Yelling At The Sky

Volume XXII, Number 1 – January 17, 2018

Dear Catholicity Citizen, 

Yo! Welcome to my first message of 2018 and the mind-blowing twenty-second year of the CatholiCity Message---still the biggest and baddest Catholic e-letter ever. Way back in 1996 most people did not have email when I invented this oddly hardy creature.

 I've decided to do a poor job today, just to prove that the success of the Catholicity Message does not depend on my doing a good job!

 After a surprising Christmas Appeal update, our next two brief topics (which flow from years of discernment, study, and prayer) will combine to form our theme for the year. 

The Last Fatima Anniversary Rosaries on Earth

Thanks to your generosity, our Annual Christmas Appeal update, went, um, pretty well, yet we fell short of our goal by $18,000. The very good news is that I am certain our apostolate will survive through 2018. We are humbled by you outpouring of support!

Of the 60,000+ people reading this message, we need only a few hundred more of you to bring in that final $18k, which will allow us to invest in new projects to reach more people. 

Now for the cool part, the Rest of the Story:

During the Christmas Appeal, you shocked our family-run rosary supplier, Ghirelli USA, by using up every last one of the limited-edition 100-Year Anniversary Rosaries on planet earth!

Before Ghirelli ran out, I personally had every one of these amazing rosaries blessed by a priest, then sprinkled each one with holy water from Lourdes before prayerfully touching them to my first class relics of:

Saint Joseph

Saint Anthony 

Saint Jude

Saint Therese of Lisieux

Saint Francis Xavier

Saint Maximillian Kolbe

and ... my Holy Relic of the True Cross

"There are no more Fatima Rosaries!?" I cried out to the skies when I called Julie at Ghirelli USA.

Hoping against hope, Julie desperately called the Ghirellis in Rovigo, Italy. They searched and searched until they discovered forgotten boxes with enough components to make several hundred more. 

Working extra hours until the Epiphany, this wonderful family made the final Fatima 100-Year Anniversary Rosaries this world will ever see, by hand, just for you.

The shipment of the "Last Fatima Anniversary Rosaries on Earth" arrived this morning and we mailed most of them out as Christmas Thank You gifts today. 

Fewer than 150 remain. 

I took one and placed it on my desk as I typed this:

According to the parameters we set up for the Christmas Appeal in early December:

If you feel called to make a donation of $77 or more toward our shortfall, we will send you one Fatima Rosary. 

For a gift of $111, we will send you two Fatima Rosaries.

For a gift of $222, we will send you three Fatima Rosaries.  

(Fatima Rosary No Longer Available)

Your rosary will be the last of its kind on earth. 

All the details are described here. (Including that you may also receive an 8x10 Guadalupe art print and Child Jesus fridge magnets, etc.)

Alas, first come, first serve.

Second Come, Second Serve

Because we might run out again, Julie agreed to send us alternative (and truly beautiful) Fatima rosaries that are always available. 

Therefore, if you make a $77+ donation after we run out of Fatima Anniversary rosaries, I will send you the alternative Fatima rosary. Of course I will have these blessed and touch them to my relics and the True Cross.

(Although I can't blame you for wanting to ask for extra rosaries or wanting to make a lower donation amount, please refrain because it means that we won't be able to send Anniversary rosaries to others who respect the limits.)

How to Be Happy

According to the saints and the Church, even in the midst of inevitable pain and suffering, there is only one way to remain joyful and peaceful: to know and do God's will. Two important issues arise:

First: How do we know God's will?

Second: How do we do His will?

We will address both during 2018.

The Augustine Principle

It surely was not God's will for the evil man who eventually became Saint Augustine to spend much of his adult life fornicating incessantly, conceiving multiple illegitimate children, constantly gambling, and wallowing in drunkenness all while causing his mother years of extraordinary heartache.

After his conversion, Augustine became a bishop and one of the most profoundly influential theologians in human history. His mother became a saint. His autobiography, "Confessions," has converted millions and is still a worldwide bestseller sixteen hundred years after it was written!

The Augustine Principle, simply stated: God will bring more glory and greater good out of sin and evil than if that evil had not occurred. I will comment more about this as the year progresses, especially regarding how the Augustine Principle applies to your life, but for now, just ponder the idea as you bravely assess the darkness in your own life and in the lives of those you love. 

Pray with 60,000 Fellow Citizens

My beloved friends, please take a breath, compose your spirit, and join me 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 this year, 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 with all our hearts for love of You, the Church, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Please grant the spiritual and temporal needs, the conversion and sanctification, the healing, perfect health, long life, and freedom from all evil for myself, my family, those who depend on me, my friends, my relatives, my coworkers, and for every soul You have planned to be a part of my life this year, no matter how remotely, indirectly, or close I come to them. 

Send all CatholiCity Citizens immediate and superabundant miracles and divine intervention along with you angels from heaven to light, to govern, to guard, and to guide every aspect of every part of our lives. Grant me now the sweet priceless grace to know your will and even more sublime grace to do your will with joy, serenity, love, steadfastness, ease, strength, prudence, and compassion. Amen. 

And amen! Believe it or not, Ash Wednesday is just a few weeks away! I have something special planned. Thank you for reading this and for being part of our work and our lives. You can always meet me in the Eucharist. 

With Immaculate Mary,

Bud Macfarlane
Founder

(Fatima Rosary No Longer Available)