Casting Out Demons
Volume XXVI, Number 1 – January 20, 2022
Hello CatholiCity Citizens,
Welcome to the 26th year of the CatholiCity Message, the granddaddy of them all! I'm Bud, your fool for Christ who's been at this since the dawn of the WebberNet in 1996.
"Is This Guy Insane?"Yes. Yes, I am. Thank you. To wit, with the blessing of my spiritual director, I decided to fast every single day in 2022 in addition to a handful of other self-disciplines (except for Easter, Christmas, my birthday, December 8th, and a few other feast days). Plus extra mortifications in Lent. My five intentions are:
1. For the Holy Spirit's direct intervention to save America, especially through Operation True Cross.
2. For your intentions, especially for your fallen-away children, spouses, grandchildren, relatives, and friends (even if miracles or divine interventions are needed).
3. For my own friends and relatives (I'm already seeing my prayers answered from last year's fasts!).
4. In union with Forty Days for Life to end abortion.
5. For you to join me in your own way, on your own days.
We all know some demons can only be driven out through prayer and fasting. I shared with you last year that fasting and self-discipline is just "not me." I avoided it. I was afraid to do it. I gave it lip service. I half-heartedly tried here and there and failed.
Instead, I have relied on passion, not self-denial, all my life.
God practically compelled me to start fasting last October. I completed three extended fasts, including a 40-day monster that ended on December 8th. Along the way I happily discovered that it really helps if other people join me.
Of course, I do not expect anyone to fast or abstain every day in 2022. You're not crazy. (Well, maybe a little, right?)
So ask the Holy Spirit to guide you. If you need prompting regarding what to give up, here is a comprehensive list of suggestions.
In whatever way the Holy Spirit leads you, if you undertake any kind of self-denial or prayer on any particular day or days in 2022, you will know that I am joining my sufferings with yours through Christ Crucified.
We MIGHT Survive!We received enough to (barely, maybe, hopefully) to keep our doors open for another year. I just crunched the numbers, and I honestly do not know if we can get through the end of 2022.
Participation was very high, which is wonderful, especially since joining the appeal is always optional. You guys are the best!
Just a couple hundred more of you pouring it on and a dozen new monthly donors would make a real difference (especially if you considered helping out this year but never got around to it for whatever reason).
To mail your donation, please send it to:
The Mary Foundation
PO Box 26101
Fairview Park, OH 44126
Make checks payable to The Mary Foundation.
(If you live in the UK, Canada, Asia, Europe, or Australia, please donate online and don't be shy.)
In case you missed it, here's my original Just Say No Appeal from last month.
New Factors in PlayI'm not being glum. To the contrary, I'm relieved Our Lady gave us a fighting chance. And there were a few new factors in play, based on my correspondence with you:
1. Many of you could only offer prayers this year (a priceless gift!) due to your financial struggles related to the pandemic and sometimes due to life changes such a retirement, illness, or unexpected bills.
(If you never give us another dollar, please remember that you will be our benefactor forever, and I'm sure Our Lady is pleased. You are in my daily prayers and every fast until the day I die. Hang in there, friends.)
2. Inflation is taking its toll on our operational expenses, with 15-20% increases from some of our suppliers. We might be the most efficient Catholic organization in America, so there is virtually no fat to "cut off the bone."
3. I felt inspired to take a different approach this year. Maybe I was too low key. Maybe I came on too strong. I tried my best—and it's only money. Our Lady wants us to focus on the important things.
And that wraps it up until next Christmas! On behalf of my coworkers and every soul we will reach this year, thank you.
Holiness and BraveryOur theme for 2022 will be encouraging each other in holiness and bravery while engaging in spiritual warfare, especially through our own self-denial and prayer to help God save America. Which brings us to the crazy part.
Twelve 2021 Catholic Quotations
"The world will rejoice and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy."
- Jesus, John 16:21 (January)
"The enemy is glad to make you lose time when he cannot make you lose eternity."
- Saint Francis de Sales (February)
"Never trust a dog to watch your food."
- Saint Patrick (March)
"We all know sometimes life's hates and troubles can make you wish you were born in another time and space, but you can bet your life times that and twice its double, that God knew exactly where He wanted you to be placed."
- Stevie Wonder, the song "As" (April)
"I too have worn the Scapular of Carmel over my heart for a long time!"
- Saint John Paul II (May)
"I am an old man. However, when I was a young man, I became a believing, zealous, practicing Catholic because, and almost solely because, Catholics sought me out, befriended me, taught me the True Faith, put up with me, and loved me at a time when the institutional Church didn't seem to give a damn."
- Joseph Wood (June)
"It is only by sacrificing and suffering, offered as penance, that you will be able, by the grace of God, to convert sinners."
- Saint John Vianney (July)
"If you seek patience, you will find no better example than the Cross. Great patience occurs in two ways: either when one patiently suffers much, or when one suffers things which one is able to avoid and yet does not avoid."
- Saint Thomas Aquinas (August)
"Be the one who does things."
- Jordan Peterson (September)
"Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, to all the souls you can, in every place you can, at all the times you can, with all the zeal you can, for as long as ever you can."
- John Wesley (October)
"Our greatest cross is the fear of crosses."
- Saint John Vianney (November)
"Let nothing bother you. Let nothing disturb you. God alone suffices."
- Saint Teresa of Avila (December)
Last year I observed how the Our Father is, among other things, an exorcism prayer because demons have no place in God's kingdom, and because Jesus instructed us to ask for deliverance in the last line.
Given our 2022 theme of spiritual warfare, I should add that a whip-smart CatholiCity Citizen let me know that a proper, literal translation of the original Greek could be translated, "and deliver us from the evil one."
That's the good stuff.
Please join me and tens of thousands receiving this email in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit...
Our Father
Who art in heaven,
Hallowed by thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
On earth,
As it is in heaven.
Give us this day
Our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those
Who trespass against us,
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil.
Amen.
If you're new, or just want to review my 2021 CatholiCity Messages, here's the archive page. It was quite a year. I think it was some of the best writing of my life (well, at least some of the titles were spiffy). All I had to do was bleed and use it for ink.
We're going to have a spiritually fruitful year, my friends. If there is anything coming to me, after all this fasting, it is a sure sense that 2022 will be a turning point in all of human history, so don't lose your nerve.
We pray. God wins.
As always, thanks for reading to the end, feel free to let me know your reactions, and thank you for your patience waiting for my personal replies.
With Saint Joseph,
Terror of Demons,
Bud Macfarlane
Founder
