"When you pray, pray first for the Holy Spirit because when you have the Holy Spirit, you have everything."        - Medjugorje April 4, 1985

"You have forgotten that through prayer and fasting you can avert wars and suspend the laws of nature."       - Medjugorje Dec. 2, 1982

Recently we published two reminders regarding the story of a seminarian who left his pursuit of the priesthood.

Most importantly, we were hoping that by doing so we may bring some healing to the many young men and women who entered supposedly Catholic seminaries and convents on fire for the Lord, only to have their faith nearly extinguished with the evil seething from those institutions. 

While we believe Catholics need to be aware of this reality, we do not want anyone to become discouraged regarding the Catholic church in light of the revivals breaking out across the nation away from the church hierarchy.

Consider the amazing story of Live Vertical, founded not that long ago by two men with modest means but with a vision to renew the youth who were falling away in droves.

 Live Vertical is a mission organization that serves Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and Allentown, helping to bring students to Jesus. They seek to accomplish this by leading guided adoration of Jesus each month, running bible studies, and assisting on retreats. They also serve schools by accompanying and supporting the campus minister in whatever needs he may have. They desire to see students come into relationship with Jesus and allow our rich Catholic faith to be vibrantly lived. 

Here is just one small recent story revealing the type of impact their mission is having today. After the Live Vertical team spoke at school earlier this year, one of the Live Vertical Campus Ministers reported “I came to the chapel this morning and two freshman girls were sitting outside. One was showing the other how to read scripture. They were waiting for adoration, and both showed up at gospel reflections at lunch.”

Live Vertical is a fully donor supported mission, making it a free service to all the schools they serve. Their work is made possible by the generosity of others. In the last few years, they have grown from serving in 4 schools to 24 schools. Remarkably over 30 high school youth have signed up to be on evangelization teams themselves. One high school that was slated to close, brought in the Live Vertical team and as revival broke out among the students the grace poured into other areas of school. The school slated to be shuttered is now thriving.

Here is a video that gives a glimpse into the life-changing impact Live Vertical is having on youth by leading them to form relationships with Jesus.

Live Vertical Video

We ask you to get very clear as to the positive impact Live Vertical is having on the youth they reach and contrast that to the dying faith of our youth manifested at schools whose curriculums are formed by their bishops. For fifty years Catholic dioceses have refused to change their curriculum in any meaningful way even as the disintegration of faith metastasized before everyone’s eyes.  The outcomes could not be more different and as Jesus told us, we will know the spirit by the fruits.

We are obligated to tithe.

Contributions to worldly charities such as animal research and even medical research are not tithes.

Who do you support with your tithe?

We could not recommend Live Vertical more highly – Imagine if they oversaw our seminaries and schools what a fabulous impact they would have across America. At this time Live Vertical desires to expand into other schools. Please consider donating to this most worthy cause with a significant portion of your tithe so that they can exponentially increase the number of our youth who know Jesus.

 Believers! Evangelization, not social justice causes is what Jesus directed his followers to do. We must support evangelization – there is no gray area about our obligation in this regard.

Here is a link to the Live Vertical website to donate or to contact them if you wish to discuss their program in more detail.

Thank you for fasting with us this week. Know that with next week being Thanksgiving, we plan to fast on Tuesday and Wednesday so as to celebrate with family on Friday during this wonderful American tradition of thanking our Lord.

Why We Fast – Our Core Fasting Intentions

1) We add the new fasting intention of taking back the church from evil. We submit the three-step process to achieve this victory is 1-Repent, 2-Prayer & Fasting and, 3-Imitate our Savior by throwing the evil leadership from the church. We will seek to emulate the Savior in our effort to End The USCCB, an organization that has been devastating to the church.  (“You shall know the spirit by the fruits” - Matt. 7:16)

2) For the Holy Spirit to reign down upon America, renewing our land as the Christian, capitalist meritocracy we were founded to be.

3) For the protection of our police, firefighters, military and their families from harm and that the Lord bless their courageous generosity on our behalf.

4) For the protection of the families who fast with us, and for God’s blessings of abundance upon them and that true to His word, we will be able to witness that He prospered us in famine.

Would you like to learn more about fasting?

We maintain a repository of ideas and information we have learned over the last decade while fasting weekly for America. From scientific studies on the benefits of fasting, to the differences between intermittent dieting vs intermittent fasting, to scriptural references regarding the power of fasting to the history of first century Christians who stated believers are obligated to fast weekly, we hope you will find numerous insights with our free resource located here.

Together let us also implore Heaven while fasting for intentions you have highlighted:

4) For all patriots who put themselves on the front lines in combatting evil and for all of the warriors who are stepping up around the nation to fight for the gospel – May The Father cover them in the blood of our savior,  protect them and their families from evil and bring victory to their endeavors.

5) For priests, ministers and all who aspire to lead others to the Lord, that the Holy Spirit will reign down upon them as at Pentecost filling them to overflowing. 

6) For the Americans jailed after January 6th who were admitted to the Capitol building by the police, and who were not found to have destroyed any property at the capitol yet who have been held captive ever since on our own soil - That God's Spirit will move quickly to bring justice back to this land and free them.

Who We Are
St. Joseph Partners is a for-profit business that has funded Fast for America for over ten years. To the extent you support our work to renew America and if you understand why gold and silver protect believers' wealth in this world, please consider us or recommend us when you or someone you know buys or sells gold and silver. From our website www.StJosephPartners.com you can buy and sell dozens of types of precious metals. We close on Sundays to honor the Sabbath. Click here for a link where you can view a brief video about our firm and a brief video about why all investors and families should have some gold and silver in their portfolios.