Hello, dear brother in Christ,

Just wanted to share a comment. Okay not really a comment, more of a rambling-pouring-my-heart-out!

This past week, I have been delving into several books I purchased on Our Lady of Good Success and they are awesome. I don't know why but I've heard virtually nothing about OLGS. I found that very odd - it is an approved apparition, and yet I had never heard of it, but have heard of LaSalette, Lourdes, Fatima, Banneux, Beauring, etc. I am a devotee now! I don't even know what web search lead me to reading about Our Lady of Good Success - I believe it was the Holy Spirit.

Because of the writings of Marian T. Horvat, I started reading a lot on your website this weekend also. It is terrifying when I start reading all this - the evils that you say are going on in Rome. Then it affects me personally - e.g., I enjoy the readings of the Jose Marie Escriva but now I don't know what to think. I am discouraged by what I read about Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict. And the fake miracles hurrying up various sainthood causes. I could go on - I've read a lot in a short period of time!

What are we to do (besides pray, make sacrifices and fast)? What do most of your readers do, just go to their local Mass and try to fight to make changes, or try to find a Latin Mass, or what? Or not go at all if they don't have a Latin Mass?

How do you stay positive when you know of all such evils going on? I haven't read the half of your website - can't imagine how dark I'd feel if I did! I am progressing in sanctity but obviously not strong enough to handle it all!

Then I read on your website about the family, and all that a good Catholic family should be. I can't even dream of such a family - I have never met one.

I converted to the faith in 1980 at the age of 18. I knew several good Catholic families but I guess even they weren't as good as they could have been. But I feel my husband and I have already lost the battle with our own family. I did too little, too late, and our college age boys have all gone astray, and the high school aged son is going the same way. With my two girls there is hope, as they are only 10 and 12.

I pray the rosary, divine mercy chaplet, litany of Our Lady and other prayers each day for hopes that they will return to the faith and that it's not too late for the girls. But some of it, I fear it already is.

I started dressing femininely the past 18 months - dresses and skirts only - but I haven't demanded that my girls do so (but still do have them to dress modestly). I fear if I suddenly force them to dress in long dresses like I recently have, they will rebel. It would have been so much easier had they (and I) always wore feminine clothing.

For my many sins and lack of example, I fear I will have a long purgatory. But I can't give in to feelings of despair. I must do all I can each day, one day at a time, to instill the faith in my children and become more holy myself. St. Monica never gave up.

My question is, what do you and your readers do to keep from feeling discouraged about the whole situation in the Church? Do you just hope and trust in the Blessed Mother that she and her Divine Son will reign in the end, or what?

I would love to see a "good news" section on your website, for things that are going RIGHT with the Church (forgive me if there is such a section, and I just haven't come across it yet). I do see there is a prayer section which is good news. I'd like to see a good news of current events but maybe there is none to report.

Thanks for reading my ramble. And thank you for all your hard work. It is difficult to read but so necessary.

     J.L.



The Editor responds:

Dear J.L.,

Thank you for your sincerity, good will and the consideration you show us.

Yes, there are 'positive' pages on our website. We have an entire page dedicated to Our Lady of Good Success, the devotion you already know. On the Special Devotions page you will find beautiful meditations about Christmas and the Passion, along with many articles on Our Lady under many different invocations.

On the Saints of the Day page you will find more than 250 edifying commentaries on saints who help us to bear the day-to-day fights and crosses we have to face as Catholics. When the Church Militant does not have good news, we should look for it in the Church Triumphant. The comments on the saints may very well help you as they do so to many others. On the Spotlight page we place links to the Saints of the past seven days.

You may also enjoy reading our Stories and Legends page, very popular with our readers. Another page has many articles that explain Catholic symbols and how they reflect Our Lord's plan for Creation. Other readers have found it interesting to learn simple songs like the Ave Maria or Salve Regina in Latin by listening to Fr. Stephen Somerville.

Finally, you may profit from reading about how to build a new society from its very foundations. This what is dealt with in articles on the Organic Society page.

We hold a position of Resistance regarding the orientation of the religious authority that conflicts with the perennial teaching of the Church. We attend Mass either at Eastern Catholic rites that have still not been reformed, or at Tridentine Masses said by duly ordained independent priests, SSPX, SPV, FSP, ICK. We consider that all these Masses are valid and legitimate. We do not go to the Novus Ordo Mass because even thought we consider that many times it is valid, it is always illegitimate - with its hue of Protestantism or heresy.

You are doing very well to pray the Rosary. If it is possible, pray the 15 decades. There is nothing that cannot be reached praying the 15 decades. Therefore, your family's conversion to accept Catholic customs is also possible. Do not give up. Persevere in prayer and have unlimited confidence. Never lose your hope. Our Lady can do anything. She is our Mother and wants to help us in every way she can if we allow her to do so.

To read our website and follow the debate around our fight may help you, as it is helping many people who come daily to read our latest updates. We do not take a defeatist approach in this difficult fight, and we try to post a variety of themes - historic, cultural, movie and book reviews, etc - on our website so that our daily readers may always find something interesting, combative and encouraging, even though the general picture is very sad.

These are some answers to your many questions. I hope they can help you.

Be sure of my respect for your noble attitude. Thank you for your support.

     Cordially,

     A.S. Guimarães

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