Dear Friends of Our Lady,

       Thank you very much for your generous and prayerful support of this Apostolate of Our Lady. She is never outdone in generosity. Mary, our Mother, blesses you and prays for you in return for your kindness shown to this work of Hers. I, too, extend to you my thanks and my priestly blessing and I pray for you. I will offer a Novena of Holy Masses for all friends and benefactors of this Apostolate at the beginning of this Special Holy Year.

       Pope John Paul II has proclaimed the year March 25, 1983, to Easter 1984 a Holy Year to commemorate in a special way the 1950th anniversary of Jesus' sacrificial death on Calvary in the year A.D. 33. Jesus died for each one of us, in order to save us from hell and bring us to Heaven. Truly we are very greatly and eternally indebted to Him for freely accepting to suffer and die for us.

       The Redemption of each one of us was particularly achieved through the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ. It is through Jesus' great act of love, His Passion and Death, that we are redeemed and have hope of salvation. Oh how much love and gratitude we owe Jesus for this act of redemption. How much love we owe Mary for Her complete cooperation in giving us our Redeemer. Saint Alphonsus explains these things more fully in his book The Passion and the Death of Jesus Christ.

       This book is a treasure-house of inspired writing by one of the greatest spiritual writers of all time. Saint Alphonsus is particularly well-qualified to write on this subject because he was both a scholar - a first class theologian, a Doctor of the Church and at the same time he was a very talented writer and preacher of missions to the laypeople. He preached and meditated on the Passion and Death of Jesus for over 50 years.

       Until just a few weeks ago this book in English had been out of print for about 50 years. Now a new 1983-1984 Holy Year Edition of this beautiful book has just been printed. This full length book of 502 pages with an Imprimatur is certainly worth reading, especially at this holy time.

       The picture on the front cover of this Holy Year Edition is of an original painting by Brother Gino of San Vittorino. It depicts the appearance of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to Saint Margaret Mary. To her Jesus showed His Sacred Heart burning with love for us and wounded by our sins. He asked her to reflect that mankind does not very much return His love but instead very many persons are ungrateful for all He suffered for their salvation. He asked Saint Margaret Mary and through the message of Fatima He asks you and me to console Him.

       One of the best ways of consoling Our Lord's Sacred Heart is to meditate and think lovingly about His Passion and Death. One of the best ways to do this is to have and read a book about this subject. With this book you can follow Jesus step by step, seeing the deep meaning and love in all His words and actions during His sorrowful Passion.

       In order to easily enable all readers of The Fatima Crusader to obtain this precious book, until the end of June 1983 we will give this book to anyone who asks for it and sends us $3.00. (The regular donation for this Holy Year edition is $5.00).

       In order to promote the spirituality of this Special Holy Year, proclaimed by Pope John Paul II in honor of Our Lord's Passion and Death, we feel that this book should be widely diffused. One way to console Jesus and Mary is to encourage others to think about Our Lord's tremendous love shown for us in His Passion and Death. Our Lady too suffered for us at the foot of the Cross; let us remember Their sorrows endured for our salvation. Let us encourage others to do the same. We can achieve this by helping to distribute this holy and inspiring book.

       Please, for the love of Jesus and Mary, and for the salvation of many souls, show this book to at least five people. Read it and talk about it to everyone. Bring it to your Catholic bookstore, to your library and to the local book stores; ask them all to put it on their book shelves. We shall be glad to send you five copies of this book for only $12.50.

       You can be an apostle and spread the love of God. You can start by ordering 50 copies for $100.00. Sell them to your Rosary groups, Marian groups, CCD classes, Legion of Mary, Knights of Columbus, Catholic Women's League, schools, Third Orders, Padre Pio prayer groups, adoration societies, altar societies, and other Sacred Scripture and prayer groups. Suggest to these groups that they undertake the diffusion of this book as a Holy Year project. Ask your Catholic newspapers and magazines to do the same. Ask your parish church to distribute it to the parishioners and put it on the book rack at the entrance to the church.

       When you talk to others about this book you might remind them that they make their own salvation more secure by daily pondering in their heart on the sufferings of Our Lord. Remind them that Saint Augustine wrote that "there is no more profitable occupation for the soul than to meditate daily on the Passion of Our Lord." You can assure everyone that by reading this book prayerfully, they will come to know Jesus better and realize more deeply how much He loves each one of us.

       You are the means Christ will use to make Himself and His Mother better known and loved. Your reward will be great in Heaven!

       God bless you and Our Heavenly Mother bring you ever closer to Her Divine Son.

       Yours in Jesus and Mary,

       Father Nicholas Gruner, S.T.L.

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