Tell Me Your Story
Volume XXV, Number 18 – October 21, 2021
Dear CatholiCity Friends,
A warm welcome to new readers!
I've been considering asking for your personal story for a while. I also have an inspiring song lyric for you today.
Then, a joke about cell phones, a prayer that addresses the inner spiritual darkness many believers experience, what happens in my heart almost every day when I see the Purple Scapular, and then, well, then we're done!
During the 18 Days to Save America project, many of you took the time to let me know how you were participating. A handful of you took the occasion to relate your "Catholic story." I enjoyed it. You galvanized me. You moved my heart.
So I've decided to invite anyone reading this, if you want, to share your Catholic (or non-Catholic) story with me. It will help me lead this apostolate. Plus, I'm just curious.
- What's your background? What's your personal history in the faith?
- How did Our Lady bring you to CatholiCity or the Mary Foundation? How have our materials impacted you or others?
- What is troubling you or getting you excited lately about the Church, politics, the world, your situation, or anything else?
- What has the Holy Spirit been telling you in prayer (especially during or after the 18 Days project)?
- Who needs prayers in your family?
- Suggestions for how I can do a better job?
If you want to respond, just hit reply.
No need to be formal. Answer any or none of the suggested questions. Please keep it brief (less than a page), but not so brief that it's not real or does not provide important details.
You Can Trust MeI'm setting aside much of my time over the next few weeks to read and answer all of you. (It might take me a while.) Whatever you say will remain between you and me. Even if I make a general reference to your ideas, I will not use your name without your permission (our longtime readers know this).
Like I said, just hit reply.
Today's Quote is LyricsSome scholars make the case that Don Quixote is the greatest novel ever written. Most of us know the story (if we know it at all) from the 1960s musical, The Man from La Mancha.
The other night, I found myself pondering the bracing lyrics of its legendary song, "The Impossible Dream," because we live in dangerous, confusing times. We need courage.
You can find countless YouTube renditions. Here is a "three tenor" version and a touching Elvis Presley version. The lyrics:
To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear the unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go
To right the unrightable wrong
To love, pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star
This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far
To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march into hell
For a Heavenly cause
And I know, if I'll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I'm laid down to rest
And the world will be better for this
That one man
scorned and covered in scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star
While dining out, to hold his table when he needed to use the restroom, a big, strapping dude was in the habit of leaving a post-it note on his cellphone that said: "This phone belongs to a martial arts champion, and I'm coming back in a moment."
One evening he returned to his table and his phone was gone. In its place was a note: "Your phone was taken by a champion runner, and I am not coming back ever."
Every Time I Walk In...A couple of days ago, I was rewriting our Purple Scapular webpage. Did you know ours is the only one in the world with an all-wool cord? Because of you, we are also now the largest distributor of these heavenly "insurance policies" in America (and probably the world).
Just imagine: last year, it was nearly impossible to get one, much less the nearly perfect version we provide in any quantity, at cost.
Why is the Purple Scapular catching on so rapidly? (It reminds me of how the Divine Mercy Chaplet suddenly "exploded" in the 1990s.) Is the Purple Scapular, effectively lost in history until our current day (as Mary predicted), destined by heaven to grace every Catholic home, like a crucifix or an image of Mary?
You are all playing a pivotal role in something very big. I took this picture yesterday at my own house:
Every time I walk in and see it, something "happens" inside me: a small, consoling calm. It is a peace that comes from knowing God the Father is going to protect my family through this beautiful gift from Our Lady.
If you have one, do you experience something similar?
(Of course, I want everyone reading this to have a Purple Scapular. If you live in the U.S. and cannot afford the modest $20 donation, then send what you can and ask for one, even if all you can offer is your promise of praying a Rosary or offering one day of fasting for America. Simply write to us at: The Mary Foundation, PO Box 26101, Fairview Park, OH 44120.)
Pray with Me and ThousandsI composed the following prayer on this very day, but it emanates from a lifetime of my own version of the dark night of the soul. Although I am a novelist who easily "sees" entire worlds in my imagination, I have always had difficulty seeing the face of Christ in my mind's eye during prayer, even during that rare "good" prayer, even after receiving Holy Communion.
So please, join me and everyone reading today's Message in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit...
Dear Jesus, sometimes as I pray,
and look into my heart,
I do not find an image of You there,
even though I always find the great gift
of the grace to believe in You.
I beg you, Lord Jesus,
through the intercession
of Your Immaculate Mother,
to let me see your face in my mind's eye.
Let me see your hand
reaching out for my shoulder...
And if You choose not to grant this,
then please let me see your wounds:
the one in your side,
or the ones on your brow from the thorns,
or in the palm of your left hand,
or in your right hand,
or in your left foot,
or in your right foot.
And if You choose to not do that,
then please let me hear your voice
in the darkness of my inner being.
If You choose to not grant that,
and I am to remain deaf and blind
in my innermost soul,
then let me sense your Spirit within me.
If not, then allow me to accept
this loving cross as your gift,
and I beg thee to make my burden lighter,
by carrying it with me unbeknownst to me,
and grant me the sublime grace,
to tell the entire truth
of repentance from my sins
before I go to sleep,
or whenever I commit offense,
or in the confessional,
that sacramental tomb from which You alone
can raise me from the death of mortal sin.
I beg You, Jesus,
if Your Holy Will is to keep
any consolation from me,
(and surely for my own good),
then please, my Savior, make me certain
of your Holy Will on this day,
and of your Holy Will tomorrow,
even if I do not know how you
communicate this to me,
as I strive to live the teachings of
Your One Holy Church,
which by your grace and right reason,
I know are your true guidance for me,
so I will be able to do whatever You want,
today and tomorrow,
and thus a year from now,
and thus many years from now,
so I may have the honor
of participating in the salvation of
the greatest number of souls,
until the hour of my death.
Amen.
As with the many prayers I have composed in the CatholiCity Message over the past twenty-five years, you always have my permission to print them out, copy them, and digitally share them, in any way you want, with anyone you want.
I'm looking forward to hearing your story. I'm always humbled by how you share your "talents". It's a joy to help souls, as Jesus promised it would be, isn't it?
I take my leave... with the Brown Scapular, baby!
And with Saint Jean Brebeuf,
Bud Macfarlane
Windmill Chaser
