The Christian Paradox

Volume XXVIII, Number 7
June 11, 2024

Family Emergency

Beloved readers, your patience has been a balm for my soul. In the middle of all of life's usual challenges and crosses, I've been embroiled in a family emergency since last month.

Someone very close to me is in dire need of your prayers—supernatural intervention is required. An unfortunate portion of you are in a similar predicament, so we'll ask for miracles in our group prayer below.

It Means Worthy of Ridicule

Hey, ho, let's go... wolf 'em down, read every word at a leisurely pace, or scan for my most ridiculous headlines (headlines are sometimes my best writing). But first...

Yes, That John Michael Talbot

You may not realize that we produce one of the fastest-growing Catholic podcasts on the planet. It's like being in the room with my son Xavier and his unique guests. We're on every major platform.

Our latest episode features a profound discussion with the most well-known Christian musical artist of the past two generations, John Michael Talbot. He is a saint. He recently experienced his own Warning, and his account is riveting:

Listen to John Michael

Learn about the Warning

They Could Just Ask Me

Have you noticed how the sadists who program streaming television shows provide a tantalizing "Skip Intro" or "Skip Recap" button which disappears just before you grab your remote?

Here is my modest proposal for everyone in the Industrial Streaming Complex (including the AI—and you know "who" you are):

Leave that button right where it is on the screen and keep it active for the entire Intro or Recap.

While we're at it, you could have just asked me.

And I'm always here for you if you ever want to run your terrifically lousy ideas by me before you waste kazillions on creepy or stupid or sexually putrid or propagandistically dull tv series and movies.

Is Bud a Saint?

I am, in fact, a saint—when I am in a state of sanctifying grace. So are you. That's more or less infallible Catholic teaching. It is reality.

I carry the Holy Trinity inside of me into every situation, problem, or mundane daily task. I'm mowing the lawn with the Holy Trinity later today if it doesn't rain—and hopefully going grocery shopping, doubtlessly with some other people who also have the One True God inside of them.

You are a tabernacle with the God of Love abiding in you. Get to Confession as soon as possible after mortal sin—or frequently for your venial sins—to preserve this priceless reality.

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Then, fear nothing. The evil spirits are the ones trembling in terror. Saint Catherine of Siena used to taunt the demons who appeared to her, "Ha! You cannot harm me! The Holy Trinity is inside of me!"

Is Bud a Sinner?

The Christian Paradox

Yes. I am a fallible, sinful old man with disordered desires and a darkened mind due to Original Sin, even when I am in a state of grace, and thus always in utter need of God's help.

I'll skip the (intriguing) details, but back in February of 2018, I found myself at an obscure conference in the California desert where I first ran into Father John Anthony Boughton, the leader of the super-poor Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. His conversion story is amazing:

Father Boughton Podcast

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Before each day of the conference, as I have been doing for decades, I prostrated myself (face down on the floor) before the Blessed Sacrament, and ardently implored my guardian angel, the Mary Foundation's powerful top angel, and your angels to direct me completely—to place me in front of whomever God wanted me to talk to, and to absolutely guide my every thought, word, prayer, and deed.

If You See Me You See My Dad

I also ask for unselfishness—to become blind to my own agenda or desires and instead orient myself toward helping each person I encounter. I truly beg the angels for this last gift because it is so difficult and counterintuitive. (My father taught me all this.)

Funny thing is I never feel or sense the angelic direction and powers for which I ask. So many decisions seem insignificant...

Walk to this side of the room or the other side? What time to set the alarm? Take a shower before bed or in the morning? Take a five minute prayer break? Park the rental car in this spot or that one—pull in forward or take twenty extra seconds to back in? Lose sleep to stay up late in the hotel lobby in case somebody wanders by? Answer that text from the office now or later? Chicken wings or a burger at dinner? Walk back to the car to get my pen or borrow one from the front desk? Make a joke or be serious?

It really is up to me. Or so it seems. It's naturally supernatural.

Don't Trust Me Either

You see, I don't trust myself. Sure, I'm a smart, creative, and faithful guy with a fine education, with decades of professional experience and wisdom steeped in suffering, but I have learned that all those things are not nearly enough—they are not even one-hundredth of 1% close enough to figuring out how to be in God's will while representing the Mary Foundation.

A few months later I banged into Father Boughton at another conference! (Did I mention that I try to avoid going to conferences?) Our friendship deepened.

A couple years later he called to ask for help in doing something spiritually-potent for America before the 2020 election—which quickly morphed into us pinning the Mantle of Mary over our nation—and after a series of providential events spanning another three years, developed into carrying the Relic of the True Cross on foot with you across America while hundreds of thousands prayed for deliverance from evil—Operation True Cross.

Join Operation True Cross

The bishops' decision to cross the country in a geographical crucifix was also a direct result of my partnership with Father Boughton.

Angels All the Way Up

Only in retrospect has it become clear that angels guided me into Father Boughton's life within the context of a profoundly unfathomable divine plan for all the nations of the world—and your angels guided me, too, because none of these history-changing things happen without your hard work, alms, prayers, and sacrifice.

So this is what I am pathetically trying to convey when I often reassure you that the Queen of Angels, Immaculate Mary, guided you to being a part of the Mary Foundation. I have been praying for you, every day, before you ever got here, going on thirty-four years.

It's angels, angels, angels, all the way up.

Down to the Second

During my family emergency, although I am not free to provide details, there was an unmistakable divine intervention against... an entity. After thousands of seemingly small personal decisions—such as which gas station to stop at during a long drive, and whether to take a few extra minutes to wipe the bugs off the windshield—the confrontation came down to one moment at a particular unlikely place.

It all worked out, miraculously. During the worst of it, however, it came strongly into my mind that the unseen battle was down to a matter of seconds. I made snap and free decisions, not really sure what was going on in the fog of events.

In the jumble of action and confusion I flashed back to our ten-million-to-one encounter with the sketchy Archbishop Paglia during the final minutes of completing the Washington DC "beam" of Operation True Cross. It's worth rereading my account:

Paglia: A Striking Sign from God

You do have freedom. You know you do. You live it. God does not make robots. He has a divinely sovereign free will. To the extent freedom is good, He is Freedom itself.

Yet everything that happens to you, for good or ill, happens within an unfathomable matrix of existence permeated by the power and love of this God who would otherwise be beyond our wildest imagination if Jesus had not been incarnated into time.

Down to the second.

Proof

At this time of year, they arrive at dusk, just after dinner time. They hover just a few feet in the air and are bafflingly easy to catch. They are utterly harmless.

And they glow in the dark.

So whether you call them lightning bugs or fireflies, they are designed to delight human children. Therefore, God exists.

The Moment Where I Live

This won't make sense, but I will share it with you anyway. It echoes something John Michael Talbot experienced during his profound Warning. (You really do have to hear him for yourself.)

I want live inside the moment of the Annunciation. In the fullness of time, that is the singular moment that matters most—when the Word Became Flesh. We pray it with every Angelus.

Our Lady's house during her visit from the Archangel Gabriel is in the eternal now. This is where and when I am—or hope that Our God Beyond Time allows me to be.

Both times when I went on pilgrimage to Nazareth to be in her little house, and stood where the most important event ever—in any context—took place, I was overcome with the Holy Spirit.

Who You Bring Everywhere

Let's review. If you are in a state of grace, you have the Holy Trinity inside of you.

This makes you dangerous. The bad guys hate it. You're bringing a nuke to a knife fight. Be not afraid. Let nothing disturb you.

You have the Holy Trinity inside you.

Praying for Miracles

Please call to mind the situations in your life which require divine intervention and miracles. Along with the Mother of God, let us begin, tens of thousands of us together, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit...

Christ with me.
Christ before me.
Christ behind me.
Christ in me.
Christ beneath me.
Christ above me.
Christ on my right.
Christ on my left.
Christ in breadth.
Christ in length.
Christ in height.
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me.
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me.
Christ in every eye that sees me.
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today through a mighty strength,
the invocation of the Trinity,
through belief in the threeness,
through confession of the oneness,
of the Creator of Creation. Amen

You guys are the best. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you for your prayers for my family.

Stay frosty.

With Saint Patrick,

Bud Macfarlane
Founder

 

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