Mantle of Mary Mass #3: Tomorrow
Volume XXIV, Number 19 – August 5, 2020
The third of four Holy Masses for the intention of the Mantle of Mary project for the conversion of America will take place tomorrow, Thursday, August 6th, in Key West, Florida.
Dear CatholiCity Citizen,
We need your active participation more than ever. To submit your personal mass intentions:
The first two Mantle of Mary Masses offered on the extreme borders of northwest Washington State and southwest California were an unqualified success despite every obstacle thrown into our path!
Then the Police Arrived...I will provide a spiritual diary of all four Mantle of Mary Masses after the final Mass is offered in Maine next Thursday on August 12th, Feast of the Transfiguration. Highlights will include the unscheduled confession of an 82-year-old woman after nearly seventy years. Plus somebody called the cops on us! Then, a CatholiCity Citizen came to our rescue.
It's good, solid stuff.
In the meantime, today I offer nothing you could have possibly expected, except, of course, our powerful group cyber-prayer for the United States of America (the same prayer we are using at each Mass).
Feed Your HeadI typically spend three hours a day reading. You might be interested in a handful of the websites and podcasts I frequent. Of course I do not endorse all the content (I often survey oppositional views) while trusting your own adult Catholic sense of what aligns with the truth. This is by no means an exhaustive listing:
Theology, Philosophy, CommentaryCatholicThing
Catholic Culture (especially Phil Lawler)
First Things
Crisis
1Peter5
Church Militant
Public Discourse
Lifesite
Politics & Economics
Real Clear Politics
Real Clear Markets
ZeroHedge
American Institute for Economic Research (especially Jeffrey Tucker)
Patrick Buchanan
National Review
The Ringer ("liberal" sports and pop culture)
The Federalist
Podcasts
Taylor Marshall
1Peter5
Patrick Coffin
The Catholic Man Show
Counsel of Trent
40 Days for Life
Direction for Our Times (Church-approved prophesy)
Ben Shapiro (politics, Coronavirus updates)
Jordan Peterson (philosophy and psychology)
Matt Walsh (politics from a devout Catholic)
Andrew Klavan (politics from a Christian)
Michael Knowles (politics from a devout Catholic)
Dave Ramsey (financial advice)
Cary Nieuhof (Protestant viewpoints, leadership issues)
Rewatchables (movie reviews, warning: profanity)
Latin Lover
If you've read the CatholiCity Message for any length of time, you know I am prepared to die for everything the Catholic Church teaches, as she teaches it, to the teensiest kernel of truth, from the brown scapular to the Summa Theologica to the Council of Trent to the Theology of the Body.
Hopefully you're the same.
This is why I both deeply love the traditional Latin Mass (and am encouraged by its tremendous recent growth) while also attending the valid and licit "new" vernacular Mass celebrated in a reverent manner, however much it sorely needs reform (turning the priest around and kneeling for Communion on the tongue would comprise a wonderful start).
I grow weary of the cliched slanders and insults leveled against my beloved Catholic sisters and brothers who prefer the Latin Mass (TLM), adhere to the infallible Magisterium, and affirm sober fidelity to Rome despite decades of suppression and mistreatment.
Yet I am also an open-minded, creative type: a novelist, risk-taker, and Thomistic free-thinker. I delight in the ferocity of necessary, prudent spiritual warfare such as our Mantle of Mary initiative, which is nothing short of a bold guerrilla assault through the Eucharist on the demonic powers and principalities wreaking havoc upon America.
TLM folks are battle-tested fighters. TLM families are, by and large, happy and fruitful. TLM priests preach uncomfortable truths. I really like that. If you're TLM, I am with you to the end.
The Evil One Fears YouIf you are a Catholic in a state of grace, you are an important soldier in the Church Militant (even you, my dear elderly sisters). Every Hail Mary you pray is a bullet fired into the ink-black core of the evil one, now and at the hour of death, Amen.
You remind me of Saint Catherine of Siena as she confidently taunted the evil spirits she could see surrounding her: "Ha! The Holy Trinity resides inside me! You cannot harm me!"
How much more must the forces of darkness fear Immaculate Mary when we humbly pray the Rosary?
Quotations
"The soul is in God and God is in the soul. God is closer to us than water is to a fish."
-Saint Catherine of Siena
"Before Abraham, I am."
-Jesus
"In need of consolation? Visit a Catholic Church when Mass is not being offered. Rest in the beauty, a gift from generations of Catholics who were in love with Christ and His True Presence. There surely exists a radiant Catholic Church within driving distance. I shall meet you there within the Mystical Body."
-Joseph Wood
"Love follows knowledge."
-Saint Catherine of Siena
"Stop judging by appearances, but instead judge correctly."
-Jesus
"Every step of the way to heaven is heaven, because Jesus said: I am the way".
-Saint Catherine of Siena
As lifelong stick-shift driver, it is often unsafe to use rosary beads in the car. After losing track on my fingers, I developed a method of using body locations to keep count. I gently tap or wiggle my knees, shoulders, head, and heart for the ten Hail Marys in each area twice around to complete a decade "loop".
While praying the Sorrowful Mysteries last week, I was inspired to use the wounds of our crucified Lord for my "loop" to keep me focused:
Left foot (nail) 1
Right foot (nail) 2
Right hand (nail) 3
Left hand (nail) 4
Head (crown of thorns) 5
Left torso (pierced by a sword) 6
Left hand (nail) 7
Right hand (nail) 8
Right foot (nail) 9
Left foot (nail) 10
Imagine either Jesus on the Holy Cross or His glorified risen body. In practice, this mental round-trip around the body of Christ sounds more complicated than when you actually do it. If you try this, let me know your own impression.
This Exorcism Medal Is for OthersIf you have not ordered yet or need to restock, our Saint Benedict Exorcism Medal (touched to a bone of Saint Benedict himself, other powerful saints, the True Cross, and Lourdes water), consider this my warmest, most gentle invitation.
As you can see, it comes attached to a striking holy card with the Saint Michael Exorcism Prayer composed by Pope Leo the XIII to combat the evil one during our troubled era in salvation history.
To protect yourself and your family, consider wearing it, keeping one in your wallet, inside your scapular (my practice), car, kitchen, on your computer, and in your bedroom. This is the medal we are burying in the four corners of the U.S. to "pin down" Our Lady's mantle of protection. Consider:
These are gifts that are always welcome.
For large quantities, we figured out how to bring down the online donation to a ridiculously low pittance.
If you live in the United States, mail in your order for up to ten completely free relic prayer medals/cards.
Of course you know the Saint Michael Prayer: but do your children, relatives, neighbors, and friends know it?
You can also bury one Exorcism Medal at each corner of your property (as I have done) for spiritual protection, especially during these perilous times of civil and spiritual unrest.
Not that this is essential, but I will personally breathe easier if the people you love and know have this unique version of a medal that drives away demons. Learn why and how:
Please join me in thanking a wonderful CatholiCity Citizen who is arranging for a Mass for the Mantle of Mary intentions on the island of Hawaii near the southwesternmost U.S. border (including the burial of Relic Prayer Medals and Holy Salt). A Franciscan Friar of the Renewal is covering Alaska.
No matter where you live, please consider having a Mass offered during the month of August for the Mantle of Mary project.
There is still time to order Relic Prayer Medals and have your priest bless holy salt and bury both on Catholic Church grounds in your state. We'll ship 'em lickety-split. Next, let's pray together, tens of thousands of us all over the world, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit...
Almighty and Eternal God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords,
graciously turn your gaze to us who invoke you in confidence.
Bless us, citizens of the United States of America;
grant peace and prosperity to our Nation;
illuminate those who govern us so that
they may commit themselves to the common good
in respect for Your holy Law.
Protect those who, defending the inviolable principles
of the Natural Law and Your Commandments,
must face the repeated assaults of the Enemy of the human race.
Keep in the hearts of Your children courage for the truth,
love for virtue, and perseverance in the midst of trials.
Make our families grow in the example that Our Lord has given us,
together with His Most Holy Mother and Saint Joseph
in the home of Nazareth;
give to our fathers and mothers the gift of strength
to educate wisely the children with which you have blessed them.
Give courage to those who, in spiritual combat, fight the good fight
as soldiers of Christ against the furious forces of the children of darkness.
Keep each one of us, O Lord, in your Most Sacred Heart,
and above all He whom Your Providence
has placed at the head of our Nation.
Bless the President of the United States of America,
so that aware of his responsibility and his duties,
he may be a knight of justice,
a defender of the oppressed,
a firm bulwark against Your enemies,
and a proud supporter of the children of the light.
Place the United States of America and the whole world
under mantle of the Queen of Victories,
our Unconquered Leader in battle, the Immaculate Conception.
It is thanks to her, and through your mercy,
that the hymn of praise rises to you, O Lord,
from the children whom you have redeemed
in the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Thank you for being a part of our work and our lives. You, those you love most, and your intentions will remain in my and Father John Anthony's heart during tomorrow's third Mantle of Mary Mass in Key West.
Hey, that's me in Fatima in 2015, sporting my Biker Hair and your intentions (which remain there to this day, even in paper format), just a few paces away from where Our Lady appeared.
With Saint Peter,
Bud Macfarlane
Founder
