The Ultimate Reality

Volume XXIII, Number 6 – May 30, 2019

Dear CatholiCity Citizen,

I didn't get much sleep last night because my son Clete, 18, is having surgery today to repair a birth defect in his ribcage; I tend to write my craziest stuff when I'm strung out. Today I have a personal true story about the Real Presence in the Eucharist, Quotes, more Jordan Peterson, and an update on our pilgrimage to take your intentions to the holiest places in France in late June.

Now, Not Later

Now is the time time to submit your confidential online intentions, which I will load onto encrypted flash-drives which I will personally "hide" (permanently, if possible) at every holy site, including Lourdes, just like I do every year.

Not Selling

You still have time to register for our annual pilgrimage to Lourdes, Ars, Lyon, the Sacred Heart, Rue du Bac (Miraculous Medal), Sacre Coeur, and many other holy sites in France, beginning on June 22.

I am definitely not trying to "sell" this. Father John O'Brien and I are happy with our small little group (it's impossible to find a pilgrimage this intimate and retreat-like) and I just want to give the Holy Spirit one more chance to inspire a few more of you to represent all of us. (I understand most of you cannot afford or do not have the time to go -- the real mission is to bring all of our prayer intentions to these holy places.)

True Story of the Real Presence

A few years back I found myself at a Sunday Mass just like every Sunday Mass. After receiving Holy Communion I went to my seat and placed my forehead on my folded arms on the top of the pew in front of me (when I was preparing for First Holy Communion, my beloved Dominican nuns taught me to pray in any position that was "most comfortable for talking to Jesus" and this has been how I have been doing it for fifty years...).

So there I am, my eyes are closed and my face is on my forearms. I'm a good twenty rows back from the front. I am obliviously floating, talking to Jesus-Inside-Me during my very favorite moments on this planet, pouring out my heart, my worries, my gratitude.

Suddenly, like being struck with a blunt candlestick to the back of my neck, I was overcome with a powerful, irresistible urge to lift my head and look toward the front of the church. Disoriented, I stared dumbly, looking for...what?

I did not know. Then, then... I saw I heavyset man receive Communion in his hand and not consume it. He palmed it and scurried away!

I bolted from my pew and caught up to him in the vestibule (the main entrance) and I stood tall and imposing between him and door. My face was inches away from his. I told him firmly, calmly: "Give Him to me or consume Him."

His eyes bugged out! He quickly lifted his clenched right hand, opened it, and showed me the Sacred Host! He was terrified, in fact.

"How did you know!" he exclaimed, eyes still wide. "I didn't know what to do with it!"

"Give Him to me or consume Him," I repeated.

He allowed me to take the Host, which I reverently consumed, and then he left quickly. Looking back, and at the time, I was pretty sure that the poor guy had never been to a Catholic Church, was likely not a Catholic and was simply confused. It was probably a good thing he had not consumed Our Lord.

I am sure of this: that man, and me, and now you, had a bracing experience confirming that Jesus is truly present in the Holy Eucharist.

Quotations

"I feel so happy to help the children who beg me for protection, but so many do not ever come to me."
-Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

"Consider often that is only the humble heart that can enter into the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, converse with Him, love Him, and be loved by Him."
-Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque

"Do not let the past disturb you -- just leave everything to the Sacred Heart and begin again with joy."
-Saint Teresa of Calcutta

"To give and to not count the cost."
-Saint Ignatius of Loyola

"Countless people are not becoming Christians for one reason: there is no one to make them Christians."
-Saint Francis Xavier

"I do not promise you happiness in this world, but in the next."
-Our Lady of Lourdes

"A priest goes to heaven or a priest goes to hell with a thousand people in tow."
-Saint John Vianney (Cure de Ars)

"I am the Immaculate Conception."
-Our Lady of Lourdes

Praying for You

Last week I wrote a personal letter to over one-hundred and thirty mother superiors at every female Dominican, Poor Clare, Benedictine, and Carmelite monastery in the United States and Canada. I poured out my heart. I admitted my mistakes. I confessed I was poor in grace and I begged for their prayers. And I asked them pray for you. Ask God the Father to honor their prayers before our Eucharistic Lord, and please, keep an eye out for something good to happen in your life.

Praying with Us

You know, because this Message goes back to the earliest days of the Interwebs, I'm fairly certain our group cyber-prayer with tens of thousands is the longest-running and first of its kind in the world. It is an honor to pray with you, for you, and with your fellow Citizens. Let us pray, simply, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit...

Dear Immaculate Mary, intercede on my behalf and on behalf of everyone I know and everyone I love, and for all those praying with me today for the spiritual and temporal needs, conversion and sanctification, healing, perfect health, long life, and freedom from all evil, now and at the our hour of death, in union with the prayers of all of our relatives in heaven, including their angels, going back to the Abraham and all the Apostles, through the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

O, Mary, we love you! O, Jesus, our King, lay our enemies at our feet! Be with us, and may every step we take, every decision we make, every word we speak, every image we perceive, every thought we think--may all of these be Yours, and not mine, always and everywhere, in time into eternity, Amen.

Jordan This Month

And finally, here is this month's Jordan Peterson podcast. Please continue to pray for him, his family, and his conversion:

Podcast: The Need for Courage

See you on the other side of France! Thanks for reading this. Thank you for being a part of my life. Amen.

With Saints Bernadette, Catherine, and Margaret Mary,

Bud Macfarlane
Founder