Volume XXX, Number 2
February 5th, 2026

Your Spiritual Immune System

My Trusted Friends,

I'm in the middle of a very serious family emergency. Unfortunately, a miracle is needed, and I'm counting on your prayers.

Today I have a meditation, quotes, memes, and of course, our group prayer.

Just Two Weeks Until Lent!

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Supplements and Prayer

I began taking supplements over a quarter century ago after reading Dr. Atkins' medical research in his legendary book on what is now known as the Low Carb or Keto diet.

I also began exercising nearly every day, which meant walking, basketball, and physical labor.

Ed

For example, that's the two-ton rock wall I constructed last summer to help rehab my bicep after surgery.

Because of Dr. Atkins, I lost a lot of weight and delayed diabetes, so he likely saved my life—and certainly allowed me to carry the True Cross for thousands of miles decades later.

I added more supplements over the years. Here's what I swallowed this morning.

Ed

Ward Off Spiritual Disease

Perhaps it is too a simple of an analogy that crippling spiritual "disease" can be warded off with spiritual "supplements."

You already know what these are, most of which we "supply" at the Mary Foundation:

• Devotions
Novenas
• Sacraments (Mass, Confession)
• Bible Reading
Daily Exorcism Prayers
Three Angelus Cure
Consecration to Mary

Spiritual "Exercises"

You could think of the following as spiritual workouts, which the Catholic Church literally labels spiritual works:

• Adoration
• Daily Meditative Prayer (the de Sales' Way)
The Rosary

We want to be spiritually healthy and vigorous so we are prepared for our "Divine Assignments" in the future.

The lesson here is that God has particular plans for you, for your holiness, and for your impact on the lives of countless others, and that these plans extend far into the future—years and often decades.

So let's...

Prepare for Lent

"The companion of patience is wisdom."
- Saint Augustine

"Order means light and peace, inward liberty, and free command over one's self."
- Henri Frederic Amiel

"We all suffer for each other, and gain by each other's suffering, for man never stands alone here, though he will stand alone hereafter. But here he is a social being, and goes forward to his long home as one of a large company."
- Saint John Henry Newman

"Nothing, how little so ever it be, if it is suffered for God's sake, can pass without merit in the sight of God."
- Thomas á Kempis

"Fasting is better than prayer, and almsgiving is better than both."
- Pope Saint Clement I

"We also boast in our afflictions, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance proven character, and proven character hope—and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts."
- Romans 5:1-6


Pray with Me + A True Story

At the summer's end in 1984, despondent beyond words, while I was waiting in the chapel before I left the seminary I entered just after college, I came across the following prayer in an ancient, tattered missal. I never saw this prayer before or since.

With just minutes before I had to depart, I spent all my mental energy memorizing it—and since then, because of the Mary Foundation, many millions of people have prayed this profoundly encouraging morning offering found in our Powerful Prayers booklet and on our Rosary recording.

So take a deep breath with me, and let us begin the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit...

Dear Lord, I do not know what will happen to me today, I only know that nothing will happen that was not foreseen by You and directed to my greater good from all eternity. I adore your holy and unfathomable plans, and submit to them with all my heart for love of You, the pope, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Amen.

Meme Me Up, Scotty

Ed Ed

And remember, there are two kinds of people in this world—and you're not one of them.

Thanks for reading. Thank you for your prayers for my family emergency—miracle needed.

I'm with you.

I need you.

Fear nothing.

The dragon will fall.

Lent is coming—
and so is spring!

You guys...
are the best!

I miss donuts.

All for Mary!

I love Saint Anthony.

Persevere.

With Saint Agatha,

Bud Macfarlane
The Supplementer

Ed

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