Bishop Strickland is Removed

Volume XXVII, Number 22
November 15, 2023

My beloved friends, I have a semi-rant with a higher purpose, part of a poem, testimonies, and a prayer.

The Bigger Picture

Just because I rarely comment on current events in the Church doesn't mean I don't closely follow what's going on here in America, at the Vatican, and the world over. (My Rule of Thumb, based on decades of experience: "Whatever it is, beneath the surface, it's worse than you think.")

I am deeply disappointed but not surprised by the removal of Bishop Joseph E. Strickland (which I believe was unjust). The Vatican is making an example of him, and I trust he will respond with the holiness, prudence, and courage that defined his reign. I'm fasting and praying this week for him and for his flock.

Mountain of Dung

Add this particular evil to hundreds of other outrages that have piled up into a vast mountain of dung over the past five decades since I was "red-pilled" as a freshman when I discovered the corruption at the University of Notre Dame which extended many year prior to the 1960s.

These scandals have included the commonplace desecration of our Eucharistic Lord; the on-the-ground promotion of heresy; recent systematic suppression of the Latin Mass (contradicting the prior pope); the cover-up of sexual abuse and perversion that cries to heaven for justice; liturgical nightmares; unprecedented and willing church shutdowns during the pandemic during Lent and beyond; infiltration of Masonic enemies and even satanists at the highest levels of the Church; multiple generations of Catholics leaving the practice of the faith by the tens of millions in America alone; widespread capitulation to the use of contraception—as well as the guilty silence, tolerance, and even positive "signals" of approval regarding moral depravities and other insane cultural assaults—all contrary to nature itself, divine law, and two thousand years of infallible Sacred Tradition.

And that's just a partial list of problems in the Church. Don't get me started on the horrific and diabolical developments in politics, medicine, economics, technocratic authoritarianism, senseless wars, and every facet of culture.

Mary Does Not Lie

My heart aches for the eternal implications for each soul in this nation and across the planet. They are "falling into hell like snowflakes," as Our Lady of Fatima testified over one hundred years ago.

You already know about most or all of these horrors. And you also know my response: to effectively and aggressively attack the source of the evils—the serpent-dragon himself—through our prayers of exorcism and heroic self-denial, while ceaselessly calling upon the Eternal Father (who hears and accepts every humble prayer and sacrifice we offer) to grant a divine intervention to deliver us from these unspeakable evils.

Confronting Evil, Why?

Saint Thomas Aquinas confirmed that the Father allows evil to bring about a greater good. But that does not mean He wants evil. The Father is a particular person with a will who desires just the opposite. He wants us to vanquish evil—and to attack in such a way as to assure victory—on the field of battle which He wisely chooses for each of us. This means among our families, our friends, our parishes, and our nation.

That's what the Mary Foundation's "tools for evangelization" and especially Operation True Cross are all about. It's about victory through our zeal for souls and atonement for sin in union with Christ Crucified.

So I do not allow myself to dwell on the horrors, except to diagnose how to vanquish them and then act prudently, calmly, and without hesitation or fear.

Our "only security is courage." Holy courage. If you are afraid, that's okay, because I am not. Come with me, man. Come with me, woman. Let us climb Calvary's glorious arch together.

The Great Apostasy

It's not complicated. Our all-powerful God has surely accepted our pleas and will cast down the demons oppressing us. His chosen instruments are angels, who bind the evil spirits. We merit grace for their victory by suffering in our bodies, as Christ did on the Holy Cross.

Take heart. I am not complaining or trying to get you worked up about the problems. Longtime readers know me better by now. Be not afraid. The Mother of God cannot speak anything other than the truth, and Our Lady of Fatima (and numerous approved mystics over recent centuries) have assured us that these things—the desecrations, persecutions, injustices, and myriad rotten fruits of the Great Apostasy—would occur before the triumph of her Immaculate Heart and the Period of Peace.

It won't be long now. I know it in my bones.

Well Worth It

As of last week, I'm a diabetic. According to the tests, a big shift just happened. I have nearly perfect dietary habits, am getting the best treatment, and am otherwise in fine health (please don't inundate me with medical advice, as much as I cherish that it shows your concern). Along with genetics, I suspect this was caused in some significant degree by the extreme rigors of the True Cross walking pilgrimage. If that's true, fine by me.

I would do it again—and again—without hesitation.

Father Ripperger Himself

This weekend, I'm attending another private retreat led by Father Chad Ripperger. What would you have me ask him?

Speaking of Ripperger

In short order, many of you have adopted the Three Angelus Prescription to quickly rid your life of demonic influence while distributing over 80,000 evangelization cards. We owe Father Ripperger and his fellow exorcists for developing such a simple and powerful remedy. Your testimonies are pouring in:

Made a Huge Difference in My Life

"A little over a month ago I began praying the Angelus at the three designated times. As you indicated, it was challenging in the beginning, but it got easier. The Holy Spirit has opened my eyes to realize the severity of my sins, even what some would call the tiniest of sins, but now I realize the importance of just chipping away at them with the tools God has given me: Confession, Eucharist, Adoration. It has made a huge difference in my life."
- Therese

My Inner Life Has Completely Changed

"I was having a terrible time almost every day. It seemed that anything I tried to do would go wrong. I knew this had to be Satan. However, since I began saying the Angelus three times daily, all of that turmoil just stopped! My inner life has completely changed. What a relief and what a miracle! I had been telling Jesus that it was getting too tough for me to handle all this dissension being showered upon me daily by Satan, and would He please do something to stop it. Then, I read about the Angelus Cure from Bud, have been praying it ever since, and I feel like a different person."
- Nancy

What is the Cure?

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Confronting Evil, How To

...I would hate that death
bandaged my eye and forbore,
and bade me creep past.
No! Let me taste the whole of it,
fare like my peers,
the heroes of old.
Bear the brunt, in a minute pay
glad life's arrears
of pain and cold.
For sudden the worst
turns the best to the brave,
the black minute's at end,
and the elements rage,
the fiend-voices that rave,
shall dwindle, shall bend, shall change,
shall become first a peace out of pain,
then a light, then thy breast,
O thou soul of my soul!
I shall clasp thee again,
And with God be the rest.

- Robert Browning, from the poem, Prospice

A Classic Prayer

Let us begin, tens of thousands of us together, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit...

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known
that anyone who fled to thy protection,
implored thy help,
or sought thy intercession,
was left unaided.

Inspired by this confidence we fly unto thee,
O Virgin of Virgins, our mother.
To thee do we come, before thee we stand,
sinful and sorrowful.
O Mother of the Word Incarnate,
despise not our petitions,
but in thy mercy hear and answer us.
Amen.

Everything is gonna be all right. You guys are the best! I'll see you on the other side of Thanksgiving. I'm grateful for you, and to Our Lady for sending you to us.

Stay frosty.

With the Sacred Heart,

Bud Macfarlane
Founder

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