Walk with Joseph and Mary this Advent
Volume XXVII, Number 26
December 7, 2023
Dearest Friends,
Yikes! Yikes! Yikes!
Our annual Christmas appeal is in a peculiar kind of trouble, so this update will be as brief as possible before I get to a truly unique Advent prayer idea from the "Mystic Next Door," Ed Jozsa.
Hey, let's dust off the trusty 'ole good-news bad-news trope...
The Bad NewsFor reasons too complex to go into, nearly twenty-thousand of you missed my annual appeal email a couple days ago. This is highly unusual. Hmmnn.
Remember, I only ask once a year—and after next week, we stay out of your hair until after Christmas.
The Good NewsThe enthusiastic responses and loving comments from the minority of you who did open it have been super-generous—and I know that some of you are mailing in your Christmas gifts. You guys are the best—thank you, thank you!
But it's not nearly enough to keep our doors open next year. Let's go with a baseball analogy. We're rounding first base when we normally would be rounding third base.
Here's the message most of you missed. I think I was pretty mellow this year.
Instead of focusing on the Mary Foundation's (real and serious) financial challenges, I was compelled to emphasize the profound spiritual fruits of almsgiving—which apply to any worthy Catholic charity you support, not just our hidden little Mary Foundation.
It's Catholic stuff you never really read anywhere else.
So if you somehow missed my original appeal (very likely) or meant to take a couple minutes to donate online but got distracted (trust me—I understand) please take a gander.
The Ideas for Challenging Yourself section alone is worth it, in my humble opinion, whether you feel called to make a gift this year or not.
At the least, scroll down and please pray the group prayer at the end for God to provide the grace to inspire others to participate.
Or take a couple minutes to make your yearly Christmas offering right now:
• Make a One-Time Christmas Gift• Become a Monthly Donor
• Donate by Mail
Finally, my guys asked me to mention a couple of things you've been asking about.
Monthly DonorsFirst, if you're already a monthly credit card donor and would like to change your monthly donation amount, here is the easiest way:
• Contact us with your new amount.
We Love Our Overseas FriendsI forgot to mention how much we appreciate support from all our friends around the world—in Canada, Australia, the U.K, the Philippines—and in so many other countries. You really make a difference.
So Ed Jozsa Called...
Now let's get to my friend, Ed Jozsa, who looks and sounds like a regular guy except—as a result of a horrific car accident and direct encounter with the Holy Spirit almost seven years ago—he offers his nearly 24/7 physical pain and interior mystical suffering with Christ Crucified in atonement for sin.
You and I will likely never have one minute of pain that comes close to what he endures on a daily basis. (You really do have to listen to our podcast with him to understand his amazing supernatural experience.)
Walk with Joseph and Mary
Here is something to do during Advent I've never heard before—and you wouldn't be reading this if my last message hadn't been stymied.
After days of phone tag, during our friendly call this morning, Ed told me that he was thinking about how Joseph and Mary had been compelled to endure a very long journey this time of year all the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the Roman census.
Because, in a sense, from God's perspective in the fullness of time, they are on that long journey in the eternal now (which sometimes Ed experiences mystically), Ed decided he wanted to walk with Joseph and Mary this Advent, especially during his meditative prayer.
As Ed prayed, he conversed in his imagination with Joseph and Mary (which we can all do) during their walk. However, he began to miss being able to talk to directly to Jesus.
Then he realized that Jesus was already there, in Our Lady's womb.
So, Ed began to converse with the unborn Christ Child. Have you ever addressed Jesus as an unborn baby?
Imagine conversing with Joseph, Mary, and our divine savior as he rests and grows in the most "blessed" of all wombs! Good stuff. If you feel inspired, try it out and let me know what happens.
Please lift your heart to heaven, and join me and so many others in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost...
O come, O come Emmanuel
and ransom captive Israel!
Amen.
Emmanuel, of course, is the Greek spelling of the Hebrew word meaning "God with us."
I apologize for all the Christmas appeal complications. We're doing the best we can. I really do trust your judgement.
May Our Lord be with you during your best Advent ever!
See you soon.
With Saint Joseph,
Bud Macfarlane
Founder
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