The CatholiCity Message

Volume XVIII, Number 2 – February 22, 2014

Dear CatholiCity Citizen,

I had been planning to focus this message on Confession for a few weeks, but as you shall see, the Holy Father beat me to it. But first, a few quick items.

The Apple of My I-Novels
My three novels, which have been on Kindle for a while, are finally available through Google Play for just about any electronic device as well as on iTunes for Apple devices for a nominal two bucks each:

http://www.catholicity.com/novels/

We Need Your Testimonial
Please share your personal experiences with our booklets (how they helped you, how you use them to reach others) on our website so potential web visitors, searchers, and Catholic evangelizers can hear your authentic voice. Our website is expecting one million more visitors in 2014 than 2013; imagine your recommendation convincing just one person to give out a thousand booklets or CDs. It's easy:

http://www.catholicity.com/booklets/comment.html

Hey Ash Wednesday, I Barely Saw You Coming!
Ash Wednesday falls on March 5 this year. Next week I'll send out a quick reminder, but now is the time to stock up on our life-changing materials. Some of you already make distributing our materials your Spiritual Work of Mercy for Lent and I warmly invite the rest of you to join in.

https://secure.catholicity.com

The Doorway to Conversion is Confession
Only a small percentage of Catholics actually adhere to the teachings of the Catholic Church as she herself proclaims them. If we don't evangelize, no one will, and countless souls will be lost forever. Many of you know about our longtime partnership with Fr. John McCloskey. We archive all his articles on CatholiCity. He is best known for his role in helping several famous people convert to Catholicism, including former abortionist/atheist Bernard Nathanson, financial luminary Larry Kudlow, and Senator Sam Brownback. Fr. John has also helped numerous "ordinary" Catholics return the practice of their faith by asking a deceptively simple question:

"When was the last time you went to Confession?"

This was my primary inspiration for writing our new Going Back to Confession After Years or Decades booklet. It give you a powerfully effective means to inexpensively ask hundreds or thousands of people Fr. John's pivotal question. A three-part progression is necessary to open the doorway of conversion: Your decision to order and distribute this booklet, God's supply of grace, and the few minutes it takes any reader to make his or her decision to return to Confession. As I mentioned earlier, our beloved Pope Francis beat me to the punch. Just a few days ago in Saint Peter's Square he urged Catholics everywhere to return to Confession:

"Each one of you should ask yourselves: When was the last time I went to Confession? If a lot of time has passed, then don't let another day go by. Go forward."

God's Inscrutable Providence
Pope Francis' plea along with the following excerpt from the earthquake known as Mystici Corporis Christi (On The Mystical Body of Christ), Pope Pius XII's 1943 encyclical, will serve as our Catholic Quotations this month. I promise that upon reflection, Pius will blow your mind. These are the principles which truly animate my zeal for souls and illustrate why I so confidently invite you to participate in the miraculous success of the Mary Foundation:

For although our Savior's cruel passion and death merited for His Church an infinite treasure of graces, God's inscrutable providence has decreed that these graces should not be granted to us all at once; but their greater or lesser abundance will depend in no small part on our own good works, which draw down on the souls of men a rain of heavenly gifts freely bestowed by God. These heavenly gifts will surely flow more abundantly if we not only pray fervently to God, especially by participating every day if possible in the Eucharistic Sacrifice...
Mystici Corporis Christi (Section 212)

Today I prayed for you when I received Holy Communion, as I do every day. I believe with all my heart that receiving the Eucharist, as Pope Pius urges, is the most important thing I do for the salvation of souls, and that your role and mine in helping real people return to Confession will "depend in no small part on our own good works." Those works, for example, include distributing our Confession CD and our Going Back to Confession booklet this Lent.

Clearly, if you have not been to Confession in while, it is time for you to go. Open your heart and whisper into the ear of Jesus through His priest. Lots of people begin the habit of going to daily Mass during Lent. Whatever sacrifice this might require will be worth it, as those of you who do go everyday will surely attest. Go for it.

Some Upcoming Feast Days and Other Good Days

• Wednesday, March 5, Ash Wednesday. Show off your ashes. Fast (have no more than one full meal and two snacks) and Abstain (from eating meat).
• Sunday, March 9. Daylight Savings Time begins. One more hour of sunshine! My favorite non-religious "holiday" after Thanksgiving.
• Monday, March 17, Saint Patrick of Ireland, Bishop. For the sake of all that is freckled, redheaded, and lovingly brewed, do not fast or abstain!
• Wednesday, March 19, Saint Joseph, Spouse of Mary. One of the Church's titles for Joseph is Terror of Demons. He is a one-man Seal Team for warding off diabolical attacks.
• Thursday, March 20. First day of spring, 2014. After this winter, enough said.
• Tuesday, March 25. The Annunciation. From the Angelus Prayer: "The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary, and she conceived by the Holy Spirit." Exactly nine months until Christmas 2014.

Praying with Tens of Thousands
This year I'm featuring selections from our new Powerful Prayers Every Catholic Should Know booklet. In honor of Saint Patrick's feast day, let us begin, tens of thousands of us in unison, with his all-time classic, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit...

Christ with me.
Christ before me.
Christ behind me.
Christ in me.
Christ beneath me.
Christ above me.
Christ on my right.
Christ on my left.
Christ in breadth.
Christ in length.
Christ in height.
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me.
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me.
Christ in every eye that sees me.
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Amen.

I'll be back next week. I know most of you are doing well. Some of you are struggling. Let's keep working and praying—for each other, for holiness, for God's will. I am with you.

Did you know that Bud is a nickname and my given name is William Noble Macfarlane II? Please, if you can, offer a prayer for my four sons, Jude, Buddy (William III), Xavier, and Clete.

With Saint Joseph,

Bud Macfarlane