Catholics all over the world daily turn to God in prayer for various needs, large and small.

They may need help in overcoming some chronic and tenacious sin or addiction.

They may be struggling with doubts about their Faith, or feel angry with God about the current crisis.

They may be unemployed, or need to change their job, or relocate to another part of the country.

They may struggle with debt or other financial difficulties.

They may have serious health problems, or marital discord they wish to heal, family or friends they wish to see embrace the Faith or children who have drifted from the Faith, loved ones in legal difficulty or in prison, and the list could go on and on. 

And they may offer up many prayers, including the rosary, on a daily basis and yet feel as if they are making little progress in seeing their prayers answered.

There are no doubt many possible reasons why our prayers are not more effective; every situation is unique, and far be it from me to pose as an expert on prayer.

But one factor, surely, that might account for a lower "batting average" in seeing our prayers answered, particularly when we pray the rosary, is that our rosary praying may have become rather flat and stale because we are not sufficiently reflecting, profoundly and worshipfully, on the fifteen episodes in the life of our Lord and our Lady that praying the rosary is all about. 

These fifteen episodes are all contained in Sacred Scripture, and Scripture itself (in Psalm 1, for example) promises great blessings (including effectiveness in prayer) for those who profoundly meditate upon God's Word.

 

May is of course the month traditionally dedicated to Mary. Each year many of us Catholics (hopefully all of us!) ask ourselves what we might do during this month to learn more about her, to increase our devotion to her, to offer her something as a measure of our love and appreciation for her part in God's plan of salvation. Many of us take this month to refresh our devotion to Mary and re-consecrate ourselves to her Immaculate Heart at the end of the month.

During the first half of this month I have been persistently asking myself each day what else I could do -- beyond my regular annual May resolutions -- in this momentous year of Our Lord 2014. 

And today, as the second half of the month begins, I believe I've been given the answer: to start producing NOW -- for my fellow Catholics seeking (like me) to dramatically improve their prayer life and their success in seeing their prayers for themselves and their loved ones more powerfully answered -- an all-new, in-depth exploration of the Biblical narratives upon which the fifteen mysteries of the rosary are based.

Over twenty years ago, as a recent convert to Catholicism but one who still attended the New Mass at the local parish (not yet having studied that issue or even having encountered any literature critical of the New Mass or of the other "fruits" of Vatican II), I produced a 5-tape audiocassette series entitled "Revelations of the Rosary." 

And ten years later, having become in the intervening years a "traditional Catholic" who had publicly abjured the New Mass and attended the Tridentine Mass exclusively but who had not yet come to "sedevacantist" conclusions, I recorded (at the FSSP -- Fraternity of St. Peter -- parish I attended at that time) another series of lectures that became a second edition of "Revelations of the Rosary."

But that was over ten years ago. Not only was neither the first nor the second edition ever converted from audiocassettes to CDs, I have learned a lot since then, not only about the rosary and the deeper levels of meaning found in Sacred Scripture, but as well about the inconsistencies of even "traditionalist" forms of counterfeit Catholicism that do not completely adhere to the perennial principles of the Catholic Faith. (That of course resulted in my coming to see, by God's grace, that in fidelity to such Catholic principles I could no longer morally attend, not only such FSSP "Masses," but as well the Masses offered by the SSPX or similar clergy, or even those offered by unauthorized "sedevacantist" clergy of the SSPV, CMRI, et al). 

I believe the time has come for, not a mere revision or updating of those earlier talks, but a completely new series, researched from scratch, and offering an unprecedented level of insight into "The Deep Mysteries of the Holy Rosary" that can dramatically send our prayer life into hyperdrive.

After over a quarter of a century speaking to hundreds of thousands of Catholics all over the world, I am convinced that most Catholics, even if they read the New Testament (including the passages that chronicle the rosary's fifteen mysteries), do not know how to read New Testament (NT) passages in the light of the entire Old Testament (OT). 

Most are utterly unaware that even the briefest NT passage or phrase may have as many as a dozen or more OT roots or contexts that the original writers of the NT could presuppose that their hearers (or listeners) would be familiar with.

Knowing these OT background passages (many of which consist of only subtle allusions) can amazingly transform your understanding of, say, the Annunciation (recorded in St. Luke 1:26-38) so that whole layers of meaning now leap off the page -- and into your prayer life, supercharging the effectiveness of your rosary recitations.

It's like going from a faded, grainy, two-dimensional, black-and-white snapshot to a vibrantly colorful, high-definition, 3D movie with Surround Sound!

Because I want this CD series to be a fresh, new set of talks, not a mere re-tread of my previous efforts, I have decided to start from scratch. Starting tomorrow, on each of the 15 days remaining in this month of May, I am committed to spending several hours each day exegeting each of these NT passages, looking up each occurrence of all their significant words in the OT using concordances and other reference tools, reading what all the Fathers and Doctors of the Church have said about each verse, and not only re-reading the commentaries I already own and have used for years, but reading as well, for the first time, every commentary available in the libraries of the colleges, universities, and graduate schools in Scranton and the surrounding area.

Last night, just to gauge how much this might potentially yield, I drove to the nearest theological library in a nearby town and checked out five commentaries on St. Luke's Gospel that I'd never used before.

(If you don't already know, the first five mysteries of the rosary -- the five joyful mysteries -- are all found in St. Luke's Gospel, and only in St. Luke's Gospel: Saints Matthew, Mark, and John don't even mention these five scenes from the lives of Jesus and Mary at all.)

I am absolutely blown away with what I have already learned, and am eager to share these explosive insights with you. My dream is to spend the bulk of my time each day of the remaining fifteen days of this month, from May 17 to May 31, returning to this and other area libraries and ransacking all the above-mentioned resources to produce, each day, an hour's worth or more commentary on that particular Biblical passage.

I want to be able to complete my research by the end of the month, offering this to Our Lady as an end-of-May "crowning" -- a tribute to her obedience to God's plan, a celebration of her glory in God's heavenly kingdom, and a resource to help God's people here on earth, the Church Militant. I would then start recording these commentaries beginning the next day, June 1, recording at least one CD each day, and releasing this 15-CD set in June.

To be able to produce this set in this timeframe, however, I will need your help. I had not originally planned on spending the second half of this month reading dozens of commentaries and volumes of the Church Fathers and Doctors. Instead, I'd planned on spending the rest of this month, and indeed much of the summer, doing tutoring and test prep (helping high school students and graduates to get good scores on their SATs), just to be able to pay my bills and put food on our family's table.

So I cannot allocate the time to research and prepare these 15 talks on the deep mysteries of the rosary this month, nor record them next month, unless I can immediately forego the income I would earn by tutoring and test prep during the same time period. And the only way I can afford to do that, and still have the money I need to pay Biblical Foundations International's bills this month and next month is to ask interested persons to help me raise the necessary funds NOW.

If you have recently made a donation of $100 or more, I don't expect you to send another one again so soon (unless, of course, you insist!). I know that money is tight and I appreciate what a sacrifice it is for my supporters to send a donation.

And if you are one of my monthly donors (I currently have only 15 such donors), I don't expect you to send an additional amount to help fund this 15-CD rosary project (again, unless you insist on doing so!). In fact, if you already donate $50 (or more) a month -- or if you made a sizeable donation last year to enable me to continue CD production, you won't even need to pay for this new rosary CD set at all: it will automatically be sent to you upon completion.

But I need to be frank with you: without a significant influx of donations now, I won't have the time needed to research, script, and record this 15-CD set. It might take me months, or even a year or more, to produce such a resource, if I have to spend most of my free time in other employment (tutoring, etc.) to earn income.

So if you haven't donated in a while -- or even if you have, and wish to do so again, or wish to send an additional donation on top of your regular monthly support -- I am willing to offer the following incentive: anyone sending $100 or more will receive TWO sets of "The Deep Mysteries of the Holy Rosary" upon completion. Keep one for yourself and pass one on to a family member or friend.

I will also honor that same offer for any multiple of $100 you might send. (If you can afford to send more than $100, this would help me pay Biblical Foundations International's sizable bills this month.) Thus, a donation of $200 will get you FOUR sets, $500 will get you TEN sets, and so forth.

Please prayerfully consider making as generous and sacrificial a donation as you are able to at this time. Our need is very great, and I believe this new 15-CD set may prove to be the most helpful and potentially the most popular recording we've ever produced, with a wide appeal to folks beyond those who agree with my position on the magnitude of the current crisis in the Church.

 

(In fact, one of MY rosary intentions will be that this set on the rosary might lead such folks to acquire some of our other CDs, and thus eventually bring them to a more authentically Catholic position.)

But I need your help now to set me free, starting tomorrow, to have the time to begin to produce this set, or it may never see the light of day.

As always, there are three ways to send your helpful and much-appreciated donation:

1) The fastest, simplest way to donate is to click on the orange-colored "Make a Donation" button in the upper right area of any page on this website (www.gerrymatatics.org) and use PayPal to electronically send me $100 (or whatever amount you can afford to contribute).

2) A second option is to call me at (570) 969-1724 and leave on my voicemail your MasterCard, Visa, or Discover Card's 16-digit number, expiration date, 3-digit security code from the back of the card, your name exactly as it appears on the card (including any middle initial), your credit card's billing address, and the amount you wish to donate (without all of which I cannot charge your card). Please leave a phone number where I can reach you if any part of your message is unclear or unintentionally incomplete.

3) A third option is to mail a check or money order to: Gerry Matatics, PO Box 569, Dunmore PA 18512. Please make the check payable to either "Gerry Matatics" or "Biblical Foundations International."

 

I look forward to putting a couple (or more) copies of this exciting new "Deep Mysteries of the Holy Rosary" 15-CD set in your hands as soon as humanly possible. May Almighty God richly reward you, both here and hereafter, for whatever support you can send now.

 

Your unworthy servant in Christ our risen King

and Mary His gloriously reigning Queen Mother,

 

Gerry Matatics