R. Living in the present moment –
Enjoying what we have NOW –
Embracing the NOW of our life
Song: Live This Day
R. Living the NOW –
Morning Offering
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.
R. We love You God –
We thank You for the moments we have now.
We praise You God –
We thank You, Jesus, for giving Yourself
to us in the Eucharist.
Thank You for Your goodness given to us.
Increase in us the supernatural virtues of
faith, hope and love.
When we are weak – we are strong in Christ Jesus.
We must discipline ourselves – control
ourselves and be as God wants us to be.
We are strengthened in Christ Jesus.
Gratitude to God for what has been
given us.
Thank You God for Your grace given to us.
I give myself to You –
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
Sing: Blessed be the name of God!
Psalm 113: 1-7
Alleluia!
Praise, servants of Yahweh,
praise the name of Yahweh.
Blessed be the name of Yahweh,
henceforth and for ever.
From the rising of the sun to its setting,
praised be the name of Yahweh!
Supreme over all nations is Yahweh,
supreme over the heavens his glory.
Who is like Yahweh our God?
His throne is set on high,
but he stoops to look down on heaven and earth.
He raises the poor from the dust,
he lifts the needy from the dunghill,
R. We have Jesus, truly present in the Eucharist.
Luke 6: 43-49
'There is no
sound tree that produces rotten fruit, nor
again a rotten tree that produces sound
fruit. Every tree can be told by its own
fruit: people do not pick figs from thorns,
nor gather grapes from brambles. Good people
draw what is
good from
the store of goodness in their hearts; bad
people draw what is bad from the store of
badness. For the words of the mouth flow out
of what fills the heart. 'Why do you call
me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?
'Everyone who comes to me and listens to my
words and
acts on
them -- I
will show
you what such a
person is
like. Such a
person is
like the
man who,
when he built a house, dug, and dug deep,
and laid the foundations on rock; when the
river was in flood it bore down on that
house but could not shake it, it was so well
built. But someone who listens and does
nothing is like the
man who
built a house on soil, with no foundations;
as soon as the river bore down on it, it
collapsed; and what a ruin that house
became!'
Sing: Oh Lord I am not Worthy –
R. We need to praise and thank God before we
begin to petition Him – always on our lips
is love for God – praising Him, thanking
Him and asking for direction and help.
Watch the Movie Esther tonight
Luke 8: 16-18
‘No one lights
a lamp to cover it with a bowl or to put it under a bed. No, it
is put on a lamp–stand so that people may see the light when
they come in. For nothing is hidden but it will be made clear,
nothing secret but it will be made known and brought to light.
So take care how you listen; anyone who has, will be given more;
anyone who has not, will be deprived even of what he thinks he
has.’
From a Lenten Homily, March 24, 2000
Live in the Moment
Today’s Gospel in its story certainly points ahead to Jesus in His Passion
and death. And as we read passages such as this during the Lenten season, we
are reminded once again that the Church in her Liturgy of the Word gives us
an opportunity to undergo a purification, an ever deepening cleansing of
ourselves so that we may be a more fit instrument for receiving the great
graces which are to be given to us at the time of the Resurrection memorial
on Easter. And so all in all, Lent is a time of purification to prepare us
for ever-greater gifts of the Lord. It’s a time of self-discipline, a time
to renew our efforts to be self-disciplined in the service of the Lord.
Self-discipline is an aspect of purification. And I suggest that one of the
most difficult acts of self-discipline in the spiritual journey is to
concentrate on the present moment. We have a very strong tendency to
disregard the importance of the present moment by focusing in a wrong way on
the past or in a wrong way on the future. There are proper occasions for
thinking of the past and the future. For example, we have to learn from the
past and we have to prepare for the future, but our great emphasis has to be
upon the present. There is a Latin axiom which says, age quod agis, age
quod agis, which means: do what you are doing, concentrate on the
present. And of course we are familiar with that term in the history of
spirituality: the sacrament of the present moment. And so the discipline of
Lent certainly encourages us to include in a deeper self-discipline a
greater determination to get as much as we can out of the present moment.
People with a terminal illness have an opportunity as they prepare for death
for increased prayer, contrition, love of God. However, some are taken very,
very quickly. But for those who have the opportunity of knowing with some
certainty the time of their death, I’m sure as they look back on their
lives, they are saddened by the many times they did not use time and
opportunities for the service of the Lord properly, and are overjoyed at
those times in which they did use the present opportunity properly. A great
means we have of living in the present properly is a greater focus upon our
Lord. For if I have that awareness of the fact I am united with Jesus here and now, why should I be concerned so much
about the future or the past? Yes, a great help in living in the present and
deriving all the good we can from it for ourselves and others is an ever
greater focus upon Jesus, because the more I focus upon Jesus and the more I
live with Him in the present moment, the more I am satisfied with the present
moment. And so let us in our Lenten activity resolve to grow in that
self-discipline - which is very difficult at times - to really live in the
presence with the fullness of our being as much as is possible, with the help
of God’s grace. Now is the day of salvation. Now is the day of salvation.
end of Father Carter's homily
R. Why are we impatient and hate
to wait? On Sunday September 24th I received
a writing about waiting. God lets
us wait – it takes 9 months to
have a baby. We are here to prepare
in our life for heaven.
Going to college takes time –
Wanting to play music well takes
practice. God shows us we have
to wait when we are sick to be
healed.
Fear can stop us from doing
what we need to do. Mary did
exactly as the Father wanted her to do.
At the time of Moses the Israelites
decided to make a molten calf of
gold because Moses was up the
mountain too long getting the
commandments. They wanted to
take things in their own hands –
Does that remind us of our anxiousness
when God calls us to wait on God
many times and we do something
we shouldn't do because we
don't want to wait.
Waiting can be hard when
we have to endure something and
we are embarrassed or we get
anxious and feel it shouldn't
take so long.
Our whole life can be lived
in dissatisfaction of waiting for
anything if we let it. Then God
can let us have a broken leg or
a sickness that teaches us we
can't do everything we plan,
if we have a broken leg we
have to deal with that. Walking
is indeed a gift God gives us.
God allowed the Israelites to wander
in the desert for 40 years, they were
thirsty and hungry. God was
teaching them. Many times they
disobeyed God and tested Moses,
complaining and rebelling. They
were always blaming Moses after
all he did for them. Moses was
faithful to God and they tested God.
They were mean to Moses. Moses
struck the rock for water
two times – this was in
disobedience to God – so
Moses was not allowed to take
the people to the promised land.
Moses displeased God – Moses
who was a leader gave a bad
example to the people.
We should learn from this
God is watching and how we
act effects others. We teach
people by what we do. We are
to be witnesses to God.
We are responsible and accountable
for what we do and what we do
has consequences. We are to
be people who bear witness to
our faith in God.
We are to obey just authority without
complaining. Recognize authority.
We are to form a well-informed
conscience and listen to our
conscience to help us do what
is right and avoid what is wrong, to
make the right choices.
We need to pray for the virtues.
We need to pray for greater faith,
hope and love.
When we make decisions
we should pray to do God's
will – be responsible, be accountable,
recognize the consequences of our
actions as mature Christians –
moral Christians – obeying
God's law.
We must be prudent and
just and temperate in our
actions. We pray for fortitude
to do what God calls us to –
not to be a coward or slothful.
we pray for humility like Mary.
We love God and want
to be closer to Him so we
don't offend Him with disobedience,
lack of responsibility, sins etc.
We have a free will to obey
God's laws or disobey God's laws.
When we do something wrong we
promptly admit it! We repair
the breach with others we
offend in our thoughtless
hurtful ways. We are here to
learn obedience to God – to
form loving relationships with
God and others.
We want to have a well-informed
conscience We want to know
what is good and what is bad
so our conscience helps us
make right decisions. – RIGHT Reasoning –
We learn it is wrong to lie –
We don't want to give into
bad habits –
We don't want to give into
the deadly sins.
We are given God's laws
to live by – we must
obey the commandments.
We want the truth in us –
Jesus says
"I am the way, the truth
and the life"
John 14: 15-17
If you love me
you will keep my commandments.
I shall ask the Father,
and he will give you another Paraclete
to be with you for ever,
the Spirit of truth
whom the world can never accept
since it neither sees nor knows him;
but you know him,
because he is with you, he is in you.
R. Say the Act of Contrition –
Act of Contrition
"O my God, I am heartily sorry for
having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the
loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell, but most of all because they
offend Thee, my God, Who art all-good and deserving of all my love.
I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace to confess my sins, to
do penance and to amend my life. Amen."
R. Fr. Carter would examine his conscience
2 times a day for 10 minutes –
He called it the Examen –
He took his spiritual pulse –
see if he was deviating
from God's will – If so
putting yourself on track –
praying for grace we need most.
Think about consequences of
our actions –
We can pray through the intercession
of Our Lady –
The Marriage of Cana teaches
us the power of her
intercessory prayer –
R. When Mary appears in Clearwater
to me she is
praying with us –
R. God wants us to come in prayer
and petition Him for what
we need.
He has taught us to pray
this way –
Novena to the Infant of Prague
(to be prayed hourly if possible)
O
Jesus, who said, "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find,
knock and it shall be opened to you," through the intercession of Mary,
Your most holy Mother, I knock, I seek, I ask that my prayer be
granted.
O Jesus, who said, "All that you ask of the Father in My Name He
will grant you," through the intercession of Mary, Your most holy
Mother, I humbly and urgently ask Your Father in Your Name that my
prayer be granted.
O Jesus, who said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My
word shall not pass," through the intercession of Mary, Your most holy
Mother, I feel confident that my prayer will be granted.
Copyright
© 2014 Shepherds of Christ.