7:28 a.m. - Response to God's Love chapter 1

8:26 a.m. - Live Rosary January 13, 1997

9:55 a.m. - Live Rosary May 13, 1997

12:01 p.m. - Nursing Home #15

12:40 p.m. - Handbook read by Rita Ring

1:55 p.m. - Consecration July 31, 1999

3:27 p.m. - Mary's Message

3:33 p.m. - Morning Offering

3:37 p.m. - Songs from Jesus

4:00 p.m. - Mass

4:37 p.m. - Rosary of Light from November 14, 2002

5:10 p.m. - Choose Life

6:12 p.m. - Songs from Jesus

6:20 p.m. - 6:20 prayers led by Father Carter
                 Holy Spirit Novena
                 Shepherds of Christ Prayer Manual

7:24 p.m. - Newsletter 2000 Issue 2

7:55 p.m. - Nursing Home #7

8:32 p.m. - A Blue Book Reading or Two and a Tribute
                    to Mary on Mother's Day - May 11, 2003

9:52 p.m. - Tell My People read by Father Carter

11:23 p.m. - Nursing Home January 5, 2003 feast of the Epiphany

11:55 p.m. - Morning Offering

12:00 a.m. - Glorious Rosary Aves

12:31 a.m. - About Shepherds of Christ - talk given June 29, 2003

1:51 a.m. - Mary's Message and talk by Rita Ring

2:13 a.m. - Choose Life

3:15 a.m. - Sorrowful Rosary Aves

3:47 a.m. - Morning Offering

3:51 a.m. - Songs from Jesus

4:00 a.m. - Mass

         

click here for the Radio

    
    
          

A Prayer for Intimacy with the Lamb
the Bridegroom of the soul

    Oh Lamb of God, Who take away the sins of the world, come and act on my soul most intimately. I surrender myself, as I ask for the grace to let go, to just be as I exist in You and You act most intimately on my soul. You are the Initiator. I am the soul waiting Your favors as You act in me. I love You. I adore You. I worship You. Come and possess my soul with Your Divine Grace, as I experience You most intimately.

       

Go Shopping on the Web and

get your Blue Books today

  

Please check out 

our new 

internet store:

www.sofcstore.org

 

   

         

July 17, 2003

Messenger:

Matthew 28: 1-10

The empty tomb. The angel’s message

After the Sabbath, and towards dawn on the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala and the other Mary went to visit the sepulchre. And suddenly there was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled away the stone and sat on it. His face was like lightning, his robe white as snow. The guards were so shaken by fear of him that they were like dead men. But the angel spoke; and he said to the women, ‘There is no need for you to be afraid. I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said he would. Come and see the place where he lay, then go quickly and tell his disciples, "He has risen from the dead and now he is going ahead of you to Galilee; that is where you will see him." Look! I have told you.’ Filled with awe and great joy the women came quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell his disciples.

Appearance to the women

And suddenly, coming to meet them, was Jesus. ‘Greetings,’ he said. And the women came up to him and, clasping his feet, they did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers that they must leave for Galilee; there they will see me.’

 

Mark 16: 1-8

The empty tomb. The angel’s message

When the Sabbath was over, Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices with which to go and anoint him. And very early in the morning on the first day of the week they went to the tomb when the sun had risen. 

    They had been saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?’ But when they looked they saw that the stone—which was very big—had already been rolled back. On entering the tomb they saw a young man in a white robe seated on the right–hand side, and they were struck with amazement. But he said to them, ‘There is no need to be so amazed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified: he has risen, he is not here. See, here is the place where they laid him. But you must go and tell his disciples and Peter, "He is going ahead of you to Galilee; that is where you will see him, just as he told you." ’ And the women came out and ran away from the tomb because they were frightened out of their wits; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

 

Luke 24: 1-12

The empty tomb. The angel’s message

On the first day of the week, at the first sign of dawn, they went to the tomb with the spices they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb, but on entering they could not find the body of the Lord Jesus. As they stood there puzzled about this, two men in brilliant clothes suddenly appeared at their side. Terrified, the women bowed their heads to the ground. But the two said to them, ‘Why look among the dead for someone who is alive? He is not here; he has risen. Remember what he told you when he was still in Galilee: that the Son of man was destined to be handed over into the power of sinful men and be crucified, and rise again on the third day.’ And they remembered his words.

The apostles refuse to believe the women

And they returned from the tomb and told all this to the Eleven and to all the others. The women were Mary of Magdala, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James. And the other women with them also told the apostles, but this story of theirs seemed pure nonsense, and they did not believe them.

Peter at the tomb

Peter, however, went off to the tomb, running. He bent down and looked in and saw the linen cloths but nothing else; he then went back home, amazed at what had happened.

 

John 20: 1-10

The empty tomb

It was very early on the first day of the week and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away from the tomb and came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb,’ she said, ‘and we don’t know where they have put him.’ 

    So Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb. They ran together, but the other disciple, running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first; he bent down and saw the linen cloths lying on the ground, but did not go in. Simon Peter, following him, also came up, went into the tomb, saw the linen cloths lying on the ground and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed. Till this moment they had still not understood the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. The disciples then went back home.

  
   

July 17, 2003 message continues

Messenger:        Love —

                                    to attain that deep love of God — this is what I seek

                                    to attain deep union with the Father, Son and Holy

                                    Spirit — this is what I desire

                            December 18, 2000 was the day Father Carter died

  

    

    

July 17, 2003 message continues

Messenger:        December 18, 1995 I wrote in the Mass Book

       

December 18, 1995

Excerpt from the Mass Book

IN THE DEEPEST RECESSES OF HIS HEART

    The place Jesus took me was into the deepest recesses of His Heart. I was enveloped in His burning love. It was a red room with heat and an intense glow. I was swept away in this embrace, and I only existed in Him. The power of the Almighty God enveloped me, and I only existed in Him. There was no fear, for I was existent in this Almighty Being. My heart was wrapped in the eternal embrace of this Supreme Being. The security, the power I know was His deep presence in which I existed.

    I knew the room was red and warm. I knew His immenseness, but I felt my own completeness in Him. I did not feel little, as a speck, but elevated and empowered for I existed then in Him in a most special way.

    I was overtaken by the love of God. The fire of the Holy Spirit filled me. I was absorbed by the love of the Father, and I existed IN Him and in the deepest recesses of the Heart of Jesus. Our heaven on earth is these inner chambers of His magnificent Heart - the Heart of the Almighty God, with all the power, with omnipotence, with the fire of the love of God. He took me to the deepest chamber of this fiery Heart, and in that moment, I touched eternity, for I knew what it was to be enveloped in the deep furnace of His love. I now want to exist in this chamber of His Heart, swept away in His burning love, absorbed in my every cell with His love.

    We do not understand the fire of His love. We do not understand what it is to be absorbed by love itself. He took me to the inner, deepest chamber of His Heart, and I felt the heat and knew the presence of love itself, and there was no fear, only a feeling of completeness, omnipotence, all-embracing, penetrating love - a power indescribable in words, a saturation of my being in the presence of God, and I was as I was created to be - living in Him!

    This is how I will forever live my life, saturated with His divine life and love deep within this inner chamber of His burning Heart, living in Him as He possesses my being, and I operate with His power in me.

    Little creatures though we are, we are His, His power, His life, flowing through us. In Him, we are as the Father intended: one in Him, each one of us, dwelling in this fiery furnace of His love. With our fears quieted and our hearts empowered by His life, we live forever in Him - in the Heart of Jesus.

    Let no man separate what God has joined together. I am wed in the deepest love with my beloved Spouse, wed to the Heart of Jesus. As I am, I am one in Him. I live and I breathe in Him. He, Who is love, He Who is our all, He Who is mighty and without limits, He Who is, He Who is God and as I live, He lives in me in this world.

    I am wed to Him, and I shall not fear for He is God - one, complete, loving, God. Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in Thee. As I live, I live in Your most adorable Heart, the furnace of God's love!

end of December 18, 1995 writing

   
  

July 17, 2003 message continues

Messenger:        December 18, 1993 I wrote this about suffering in 

                                Blue Book I

  

Picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Take Up Your Cross

December 18, 1993

Jesus speaks:  Pain? Oh, how I suffered! The pain was so intense, I could hardly bear it. I was so wounded and so covered with blood. Think of a little gash and how it hurts when it begins to bleed. I bled and I bled all over. Such intense pain. Every time you experience pain, think of Me and how minute your little pain is. There was not a place on My body that was not covered with blood. There were deep wounds all over Me. My head throbbed from the crown they had placed on Me and I was forced to carry a big cross so heavy, I scarce could move it on My shoulder. My shoulder ached so badly I felt as if it was constantly breaking by the weight of the cross. But I carried it and pushed on My way. If I stopped, I was poked and pushed and hit. The crowd jeered and they forced Me on My way. What crime had I committed? Why was I forced to endure such torture? It was out of love of you that I continued that journey. I was God. I could have stopped at any moment. I was obedient to death to the demands of My Father.

Pain, child? I suffered so much for love of you! This is how I love you at this moment. In all that befalls you you must know at every moment that I know exactly what you are suffering. There is nothing that happens in your life without My consent and it comes from Him Who loves you.

Take your crosses and truly endure them. Accept them. Know that everything that happens in your life I have allowed. Accept it with the love with which I give it. You are being taught in that pain. You are suffering for yourselves and others. I endured all that pain. Did I once say, "Father, take it away?" I am your model. I showed you the way. I took it all, every last wound, every kick and smack and vileness. I took My cross and I carried it without a word. This is what I ask of you. Know that when you are experiencing pain or suffering, or being taunted by those around you, look to the Master for your course of action. I took it all, every last wound, and accepted it to My death. I did not say, "Oh, how awful." I did not complain. I walked in silence that bumpy road with a heavy cross, with My mother suffering by My side and I never complained. I accepted it all for love of you.

Carry your crosses, little ones. They are gifts from Me. Do not look for an explanation or a way to get rid of them. I will take them when I think you have had enough. It is in suffering that you experience My life more fully. It is in suffering that I speak to you in a special way. Endure it. I know every ache and pain you are experiencing. I am this close to you! Your pain may save a soul dead in sin or get a soul from purgatory. Accept all I send you and don't complain. A lot of the pain is enhanced by your rejection. A lot of your lessons are lost by your refusal to see that crosses come from Me. I give you crosses to share in My suffering. I love you so much, little ones. Know how personal I am with you: the very hairs of your head are numbered. Come close to Me and look into My eyes. I am truly here with you at every single moment. Think of Me as a person, but I am closer than any person could ever be! I am there and I know your every breath and I care about your every breath. Who could even do this for another? Others would have to sometimes think of themselves.

I am God and I can think of you at every instant. I am so close to you you do not have any comprehension. It is not a myth. I am truly present to you at every instant. Feel My presence. Make Me alive to you. Experience all I have to give you. You will know Me as your personal Jesus the more you read and re-read these letters. I write them to each of you. Only God could love you each this way. Focus on Me and you and how close I am to you. I love you so, little one. Whence you go you never walk alone. I walked a road of torture that led to My death for love of you! When will you realize what I say is true? When will you know how close I am to you and embrace Me as I so desire? You hold yourself back because you do not focus on My love for you. I would walk that path this day for you. I love you the same this moment as I did then. Oh, little one, you want to put your little crosses down so fast. Hold them and walk awhile with Me down the road to Calvary. Be by My side and share a little in how intently I trod out of love of you.

I am Jesus, Son of the Living God. I am alive in this room with you. I am by your side. A toothache, you say-what pain! Accept your pain. I want you to feel that pain now. It will go away.* It is so little. Heartache I know, heartache to love each of My children so much and be ignored or put at arm's length! Do you know how it is to love another and not have their love? I long for your love with Me, but you are busy. You do not have the time to be with Me while I await thee. I am an ardent lover Who waits for each of My children to come and experience this great love. You stay away from Me Who is always waiting and you search this barren desert for that which I have to give you. I watch you in this search and want you to come home to My heart. I am waiting for you, little one. Don't keep yourself from Me. Remember how I suffered for love of you. When you feel a pain, remember the pain I suffered for love of you. That is how I love you this very day. Take your cross and walk with Me. Come and be with Me. I have that which your hungry soul craves.

I am your loving Jesus. I love you, child. You do not know. I wait to be closer to you. You must see Me as this personal and this alive in your life! Oh, sweet one, I love you to My death and I love you this way today. I lament My children lost in darkness. I want to be united to you. Come and make Me the center of your life. I wait for you!

R. *My toothache is gone!

end of December 18, 1993

  
      

July 17, 2003 message continues

Messenger:        To reach that fullness of life in heaven -- This is my desire --

                            I desire with all my heart to be so deeply united to my

                                beloved God in such a deep union for all eternity.

                                I long for this.

                                I thirst after this.

                                Jesus is the bridegroom of my soul.

                            His gift to us is His presence in the Blessed Sacrament.

    

Excerpt from God's Blue Book - April 13, 1994

Jesus speaks:  How, child, do I, Jesus, tell you I love you? You hold on to silly things when God is in your midst and is ardently loving you. I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I am writing to each precious child this day. I am on fire for love of you. I remain in the Eucharist to be with you with My ardent love. I did not want to leave My beloved ones at the Last Supper. I love you so, My dear and ardently loved children. I remain with you this day in the Blessed Sacrament, the same Jesus Who died a brutal death on the Cross.

    

July 17, 2003 message continues

Messenger:        I am here on earth and yet from ecstasies as I

                                describe on December 18, 1995, my heart is longing

                                and thirsting for completeness in Him in heaven.

                                I want the fullness of life. As saints have described

                                    to others, I have written of my experiences

                                    of such deep love with God: Father, Son and

                                    Holy Spirit.

                                Mary is our model.

                                Mary is all pure.

                                We, the human persons of this earth have

                                    a fallen human nature.

                                In going through Mary's pure and Immaculate

                                    Heart I can offer God a more pure

                                    offering.

                                I long for this purity.

                                I long to unite to God in an ever deeper

                                    union.

                                God has told us to love Him first above all things.

                                    God has told us to love Him with all

                                    our heart and all our soul and

                                    love our neighbor as ourselves.

                            We choose the Standard of Christ who gave His

                                life for His precious souls. We want to be

                                rid of attachments that keep us from deeper

                                union with Him. Attachments to one thing

                                or another can be the very thing that

                                blocks our deep union with Him.

                            We choose all things we have to use, to do

                                God's will.

                            We want to serve God.

                            We want to share the gifts given to us with others.

                            How could we know about the great gift of

                                the Holy Eucharist 

  

   

July 17, 2003 message continues

Messenger:            and not want to tell the world about the Eucharist?

                            How could we not want to share the

                                knowledge we have about the Church

                                and the sacraments?

                            We desire what God wants.

                            We give ourselves to Him, totally and completely

                                as far as we are able.

                            We want to love Him and love all others.

                            We pray for our brothers, offering our lives in the

                                Morning Offering for the sake of souls. We offer

                                all we do for the priest, the Church and the

                                world united to the Mass.

                            What is the standard of Christ?

                                We want to be like Him --

                                We want to strive for what is right --

                                We want union amongst all men --

                                We want to share what we know --

                                especially about God --

                            It is to put aside those things we are

                                incorrectly attached to and live with

                                the things we have -- according to God's will

                                to promote God's honor and glory.

                            Our lives are lived to please Our Divine King,

                                to live to be more likened to Him.

                            Mary is our spiritual mother --

                                Mother of our Christ life --

                                We go to Mary --

                                We dwell in her Immaculate Heart --

                            Mary is the "singular vessel" as it says in the

                                litany -- in dwelling in her Immaculate

                                Heart she places us deeper in the Heart

                                of Jesus.

    

Excerpt from Tell My People

Mother of Our Christian Virtues

Mary:  "I am ever at the side of my children to help them grow in the life of the virtues. As I do so, I place them more deeply within the Heart of Jesus, the source of growth in all the virtues. The Holy Spirit, then, desires that my children dwell both within my Heart and Jesus' Heart. Within Our Hearts He clothes you with growth in the life of the virtues. The more you dwell in my Heart, the more ready you are for my placing you deeply within the Heart of Jesus where the Holy Spirit clothes you more and more with the splendor of all the virtues. Thus you grow in the likeness of Christ, and Jesus unites you more closely to the Father."

   

The Holy Spirit

Jesus: "My beloved friend, tell My people to pray daily to the Holy Spirit. They are to pray for an increase in His gifts. My people must realize that the Holy Spirit comes to transform them. The Spirit desires to transform you more and more according to My image. Those who are docile to His touch become increasingly shaped in My likeness. He performs this marvel within Mary's Immaculate Heart. The more one dwells in My Mother's Heart, the more active are the workings of the Spirit. The Spirit leads Mary to place you within My own Heart. In both Our Hearts, then, your transformation continues. The more you are formed after My own Heart, the more I lead you to the bosom of My Father. Tell My people all this. Tell them to pray daily for a greater appreciation of these wondrous gifts. I am Lord and Master. All who come to My Heart will be on fire to receive the gifts of the Spirit in ever greater measure! I love and bless My people!"

    

Genesis 1: 26-27

God said, ‘Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild animals and all the creatures that creep along the ground.’ 

    God created man in the image of himself, 
    in the image of God he created him, 
    male and female he created them.

    

July 17, 2003 message continues

Messenger:        First Principle and foundation of St. Ignatius Spiritual Exercises

                                "Man is created to praise, reverence, and

                                serve God our Lord, and by this means

                                to save his soul."

  

                            Many times we don't want to let go.

                                We are like the 1st class of men 

                                    that St. Ignatius talks about --

                                    we want to serve God, but its really

                                    too hard for us to do, we think, so

                                    we just do what we want that is not

                                    God's will.

                            Can we really sing this song.

                                Take Lord Receive or

                            Say this Prayer

                                Prayer for Union or

                            do we mean the words and really want to

                                be changed and be like God wants us

                                to be?

                            I remember long ago in the 70's, my mom

                                gave me the book Imitations of

                                Christ, I opened it and closed it

                                just as fast -- I didn't want to give

                                that much he talked about, but if

                                we really love God there is no other

                                way but to give Him a total gift

                                of ourselves because we want union

                                with God so much, over everything.

                            And then we sing again

                                "Take Lord Receive" 

  

From The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, Loyola University Press
  

TAKE, LORD, AND RECEIVE

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess. Thou hast given all to me. To Thee, O Lord, I return it. All is Thine, dispose of it wholly according to Thy will. Give me Thy love and Thy grace, for this is sufficient for me.

   
   

Prayer of St Ignatius

Soul of Christ, sanctify me
Body of Christ, save me
Blood of Christ, inebriate me
Water from the side of Christ wash me
Passion of Christ, strengthen me
O good Jesus, hear me
Within Thy wounds hide me
Permit me not to be separated from Thee
From the wicked foe defend me
at the hour of my death call me
and bid me come to Thee
That with Thy saints I may praise Thee
For ever and ever. Amen.

  

July 17, 2003 message continues

Messenger:        Fr. Carter was a Jesuit --

                            Our way of life is deeply rooted in

                                the Jesuit tradition.

                            These prayers we received (Fr. Carter and 

                                myself, Rita Ring) in this movement

                                tell us a lot about what we are

                                praying for.

      

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 spoon out all that is me and be an empty vessel ready to be filled by 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 put aside the world and 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.

-God's Blue Book, January 17, 1994

     

A Prayer for Intimacy with the Lamb, the Bridegroom of the Soul

     Oh Lamb of God, Who take away the sins of the world, come and act on my soul most intimately. I surrender myself, as I ask for the grace to let go, to just be as I exist in You and You act most intimately on my soul. You are the Initiator. I am the soul waiting Your favors as You act in me. I love You. I adore You. I worship You. Come and possess my soul with Your Divine Grace, as I experience You most intimately.

     
   


  

A Prayer before the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

    Let me be a holy sacrifice and unite with God in the sacrament of His greatest love.

    I want to be one in Him in this act of love, where He gives Himself to me and I give myself as a sacrifice to Him. Let me be a holy sacrifice as I become one with Him in this my act of greatest love to Him.

    Let me unite with Him more, that I may more deeply love Him. May I help make reparation to His adorable Heart and the heart of His Mother, Mary. With greatest love, I offer myself to You and pray that You will accept my sacrifice of greatest love. I give myself to You and unite in Your gift of Yourself to me. Come and possess my soul.

    Cleanse me, strengthen me, heal me. Dear Holy Spirit act in the heart of Mary to make me more and more like Jesus.

    Father, I offer this my sacrifice, myself united to Jesus in the Holy Spirit to You. Help me to love God more deeply in this act of my greatest love.

    Give me the grace to grow in my knowledge, love and service of You and for this to be my greatest participation in the Mass. Give me the greatest graces to love You so deeply in this Mass, You who are so worthy of my love.

-God's Blue Book, December 27, 1995

  

    

Holy Spirit Novena (in 4 languages with Imprimatur)
   

  

Holy Spirit Novena
  

DAILY NOVENA PRAYERS

Opening Prayer

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Dear Father, we come to You in the name of Jesus, in union with Him in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in the Holy Spirit. We come to You united to the Child Jesus of Good Health and the Infant of Prague. We come to You in the perfect, sinless heart of Our Mother Mary, asking her powerful intercession, uniting ourselves to her holy tears. We come to You united to all the angels and saints, and the souls in purgatory.

Prayer for Holy Spirit

We pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on us, to be baptized by the Holy Spirit, that He will descend mightily on us as He did on the Apostles at Pentecost. That the Holy Spirit will transform us from fear to fearlessness and that He will give us courage to do all the Father is asking of us to help bring about the Reign of the Sacred Heart and the triumph of Mary's Immaculate Heart. We pray for the Holy Spirit to descend mightily on the Jesuits and the Poor Clares on the Shepherds of Christ leaders and members and on the whole Body of Christ and the world.

Protection by the Blood of Jesus

We pray that the Blood of Jesus will be spread on us, everyone in our families, and the Shepherds of Christ Movement, that we will be able to move steadfastly ahead and be protected from the evil one.

Healing

We pray for healing in body, mind, and soul and generational healing in ourselves, in all members in our families, and in all members of the Shepherds of Christ Movement, the Jesuit Community, the Poor Clares, the Body of Christ, and the world.

Prayer for Strength and Light

We adore You, oh Holy Spirit. Give us strength, give us light, console us. We give ourselves entirely to You. Oh Spirit of light and grace, we want to only do the will of the Father. Enlighten us that we may live always in the Father's will.

Eternal Spirit fill us with Your Divine Wisdom that we may comprehend more fully insight into Your Divine Mysteries.

Give us lights, Oh Holy Spirit that we may know God. Work within the heart, the spiritual womb of the Virgin Mary, to form us more and more into the image of Jesus.

Prayer to Be One with God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit

We long for You, Oh Spirit of Light, we long to know God, we want to be one with Him, our Divine God. We want to be one with the Father, know Him as a Person most intimately. We want to know the beloved One, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and live and dwell in Him at all times, every moment of our lives. We want to be one with You, Oh Spirit of Light, that You move in us in our every breath.

Prayer to Be One in Jesus

Let us experience life in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, so we can say as Saint Paul, "I have been crucified with Christ and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but Christ living in me...." Let us live, united to the Mass, all through the day being one in Him. Let us be able to love and know in this elevated state of oneness with our God. We long for Thee, oh beauteous God, we love You, we love You, we love You. We praise You, worship You, honor You, adore You, and thank You, our beloved God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Prayer to Dwell in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

We seek to be one in God, to live and dwell in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, our little heaven on earth, to experience life in the all perfect, pure, sinless heart of our Mother. We want the Holy Spirit to move in us and to be united to Jesus as the Bridegroom of our souls and be a most perfect sacrifice offered to the Father at every moment as we unite in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass around the world to help in the salvation of souls.

Prayer for the Holy Spirit and His Gifts

Come Holy Spirit, come, come into our hearts, inflame all people with the fire of Your love.

Leader: Send forth Your Spirit and all will be reborn.
All:  And You will renew the face of the earth.

We pray for the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, we ask for perfection in our souls to make us holy, holy souls likened to God.

Dear Holy Spirit, we give ourselves to You soul and body. We ask You to give us the Spirit of Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord.

Prayer for the Word Alive in Our Hearts

We know, dear Holy Spirit, the Word in His human nature was brought forth within the womb of the woman. We pray that His word will be brought forth in our hearts as He lives and dwells in us. We want the incarnation to go on in our lives. Dear Holy Spirit, work in us.

Little Prayers to the Holy Spirit

Dear Holy Spirit, help us not to be ignorant or indifferent or weak, help us to be strong with the love of God.

Dear Holy Spirit, please pray for our needs for us.

Dear Holy Spirit, help us to respect God and to avoid sin. Help us to live in the Father's will.

Dear Holy Spirit, help us to keep Your commandments and to respect authority. Help us to love all things as You will us to love them. Help us to want to pray and always serve God with the greatest love. Help us to know the truth. Help us to have the gift of faith, hope, and love. Help us to know what is right and what is wrong.

A Prayer for Intimacy with the Lamb, the Bridegroom of the Soul

Oh Lamb of God, Who take away the sins of the world, come and act on my soul most intimately. I surrender myself, as I ask for the grace to let go, to just be as I exist in You and You act most intimately on my soul. You are the Initiator. I am the soul waiting Your favors as You act in me. I love You. I adore You. I worship You. Come and possess my soul with Your Divine Grace, as I experience You most intimately.

   

First Period
Meditations Nine Days

  1. Romans 8:14-17

    All who are guided by the Spirit of God are sons of God; for what you received was not the spirit of slavery to bring you back into fear; you received the Spirit of adoption, enabling us to cry out, 'Abba, Father!' The Spirit himself joins with our spirit to bear witness that we are children of God. And if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, provided that we share his suffering, so as to share his glory.
  2. Romans 8:5-9

    Those who are living by their natural inclinations have their minds on the things human nature desires; those who live in the Spirit have their minds on spiritual things. And human nature has nothing to look forward to but death, while the Spirit looks forward to life and peace, because the outlook of disordered human nature is opposed to God, since it does not submit to God's Law, and indeed it cannot, and those who live by their natural inclinations can never be pleasing to God. You, however, live not by your natural inclinations, but by the Spirit, since the Spirit of God has made a home in you. Indeed, anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
  3. 1 John 4:12-16

    No one has ever seen God, but as long as we love one another God remains in us and his love comes to its perfection in us. This is the proof that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us a share in his Spirit. We ourselves have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as Saviour of the world. Anyone who acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. We have recognised for ourselves, and put our faith in, the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.
  4. 1 John 4:17-21

    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.
  5. 1 John 4:7-11

    My dear friends, let us love one another, since love is from God and everyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. Whoever fails to love does not know God, because God is love. This is the revelation of God's love for us, that God sent his only Son into the world that we might have life through him. Love consists in this: it is not we who loved God, but God loved us and sent his Son to expiate our sins. My dear friends, if God loved us so much, we too should love one another.
  6. Acts of the Apostles 1:1-5

    In my earlier work, Theophilus, I dealt with everything Jesus had done and taught from the beginning until the day he gave his instructions to the apostles he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken up to heaven. He had shown himself alive to them after his Passion by many demonstrations: for forty days he had continued to appear to them and tell them about the kingdom of God. While at table with them, he had told them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for what the Father had promised. 'It is', he had said, 'what you have heard me speak about: John baptised with water but, not many days from now, you are going to be baptised with the Holy Spirit.'
  7. Acts of the Apostles 1:6-9

    Now having met together, they asked him, 'Lord, has the time come for you to restore the kingdom to Israel?' He replied, 'It is not for you to know times or dates that the Father has decided by his own authority, but you will receive the power of the Holy Spirit which will come on you, and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judaea and Samaria, and indeed to earth's remotest end.'

    As he said this he was lifted up while they looked on, and a cloud took him from their sight.
  8. Acts of the Apostles 1:12-14

    So from the Mount of Olives, as it is called, they went back to Jerusalem, a short distance away, no more than a Sabbath walk; and when they reached the city they went to the upper room where they were staying; there were Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Jude son of James. With one heart all these joined constantly in prayer, together with some women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
  9. Acts of the Apostles 2:1-4

    When Pentecost day came round, they had all met together, when suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a violent wind which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; and there appeared to them tongues as of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak different languages as the Spirit gave them power to express themselves.

   

Second Period
Meditations Nine Days

  1. John 14:21-31

    Whoever holds to my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me; and whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I shall love him and reveal myself to him.'

    Judas-not Judas Iscariot-said to him, 'Lord, what has happened, that you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?' Jesus replied:

    Anyone who loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make a home in him. Anyone who does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not my own: it is the word of the Father who sent me. I have said these things to you while still with you; but the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you. Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you, a peace which the world cannot give, this is my gift to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You heard me say: I am going away and shall return. If you loved me you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I have told you this now, before it happens, so that when it does happen you may believe. I shall not talk to you much longer, because the prince of this world is on his way. He has no power over me, but the world must recognise that I love the Father and that I act just as the Father commanded. Come now, let us go.
  2. John 17:11-26

    I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep those you have given me true to your name, so that they may be one like us. While I was with them, I kept those you had given me true to your name. I have watched over them and not one is lost except one who was destined to be lost, and this was to fulfil the scriptures. But now I am coming to you and I say these things in the world to share my joy with them to the full. I passed your word on to them, and the world hated them, because they belong to the world no more than I belong to the world. I am not asking you to remove them from the world, but to protect them from the Evil One. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world, and for their sake I consecrate myself so that they too may be consecrated in truth. I pray not only for these but also for those who through their teaching will come to believe in me. May they all be one, just as, Father, you are in me and I am in you, so that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe it was you who sent me. I have given them the glory you gave to me, that they may be one as we are one. With me in them and you in me, may they be so perfected in unity that the world will recognise that it was you who sent me and that you have loved them as you have loved me.

    Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they may always see my glory which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Father, Upright One, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have known that you have sent me. I have made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and so that I may be in them.
  3. I Corinthians 15:20-28

    In fact, however, Christ has been raised from the dead, as the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep. As it was by one man that death came, so through one man has come the resurrection of the dead. Just as all die in Adam, so in Christ all will be brought to life; but all of them in their proper order: Christ the first-fruits, and next, at his coming, those who belong to him. After that will come the end, when he will hand over the kingdom to God the Father, having abolished every principality, every ruling force and power. For he is to be king until he has made his enemies his footstool, and the last of the enemies to be done away with is death, for he has put all things under his feet. But when it is said everything is subjected, this obviously cannot include the One who subjected everything to him. When everything has been subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to the One who has subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.
  4. Revelation 3:1-3,12,16-19

    'Write to the angel of the church in Sardis and say, "Here is the message of the one who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: I know about your behaviour: how you are reputed to be alive and yet are dead. Wake up; put some resolve into what little vigour you have left: it is dying fast. So far I have failed to notice anything in your behaviour that my God could possibly call perfect; remember how you first heard the message. Hold on to that. Repent! If you do not wake up, I shall come to you like a thief, and you will have no idea at what hour I shall come upon you.

    Anyone who proves victorious I will make into a pillar in the sanctuary of my God, and it will stay there for ever; I will inscribe on it the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which is coming down from my God in heaven, and my own new name as well.

    '...but since you are neither hot nor cold, but only lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth. You say to yourself: I am rich, I have made a fortune and have everything I want, never realising that you are wretchedly and pitiably poor, and blind and naked too. I warn you, buy from me the gold that has been tested in the fire to make you truly rich, and white robes to clothe you and hide your shameful nakedness, and ointment to put on your eyes to enable you to see. I reprove and train those whom I love: so repent in real earnest.'
  5. Revelation 5:9-14

    They sang a new hymn: You are worthy to take the scroll and to break its seals, because you were sacrificed, and with your blood you bought people for God of every race, language, people and nation and made them a line of kings and priests for God, to rule the world.

    In my vision, I heard the sound of an immense number of angels gathered round the throne and the living creatures and the elders; there were ten thousand times ten thousand of them and thousands upon thousands, loudly chanting:

Worthy is the Lamb that was sacrificed to receive power, riches, wisdom, strength, honour, glory and blessing.

Then I heard all the living things in creation-everything that lives in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and in the sea, crying:

To the One seated on the throne and to the Lamb, be all praise, honour, glory and power, for ever and ever.

And the four living creatures said, 'Amen'; and the elders prostrated themselves to worship.

  1. Revelation 7:14-17

    I answered him, 'You can tell me, sir.' Then he said, 'These are the people who have been through the great trial; they have washed their robes white again in the blood of the Lamb. That is why they are standing in front of God's throne and serving him day and night in his sanctuary; and the One who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. They will never hunger or thirst again; sun and scorching wind will never plague them, because the Lamb who is at the heart of the throne will be their shepherd and will guide them to springs of living water; and God will wipe away all tears from their eyes.'
  2. Revelation 12:1-8

    Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman, robed with the sun, standing on the moon, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant, and in labour, crying aloud in the pangs of childbirth. Then a second sign appeared in the sky: there was a huge red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and each of the seven heads crowned with a coronet. Its tail swept a third of the stars from the sky and hurled them to the ground, and the dragon stopped in front of the woman as she was at the point of giving birth, so that it could eat the child as soon as it was born. The woman was delivered of a boy, the son who was to rule all the nations with an iron sceptre, and the child was taken straight up to God and to his throne, while the woman escaped into the desert, where God had prepared a place for her to be looked after for twelve hundred and sixty days.

    And now war broke out in heaven, when Michael with his angels attacked the dragon. The dragon fought back with his angels, but they were defeated and driven out of heaven.
  3. Revelation 14:1-7

    Next in my vision I saw Mount Zion, and standing on it the Lamb who had with him a hundred and forty-four thousand people, all with his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. I heard a sound coming out of heaven like the sound of the ocean or the roar of thunder; it was like the sound of harpists playing their harps. There before the throne they were singing a new hymn in the presence of the four living creatures and the elders, a hymn that could be learnt only by the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been redeemed from the world. These are the sons who have kept their virginity and not been defiled with women they follow the Lamb wherever he goes; they, out of all people, have been redeemed to be the first-fruits for God and for the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths and no fault can be found in them.

    Then I saw another angel, flying high overhead, sent to announce the gospel of eternity to all who live on the earth, every nation, race, language and tribe. He was calling, 'Fear God and glorify him, because the time has come for him to sit in judgement; worship the maker of heaven and earth and sea and the springs of water.'

    Revelation 19: 7-8

    let us be glad and joyful and give glory to God, because this is the time for the marriage of the Lamb. His bride is ready, and she has been able to dress herself in dazzling white linen, because her linen is made of the good deeds of the saints.'
  4. Revelation 21:1-10

    Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared now, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride dressed for her husband. Then I heard a loud voice call from the throne, 'Look, here God lives among human beings. He will make his home among them; they will be his people, and he will be their God, God-with-them. He will wipe away all tears from their eyes; there will be no more death, and no more mourning or sadness or pain. The world of the past has gone.'

    Then the One sitting on the throne spoke. 'Look, I am making the whole of creation new. Write this, "What I am saying is trustworthy and will come true."' Then he said to me, 'It has already happened. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give water from the well of life free to anybody who is thirsty; anyone who proves victorious will inherit these things; and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the legacy for cowards, for those who break their word, or worship obscenities, for murderers and the sexually immoral, and for sorcerers, worshippers of false gods or any other sort of liars, is the second death in the burning lake of sulphur.'

    One of the seven angels that had the seven bowls full of the seven final plagues came to speak to me and said, 'Come here and I will show you the bride that the Lamb has married.' In the spirit, he carried me to the top of a very high mountain, and showed me Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down out of heaven from God.

    Revelation 22:20

    The one who attests these things says: I am indeed coming soon.

    Amen; come, Lord Jesus.

Scriptural quotations are taken from The New Jerusalem Bible, Doubleday & Co.
Imprimatur granted by Cardinal Hume.

end of Holy Spirit Novena

  

    

(in 6 languages with the Imprimatur)
  

    

Shepherds of Christ Associates

PRAYER MANUAL

  

© Copyright 2002 Shepherds of Christ Publications
Rights for non-commercial reproduction granted:
May be copied in its entirety, but neither re-typed nor edited.

The Shepherds of Christ Spirituality Handbook is available from

Shepherds of Christ Ministries
PO BOX 193
Morrow, Ohio 45152-0193

Telephone: (toll free) 1-888-211-3041 or (513) 932-4451
FAX: (513) 932-6791

First Printing, September 1994
Second Printing, November 1994
Third Printing, November 1995
Fourth Printing, March 1996

  

Chapter Meeting Prayer Format

The prayer format below should be followed at chapter meetings of Shepherds of Christ Associates. All prayers, not just those said specifically for priests, should include the intention of praying for all the needs of priests the world over.

1. Hymns. Hymns may be sung at any point of the prayer part of the meeting.

2. Holy Spirit Prayer. Come, Holy Spirit, almighty Sanctifier, God of love, who filled the Virgin Mary with grace, who wonderfully changed the hearts of the apostles, who endowed all Your martyrs with miraculous courage, come and sanctify us. Enlighten our minds, strengthen our wills, purify our consciences, rectify our judgment, set our hearts on fire, and preserve us from the misfortunes of resisting Your inspirations. Amen.

3. The Rosary.

4. Salve Regina. "Hail Holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To you do we send up our sighs, our mourning, our weeping in this vale of tears. Turn, then, most gracious advocate, your eyes of mercy toward us and after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus, O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary."

5. The Memorare. "Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help, or sought your intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto you, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother. To you I come, before you I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but, in your mercy, hear and answer me. Amen."

6. Seven Hail Marys in honor of the Seven Sorrows of Mary. Mary has promised very special graces to those who do this on a daily basis. Included in the promises of Our Lady for those who practice this devotion is her pledge to give special assistance at the hour of death, including the sight of her face. The seven sorrows are:

(1) The first sorrow: the prophecy of Simeon (Hail Mary).

(2) The second sorrow: the flight into Egypt (Hail Mary).

(3) The third sorrow: the loss of the Child Jesus in the temple (Hail Mary).

(4) The fourth sorrow: Jesus and Mary meet on the way to the cross (Hail Mary).

(5) The fifth sorrow: Jesus dies on the cross (Hail Mary).

(6) The sixth sorrow: Jesus is taken down from the cross and laid in Mary's arms (Hail Mary).

(7) The seventh sorrow: the burial of Jesus (Hail Mary).

7. Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

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.

Holy Mary, pray for us (repeat after each invocation).
Holy Mother of God,
Holy Virgin of virgins,
Mother of Christ,
Mother of the Church,
Mother of divine grace,
Mother most pure,
Mother most chaste,
Mother inviolate,
Mother undefiled,
Mother most amiable,
Mother most admirable,
Mother of good counsel,
Mother of our Creator,
Mother of our Savior,
Virgin most prudent,
Virgin most venerable,
Virgin most renowned,
Virgin most powerful,
Virgin most merciful,
Virgin most faithful,
Mirror of justice,
Seat of wisdom,
Cause of our joy,
Spiritual vessel,
Vessel of honor,
Singular vessel of devotion,
Mystical rose,
Tower of David,
Tower of ivory,
House of gold,
Ark of the Covenant,
Gate of heaven,
Morning star,
Health of the sick,
Refuge of sinners,
Comforter of the afflicted,
Help of Christians,
Queen of angels,
Queen of patriarchs,
Queen of prophets,
Queen of apostles,
Queen of martyrs,
Queen of confessors,
Queen of virgins,
Queen of all saints,
Queen conceived without original sin,
Queen assumed into heaven,
Queen of the most holy rosary,
Queen of families,
Queen of peace,

Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray: Grant, we beseech You, O Lord God, that we Your servants may enjoy perpetual health of mind and body and, by the glorious intercession of the blessed Mary, ever virgin, be delivered from present sorrow, and obtain eternal joy. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

We fly to your patronage, O holy Mother of God. Despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin. Amen.

8. Prayer to St. Joseph. St. Joseph, guardian of Jesus and chaste spouse of Mary, you passed your life in perfect fulfillment of duty. You supported the Holy Family of Nazareth with the work of your hands. Kindly protect those who trustingly turn to you. You know their aspirations, their hardships, their hopes; and they turn to you because they know you will understand and protect them. You too have known trial, labor, and weariness. But, even amid the worries of material life, your soul was filled with deep peace and sang out in true joy through intimacy with the Son of God entrusted to you, and with Mary, His tender Mother. Amen. --(Pope John XXIII)

9. Litany of the Sacred Heart, promises of the Sacred Heart.

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 (repeat after each invocation).
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
God the Holy Spirit,
Holy Trinity, one God,
Heart of Jesus, Son of the eternal Father,
Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mother,
Heart of Jesus, substantially united to the Word of God,
Heart of Jesus, of infinite majesty,
Heart of Jesus, sacred temple of God,
Heart of Jesus, tabernacle of the Most High,
Heart of Jesus, house of God and gate of heaven,
Heart of Jesus, burning furnace of charity,
Heart of Jesus, abode of justice and love,
Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love,
Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues,
Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise,
Heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts,
Heart of Jesus, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,
Heart of Jesus, in whom dwells the fullness of divinity,
Heart of Jesus, in whom the Father is well pleased,
Heart of Jesus, of whose fullness we have all received,
Heart of Jesus, desire of the everlasting hills,
Heart of Jesus, patient and most merciful,
Heart of Jesus, enriching all who invoke You,
Heart of Jesus, fountain of life and holiness,
Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins,
Heart of Jesus, loaded down with opprobrium,
Heart of Jesus, bruised for our offenses,
Heart of Jesus, obedient even to death,
Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance,
Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation,
Heart of Jesus, our life and reconciliation,
Heart of Jesus, victim of sin,
Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who hope in You,
Heart of Jesus, hope of those who die in You,
Heart of Jesus, delight of all the saints,
Lamb of God, Who take away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who take away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make our hearts like unto Yours.

Let us pray: O almighty and eternal God, look upon the Heart of Your dearly beloved Son and upon the praise and satisfaction He offers You in behalf of sinners and, being appeased, grant pardon to those who seek Your mercy, in the name of the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen.

Promises of Our Lord to those devoted to His Sacred Heart
(these should be read by the prayer leader):

(1) I will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life.

(2) I will establish peace in their homes.

(3) I will comfort them in all their afflictions.

(4) I will be their refuge during life and above all in death.

(5) I will bestow a large blessing on all their undertakings.

(6) Sinners shall find in My Heart the source and the infinite ocean of mercy.

(7) Tepid souls shall grow fervent.

(8) Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection.

(9) I will bless every place where a picture of My Heart shall be set up and honored.

(10) I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts.

(11) Those who promote this devotion shall have their names written in My Heart, never to be blotted out.

(12) I promise you in the excessive mercy of My Heart that My all-powerful love will grant to all those who communicate on the first Friday in nine consecutive months the grace of final penitence; they shall not die in My disgrace nor without receiving their sacraments; My divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.

10. Prayer for Priests. "Lord Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the Flock, we pray that in the great love and mercy of Your Sacred Heart You attend to all the needs of Your priest-shepherds throughout the world. We ask that You draw back to Your Heart all those priests who have seriously strayed from Your path, that You rekindle the desire for holiness in the hearts of those priests who have become lukewarm, and that You continue to give Your fervent priests the desire for the highest holiness. United with Your Heart and Mary's Heart, we ask that You take this petition to Your heavenly Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen"

11. Prayer for all members of the Shepherds of Christ Associates. "Dear Jesus, we ask Your special blessings on all members of Shepherds of Christ Associates. Continue to enlighten them regarding the very special privilege and responsibility you have given them as members of Your movement, Shepherds of Christ Associates. Draw them ever closer to Your Heart and to Your Mother's Heart. Allow them to more and more realize the great and special love of Your Hearts for each of them as unique individuals. Give them the grace to respond to Your love and Mary's love with an increased love of their own. As they dwell in Your Heart and Mary's Heart, abundantly care for all their needs and those of their loved ones. We make our prayer through You to the Father, in the Holy Spirit, with Mary our Mother at our side. Amen"

12. Prayer for the spiritual and financial success of the priestly newsletter. "Father, we ask Your special blessings upon the priestly newsletter, Shepherds of Christ. We ask that You open the priest-readers to the graces You wish to give them through this chosen instrument of Your Son. We also ask that You provide for the financial needs of the newsletter and the Shepherds of Christ Associates. We make our prayer through Jesus, in the Holy Spirit, with Mary at our side. Amen"

13. Prayer for all members of the human family. "Heavenly Father, we ask Your blessings on all Your children the world over. Attend to all their needs. We ask Your special assistance for all those marginalized people, all those who are so neglected and forgotten. United with our Mother Mary, we make this petition to You through Jesus and in the Holy Spirit."

14. Prayer to St. Michael and our Guardian Angels:

"St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the other evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen."

"Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here, ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen."

15. Pause for silent, personal prayer. This should last at least five minutes.

16. Act of consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

"Lord Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the flock, I consecrate myself to Your most Sacred Heart. From Your pierced Heart the Church was born, the Church You have called me, as a member of Shepherds of Christ Associates, to serve in a most special way. You reveal Your Heart as a symbol of Your love in all its aspects, including Your most special love for me, whom You have chosen as Your companion in this most important work. Help me to always love You in return. Help me to give myself entirely to You. Help me always to pour out my life in love of God and neighbor! Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in You!

"Dear Blessed Virgin Mary, I consecrate myself to your maternal and Immaculate Heart, this Heart which is symbol of your life of love. You are the Mother of my Savior. You are also my Mother. You love me with a most special love as a member of Shepherds of Christ Associates, a movement created by your Son as a powerful instrument for the renewal of the Church and the world. In a return of love, I give myself entirely to your motherly love and protection. You followed Jesus perfectly. You are His first and perfect disciple. Teach me to imitate you in the putting on of Christ. Be my motherly intercessor so that, through your Immaculate Heart, I may be guided to an ever closer union with the pierced Heart of Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the flock."

17. Daily Prayers. All members should say the Holy Spirit prayer daily and make the act of consecration daily. They should also pray the rosary each day. They are encouraged to use the other above prayers as time allows.

 

   

    

    
 

June 8, 1995 - Morning Offering

(for Shepherds of Christ Members)

My dear Father, I offer You this day all my prayers, works, joys and sufferings, my every breath, my every heartbeat, my every thought, all my actions, in union with Jesus in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in the Holy Spirit. I pray the Holy Spirit is with me every second today, enlightening me to do the will of the Father and filling me with the fire of God's love.

I ask Jesus and Mary to be one in me in all that I do and I unite with all the angels and saints and souls in purgatory to pray continually to the Father for these intercessions, in this prayer, for this day.

For myself, I pray for grace-abundant grace, to know and love God more and more and to follow the will of the Father. I pray to the Holy Spirit to transform me in the heart of Mary to be more and more like Jesus. I pray that I can forever dwell in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. I pray for conversion of all those I hold dear who need conversion. I pray for each member of my family that they will be filled with Your abundant grace to grow in their knowledge and love of God.

I pray for all my friends that they will receive abundant grace to carry out the great plan of the Father, that they will grow forever closer to Jesus' Heart through Mary's heart, that we will all be led by the Holy Spirit to do His work, that we will, together, carry out the plan of the Father as He intends us to, to spread the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary's heart to this world.

Jesus, I pray for myself so the Holy Spirit descends upon me and opens my heart to Your love so I will grow more and more deeply in union with You. I pray that I do not worry what other people think but try always to please the Father and do His will. I pray that I may help lead many to Your burning love.

I pray for the following people in particular that they will be filled with the Spirit and grow deeply in their union with You, that they will receive abundant graces to know, love and serve You more. (Include special friends by name...)

I pray for priests the world over, for the success of the priestly newsletter, the Chapters and for the finances needed for the newsletter. I pray for the circulation of the Blue Book messages, rosary meditations and tapes. I pray for all those involved in the publication of these messages.

I pray that You will shower Your abundant graces onto the priests reading the newsletter the people reading and hearing the Blue Book messages and Rosary Meditations and all of Fr. Carter's publications.

We pray for the intentions we hold deep within our hearts, for our families and friends, for those requesting our prayers. We pray for children the world over and for the souls in purgatory. We ask God to shower His abundant grace on us and the members of our Shepherds of Christ chapter so that we may grow more and more in our knowledge and love of God.

We consecrate ourselves to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. We pray for Father Carter, for Father Smith, for Rita Ring, and for John Weickert, for all leaders and helpers in the Shepherds of Christ Movement, for Shepherds of Christ Ministries, and Our Lady of Light Ministry. We pray for all those who are working in these ministries.

We bind ourselves and our children and our friends to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We place the precious blood of Jesus on ourselves, and all we touch, so that we will be protected from the evil one. We pray to St. Michael to cast the devil into hell. We love You, God, we love You, we love You. We beg that we may receive the grace to love You more and more deeply. We adore You, we praise You, our beloved Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

  
  

Morning Offering for Children

My dear Father, I offer you this day all my prayers, works, joys and sufferings in union with Jesus in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in the Holy Spirit.

I unite with our Mother Mary, all the angels and saints, and souls in purgatory, to pray to the Father for myself, for each member of my family, for my friends, for all people throughout the world, for all the souls in purgatory, and for all other intentions of the Sacred Heart.

I love You, Jesus, and I give You my heart. I love you, Mary, and I give you my heart.

      

A Prayer of Thanksgiving

(To be recited daily at the end of the day)

O God, on behalf of Shepherds of Christ Ministries and Our Lady of Light Ministry, we offer up these prayers of thanksgiving:

Thank You Father for Your love, patience, and understanding. We know we are not worthy of such gifts, but that You give them anyway - because of Your great love for souls.

Thank You Jesus for the many gifts and graces You give us as members of Your Movement - Shepherds of Christ. We offer You our love and gratitude through Your Mother's Immaculate Heart.

Thank You Holy Spirit for Your special gifts. Please inspire us to be grateful for what we have been given. Please help us to give ourselves in love to You and all we meet.

Thank You Holy Trinity for Your boundless love and mercy. Please help us to nurture Your presence within us. Help us to be obedient to Your commands and give all the glory to You - Our loving God. We especially thank You for the gift of our Heavenly Mother, Mary.

Thank you Mary for your example while on earth, and for your constant intercession today. Please help us to grow in holiness and put into action all that your Son Jesus asks of us.

We thank St. Michael and the Holy Angels for their prayers, help, and protection. Finally, we thank the saints in heaven and the souls in purgatory for their prayers. We ask them to unite with us in giving thanks and praise to the most Holy Trinity - Our Heavenly Father, Our Lord Jesus, and our Comforter- the Holy Spirit.

We love You! We love You! We love You! Amen.

    
 

July 17, 2003 message continues

Messenger:        This is Fr. Carter's Spirituality Handbook.

  

 

July 17, 2003 message continues

Messenger:        These are the main messages given to Fr. Carter.

  

Given to Father Carter
on the Feast of St. Ignatius

July 31, 1994

Words of Jesus to Members of
Shepherds of Christ Associates:

"My beloved priest-companion, I intend to use the priestly newsletter, Shepherds of Christ, and the movement, Shepherds of Christ Associates, in a powerful way for the renewal of My Church and the world.

"I will use the newsletter and the chapters of Shepherds of Christ Associates as a powerful instrument for spreading devotion to My Heart and My Mother's Heart.

"I am calling many to become members of Shepherds of Christ Associates. To all of them I will give great blessings. I will use them as instruments to help bring about the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart. I will give great graces to the members of Shepherds of Christ Associates. I will call them to be deeply united to My Heart and to Mary's Heart as I lead them ever closer to My Father in the Holy Spirit."

- Message from Jesus to Father Edward J. Carter, S.J., Founder, as given on July 31, 1994,
feast of Saint Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus (The Jesuits)

end of July 31, 1994 message given to Fr. Carter

     
  

October 13, 1994

The Birth of the Full Ministries
of the Shepherds of Christ

    "I wish to share with you part of a message which Jesus gave us on October 13, 1994. The message tells us about the expansion of the Shepherds of Christ movement:

    'My beloved priest-companion, today I come to you with another mission. I am asking you to establish Shepherds of Christ Ministries. At My request you have already begun the priestly newsletter, "Shepherds of Christ", and the prayer chapters, Shepherds of Christ Associates...

    'I am giving you this message on this day, the 77th Anniversary of the Great Apparition at Fatima, because of the close connection between the Shepherds of Christ movement and the Fatima message. The Fatima message is centered in devotion to My Heart and My Mother's Heart, especially in consecration to Our Hearts. Shepherds of Christ Ministries is also centered in devotion to Our Hearts. I will use Shepherds of Christ Ministries as a great instrument in helping to bring about the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart. When this occurs, My Church and the world will be experiencing the great era of peace promised by My Mother at Fatima.

    'Today, then, October 13, 1994, the 77th Anniversary of the Great Apparition at Fatima, marks the birth of Shepherds of Christ Ministries. I pour forth the great love of My Sacred Heart to all. I am Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the flock.'

 end of October 13, 1994 message given to Fr. Carter

  
   

Apostles of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus

My dear fellow Associate Members,

Jesus is calling special apostles to join a new division of the Shepherds of Christ Movement. Here is a message from Jesus given to Father Carter:

    My beloved priest-companion, I am requesting that a new prayer movement be started under the direction of Shepherds of Christ Ministries. I am asking for volunteers who are willing to pray before the Blessed Sacrament for one hour, twice-weekly. Members of the Shepherds of Christ prayer chapters, as well as others, are to be invited to join this movement.

    These apostles are to pray for the intentions I am giving you. For part of the hour they are to use the prayers of the Shepherds of Christ Associates Handbook. They may spend the rest of the hour as they so choose.

    I will use this new prayer movement within My Shepherds of Christ Ministries in a powerful way to help in the renewal of My Church and the world. I will give great graces to those who join this movement. The name, Apostles of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, is to be given to this movement.

    I am inviting My beloved Rita Ring to be coordinator for this activity.

    I pour out the great love of My Sacred Heart to all. I am Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the flock.

    This is indeed a special calling for us to unite in one heart with His Eucharistic Heart and pray for the following intentions:

  1. For the spread of the devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary culminating in the reign of the Sacred Heart and the triumph of the Immaculate Heart.
  2. For the Pope.
  3. For all bishops of the world.
  4. For all priests.
  5. For all sisters and brothers in the religious life.
  6. For all members of the Shepherds of Christ Movement, and for the spread of this movement to the world.
  7. For all members of the Catholic Church.
  8. For all members of the human family.
  9. For all souls in purgatory.

end of Apostles of the Eucharistic Heart message

  

      

July 17, 2003 message continues

Messenger:        Here are Fr. Carter's messages of Tell My People.

     

      

    

Table of Contents

  • Introduction
  • Jesus Has Come to Give Us Life
  • Call of the Sacred Heart
  • Trust in Jesus
  • Mary Our Mother
  • Being Loved by Jesus
  • On Being Thankful
  • The Holy Spirit
  • Prayer
  • Images of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary
  • Age of the Two Hearts
  • The Joy of Christ
  • The Peace of Christ
  • The Two Hearts and the Mass
  • The Riches of the Immaculate Heart
  • The Tears and Sorrows of Mary
  • Children of Mary
  • The Eucharist
  • Reparation for Sin
  • Consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary
  • Mary, Model and Teacher of Love
  • The Two Hearts and Sanctity
  • Surrender to the Heart of Jesus
  • Jesus Asks for Our Love
  • Mary as Our Mediatrix
  • I Have Died for All—You Must Love All
  • Come to Our Hearts
  • Live Your Consecration
  • The Cross Leads to Life
  • Come to My Heart
  • My Father's Will
  • The Present Moment
  • How Much I Love You
  • Spiritual Childhood
  • Humility
  • Depend on Me
  • Pray, Pray, Pray!
  • Build up My Church
  • Your Protection Against Satan
  • The Two Ways
  • The Indwelling of the Trinity
  • The Power to Love
  • Scripture Nourishes You
  • Mother of Our Christian Virtues
  • Work to Make Your World Better
  • Follow the Way I Have Given You
  • Act of Consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary
  • Shepherds of Christ
  • Message to Shepherds of Christ Associates
  •     

          

       

    "What I say to you in the dark, tell in the day-
    light; what you hear in whispers, proclaim
    from the housetops."
    (Matthew 10:27)
      

    Jesus Has Come to Give Us Life

    Jesus: "This is the day celebrating My Resurrection (Easter). The day of newness of life. I am Lord and Master. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Tell My people to come to Me if they wish to experience life in abundance. I want to give all an ever greater share in the life of My Resurrection. Without Me you cannot be happy, nor have peace, nor have real joy. Tell My people to surrender to Me more and more. The more they do so, the more they will experience My love, wisdom, power, peace, joy, happiness, mercy, and goodness. Within My Heart My people will find these riches. I am Lord and Master! Please listen to My words."

    Reflection: Through His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus has come to give us life, and to give us this life in abundance.

    When we were baptized, we were incorporated into Christ and His Church. When we were baptized, we received the life of sanctifying grace. This life is a created sharing in the life of the Trinity. Truly, we are called to live a God-like existence according to the teaching and example of Jesus! It is our duty and our privilege to develop our life of grace—our Christ-life—through our participation in the Mass, through the reception of the sacraments, through prayer, and through all other good works. Indeed, we are called to love God and neighbor more and more.

    What a glorious life has been given to us! In a spirit of thanksgiving, and together with Mary our Mother, let us always strive to know Christ more intimately, to love Him more ardently, and to follow Him more closely, so that He will always bring us to a closer union with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

     


     

    Call of the Sacred Heart

    Jesus: "Tell My People that I wish them to come to My Sacred Heart. I show My Heart as symbol of My great love for My people. So many, however, are cold and indifferent concerning My love for them. Consider all I have done for My people! I suffered a brutal passion and death for them. My Body was unmercifully scourged, My head cruelly crowned with thorns, My hands and feet mercilessly pierced with nails. Oh, how much I suffered in all this—out of love for My Father and the whole human race! Finally, My Heart was pierced with the soldier's lance. From My pierced Heart flowed forth blood and water, symbols of the Eucharist and Baptism. How much My pierced Heart still loves My people! How I long for each to come to My Heart in a return of love! All who do will experience My love in a special way. All who take up their refuge within My Heart will experience love, security, peace, joy. The world cannot give My people these gifts. I, Who am Lord and Master, am the One Who gives these gifts."

    Reflection: Jesus tells us how much He loves us and to what lengths He went in His passion and death to show us this great love, this love symbolized by His Heart.

    To meditate often upon the passion and death of Christ is to allow His love to more and more take hold of us. The more we allow Jesus to embrace us with His tremendous love for us, the more He draws us within His pierced Heart. Within this Heart is our refuge. Here is our source of enlightenment, of strength, of peace, joy, and happiness.

      


     

    Trust in Jesus

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, tell My people to trust Me unreservedly. I am Lord and Master. I am their God. So many fail to trust Me as they should. I love all My people much, much more than they love themselves. This great love of Mine should encourage the greatest trust. The more you realize how much a friend loves you, the more you place your trust in the friend. I am your perfect Friend! I love you infinitely more than your best earthly friend. Tell My people to give Me their trust. Tell them to say often, 'Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in You.' I am Lord and Master. Please do as I request."

    Reflection: How can we fail to trust Jesus, this Jesus Who has given His life for each of us? During His passion, He knew each of us by name. Today, He calls each of us, by name, to the refuge of His Sacred Heart. Today, He calls each of us, by name, to a greater trust in His Heart.

     


     

    Mary Our Mother

    Jesus: "My beloved friend, tell My people to come to My Mother. From the cross, as I was suffering indescribable agony, I gave Mary as spiritual Mother to the world. My great love for My people prompted Me to do this. I am Lord and Master, and I want My people to come to My Mother and their Mother. If you wish to be close to Me, come to Mary. Consecrate yourselves to her. In this way you will grow into the closest union with Me. Through her Immaculate Heart, you will be drawn more and more into My own Heart. It is My desire that you allow My Mother to place you within My Heart which loves you with an unfathomable love! This is My wish—that you come to Me enfolded by Mary's mantle, cradled in her arms, pressed against her Heart."

    Reflection: It is God's will that we approach Jesus in union with Mary. Enough said!

     


     

    Being Loved by Jesus

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, I have given you a special experience of what it means to be loved by Me. I have drawn you, through Mary, deeply within My Heart. There you experience a deep peace, joy, and security—all this results from your realizing how much I love you! Tell My people about My great love! Tell them I desire that they come to My Heart. There they will experience the wonders that only My Heart can give. I am Lord and Master. I desire that all listen to My words."

    Reflection: We know what a glowing feeling it is to realize that we are loved by a human person--by a friend or by a spouse, for example. Jesus loves us much, much more than any such person can possibly love us! Why don't we, then, allow ourselves constantly to be immersed in the joy which results from realizing how much Jesus loves us?

     


     

    On Being Thankful

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, because I love you with a very special love, I have showered you with great gifts. You have cried out to Me in joy. You have told Me how thankful you are for My many special favors. Allowing you to be so thankful is itself a gift I give you. Tell My people that I want them to thank Me every day for all the gifts I have given and continue to give them. Tell them I want them to give themselves to Mary. In her company I want them to approach My Sacred Heart each day. Here I will give them ever greater gifts.

    "How much I love My people! How much I long to shower them with My love-laden gifts! Sadly, many do not want to receive My gifts. Those who do, let them come to My Heart, and they will be amazed at what I will do for them! My Heart is an inexhaustible source of graces. Please, My people, I long for you to come and draw from its riches! I am Lord and Master. Please do as I request."

    Reflection: Giving thanks to God for all His gifts is one of our great duties as children of God. We should be continually offering thanks to God for all the gifts He has given us and continues to give us through the Heart of Jesus.

     


     

    The Holy Spirit

    Jesus: "My beloved friend, tell My people to pray daily to the Holy Spirit. They are to pray for an increase in His gifts. My people must realize that the Holy Spirit comes to transform them. The Spirit desires to transform you more and more according to My image. Those who are docile to His touch become increasingly shaped in My likeness. He performs this marvel within Mary's Immaculate Heart. The more one dwells in My Mother's Heart, the more active are the workings of the Spirit. The Spirit leads Mary to place you within My own Heart. In both Our Hearts, then, your transformation continues. The more you are formed after My own Heart, the more I lead you to the bosom of My Father. Tell My people all this. Tell them to pray daily for a greater appreciation of these wondrous gifts. I am Lord and Master. All who come to My Heart will be on fire to receive the gifts of the Spirit in ever greater measure! I love and bless My people!"

    Reflection: The Holy Spirit is given to us to fashion us ever more according to the likeness of Jesus. And the more we are like Jesus, the more Jesus leads us to the Father. Do we, each day, pray to the Holy Spirit to be more open to His transforming influence? Do we strive each day to grow in union with Mary? The greater our union with our Mother, the spouse of the Holy Spirit, the greater is the transforming action of the Holy Spirit within us.

     


     

    Prayer

    Jesus: My beloved companion, tell My people about the great importance of prayer. Prayer plays an indispensable role in the process of sanctification and ultimate salvation. Let My little ones come to Me daily in prayer. I especially want My people to pray before the tabernacle. When they do so, I give them special graces. The prayer of My people should be filled with love for Me, My Father, the Holy Spirit, and My Mother. Pressed against their Mother's heart, and under her guidance, let My people come to My Sacred Heart. Each day they should take up their refuge in My Heart, and there enter into the deepest prayer. They should put all worries and anxieties aside and pray from the heart. I take their prayer to the Father in the Holy Spirit. My people, I want you to pray, pray, pray! During prayer I make you especially aware of My great love for you. During prayer I ask for your return of love. During prayer I especially allow you to experience peace and joy. The crosses you bear are no obstacle to this. In fact, when you bear your crosses properly—that is, according to My Father's will—you experience increased peace and joy. My people, listen to My words. I am Lord and Master. I love you with the most tender love!"

    Reflection: In the above message, Jesus reminds us of the great importance of prayer. Our greatest prayer is our participation in the Mass. Outside the time of Mass, Jesus tells us how important it is to pray before the tabernacle. The practice of prayer is extremely important for ongoing growth in our love relationship with Jesus, the Father, the Holy Spirit, and with Mary. It is also critical for our growth in love of neighbor.

     


     

    Images of the Hearts
    of Jesus and Mary

    Jesus: "My beloved friend, tell My people that I desire them to have pictures or statues of the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart in their homes. This will greatly help them to give honor to Our Hearts. All My churches and chapels should also have these images. I will bestow great blessings on all those who heed My request. I am your Lord and Master. Please do as I ask."

    Reflection: We all know the role pictures of loved ones play in maintaining and developing our relationships with these people. Is it strange, then, that Jesus makes the above request?

     


     

    Age of the Two Hearts

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, I have allowed you to experience in extraordinary fashion the riches contained in My Heart and My Mother's Heart. I desire that you tell all My people about these riches. I desire that My people consecrate themselves to My Sacred Heart and to Mary's Immaculate Heart. My people are living in the beginnings of the age of the Two Hearts.

    "After the time of the purification is completed, this new era of the Church and the world will become firmly established. This era will be characterized by the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart. All those who consecrate themselves to My Heart and to My Mother's Heart will help to establish this glorious new age. I am Lord and Master. Please listen to My urgent request. Within Our Hearts you will experience the love and security, the peace and the joy, which you all desire. I love My people with a tremendous love, and in My love I give them this message!"

    Reflection: This is the Age of the Two Hearts! The surest road to sanctity in these our times is through consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. In making this consecration, and striving with God's grace to live it as best we can each day, we are contributing to the establishment of the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and to the arrival of the reign of the Sacred Heart.

     


     

    The Joy of Christ

    Jesus: "My beloved friend, tell My people that I am a God of joy. I have come so that My people's joy may be complete. So many of My people seek for joy in the wrong places. So many seek their joy and happiness in material things. Joy can spring from material things only when they are used according to My Father's will. Many use material things against My Father's will. Come to My Heart, My people. Come to My Heart in union with your Mother Mary. She will place you within My Heart, and we will teach you the secret of joy. We will show you that joy is meant to be yours at all times-even in the deepest suffering.

    "Come to Me, My people. I am your Lord and Master! I am all-powerful! When I say I will give you joy in abundance, I have the means to fulfill My promise. But you must come to My Heart, and you must trust Me. I ask for your total trust. The more you trust Me, the more you will be filled with My joy!"

    Reflection: In the Litany of the Blessed Virgin we say, "Cause of our joy, pray for us." Mary is cause of our joy, because, under God, she gives us Jesus, the Source of all joy. Mary is cause of our ever-increasing joy, because she always unites us—if we allow her—more intimately to the Heart of Jesus. And as Jesus tells us above, within His Heart, He and Mary teach us the secret of joy.

     


     

    The Peace of Christ

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, tell My beloved people that I am the Divine Giver of peace. I want so much to give My people an even greater sense of peace, but many refuse My offer! They think they know their own way to peace and happiness—a way which is not My way. The further they stray from Me, the more restless they become, and the less true peace they have. My way is the only way to peace.

    "My people, come each day to My Sacred Heart. Let Mary lead you to My Heart. The more you dwell within My Heart, the more peace will be yours. I am Lord and Master. Please listen to My words! Do not seek your peace and consolation in worldly pursuits. Come within My Heart, and you will be filled with the peace you so much crave. I will press you to My Sacred Heart. I will tell you how much I love you! The more you realize this love, the more My peace will possess your soul!"

    Reflection: The chief fruit of love is peace. The more we open ourselves to the burning love of Jesus' Heart, and respond by loving God and neighbor more and more, the more peace we experience.

     


      

    The Two Hearts and the Mass

    Jesus: "My beloved friend, tell My people that they are living in the Age of the Two Hearts—that of My Heart and My Mother's heart. My people live in the initial stages of this great era. I call all My people to take up their refuge in My Heart and My Mother's heart. In Our Hearts they will become more and more transformed into My likeness.

    "The greatest source for growth in devotion to Our Hearts is the Eucharist. I wish My people to attend Mass often, daily if possible. What a great gift I have given to My people in the Eucharist! Yet many of My people are indifferent to the treasures contained in the Mass. Think of it! My people are privileged to offer the Sacrifice of the Mass together with Me! And yet how many prefer to do other things rather than attend Mass. How this attitude offends My Sacred Heart!

    "I long for My people to participate in the Mass and to receive Me worthily! Think of it! I, Who am your God, long to come to you each day! In the Eucharist I come to you in My Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Present within you, I long to take you close to My Sacred Heart, this Heart which is truly within you. The more you allow Me to do so, the more closely I press you to this Heart. I shower you with its riches. I abundantly give you great graces which increasingly form you in My likeness.

    "I am Lord and Master! Please listen to My words. Pray, pray for a deeper understanding of the Mass. In union with Mary, approach Me daily in the Eucharist. I, your God, long to come to you. How much do you long to receive Me?"

    Reflection: Everything in the life of the Church, and in the Christian lives of each of us individually, is centered in the Mass. Vatican II, in a few words, makes a powerful statement concerning the Church's Liturgy--at the center of which is the Eucharistic Sacrifice: ". . .in the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the fountain from which all her power flows" [The Documents of Vatican II, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, No.10 (American Press edition)].

     


     

    The Riches of the Immaculate Heart

    Mary: "My beloved priest-son, how often I have pressed you to my maternal and Immaculate Heart in the greatest love! How often I allow you to taste the sweetness of this Heart. How often I make you aware that my Heart is your refuge where you feel so much loved, where you feel so secure, where you feel bathed in peace! I desire that you tell all the people about the riches contained in my Immaculate Heart. Tell my people to come to my Heart each day. I will caress them with my maternal love. I will lead them ever closer to the Sacred Heart of my Son. I will tell them to listen to Jesus. I will remind them that He is their Lord and Master. I will remind them to do whatever He tells them to do.

    "Yes, my dearly beloved son, tell my people all these things. Keep reminding them of my great love for them. Keep reminding them how I love to draw them to my maternal and Immaculate Heart!"

    Reflection: Is there anyone who, listening to these words of Mary, does not long for a closer union with the loving Heart of our Mother?

     


     

    The Tears and Sorrows of Mary

    Mary: "My beloved priest-son, I have given you a great devotion to my sorrows and tears. Tell my people about this devotion. Tell them I promise great blessings to all who say seven Hail Marys each day in honor of my tears and seven sorrows. Included in my promise is that of granting special assistance at the hour of death. At this moment, all who practice this devotion will see my face."

    Reflection: Listed below are the seven sorrows of Mary. Let us each day recall these sorrows as we pray the seven Hail Marys as Our Lady requests.

    1. The prophecy of Simeon.
    2. The Flight into Egypt.
    3. The loss of Jesus in the Temple.
    4. Jesus and Mary meet during the way of the cross.
    5. Mary witnesses the crucifixion of her Son.
    6. Jesus is taken down from the cross and laid in Mary's arms.
    7. The burial of Jesus.

       


     

    Children of Mary

    Mary: "My beloved priest-son, how often I have embraced you! How often I have told you how much I love you! How often, at your request, I have held you in my arms as my child. You have told me you realize how helpless you are of yourself, but how strong and secure you feel dwelling in my heart and Jesus' Heart. Your sense of your littleness and helplessness endears you to me all the more. I take you ever more securely to my maternal and Immaculate Heart. Tell all my people of the riches you have found within my heart. Tell them how I place you within my Son's Heart. Tell them that, because of my motherly action, you are now more closely united with Jesus than ever before. Tell my people to come to my heart and draw forth similar riches. Tell all my little ones that Jesus, Who is Lord and Master, bids me to lead all to His Sacred Heart. The more my little ones dwell within my Immaculate Heart, the more I place them within Jesus' Heart. Oh, how I love all my little ones! How I love to bring them to the Heart of Jesus!"

    Reflection: Again, let us remind ourselves that we live in the Age of the Two Hearts. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are inseparable. The more we dwell in Mary's heart, the more she places us within Jesus' Heart. Within these Two Hearts, the Holy Spirit fashions us more and more in the likeness of Christ, and the more we become like Christ, the more closely He unites us to the Father.

       


      

    The Eucharist

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, tell My people how I long for them to come to Me in the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the great Sacrament of My love for My people. So many are indifferent to My Eucharistic presence. So many have no real desire to receive Me in the Eucharist. So many have no desire to visit Me in the Blessed Sacrament. How I long for My people to come before the tabernacle and to talk with Me!

    "I am offended, many times seriously, by all the outrages, sacrileges, and indifferences committed against My Eucharistic presence. I ask My people to make reparation for all this. I especially ask that they often say the prayer of Eucharistic reparation given by the angel to the three Fatima visionaries.

    "I am Lord and Master. Please do as I request. My Eucharistic Heart is beating with unfathomable love for My people! Let them come to My Sacred Heart. How I long to take My people to My Heart and shower them with Its abundant graces! I love My people with a tremendous love, and I give them this message with the greatest love!"

    Reflection: Pope John Paul II has often expressed his belief in the importance of Fatima. It also appears that the Fatima prayer of Eucharistic reparation is meant in a most special way for the present times

     


     

    Reparation for Sin

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, tell My people that the ugly face of sin covers the earth as never before in the history of the human race. My image, which should shine forth brilliantly over the whole earth, is seriously marred by the hideousness of sin. My Father's justice demands reparation. Tell My people to offer their actions in reparation for all the sins whereby the Triune God is so much offended. My Heart cries out for reparation, especially for sins committed against My Eucharistic presence. My Heart hates sin, but loves the sinner. All who are sorry for their sins will find in My Heart overflowing graces of mercy.

    "My people should receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation often, even if they have no serious sins to confess. The graces of this Sacrament give powerful graces for the fight against temptation. I am Lord and Master. Please do as I request!"

    Reflection: In our determination to avoid sin, let us often recall the terrible sufferings which sin caused Our Loving Savior: the cruel crowning with thorns, the tearing of His sacred flesh by the soldiers' merciless scourging, the heartless hammering of nails through His sacred hands and feet, and all the rest. Who can prayerfully look upon the suffering Christ and not be repulsed by the hideousness of sin?

     


     

    Consecration to the Hearts
    of Jesus and Mary

    Jesus: "My beloved friend, tell My people that I desire all to consecrate themselves to My Sacred Heart and to Mary's Immaculate Heart. Tell them not to just recite words in making the act of consecration, but to realize what they are saying. Consecration to Our Hearts means a total gift of self. It means handing over everything to Me and to My Mother. Consecration means a willingness to surrender completely to Me. In Baptism one is consecrated to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But how many fail to live out their consecration! I extend to all the invitation to renew this baptismal consecration through consecration to My Heart and to My Mother's Heart.

    "My beloved companion, I have taught you what this consecration means. I have given you great peace, joy, and happiness because you have made this consecration. I have taught you that you are to renew this act of consecration each day, I constantly remind you that you are to pray each day for the grace to more and more live the consecration. I have taught you that your consecration to Me and My Mother means that you constantly surrender yourself to Us and to Our care. I have taught you that the more you surrender yourself to Me, the more I live in you and through you and for you. I have taught you that My great love for you longs to draw you more deeply into My Heart. I have shown you that I wish your Mother Mary to place you there within My Heart, and that the more you dwell within her heart, the more deeply she places you within My Heart. Dwelling within Our Hearts, the Holy Spirit fashions you more and more in My likeness. The Father thus looks upon you with greater favor and takes you more closely to Himself. Tell My people all these wondrous truths. I am Lord and Master, and I desire all to listen to My words!"

    Reflection: In the above message, Jesus describes what is involved in living our consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. What beautiful truths He puts before us! We know that the living out of our consecration is not always easy. Sometimes it is very difficult. At all times, and especially in most difficult times, we should remind ourselves how much Jesus and Mary love us, and that living out our consecration is our "thank you," our return of love.

     


     

    Mary, Model and Teacher of Love

    Mary: "My beloved priest-son, I have led you to greatly increase your prayers and sacrifices for others. I have often reminded you of my teaching at Fatima—that many souls go to Hell because they have no one to pray and make sacrifices for them. My Immaculate Heart longs that all my little ones be saved. Tell my little ones that they must love their neighbor through prayer, sacrifices, and other ways, too. All should learn from me. My Heart is symbol, not only of my great love for God, but also of my tender love for all my little ones. Imitate my love for God and all my children. If you love Jesus and me, this means you also love all of God's children. Jesus died for all. You cannot exclude anyone from your love.

    "My Heart is the perfect imitator of the Heart of my Son. I will teach you how to love the Father and all mankind after the example of Jesus. All my little ones, I long for you to come to my Heart so I can teach you the ways of love! I love you so much! Come to my Immaculate Heart. Pressed against my Heart, I will hold you in my arms. I will clothe you with my motherly and protective mantle. As I hold you close to my Heart, I will teach you the ways of love!"

    Reflection: In the above message, our dear mother tenderly reminds us that the following of Jesus is summed up in love of God and neighbor.

     


     

    "What I say to you in the dark, tell in the day-
    light; what you hear in whispers, proclaim
    from the housetops."
    (Matthew 10:27)

    The Two Hearts and Sanctity

    Jesus: "My beloved priest companion, I and My Mother have given you a consuming desire to spread devotion to Our Hearts. Tell My people about the great riches contained in My Sacred Heart and Mary's Immaculate Heart! Tell My people that they live in the age of the Two Hearts. What I and My Mother said at Fatima has been gradually unfolding. The Fatima message is centered in devotion to Our Hearts. The triumph of Mary's Immaculate Heart, foretold at Fatima, is soon to take place. This triumph will coincide with the era of peace for the world which My Mother foretold at Fatima. This great new age of peace for the Church and the world will be characterized by the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart.

    "Because this is the age of the Two Hearts, the quickest and surest way to sanctity is through devotion to My Heart and Mary's Heart. Such devotion reaches its highest point in consecration to Our Hearts. Within Our Hearts My people will be clothed with great graces! Their love for God and neighbor will deepen tremendously! They will be fired with a holy and burning desire to love God and neighbor in all their daily activities as guided by the Holy Spirit. Dwelling within Our Hearts, My people will long to help bring back an alienated world to conform to My Father's will.

    "My friend, I and My Mother have allowed you to experience in an extraordinary way the riches contained in Our Hearts. Tell My people about these riches! Tell them that I and Mary long for them to come within Our Hearts! I am Lord and Master. Please listen to My words. Come to Our Hearts!"

    Reflection: Jesus tells us that we live in the age of the Two Hearts, and that within His Heart and Mary's Heart we receive graces to raise us to great sanctity. What is sanctity? It is doing God's will out of love, and God's will is summed up in love of God and love of neighbor. In the above message Jesus refers to this love of God and neighbor. In the Gospel, Jesus expressed it in this way:

    But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees they got together and, to disconcert him, one of them put a question, "Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?" Jesus said, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets also" (Matthew 22:34-40).

    Sanctity, then, is centered in love of God and neighbor. Thus, to grow in sanctity is to grow in love of God and neighbor. Jesus tells us in the above message that within His Heart and Mary's Heart we find the graces to achieve great sanctity. Dwelling within the Two Hearts, we receive the capacity to become tremendous lovers!

       


     

    Surrender to the Heart of Jesus

    Jesus: "My beloved friend, tell My people how I want them to surrender to My Heart. I have taught you that the more you surrender to Me, the greater is your peace, joy, and happiness. I have shown you that the more you allow Me to control your life, to direct your life, the happier you become. I have shown you how fruitless it is for a person to want to control one's own life. A person has a choice: as a finite, weak creature to try to control things himself, or in humility to throw himself into my arms, the arms of One Who is all-loving and all-powerful.

    "I give you the grace to increasingly surrender to My Heart. In doing so you experience My love and power in an extraordinary way. Teach My people these lessons. Tell them to listen to My words. I am Lord and Master, and I desire all to heed My request! I give this message out of My great love for My People!"

    Reflection: We have a tendency to want to control our own destiny. We find it difficult at times--sometimes very difficult--to abandon ourselves to God. We find it difficult to let go and to surrender completely to Christ, to trust Him completely.

    And yet, this is what we must do to achieve our ongoing sanctification. Why should we be afraid to surrender? As Jesus tells us above, who would you rather depend on--a weak, finite self, or the loving and omnipotent God?

    St. Paul tells us:

    So I shall be very happy to make my weaknesses my special boast so that the power of Christ may stay over me, and that is why I am content with my weaknesses, and with insults, hardships, persecutions, and the agonies I go through for Christ's sake. For it is when I am weak that I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

       


     

    Jesus Asks for Our Love

    Jesus: "My beloved companion, tell My people how I long for them to say that they love Me! When they do this, it gives Me great joy. When they tell Me they love Me, I take them close to My Heart. I give them the desire to love Me more and more. I clothe them with fresh graces, increasing their capacity to love God and neighbor. Tell My people to express their love for Me often! I am Lord and Master. Please do as I request!"

    Reflection: What a gracious invitation Jesus extends to us! He tells us how much He wants our expressions of love for Him. Perhaps a person has to admit that his or her spouse, or children, or friends, receive expressions of love from him or her more often than does Jesus. This should not be! Jesus has first command on our love. To love Jesus, to tell Him we love Him--this is our privilege and our duty.

     


     

    Mary as Our Mediatrix

    Mary: "My beloved priest-son, I have given you a profound conviction of how necessary it is to realize I am your motherly mediatrix with Jesus. I have been appointed by the Triune God. Constantly remind all my little ones of this great truth! The more my little ones give themselves to my maternal and Immaculate Heart, the more I bring them to the Heart of Jesus!"

    Reflection: Some mistakenly think that Mary "gets in the way" of their relationship with Jesus. How far from the truth is this erroneous attitude. Mary's role in our salvation has been willed by God. Enough said!

     


     

    I Have Died for All -
    You Must Love All

    Jesus: "My beloved companion, tell My people that all in the human race have been marked with My Precious Blood! I died a brutal death for all! Since all have been touched and redeemed by My Precious Blood, no one can be excluded from your love. My people must love each and every one. They must look beyond the exterior of a person and see the God-image of each. Each one has been created in God's image. Each one has been raised to a new dignity through My redemption.

    "Tell My people to be conscious of all this in their dealings with others—especially those marginalized little ones who are so forgotten and abandoned by many. Each person is precious to My Sacred Heart! Treat everyone accordingly. Be kind, and patient, and, above all, loving toward everyone. In union with Mary, come to My Heart each day and I will give you the light and strength to love your neighbor with a mighty love! I am Lord and Master! Please heed My request. In My great love for you, I give you this message!"

    Reflection: If we are consistently conscious of this teaching of Jesus, it becomes relatively easy to love everyone--even those who, for various reasons, are not particularly attractive to us in the external order of things. Let's remember that Jesus has told us that we must love all--even our enemies: "You have learned how it was said: You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say this to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you..." (Matthew 5:43-44).

     


     

    Come to Our Hearts

    Mary: "My beloved priest-son, how I love you! You give me such great joy because you love to dwell in my Immaculate Heart. In my great love for you, I have obtained this grace for you—that you love to dwell in my Heart! In my Heart, I caress you as a little child. I shower you with expressions of my motherly love. I take you each day to the Heart of Jesus and place you deeply within His Heart. How you love for me to do this, and how I love to do it! Tell all my little ones of the riches you have discovered in my Heart and Jesus' Heart. Tell them to come to Our Hearts in order to experience similar riches. Oh, how I love all my little ones, and how I long for them to come to me!"

    Reflection: Again, we are reminded that we live in the age of the Two Hearts. Great graces are given to those who practice devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. These Two Hearts are given to us as our special refuge during this most critical stage of human history.

     


     

    Live Your Consecration

    Jesus: "My beloved friend, I have taught you what is involved in living out your consecration to My Heart and to My Mother's Heart. I have taught you to renew your consecration each day. I have led you to be aware of your consecration many times during the day. I have taught you to pray frequently during the day for the grace to grow in the life of consecration. I have impressed upon you that your consecration to Our Hearts includes your being aware of how much I and Mary love you! I have given you a great desire to respond to Our love. I have greatly increased your desire to love Me, the Father, the Holy Spirit, Mary, and all your fellow human beings! I have taught you that to grow in your consecration you must surrender more and more to My Heart and My Mother's Heart—that you must give yourself completely to Us. And I have given you a great desire to do so! I have given you a great trust in Our Hearts. This trust is so important in making the act of consecration and living it.

    "My beloved companion, tell My people about these lessons I have taught you. Lead them to consecrate themselves to My Sacred Heart and to Mary's Immaculate Heart. Tell them of the great love, peace, and joy they will experience if they make this consecration and live it! I am Lord and Master. I urgently request that My people listen to My messages and live them! I love My people with a tremendous love, and, out of this love, I give My messages through you and others in these most critical times!"

    Reflection: At Baptism we are consecrated to the Triune God. To consecrate means to make holy. At Baptism Father, Son, and Holy Spirit consecrate us with Their own holiness. This sharing in divine holiness is our life of grace. Through our Baptismal consecration we are called to live a God-like existence according to the teaching and example of Christ.

    In our times, God has given us a most attractive way to live out our baptismal consecration--through consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. As we strive to give ourselves totally to Jesus each day with the assistance of Mary our Mother, Christ continues to lead us to the Father under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Yes, each moment of each day we are called to live our consecration. This is our privilege. This is our responsibility.

     


     

    The Cross Leads to Life

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, tell My people that they must keep the lesson of the cross fresh in their consciousness. Remind them that I am the Christ of the Cross as well as the Christ of the Resurrection. I suffered tremendously on My way to death on the cross. My sacred flesh was so cruelly lacerated by the scourging. My sacred head was so cruelly and mockingly crowned with thorns. I was spat upon and made fun of. Exhausted by terrible suffering, I still had to carry the heavy cross to Calvary. There My sacred hands and feet were mercilessly pierced with nails. Oh, what pain this caused Me!

    "I suffered all this most willingly—out of love for My Father and for all My people! Through My cross, through My suffering, I obtained new life for My people. Through My cruel and brutal death, I achieved Resurrection for Myself and all My people. My suffering was not an end in itself. It was a necessary passageway to obtain the life I came to give.

    "My people must share in My cross, so that they may share more and more in My life. Remind My people, My dear friend, that suffering, when embraced according to My Father's will, leads to greater life here and hereafter. The cross, properly carried, always leads to a greater share in My Resurrection.

    "Tell My people that the more they are united with Me in love, the easier is the carrying of the cross. The more one dwells in Me, the more I help that person to carry the cross. In this way, even the heaviest cross becomes relatively light.

    "Carrying the cross does not mean to be in misery. Carrying one's cross in union with Me always allows a person to remain in peace. The cross does not take away peace and joy. Despite the pain involved, the cross gives increased peace and joy. I am Lord and Master. I eagerly desire that all listen to My words and live them!

    "My people, come each day to My Heart and I will give you the light and strength to carry your cross according to Father's will! I love My people with an overwhelming love, and in this great love I give them this message."

    Reflection: One does not have to reflect on the human condition for very long to be reminded of how much suffering exists in all parts of the world. And yet, the great tragedy concerning human suffering is not that there is so much of it, but rather that so much of it is apparently wasted. In God's plan, suffering is meant to lead to greater life, a greater share in Christ's Resurrection here and hereafter. Suffering does just that, if we relate to it according to God's will. To the extent we don't relate to the cross as God's will would have us, we miss the opportunity for suffering to be growth-promoting.

    Jesus tells us about the cross and its linkage to life in the Gospel: "Then to all he said: 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross everyday and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it'" (Luke 9:23-24).

    And St. Paul tells us: "We are in difficulties on all sides, but never cornered; we see no answer to our problems, but never despair; we have been persecuted, but never deserted; knocked down, but never killed; always, wherever we may be, we carry with us in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus, too, may always be seen in our body" (2 Corinthians 4:8-10).

     


     

    Come to My Heart

    Jesus: "My beloved companion, how I love to hold you against My Heart! Each day, as you dwell in Mary's Heart, she places you against My Heart, and within My Heart. I have given you a great desire to allow your mother to do this. As you dwell within My Heart, I tell you how much I love you! I give you a great desire to love God and neighbor. I increase your trust in Me—something so necessary for your growth in Me. Within My Heart I make you feel so loved, so secure, so strengthened, so much at peace!

    "Tell My people I wish them to come to My Heart each day, in union with Mary, in order to experience similar riches! Oh, how I love for My people to come to My Heart! How I desire to tell them how much I love them! How much I desire to ask for their return of love! I am Lord and Master. I give this message out of My great love for My people, and I request that they listen to My words."

    Reflection: How much Jesus loves us! He shows us His Heart as symbol of this love. He asks us each day, united with Mary our Mother, to come to His Heart. There He inflames our hearts with love for God and neighbor. There He gives us the conviction that we can do whatever He asks us to do--and He gives us the desire to act on this conviction.

      


      

    My Father's Will

    Jesus: "There is so much disunity, hatred, and lack of love which covers the face of the earth today. My Father's will is being seriously violated in all sorts of ways. There are so many murders—including all the ones killed by abortion—thefts, all kinds of violence, all kinds of impure actions, lies, blasphemies, and much more.

    "My Father's will is so much violated because there is so little love. The more one loves God and neighbor, the more My Father's will is being accomplished. Love and conformity to God's will are inseparable.

    "Tell My people, My beloved friend, to come to My Heart each day. The more they come to My Heart, the more I will inflame their hearts with a burning love to do My Father's will. The more they come to My Heart, the more I will teach them concerning My Father's will. The more they come to My Heart, the more I will allow them to realize that happiness consists in doing My Father's will out of love in all things. The more one does My Father's will out of love in union with Me and My Mother, the more I lead them to the bosom of the Father in the Holy Spirit. Safe in My Father's arms, they experience great happiness, peace, and joy.

    "I am Lord and Master. In My great love for My people, I give this message. I desire that all hear My words and live them!"

    Reflection: The more we do the Father's will out of love, the more we are at peace. Peace is the tranquility of order. The more we do God's will--the more we conform to the order He has established--the more we are at peace. Jesus has told us: "It is not those who say to me, 'Lord, Lord,' who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven" (Matthew 7:21).

     


     

    The Present Moment

    Jesus: "My beloved companion, tell My people to concentrate on living in the present moment. Tell them to depend on Me from moment to moment. My people should want to fill each moment with as great a love of God and neighbor as possible! So many of My people fail to concentrate properly on the present.

    "Come to My Heart each day, My people, and I will give you the light and strength to more and more realize the greatness of the present moment. The more you dwell in My Heart, the more content you will be to live in the present. I am Lord and Master. I want to fill you with ever greater peace and joy! But to experience this, you must listen to My words and live them!"

    Reflection: We can't relive the past, although we are meant to profit from it in various ways. We must make plans for our future on this earth, but how much of it can we be sure will be ours? Literally, one's life could end in the coming moment. The saints knew the secret of living in the present moment. That's why they became saints. Let's always remember the words of Jesus: "So do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself" (Matthew 6:34).

     


     

    How Much I Love You!

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, how often I tell you how much I love you! And what great joy and peace I give you when I tell you this! How often I press you closely to My Heart! Daily I draw you ever more deeply within My Heart! There I allow you to experience the overwhelming riches of My Heart. I have shown you, as you dwell within My Heart, the secret of finding amazing peace, joy, and happiness. I have shown you that to dwell within My Heart is to experience a foretaste of Heaven!

    "I allow you to dwell so deeply within My Heart because I have given you the gift of dwelling within My Mother's Heart. The more one dwells within Mary's Immaculate Heart, the more she places that person within My Sacred Heart.

    "My beloved friend, keep telling My people about all the wondrous riches contained in Our Hearts! Keep reminding them that they live in the age of the Two Hearts. Keep telling them that the quickest and most secure path to the highest sanctity is to dwell within Mary's Heart and My Heart!

    "I am Lord and Master. I plead with My people to listen to My words and to live them! I love My people with a tremendous love, and in this love I give them this message."

    Reflection: Jesus again begs us to come and experience the riches contained in His Heart and Mary's Heart. How foolish we are if we fail to accept His invitation! How many pursue the false riches of this world, and refuse the true riches which Jesus offers. We must determine each day, with God's help, not to be included among those who reject the riches which Jesus offers in order to pursue the false promises of happiness which the world holds before us. The world can't give us happiness. Jesus can.

     


     

    Spiritual Childhood

    Mary: "My beloved priest-son, how I love to enfold you in my arms as my little child! Enfolded in my arms in my maternal embrace, I press you against my Immaculate Heart. I draw you within my Heart. There, through my maternal intercession, I clothe you with Jesus' graces. As you dwell in my Heart, I place you ever more deeply within Jesus' Heart and there the Holy Spirit fashions you increasingly in the image of my Son. As you grow in the likeness of Jesus, He takes you ever closer to the Father.

    "Thus, as you grow in the sense of your helplessness without God, the stronger you become in Jesus. Childlike thus becomes strength. The smaller you become in living out spiritual childhood, the taller you stand beside Jesus. Weakness becomes strength, your sense of helplessness becomes spiritual maturity!

    "Tell all my children about the wonders of spiritual childhood! Tell them to come to me and I will school them in its ways. How I love all my children! Oh, how I love to exercise my motherhood toward them all!"

    Reflection: In the Gospel, Jesus speaks emphatically to us about spiritual childhood: "At this time the disciples came to Jesus and said, 'Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?' So he called a little child to him and set the child in front of them. Then he said, 'I tell you solemnly, unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. And so, the one who makes himself as little as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven'" (Matthew 18:1-4).

     


     

    Humility

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, keep telling My people of the great necessity of humility in the spiritual life. My saints, oh, how they realized the importance of this virtue!

    "The world is filled with pride. Pride is the refusal to serve God. It is the refusal to do My Father's will. There is so much sin in today's world because there is so much pride.

    "Tell My people to come to My Heart each day. There I will teach them the lesson of humility. There I will show them the riches which flow from humility! There I will teach them that the more they grow in humility, the more peace and joy and happiness they experience. Yes, let My people come to My Heart and learn these lessons. I am Lord and Master, and I desire that all respond to My request. I love My people with a tremendous love, and in this love I give them this message!"

    Reflection: Humility is an important aspect of the Gospel message. Following are three such examples:

    "Come to me, all you who labor and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light" (Matthew 11:28-30).

    "Anyone who chooses the world for his friend turns himself into God's enemy. Surely you don't think scripture is wrong when it says: the spirit which he sent to live in us wants us for himself alone? But he has been even more generous to us, as scripture says: God opposes the proud but he gives generously to the humble" (James 4:4-6).

    "What do you have that was not given to you? And if it was given, how can you boast as though it were not?" (1 Corinthians 4:7).

     


     

    Depend on Me

    Jesus: "My beloved friend, I have been teaching you how necessary it is to depend upon Me completely. I teach you to keep your focus on Me, to do everything in union with Me, with complete dependence on Me. I give you the light to see how strong you are when you surrender to Me and depend completely on Me. I allow you to share in a special way in My power. I greatly enhance your ability to do so many things in My service.

    "I draw you into My Heart, and as you depend on Me completely, I allow you to draw forth from the riches of My Heart. You become clothed more and more in My likeness. With an ever greater love you give yourself to the service of God and neighbor. I also allow you to realize that your growing dependence on Me is proportionate to your growing dependence on Mary your Mother. The more you live out your consecration to her Heart in giving yourself to her, the more she leads you to live out your consecration to My Heart. This consecration includes and demands an ever greater surrender and dependence upon Me.

    "Tell My people of the joy and peace and security which results from this growing dependence on Me. Tell them I wish them to come each day to My Heart and surrender themselves to Me. Tell them to trust Me, and to depend on Me for all their needs. In My great, burning love for them I will care for them to the extent they trust Me and depend on Me! Oh! how I long to care for all My people! Many refuse My help. To those who accept Me, I give them peace and joy and happiness to the degree they surrender to Me and depend on Me.

    "I am Lord and Master. I desire that My people listen to My words and live them! I love My people with a tremendous love, and in this love I give them this message!"

    Reflection: The above message of Jesus ties in beautifully with what He tells us in the Gospel of John:

    I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me you can do nothing (John 15:5).

    How beautifully Jesus points out our utter dependence on Him! This is not always an easy lesson to live. We have a deep-rooted tendency to try to be our own masters. We have a tendency to want to feel in control so that we might feel secure. Jesus tells us that the only real control and security we have is to allow Him to control our lives! The more we live this truth, the more secure we feel, for we are thus living more within the loving Heart of Jesus!

     


     

    Pray, Pray, Pray!

    Mary: "My beloved priest-son, I have taught you many times the great importance of prayer. I have obtained for you the gift to love to pray—not only during your set periods of prayer, but also during the day in a manner which permits you to perform your daily duties. I have taught you to always be aware that all prayer should be made in union with the Mass. Indeed, the Eucharistic sacrifice is itself the greatest prayer. All other prayers should be consciously united with the Mass which is constantly being offered throughout the world. I have taught you the great importance of praying before the tabernacle. My Son is really present there in the Eucharist—Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Special graces are given to those who pray before the Blessed Sacrament.

    "There is so much to pray for in this most critical era! The Church and the world exist in most difficult times. I desire that all my children pray daily for all the needs of the Church and the world. I ask special prayers for the conversion of sinners.

    "I ask that my children pray the Rosary each day. Very special graces are given to those who do so. During these times of great purification, I promise special protection to those who regularly pray the Rosary. I also promise protection to their loved ones.

    "The more one is united with me, the more I lead them to make their prayer in the Heart of my Son, Jesus. He, in turn, places all prayer in the bosom of the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

    "My dear son, please keep reminding all my little ones of the great importance of prayer for their own needs and the needs of all others! Keep telling them of the great necessity of prayer for growth in love of God and neighbor! I love all my children with the most tender love. I desire that all listen to my words and live them in their daily lives!"

    Reflection: All the great spiritual masters throughout the history of the Church have echoed the words of Mary in stressing the great necessity of prayer for growth in the spiritual life. Prayer is becoming aware in a special way of our relationship with the Triune God. In prayer we open ourselves once again to the awareness of God's great love for us. In prayer, we respond to this great love with our own love, telling God that whatever He wills for us, we want to do with all our hearts.

    All prayer, in one way or another, should be centered in Christ. He is our Mediator with the Father. As our Mother tells us above, we should also include her in our prayers to Christ, Who leads us ever closer to the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

     


     

    Build up My Church

    Jesus: "My beloved friend, remind My people that the Church was born from My Heart, pierced with the soldier's lance on Calvary. From My pierced Heart the Church with her sacraments was born. Two of these sacraments, the Eucharist and Baptism, were symbolized by the Blood and Water which flowed forth from My pierced side.

    "As the Church was born from My pierced Heart, so does the Church's life grow from the graces I continually give her from My pierced Heart—this Heart which is now glorified. "I call all the members of My Church to help build up My Body, the Church, by coming to My pierced Heart. United to My Heart, and dwelling within It, I will give to each one the light and strength to carry out My Father's will in the building up of My Church.

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

    "My Church is experiencing critical and very difficult times. There are many divisions. There are many false teachings, including some put forth by certain theologians. These false teachings occur because those responsible are not in proper union with My vicar, the Pope, and the Church Magisterium. I want all My children to pray daily for the cure of the many and serious ills of the Church. With increased prayer and sacrifices for the health of the Church, that day will soon come when the Church will be purified and revitalized. When that day comes, the Church will be a light to all nations as never before. When that day comes, the renewed Church will be characterized by the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart. Thus the message of Fatima will have reached fulfillment.

    "I am Lord and Master. I request that all My people listen to My words and respond to them. I love My people with a tremendous love, and in this great love I give them this message!"

    Reflection: In speaking of the Church, St. Paul tells us:

    "Just as a human body, though it is made up of many parts, is a single unit because all these parts, though many, make one body, so it is with Christ. In the one Spirit we were all baptized, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as citizens, and one Spirit was given to us all to drink....

    "Now you together are Christ's body; but each of you is a different part of It. In the Church, God has given the first place to apostles, the second to prophets, the third to teachers; after them, miracles, and after them the gift of healing; helpers, good leaders, those with many languages. Are all of them apostles, or all of them prophets, or all of them teachers? Do they all have the gift of miracles, or all have the gift of healing? Do all speak strange languages, and all interpret them?" (1 Corinthians 12:12-30).

    In His message above, Jesus reminds all of us that we have a responsibility to help in the building up of the Church. St. Paul reminds us that we each have our own role. He names many of these roles and there are many who share in them. For example, there are many teachers of various kinds in the Church. But each teaches according to his or her personal uniqueness. Consequently, we can truly say that each one has a mission, has a role, in the life of the Church which no one else can fulfill. To the extent each of us gives his or her life to Christ, we continue His work upon earth through the visible, tangible humanity each of us possess. To the extent each of us fails to surrender to Jesus, to that extent we refuse Him the opportunity to live through our personal uniqueness. What an awesome privilege has been given to each of us! And what an awesome responsibility!

     


     

    Your Protection Against Satan

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, tell My people to take special means in these present times to guard against the snares of Satan and his followers. He is more active now than at any stage of human history.

    "He is leading many of My people away from the path of the Gospel. Never before has sin blemished the face of the earth as it does today. Satan and his forces are leading many along the path to perdition. Many souls are being lost each day. Satan is helping to create divisions everywhere within My Church, among nations, within nations, within families, within individuals themselves. He does this by leading many to refuse to love God and neighbor. In place of love, he is sowing the seeds of hatred. Divisiveness is caused by a lack of love. The less love, the more divisiveness, the greater lack of unity.

    "As a remedy against the snares of Satan, I call all to the refuge of My Heart and My Mother's Heart. The more you dwell in Our Hearts, the less influence Satan has over you. In Our Hearts, you are more and more clothed with the power to love God and neighbor. The more you love, the safer you are from the snares of Satan. The more you love, the more you help bring about the great era of a renewed Church and a renewed world. This era will be characterized by the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart. In this new era of splendor, love will reign in the hearts of My people as never before!

    "I am Lord and Master! Please listen to My words and carry out My requests. I love My people with a tremendous love and in this love I give them this message!"

    Reflection: In The First Letter of Peter we read: "Be calm but vigilant, because your enemy the devil is prowling round like a roaring lion, looking for someone to eat. Stand up to him, strong in faith and in the knowledge that your brothers all over the world are suffering the same things" (1 Peter 5:8-9).

    In the above message, Jesus tells us that the efforts of Satan and his followers are greater now than ever before. If this is the time of great satanic influences, it is also the time of great grace. As we head for the great new era of peace for the Church and the world, foretold by Our Lady of Fatima, the merciful love of God is being showered upon us in great abundance. In His great love for us, the Father is offering to us the Hearts of Jesus and Mary as the safest refuge against the snares of Satan. Their Hearts, bulwark against the attacks of Satan, are the source of the great graces God is offering in these critical times. Within the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the Holy Spirit deepens the image of Christ within us, strengthening us increasingly for the great battle being waged between the forces of Satan and the followers of Jesus.

     


     

    "What I say to you in the dark, tell in the day-
    light; what you hear in whispers, proclaim
    from the housetops."
    (Matthew 10:27)

    The Two Ways

    Jesus: "My beloved friend, remind My people of the seriousness of life. Two paths stretch before them. One way is My way, the way which leads to eternal happiness in Heaven. The other way is the way of Satan, the path which leads to everlasting punishment in Hell.

    "I have laid down My life for each of My people so that they could possess eternal life. I paid a great price to do this! But I did so gladly because of My great love for My Father and all My people. As I was suffering the excrutiating pain of My brutal passion and death, My Sacred Heart beat with overwhelming love for each of you! I knew each of you by name. How I long for each of you to love Me in return, and to follow Me on the path to eternal life! Do not waste the graces which cost Me such a great price. Resolve each day to grow in knowledge and love of Me. Resolve each day to make use of the precious opportunities to love God and neighbor. Resolve each day to become saints! Oh! how much the Church and the world need saints in these the most critical of times!

    "Be in communion with those in Heaven and Purgatory. They have successfully completed their earthly journey. They followed My way, and now eternal life in Heaven is theirs, or will be. Pray that those in Purgatory may soon join the blessed in Heaven. Pray to the blessed in Heaven and the souls in Purgatory that they in turn, may help you in all your needs.

    "I am Lord and Master. Listen to My words! United to My Mother's Heart, come to My Heart each day for the light and strength to follow the path of life I hold before you—the path which leads to eternal bliss.

    "I love My people with an overwhelming love, and in this great love, I give them this message!"

    Reflection: Here are some Scripture passages which speak to our subject at hand!

    "... you will reveal the path of life to me, give me unbounded joy in your presence, and at your right hand everlasting pleasures" (Psalms 16:11).

    "Yahweh, make your ways known to me, teach me your paths. Set me in the way of your truth, and teach me, for you are the God who saves me" (Psalms 25:4-5).

    "Let the wicked man abandon his way, the evil man his thoughts. Let Him turn back to Yahweh who will take pity on him, to our God who is rich in forgiving" (Isaiah 55:7).

    "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).

     


     

    The Indwelling of the Trinity

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, I have given you a great desire to pray to the Divine Persons many times during the day. This can be done in a way which does not interfere with your daily duties. Rather, you have learned that this prayerful contact with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit enhances your ability to work for God and neighbor. Remind My people that when one is in the state of grace, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit dwell within that person in a most special way. We are within those in the state of grace to receive their acts of faith, hope, and love.

    "So many of My people are not aware of the precious treasure which dwells within them! Tell My people to pray for a growing awareness of this marvelous truth! Through the graces which flow from the great love of My pierced Heart, My people are called to develop the greatest intimacy with the Divine Persons. Please, do not waste these graces! I am Lord and Master, and in My great love, I ask that all comply with My request!"

    Reflection: In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells us:

    "If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him" (John 14:23).

    Jesus does not explicitly mention the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in this particular passage. However, we know that, where the Father and Son reside, so also does the Spirit.

    In the above message from Jesus, He speaks to us about this truth of the Indwelling of the Blessed Trinity in the souls of the just. What a tremendous gift! How much do we appreciate this gift? Do we take the means to develop our relationship with the Divine Persons Who dwell within? Many would go all out for the opportunity to receive one of the world's dignitaries into their homes. When we are in the state of grace, the Divine Persons grace us with Their presence. What a tremendous dignity is bestowed upon us! Sadly, many seem to be more enthused about being in the presence of this world's dignitaries than they are regarding the presence of the Triune God!

      


     

    The Power to Love

    Jesus: "My beloved friend, tell My people how much I long to draw all of them to My Mother's Heart and to My Heart! I do this to the extent they allow Me to do so. The more My people come to Our Hearts, the more I empower them to love God and neighbor.

    "I desire that all within the human family be united through deep bonds of love. Many refuse to enter into this union of love with their neighbor. That is why there is so much hatred and division in today's world between nations, within nations, within families, between individuals.

    "There are, however, many of My people who, because of their growing union with Me, are increasing their capacity to love each other. There is being developed a strong core who are helping to spread love around the world. As these people dwell in Mary's Heart and My Heart, they are helping to bring about the great new era of the renewed Church and world. When the purification of Church and world is completed, this great era of peace and love, predicted by My Mother at Fatima, will be characterized by the triumph of her Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart, and love will pervade the earth as never before.

    "I am Lord and Master. Listen to these words I am giving to you. Live these words! As you dwell in Mary's Heart and My Heart, love one another with the deepest love! I love My people with a tremendous love, and in this love I give them this message."

    Reflection: In Christ, God calls us to the most profound union with the Persons of the Trinity and with each other. In The First Letter of John we see the enormity of this calling:

    "We can be sure that we know God only by keeping his commandments. Anyone who says, 'I know him,' and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, refusing to admit the truth. But when anyone does obey what he has said, God's love comes to perfection in him. We can be sure that we are in God only when the one who claims to be living in him is living the same kind of life as Christ lived....

    "Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the dark. But anyone who loves his brother is living in the light and need not be afraid of stumbling; unlike the man who hates his brother and is in the darkness, not knowing where he is going, because it is too dark to see" (1 John 2:3-11).

     


      

    Scripture Nourishes You

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, tell My people that I wish them to read Scripture every day. They should read a passage from the Gospel each day and should read from other sections of the New Testament as time permits. They should also read from the Old Testament as time allows.

    "The writings of Scripture guide you according to the way My Father wants you to live. Since I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, all Scripture centers around Me. Scripture converges on the teaching contained in My life, death, and resurrection."

    "Many of My people say they do not have the time to read from the Bible each day. Do they have time to read newspapers and magazines and to watch TV? Yes! And much of what they read and watch is harmful to their souls! People have time for what they think is important. If a person says he does not have time to read from the Bible daily, what is he actually saying?

    "Come to My Heart each day and ask Me to give you a deeper appreciation of the Bible. Ask Me to give you a deeper love of Scripture. The more you prayerfully read the Bible, the more closely you are united to Me.

    "I am Lord and Master. I desire that all heed My requests. I love My people with an overwhelming love, and in this great love I give them this message!"

    Reflection: In giving us the writings of Scripture, God has given us a great, great gift. What is our attitude toward this great gift? If we rarely take up the Bible and read from it, we have our answer!

    Let's resolve here and now to respond to Jesus' request by reading from the Bible on a daily basis.

      


     

    Mother of Our Christian Virtues

    Mary: "My beloved priest-son, I wish all my children to come to my Immaculate Heart each day. I cooperate with the Holy Spirit in helping all my little ones to grow in the life of the Christian virtues. As my children dwell within my maternal Heart, the Holy Spirit leads them along the path of the virtues. Faith, hope, love, prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance, humility, chastity, and the other virtues take deeper root in the hearts of my children. Above all, the queen of the virtues, love, increasingly rules the lives of my little ones.

    "I am ever at the side of my children to help them grow in the life of the virtues. As I do so, I place them more deeply within the Heart of Jesus, the source of growth in all the virtues. The Holy Spirit, then, desires that my children dwell both within my Heart and Jesus' Heart. Within Our Hearts He clothes you with growth in the life of the virtues. The more you dwell in my Heart, the more ready you are for my placing you deeply within the Heart of Jesus where the Holy Spirit clothes you more and more with the splendor of all the virtues. Thus you grow in the likeness of Christ, and Jesus unites you more closely to the Father."

    Reflection: Since Mary is our spiritual Mother, she has a special God-given role in helping us grow in the life of the Christian virtues. As she tenderly and lovingly leads us in the life of the virtues, she is our great model in how to follow Christ. She lived the Christian virtues perfectly. She is so eager to help us increasingly put on Christ through a more dynamic living of the Christian virtues, especially the virtue of love.

     


     

    Work to Make Your World Better

    Jesus: "My beloved companion, remind My people of their responsibility toward the world. They have a duty to try to make this a better world for all to live in.

    "Today there is much which is wrong with the world. Sin covers the face of the earth. Sins of all kinds blemish the goodness of My Father's creation.

    "However, My Mother and I are increasingly gathering our forces for the battle against Satan and his followers. We are more and more forming Our followers to wage the battle to win back that part of the world dominated by Satan's influence. We are forming our followers in the ways of love. We are forming Our followers with the grace which flows from the bosom of My Father, through My Heart, given in the Holy Spirit, and distributed through the intercession of the maternal and Immaculate Heart of Mary.

    "We are forming Our followers to give themselves in the greatest love for God and neighbor. We are bringing them ever more closely to Our Hearts so that they may draw from the flames of love of My Heart and Mary's Heart! The more My followers dwell in Mary's Heart and My Heart, the more they are enlightened and strengthened to give themselves for the salvation of the world.

    "I am Lord and Master. I ask all to follow Me and My Mother to help us bring forth the great age of love and peace for the world. This age will emerge after the phase of purification has been completed. This age will be characterized by the triumph of Mary's immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart. In this great new age, soon to come, My people will love and praise My Father, with Mary and through Me and in the Holy Spirit, as never before!

    "I love My people with a tremendous, burning love, and in this love I give them this message!"

    Reflection: The world belongs to Christ. St. Paul tells us about this:

    As he is the Beginning, he was first to be born from the dead, so that he should be first in every way, because God wanted all perfection to be found in him, and all things to be reconciled through him and for him, everything in heaven and everything on earth, when he made peace by his death on the cross (Colossians 1:18-20).

    Since the world belongs to Christ, we, who are His followers, must have a great love for the world as created and redeemed by God. We must labor through our participation in the Mass and through all our other prayers and good works to more and more help the Christic image of the world to shine forth in ever greater splendor. This is our duty and our privilege. Out of love for God and neighbor, let's resolve to get on with the task!

     


     

    Follow the Way I Have Given You

    Jesus: "My beloved priest-companion, I have given you this book of messages for the spiritual instruction of My people. I have put before My people the path I wish them to follow. The messages I and My Mother have given all converge upon devotion to Our Hearts, and, in particular, upon consecration to Our Hearts. Ideally, devotion to Our Hearts culminates in the act of consecration to My Heart and My Mother's Heart. Living out this consecration day by day leads to the highest sanctity.

    "My people who make and live out the consecration to Our Hearts are helping to bring about the great new era of peace which the Church and the world will experience after the period of purification has been completed. This period of splendorous peace will be characterized by the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart!"

    Reflection: Jesus and Mary, in Their great love for us, have put before us this book of messages for our spiritual instruction. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary ask for our response of love. They ask us to live the messages. They ask us to incorporate all the messages into the living out of our consecration to Their Hearts. Who would want to refuse Their invitation?

         


       

    Act of Consecration to the Hearts
    of Jesus and Mary

    Lord Jesus, I consecrate myself to Your most Sacred Heart. You reveal Your Heart as symbol of Your love in all its aspects, including Your most special love for me as this unique individual. Help me to always love You in return. Help me to give myself entirely to You. Help me always to pour out my life in love of God and neighbor. Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in You!

    Dear Blessed Virgin Mary, I consecrate myself to your maternal and Immaculate Heart, this Heart which is symbol of your life of love. You are the Mother of my Savior. You are also my Mother. You love me with a most special love as this unique child of yours. In a return of love, I give myself entirely to your motherly love and protection. You followed Jesus perfectly. You are His first and perfect disciple. Teach me to imitate you in the putting on of Christ. Be my motherly intercessor so that, through your Immaculate Heart, I may be guided to an ever closer union with the pierced Heart of Jesus, this Jesus Who leads me ever closer to the Father in the Holy Spirit.

        

    Shepherds of Christ

    Jesus has asked that chapters be formed to pray for the needs of priests around the world. The chapters are to pray in a special way for the spiritual success of the priestly newsletter, as well as to aid in the financial support of this publication. The chapters and members are to be called Shepherds of Christ Associates.

    Our Lord has stressed that Shepherds of Christ Associates become an international movement.

       

    Words for Members of
    Shepherds of Christ Associates

    Jesus: "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., the Spiritual Director, as given on July 31, 1994, feast of Saint Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus (The Jesuits).

    End of Tell My People

         

    Picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

    Surrender

    March 10, 1994

    Jesus: This is surrender. I want your all. I do not want you attached to any person or any thing. I want you completely dependent on Me. Do I teach you such lessons on how attached you are to others and things? I have all the answers. If I do not tell you, you do not need to know. You want your will. My will I make known to you in front of the tabernacle. I have spoken here.

    Surrender is doing the will of God and it is not your deciding and doing your will. I want your all. I want you to do those things the way I tell you. It is not the way you want to do them. Sweet surrender, only to find I want more. Look at My position on the cross. Did I ask you to die for Me? I ask you to do My Will. I ask you to surrender. I ask for time in front of the tabernacle. I ask for love. Watch this world go up in your face. Then where are your possessions, the things you held on to? You only have limited vision. I know all things.

    I am so tired. You do not give but bits and pieces. You hold on to what you want and give Me some. I want your all. I want total surrender. I showed you how to surrender when I died on the cross. I am not asking for this. I am asking for you to do My will. You are so attached to pleasing people that you do not see the whole picture. I make My ways clear here. You do not listen. You do what you think is a good thing and you do not even come to Me. I want your all. I want surrender.

    R. Love includes giving up what you don't want to give up. Love is saying, "Yes, Lord", even when you would rather do it your way. It is in your surrender and love of God that you teach mighty lessons to those around you. You teach by your being in love with Jesus. I love you, Jesus. I give of My bounty, not little bits and pieces I stingily let go of. Jesus, my Lord, my God, my All, how can I love You as I ought? Do I give My all, or do I say, "Oh, Lord, you can't mean that you want this," and hold on to what I want.

    Do I hold on to people and don't even know it, or do I put You first, Lord, above all persons, places and things? I see how really attached I am to everything, things I do not even know I am attached to. It is easy to give lip service to surrender and tell God to possess our soul and make me selfless, but do I really mean it? This is what keeps us from increased union with Him! It is in total surrender, of living for love of Him and Him alone, that we are free. And what freedom! The bittersweetness to let go, to find freedom from all we hold on to! The things we hold on to most are what keeps us from our increased union with Him.

    "Oh, not that, Lord! Oh, do I look at your crucifix and see You letting go?" You held not one thing back. Your arms open wide, nailed to the cross! Total surrender!

    What does He ask of me today that I want to hold on to? Holding on to things stops my freedom. To be totally free, I must let go. I cannot hold on and let go at the same time. Freedom is obtained in letting go. See yourself with your arms tight, holding on to all you possess.

    Jesus: I call you to surrender. Open your arms as I did when I died on the cross. Let all your sacred worldly possessions drop around you and you will experience the joy of being free, united only to Me, of letting go and knowing that I, God, tend to your every need. To My death on the cross I loved you and I love you this way this very day. Let go and give it all to Me. I will care for you far better than you could for yourself. I am God and I love you more than you can love yourself.

    Jesus is dead, hanging on the cross, arms outstretched. His feet are not even on the ground. He is hanging by nails on a piece of wood. What do we hold on to? He wants us in midair in total surrender. Oh, little ones, how you squander your possessions. How you hold on to people. How you won't let go. See Me in total surrender.

    I gave My very life for you. What do you hold on to, My little ones? Little bits and pieces you give to Me and you hold tight to your lives. They will be up in smoke and all that will remain will be the things of God. Not one pair of shoes do you take with you, only your love, given to God and others.

    end of March 10, 1994

     

       

    March 1, 1995

    The Sorrowful Mysteries

        

        

    The Agony in the Garden

    1. Jesus: Surrender! Surrender to Me as I surrendered to the Father in the Garden. I said to My Father, "Nevertheless, let your will be done, not mine." (Lk 22:42) As you are in your hearts troubled and anxious, I am there ever present to comfort you, to give you My peace. Let go, let go, let go! I am forever with you at every second, at every moment. I do not go! I forever remain in your hearts. Let go! As you live, so do I live in you!
    2. Jesus: I knelt in the Garden in such agony! I saw before Me all that I would undergo, all the beatings, all the scourging. I knew the Father's Will. I complied with the Father's Will as I ask you to surrender totally to Me. Let go! Focus on Me! Do not focus on those things that are parading in your mind, but release your mind to the mysteries of heaven, to My Passion and My death!
    3. Jesus: And My faithful ones, who came to comfort Me-they slept!
    4. Jesus: Indifference! Ingratitude! Neglect! I saw before Me all those who would neglect Me and treat Me with indifference. How My Heart ached with pain to see the souls that I loved so dearly filled with such nonsense!
    5. Jesus: My Heart, an endless furnace of divine love, of divine life, beating and burning for love of precious souls and they do not see! They have closed their eyes and plugged up their ears and I wait and long to be ever close to them! Spread My love throughout this world. You will be met with resistance on all sides. But I beg you this day to listen to My cry. I cry out to you to stand firm. I am calling you to stand up against the world.
    6. Jesus: As one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. I cry out to you to go to the highways and byways. Shout from the rooftops that I am Lord and that I am in your midst this day. Prepare Me a way, for I am coming!
    7. Jesus: I saw before Me all the souls that would be lost to eternal damnation despite all My sufferings. I call out to you this day to harken to My pleading to be about this world spreading My love. There are souls that are at stake, depending upon what you do with your lives. Will you spread My love? Will you be My mouthpiece to this world? I call out to you. You must stand strong and pray to the Spirit for He transforms you from fear to fearlessness. You are My apostles to go into this world and spread the love of My Most Sacred Heart!
    8. Jesus: As I knelt in the Garden, as I suffered so many agonies in My Heart, I was comforted by the love that you show to Me this day.
    9. Song: O Burning Heart, O Love divine! How sweet You are to me. I see the Host, I know You are here, to love and care for me.
    10. Jesus: The world is blind and deaf! They have plugged up their ears and covered their eyes. You must go into this world. You must stand strong. You have a message of My love to give. I beg you to give this message to the world that is in much pain, that has covered its eyes and plugged up its ears. I beg you to spread this love in every corner of this world this day. You are apostles that I send into this world.

    Song between decades: I come to you with greatest love. I am your loving Savior. I am your God. I died for you. I come to you this day.

      

      

      

       

    Jesus Is Scourged at the Pillar

    1. Jesus: The blood that I shed when I was scourged was blood red! My Heart, which beats out of endless love for you, is a Heart that is red, beating with a burning fire for love of you. I call out to you to draw yourselves ever closer to My Heart for I am waiting and longing and thirsting for your love. Let go of the little distractions you have this day that keep you from increased union with Me. Release yourself and be totally alone in deep union with Me. See only Me. Let go. Release yourselves! I am here with You!
    2. Jesus: Totally focus on Me!
    3. Jesus: Release yourself from all the distractions in your heart. Be alone in deep union with Me!
    4. Jesus: Just as I shed My blood for you as they scourged Me, My Heart cries this day in endless love.
    5. Jesus: See them as they beat Me at the pillar. Hear the blows! This is the love that I have for you. This day will you be alone with Me and totally focus on only Me? Let yourself go. Be in a room where we are together in close union.
    6. Jesus: And our hearts beat so closely, as one!
    7. Hail Mary ...
    8. Jesus: See Me at the pillar! See Me as I stand with the deepest love for all souls.
    9. Song: Come unto Me all who are weary and find rest for your souls. Come unto Me, all who are burdened. I will comfort you.
      Jesus: I am with you in deep union despite the distractions and all that goes on around you. I am so closely connected with you! Your concentration on Me is important to your union with Me. Focus totally on My beating Heart and the love that I have for you. My Heart beat with deep love as I stood at the pillar and bled dark red blood.
    10. Jesus: It is this blood I shed for you, this blood I gave for you, that I ask you to focus on this day. Think of what it is like to shed your blood for another person. Would you shed your blood for another person? I shed My blood for you. In meditating on this blood that I shed, you will realize more and more the immensity of My love.

    Song between decades: I come to you with greatest love…

      

      

      

      

    Jesus Is Crowned with a Crown of Thorns

    1. Jesus: I come to talk to you to tell you the desires of My Heart. As people are blind and do not see, I talk to you this day and ask you to focus on Me and to know that I am truly with you. As you breathe and as your heart beats, I am ever present and within you. I am here present with you. I am the Almighty God! My love I outpour to you. My grace I give to you.
    2. Jesus: I am the Almighty God! I am forever present. It is in your suffering that you are strengthened. I ask you to focus on the crown of thorns they placed on My head. As the blood ran down the sides of My face, think of how this felt! As I sat wounded, My body covered with deep wounds and bleeding, the blood ran into My eyes and into My ears. This is the blood that I shed for you.
    3. Jesus: Put yourself there as I sit. Feel as they spit on Me! Feel as they poke at Me! Think of how you would feel to be treated the way they treated Me! Put yourself on the chair and go through My sufferings with Me.
    4. Jesus: Feel your head as it pounds from the thorns! Feel the blood as it runs on your body! Feel the gashes that burn so deeply under the cloak! Feel the spit as it hits your face! This is the love that I have for you!
    5. Jesus: I ask you to be My soldiers, to go out into this world. They persecuted Me. They whipped Me. They crowned Me with thorns and they put Me to death. I loved those who treated Me so violently. I ask you this day to focus entirely on Me. If the earth falls down around you, interiorly the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are forever within your breast with such love.
    6. Jesus: No person can ever take away your union within with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Your union forever and ever and ever in eternity depends upon the union you have with God here.
    7. Jesus: I call you to sainthood! I call you to holiness! As I suffered this spit that hit My face and body, I call you to suffer with Me all the persecution that you may receive. For in this persecution I am totally present at every second. As your heart beats, as you breathe every breath, I never leave you! If the earth shakes around you, if it rocks and the floor cracks, you will sit steadfast for I never leave you. Hear the small, gentle voice within your heart as it calls to you, "I love you, I love you, I love you!"
    8. Jesus: My Heart is bleeding from the indifference I receive in this world. I call out to you to be strong soldiers. You must focus on Me and this interior committedness to Me.
    9. Hail Mary ...
    10. Song: Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne. His regal scepter knows no bounds. All kingdoms are His own. All Christians come and sing to Him who died for Thee. And hail Him as our Savior King for all eternity.

    Song between decades: I come to you with greatest love…

      

      

      

      

    Jesus Carries His Cross Up Calvary

    1. Jesus: Hear the still, small voice as it says so gently inside: "I love you, I love you, I love you!"
    2. Jesus: I ask you to carry your crosses as I carried Mine. The cross was so heavy I could scarcely move. I fell under its weight. I ask you to accept your crosses willingly. It is in accepting these crosses that you will be strengthened for I provide everything you need. Your lessons I teach you with the greatest love. Your crosses I give you out of great love for you. It is in these crosses that you receive new life, new life in Me! Accept all that I give you!
    3. Jesus: As I walked with My cross on My back, I peered into the beloved eyes of My dear Mother. Her face was reddened! The tears from her eyes! I could see the sufferings deep within far more than the features of her face. How My Heart was torn to see My beloved Mother, whom I love so much, riddled with such suffering!
    4. Jesus: I watch you, My child. I am forever with you! I know all the desires, the sufferings, of your heart. It is in your sufferings, your acceptance of your sufferings, that you give Me such great love.
    5. Jesus: How do you love Me, child? You love Me through holiness, through loving your brothers. Always love! I loved those who persecuted Me. You must always love! Focus on the love I have for you and hear the still, small voice as it whispers within your heart: "I love you, I love you, I love you!"
    6. Jesus: You are My beloved ones. You I love. You I want closer union with. You, you, My precious loved ones!
    7. Jesus: Carry the crosses that I give to you with great joy, for they are given to you with My great love. It is in carrying these crosses that you will receive new life in Me.
    8. Jesus: I was crowned with thorns! I was beaten over My entire body! I was always at peace. Remain at peace for you know the immense love that I have for you. I never leave you.
    9. Jesus: It is in following the Father's Will and living in His Will as a little child that you will have peace, joy and true happiness.
    10. Jesus: My dear soldiers, you are being strengthened for the days ahead. I am totally with you and present. All that you undergo I am allowing. I ask you to accept each and every suffering that I give you as a gift from Me to you, given out of great love! It is in these sufferings that you will be drawn ever closer to My Most Sacred Heart.

    Song between decades: I come to you with greatest love...)

      

      

      

      

    Jesus Dies on the Cross

    1. Jesus: I hung for three agonizing hours to My death on the cross! Put yourself on the cross. Your hands nailed, your feet nailed to the cross! Your body covered with wounds! Put yourself there!
    2. Jesus: It is in meditating on My passion that you will know of My immense love.
    3. Jesus: I truly hung there to My death!
    4. Jesus: I accepted death on the cross in compliance with My Father's Will and in great love for you.
    5. Song: I come to you with greatest love. I am your loving Savior. I am your God. I died for you. I come to you this day.
    6. Jesus: This is the love that I have for you this day. I ask you to put the world aside. Focus on loving one another. Focus on Me! I fill you with this immense love. Hear the cry of the voice inside: "I love you, I love you." Do not be angry with those around you. It is your committedness to Me, committedness to this union with Me, to making Me the center of your every thought, to letting Me live in you, through you and with you, and at every second to totally surrender, that allows Me to operate in you. It is no longer you who live, but I who live in you!
    7. Jesus: You are My chosen ones, to whom I give My Heart!
    8. Jesus: My Heart was pierced with a lance and what poured out was the abounding love from My Heart, blood and water for your salvation!
    9. Jesus: It is up to you to let go! Always love! I loved those who persecuted Me. I did not hold grudges. I loved. There is no division in love. There is always unity in love. You must love all! I loved those who put Me to death! I surrendered always to the Father's Will. Anything that happens to you this day I am allowing! Accept what I am giving to you today and love it as coming from Me.
    10. Jesus: Among the thorns there will be a bed of roses. Come to My bed of roses!

    Song after the last decade: I come to you with greatest love…

      end of March 1, 1995 rosary

         

           

     

        

         

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