Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Mary Answers Our Prayers: (Bud Macfarlane and Family Prayer)
Marian Helper ^ | Spring 2003 | Bud Macfarlane

Posted on 03/04/2003 10:23:26 AM PST by Pyro7480

Mary answers our prayers
Perseverance in praying the Rosary taught the Macfarlane family to expect answers.

by Bud Macfarlane, Jr., MI


During my senior year at the University of Notre Dame, I taught another student how to pray the Rosary. Her name was Christi "Bai" TePas. Along with several friends, Bai and I consecrated ourselves to Mary Immaculate on Dec. 8, 1983.

Then, I lost track of Bai after I graduated. She spent the next seven years praying the Rosary every day to find a husband. And as Providence would have it, he turned out to be me!

In 1990, we were reunited and got married on Dec. 8. We consecrated our marriage to Our Lady, and our life together has been a spiritual adventure. In fact, just as perseverance in praying the Rosary brought us to the altar, so it became the foundation of our family prayer life and our work as lay apostles.

Let's fast-forward 12 years. God has blessed us with four sons. I wish I could say our family Rosary is a peaceful spiritual experience, but it rarely works out that way. Our boys are like all boys: energetic, good-natured, and given to struggles with each other and their own still-developing wills and virtues. This is a delicate way of saying that they're wild and warlike little men in the great Macfarlane tradition of our Scottish forebears.

Not surprisingly, our family Rosary time is often a struggle against distraction. We pray the Rosary as we put the boys to bed amidst endless squirming, frayed young nerves, and our own fatigue as hard-working parents.

Nevertheless, our sons have fallen asleep every night of their lives, from their time in the womb (for scientists have proven that unborn babies can hear what's going on outside) until this very day with their parents' and brothers' prayers of love to Jesus and Mary in their ears.

I believe Jesus gives us more grace despite these distractions. My wife and I do not have the luxury of meditating peacefully as we pray with Our Lady, but her faithfulness to us is what really matters. Besides, I doubt anybody in the Vatican will be considering canonizing me as an example of mystical contemplative prayer.

Daily persistence in family prayer is a widow's mite every family can offer God -- and this is just one lesson my sons learn as brothers of Christ and sons of Mary. We have learned, for example, to share the sublime joy of experiencing the sweetest fruit of our "spiritual labor." That is, our prayers are answered, sometimes after years of intercession.

We Macfarlanes have witnessed miracles great and small in the lives of our friends and relatives many times over. Unemployed fathers find jobs. As we did, our friends find spouses. Houses are sold. The lukewarm and fallen away are converted. No one will ever be able to convince my sons that prayers are not answered. Long after others have given up, my sons will know to keep praying.

Our Lady is teaching my sons other important lessons. Battles for souls begin and end with prayer. Family prayer is powerful prayer. Our Lady loves us not just as individuals, but as a family. And through the mysteries, my sons learn about Jesus -- that He was a little baby and a little boy, too.

They learn that Christians proclaim the kingdom of God without fear -- that if you want to save souls like Jesus, imitate His suffering. When the crosses of life knock you down, you get back up because that's what Jesus did. Our boys know that the Resurrection will come, and when it does, we will be with the Queen of Heaven, Mary, because she is the Queen of the Macfarlanes, too.

This is what is happening inside my sons' souls in the order of powers and principalities, despite the distractions, when the Macfarlanes pray together every night. Mary taught her Son these truths when He was a boy, and she is now teaching our sons -- and their parents -- these same lessons.

We also pray five 54-day Rosary novenas each year as a family, beginning or ending on the same five prominent feast days -- along with many thousands of friends and benefactors of our lay apostolate, the Mary Foundation, which sponsors these powerful novenas. My sons are learning that our family prayer can be joined with the family prayers of others in the Mystical Body of Christ.

We've distributed hundreds of thousands of free Rosary tapes and CDs over the years through the Mary Foundation, which my wife is fond of referring to as "our only daughter." I always take consolation that Bai's lovely voice, which I enjoy every night, leads the first decade of the Rosary on the tape, although few listeners realize this. My sons and I are happy to share!

Which brings us to last October. Because of my work, I had heard the rumors about the new Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary through the Internet grapevine. It was with great pleasure, then, that my wife shook my shoulder to wake me on Oct. 17, holding up a printout of the Pope's announcement. It was a beautiful beginning to a beautiful day for our family.

Amidst all the excitement, many folks missed that Oct. 16 -- the day the Holy Father proclaimed the Luminous Mysteries -- was a big day for him personally because it marked the start of the 25th anniversary year of his election as Pope.

When my wife woke me on Thursday morning, it was also a big day in the Macfarlane home. Our third son, Xavier Aquinas (no pressure with that name!), turned 5 years old on Oct. 17. Our family tradition is to have our 5-year-old begin leading the first mystery of the family Rosary each and every evening -- until the next son turns 5, at which point the older boys all jump "forward" to lead the subsequent mystery. Xavey was excited by the cake, the presents, and the prospect of leading all of us in the new mysteries later that evening. As it turns out, Thursday is also the day of the week Pope John Paul II recommended for meditating on the new mysteries, which focus on the public ministry of Jesus.

As if to add to Xavey's papal birthday gift, Oct. 17th is also the day that my family begins our favorite 54-day novena. Why is it our favorite? Because of the feast day on which the novena ends. So when Xavier led us in "the Baptism in the Jordan" -- christening the first Macfarlane family Rosary on the Luminous Mysteries, the most important new development in the most popular Catholic devotion in the world -- we were also beginning a novena that ended this past Dec. 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Our little son had just led us in prayer to our 12th wedding anniversary and the 19th anniversary of my wife and I consecrating our hearts to Mary Immaculate!

There was another Macfarlane anniversary on Dec. 8, 2002. Our second child, whom Bai miscarried on that day, would have been 9 years old. The Macfarlanes echo our Holy Father's motto: we are all yours, Mary, and all that we have is yours, on earth and in heaven. We have the anniversaries and the birthdays, sufferings and joys to prove it.

Even though our family Rosary that evening came with the usual distractions, Xavey nailed his decade like a veteran. I'm sure Our Lady was smiling upon us on that mystically beautiful evening, and she confirmed to us that Xavey is a natural born leader. Twenty years from now, I'm sure Xavier and other Macfarlanes yet to be born will be offering their lives to Our Lady and praying the family Rosary. Perhaps one will be writing an article for this magazine.


Bud and Bai Macfarlane and their sons pray the Rosary together while spending time homeschooling, skiing, and hiking in Ohio and New Hampshire. Bud is the director of the Mary Foundation, the world's largest producer of Catholic audio tapes, and is one of America's favorite Catholic writers with over 700,000 novels in print. Free copies of his books or tapes are available at www.catholicity.com.


TOPICS: Catholic; General Discusssion; Ministry/Outreach; Prayer; Worship
KEYWORDS: family; macfarlane; mary; prayer; rosary
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-54 next last
Another gem of an article from Marian Helper magazine. :-)
1 posted on 03/04/2003 10:23:26 AM PST by Pyro7480
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Polycarp; BlackElk; sandyeggo; saradippity; JMJ333; Aquinasfan; St.Chuck; Siobhan; Salvation; ...
Ping!!! (I know, I know, I've been pinging you guys a lot lately, but I have found a lot of good articles lately, and I've been inspired too) :-) Enjoy! (Oh, if you want me to stop pinging you, just FReep mail me) :-P
2 posted on 03/04/2003 10:31:08 AM PST by Pyro7480 (+ Vive Jesus! (Live Jesus!) +)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Pyro7480
BUMP
3 posted on 03/04/2003 10:42:50 AM PST by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Pyro7480
Mary answers prayer?
4 posted on 03/04/2003 10:53:17 AM PST by Codie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Pyro7480
Bump for the MacFarlane's.

I'm a huge www.Catholicity.com fan and supporter!
5 posted on 03/04/2003 11:11:57 AM PST by MudPuppy (Semper Fidelis and Ave Maria!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Codie
No, she doesn't
6 posted on 03/04/2003 11:31:57 AM PST by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: ShadowAce
Protestant agreement!
7 posted on 03/04/2003 11:52:18 AM PST by LiteKeeper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: ShadowAce; Codie; LiteKeeper
You're all forgetting the vital step. I'll explain it this way. You'd agree that Jesus is fully human and fully divine, yes? The Gospel says that He was born the Mary and Joseph, both devout Jews. Judaism teaches in the Ten Commandments to "honor your mother and father." Jesus was raised in this environment (even though He was God and already knew this law). Since He was without sin however, He was still obedient to them. Do you think that this suddenly ended when He entered into His kingdom? He didn't suddenly become just divine. He still honors His mother and foster father even in Heaven. Mary is the Queen Mother of all Christians, since she is the Mother of the King of Kings. She answers prayers in the sense that she "has the ear" of her Divine Son in Heaven. When Catholics and Orthodox Christians pray to Mary, we ask her to act as an intercessor, because "all ages will call her blessed" (Luke 1: 48). This is the duty of a mother of a king (the Queen Mother), to act as an advocate for the people that He rules. The question one should really ask is: Why do so many Christians dishonor the Mother of the Savior?
8 posted on 03/04/2003 12:08:01 PM PST by Pyro7480 (+ Vive Jesus! (Live Jesus!) +)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway; Polycarp; Siobhan; Salvation; MudPuppy
The Protestants have taken over the thread! ;-)
9 posted on 03/04/2003 12:09:59 PM PST by Pyro7480 (+ Vive Jesus! (Live Jesus!) +)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Codie
You've never asked someone to pary for you? And did they actually pray for you? Was it wrong of them to do so?
10 posted on 03/04/2003 12:13:48 PM PST by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: ShadowAce
Yes, I realize that.As a Catholic,I've prayed the rosary many times.However, I've always understood it to be a contemplative prayer on the life of Christ.I used it to deepen my walk with God and Catholic faith,nothing more.
11 posted on 03/04/2003 12:13:57 PM PST by Codie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Codie; ShadowAce; LiteKeeper; Pyro7480
On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples. When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." And Jesus said to her, "O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." Now six stone jars were standing there, for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast." So they took it. When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now." This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him. (John:1-11)
12 posted on 03/04/2003 12:16:01 PM PST by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway
Not when I prayed the Rosary.
13 posted on 03/04/2003 12:16:24 PM PST by Codie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: ShadowAce
Looks like she does to me. At least, according to the Bible.
14 posted on 03/04/2003 12:16:58 PM PST by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Codie; ShadowAce; LiteKeeper; Pyro7480
His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever He tells you.
15 posted on 03/04/2003 12:17:57 PM PST by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Pyro7480
bttt
16 posted on 03/04/2003 12:18:50 PM PST by firewalk
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Codie
I'm not sure which question you were answering. But, as part of the cloud of witnesses, we can pray for one another. God does here our petitions. All well-intentioned prayer is beneficial.
17 posted on 03/04/2003 12:23:18 PM PST by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Pyro7480
When I pray the rosery I say "Hail Mary full of grace help me find a parking place". Works like a charm. :-)
18 posted on 03/04/2003 12:23:48 PM PST by Invincibly Ignorant
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway
I understand God hears and answers our petitions,not Mary.Change the title to "Mary intercedes for us".
19 posted on 03/04/2003 12:29:17 PM PST by Codie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Codie
I can see how the title could be misleading, but I know they didn't intend to imply Mary had powers indepent of God. Just like at the wedding at Cana.
20 posted on 03/04/2003 12:42:44 PM PST by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-54 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson