What is Treasure in Heaven?
Volume XXV, Number 9 – May 22, 2021
Dear CatholiCity Citizen,
Please forgive me, because I kinda screwed up last week by leaving out an important piece of information when I announced our new premium Brown Scapulars, namely...
We Love Mail-In Orders!Whether you opened it or simply just missed my last message (that's okay, it happens), I forgot to mention how easy it is to order by mail if you live in the United States, so here's the address:
The Mary Foundation
PO Box 26101
Fairview Park, OH 44126
All we ask is a free-will donation of $5 per scapular. That's our actual production cost. If you want to add more for shipping or to support our mission, that's up to you.
Please keep in mind, if you can even find them, premium scapulars typically cost a reasonable $20 or $30 with shipping (and that's without our gift box and free Miraculous Medal). And if you can't afford the $5, please don't hesitate to ask for a scapular in exchange for a prayer donation.
Lastly, every Catholic should wear a Brown Scapular because God desires it. It takes just a few minutes to learn the miraculous history of the Brown Scapular or to order it online:
In Today's Special Saturday Message
Below, after our group prayer, I've strung together some mind-blowing thoughts (that I'll wager you'll either love or not-love) called Our Lady's Unfathomable Plans, along with our famous Catholic Quotations, but first, here are a few fast facts...
1. We Also Love Overseas Orders!If you live in Canada, the Philippines, Australia, Europe, Great Britain, Malaysia, or over a hundred other countries, we'll ship your Brown Scapulars (and anything else you order) immediately.
2. Ideal 14" Length and WashableOur premium wool Brown Scapulars are washable with an innovative 14" length that won't hang near the navel of women and children.
3. Official Enrollment Booklet IncludedTo help your evangelization efforts, each gift box includes a beautiful little mini-booklet with the official Catholic Enrollment Prayer so anyone you give the scapular to can bring it to a local priest to be vested in the Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin of Mount Carmel (easily done in a few minutes after Mass).
4. Fits 3 Medals!Our Brown Scapular has a free Miraculous Medal inside (through a buttonhole I invented). It actually fits one or two more medals. Feel free to order your favorite saint medal from our selection of Relic Prayer Medals for your own scapular.
5. Blessed and SacredCompletely free-of-charge, every one of our scapulars and medals is blessed by a priest, doused with Lourdes water, and touched to my personal first-class relics of the True Cross and Saints Jude, Anthony, Therese, Maximilian, Benedict, and Francis Xavier.
6. Four New Life-Changing Gifts in One YearThis nearly-perfect Brown Scapular is the fourth new "tool for evangelization" we've released since the Coronavirus Crisis began.
This is in addition to our arduous Mantle of Mary Project a at the behest of Father John Anthony Boughton, Vicar General of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal.
Because money sitting in a bank somewhere can't save souls, we've invested hundreds of thousands in development, production, promotion, and shipping--and every dollar was generously provided by you, our amazing CatholiCity Citizens, in amounts medium, large, and widows-mite!
During a year of depressingly-negative developments in politics and the Church, you did this. You distributed these materials. You prayed with us. You sacrificed financially to pay for it all.
This was all part of a plan of Our Lady of Fatima. She and Our Lord are surely pleased with your zeal.
So while you're ordering Brown Scapulars, please prayerfully consider getting (or restocking) the other three amazing tools for evangelization you helped create:
Brown Scapular Quotations
"Our Lady of Fatima requested that we consecrate ourselves to her Immaculate Heart. The scapular will be for all a sign of our consecration."
Pope Pius XII
"The scapular is a sign of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This is an indisputable fact. The Rosary and the scapular are inseparable."
Sister Lucy of Fatima
"One day, Brother Angelus, to your Order of Carmel, the Most Blessed Virgin Mary will give a devotion to be known as the Brown Scapular, and to my Order of Preachers she will give a devotion to be known as the Rosary. One day, through the Rosary and the scapular, she will save the world."
Saint Dominic
"The Brown Scapular is the prayer you wear."
Joseph Wood
"I too have worn the Scapular of Carmel over my heart for a long time!"
Saint John Paul II
"No devotion has been confirmed by more numerous authentic miracles than the Brown Scapular."
Saint Claude de la Columbiere
"I am so happy you are wearing the holy scapular! It is a sure sign of predestination..."
Saint Therese of Lisieux
Please join me in prayer, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit...
Dear Lord, we do not know what will happen to us today.
We only know that nothing will happen
that was not foreseen by You
and directed to our greater good from all eternity.
We adore Your holy and unfathomable plans,
and submit to them will all our hearts
for love of you, the papacy,
and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, amen.
Crestfallen and discouraged, I found and quickly memorized the above prayer from the back of a very, very old missal the day I left the seminary in 1984. I was 21 years old. That prayer changed my life. I have begun every day with it for thirty-five years. Since then, countless people have discovered it through this apostolate. How cool is that?
Speaking of unfathomable plans...
Our Lady's Unfathomable Plans
No Plan from This SinnerAllow me to open my heart to you: I do not have a master plan. I did not even plan to write what follows. I just try to go where Immaculate Mary directs me and to do whatever I believe she is asking me to do.
I am not a born leader. I am not a genius. People who meet me in person know instantly how not-holy I am. If you're also a believing, sincere failure at being holy, well, I get it. Who do I see in the mirror every morning? The worst sinner in the world. Failure. Laziness. A consecrated son of Immaculate Mary.
In fact, I would never trust any plan a mediocre Catholic like me would put forth.
We do not have a lot of money. We have no earthly power. By design, we have absolutely zero social media presence (except when you share our mission online through your own personal efforts). Our Lady, who could have sent us a bazillion dollars at any time, seems to want it that way.
Patterns Emerge: It Ain't EasyAll the good that the Mary Foundation and CatholiCity.com have done in this world can be realistically described as you and me fighting, clawing, and scratching ("in hope against all hope" like Abraham) for every soul we touch, often against discouragement and painful rejection from fallen-away spouses, other family members, uncomprehending friends, apathetic fellow parishioners, and clueless priests (God bless them).
From a certain human point of view, the day-to-day results we see as we evangelize in our own circles of influence can only be described as utter failure. We need courage.
And yet...and yet, after 30 years of miracles, I am discerning patterns.
The Warning ApostolateFor example, although we never planned it at some corporate meeting (because we don't actually have corporate meetings here), the Mary Foundation has become, by far, the most effective and far-reaching "Warning" apostolate in the world, through my first novel, my father's talk, and our new Warning book. So that is definitely part of Our Lady's plan.
I think this means the Warning is coming soon.
The Pray the Rosary ApostolateThis apostolate has also influenced many millions of souls through promotion of the Rosary (tens of millions of Holy Rosaries have been offered to heaven through our work together). Over the past thirty years, we have probably encouraged and enabled more rosaries than any other apostolate in the world, perhaps with the exception of EWTN radio and television. Mother Angelica, pray for us!
The Purple Scapular ApostolateOur Lady of Fatima has also decided (please don't ask me why) that she wants us to make it possible for Purple Scapulars to be displayed in homes as divine protection against the coming tribulations. Before last November, this heretofore "unknown scapular" (her words) was almost impossible to find until we figured out how to make them in large quantities.
That frightens me, because it means the Great Chastisement is not far off. And don't ask me when. I have no idea. Next year? Tens years? In our lifetime? Yet it also means the Period of Peace promised at Fatima is not far off either, so that gets me excited!
The Go to Confession ApostolateI don't write about this much, but we have also been the primary human cause of hundreds of thousands of people going back to Confession.
The Welcome-Babies ApostolateI can't measure it, but I can assure you there are at least hundreds and maybe thousands of children, some now young adults, walking on this earth who would not have been born had their parents not thrown away their contraception after reading my novels, or, after converting or reverting to the faith after being exposed to our other materials.
And that's just the Mary Foundation. After coming to visit us for a few days to study our insane "free" system and adapting it to his apostolate, Steve Koob of One More Soul, made a new recording by Dr. Janet Smith called "Contraception, Why Not?" available for $1 each in quantities of 100.
That was twenty-five years ago. One More Soul went on to distribute over one million copies of that talk. That led to even more babies being born into good Catholic families while strengthening countless marriages.
Yet how many bishops and priests even know that One More Soul or the Mary Foundation exist?
Some of these babies are adults now and are having their own children. Come back in a few generations, and those thousands will be hundreds of thousands of great grandchildren who, if not for your work and sacrifice, would never have been born.
Our Lady Showed Me BeforehandThat blows my mind. It should blow yours, too. It freaks me out a little because Our Lady showed me that all this was coming before I could rationally understand how. Then, I beheld it again "in my mind's eye" at the end of my third novel, House of Gold.
All along the way I told you about the vision Our Lady gave me of millions of souls receiving free materials, and asked for your help. I never tried to "find you," either. I waited patiently for her to send you to us, because that's what she wanted.
The Vocation ApostolateMany, many times I have heard that we were a pivotal influence in young men entering the priesthood. One time I corresponded and advised a man who had left the priesthood and even fathered a son with a former nun. After reading Pierced by a Sword, he reverted and was eventually welcomed back to the priesthood by his bishop (who met him at the airport with a big hug)!
This happened over twenty years ago.
I know for sure that I did not personally hand my novel to that wonderful priest. One of you guys did. Just think of all the Masses and Confessions and Last Rites which this restored priest has since offered, heard, and administered -- and to how many thousands of parishioners?
And consider the eternal ramifications for his own soul had God not inspired him to return to his faith and the priesthood. Your prayers for priests were answered, you just didn't know the details.
The Consecration ApostolateHere's another part of the pattern: countless people have made the total consecration to Immaculate Mary because of the Mary Foundation. Remember how our relic prayer medals were born with a traditional prayer for protection from the Coronavirus? As a result, many began consecrating themselves to Saint Joseph during his year using the other relic prayer medals we developed and you distributed.
The Mantle of Mary ApostolateWhen Christ returns, perhaps a thousand years hence (if not tomorrow), I suspect that maybe the most important thing we ever did together was pin the Mantle of Mary over America last summer.
Our Lady has plans for our nation. The Guardian Angel of the United States has been released.
The Pilgrimage ApostolateOr perhaps, over the past six years, by bringing your intentions (which included numerous prayers for the much-needed reform of a more corrupted, weak, and ineffective worldwide Church) to Fatima, to the Holy Land, to Rome, to Saint Anne's Basilica and the Oratory of Saint Joseph in Quebec, and to all the holiest sites in France.
Or maybe, the most most important thing we did for the salvation of souls was start the Mantle of Mary Project.
Dunno. I shall eventually meet you in heaven, my brothers and sisters, God have Mercy on us all, and we'll find out.
The Apostolate ApostolateI am especially grateful to the so-called "little" personal apostolates you personally throw yourself into at your parishes, in prayer groups, on the web, through friendships, at work, or even all alone, offering your sufferings in union with Christ. Our materials, free or laughably affordable, help you help souls.
Alpha and OmegaI like to begin and end with Jesus. He has the unfathomable plan, not me. I don't need to know what to do a year from now. I just need to know what to do today. He honors his mother. So if Mary says brown scapulars work, then I'm all in. Hope you are too.
She gave us Miraculous Medals, named for the miracles that ensue for those who wear it. So we make it easy for you to distribute them.
She appeared at Lourdes, so we doused them to Lourdes water (along with pretty much everything else we ship out).
At Fatima she urged us to pray the Rosary. So we made it easy for you to give the Rosary to millions.
That's us. Stuff like that. No plan but what Jesus revealed through Himself, His Church, and through the messages of his holy mom.
Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt! We are all yours Mary and all that we have is yours!
Amen. Thanks for being a part of it all (whatever "all" turns out to be).
I'll have even more on the Brown Scapular next time, and soon I'll be telling you about The Mesh and The Thing, so hang in here with this strange CatholiCity Message.
With the Immaculata,
Bud Macfarlane
Founder
