A few days ago we warned everyone that today - Thursday, March 5 would arrive - the day that marks 666 days until the year 2000. It's an interesting event and confirms why we have had so many crashes of our windows programs this past week. We just upgraded to a three and a half gig, 100 ram 166 megahertz drive with built in Iomega Zip drive, 32 CD Rom and cable modem that brings the internet pages to us one hundred times faster than before when we were using the standard 28.8 modem. With all these improvements, it still has crashed over 20 times between last Friday and Wednesday night. We can't blame it on El Nino because the weather the last week has been gorgeous and one pines to set the work aside and stray outside into the springtime air of the Pacific, but alas the show must go on and if we did that you wouldn't be reading today's Daily CATHOLIC. Know that's what ol' hornhead would like since he's been so active and he must be so prouuud with his number so prevalent today! We don't bring the number "666" to your attention to give him the credit, but rather the blame and to re-emphasize how the signs point to the fact his time is short. Don't know how many times this editor has exclaimed, "I can't wait till the devil gets his head crushed but good!!! I hope he tumbles forever when he's finally chained!" We know it will happen, because God revealed it in both Genesis 3: 15 and Apocalypse/Revelation 20: 1-6. In the latter God promises that He will put enmity between the demon and the woman, between your seed and her seed who shall crush his head. There have been many misinterpretations of this and we need to turn to discernment to realize God is talking about His Divine Son Jesus - His seed and the seed of the woman known as His Blessed Mother. In sacred art Mary is so often crushing the head of the serpent beneath her heel in fulfillment of this prophecy in Genesis. Did God mean Mary herself would crush his head or was He speaking of "he" in the reference of Jesus through His Church of which Mary is the Mother? Theologians and Scripture scholars have discussed this for years and we feel, from all that has come to pass, from the Traditions and teachings of Holy Mother Church that the "he" refers to His Church through the intercession of His Holy Mother. Jesus promised as much in Matthew 16: 18 when He assures Peter that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." The link to Our Lady is inexorable as we see in Apocalypse/Revelation when Saint John refers to the "chain" which the angel - most probably St. Michael - binds satan with. That "chain," Our Lady has told us, is the Holy Rosary which "will bind satan." No wonder she implores us to take up the "most powerful weapon we have" - the Rosary. It all makes perfect sense!

     What also makes perfect sense is to pray and pass this on to everyone in the world. That is the reason for Daily Mass; the reason we publish the Daily CATHOLIC each day, and the reason why tomorrow is so important in uniting the world in WORLD DAY OF PRAYER. It will be the 111th Annual one and if ever a world is in need of collective prayer, this is the time. The situation in Iraq is still very, very tenuous, especially when one considers the "Wag the Dog" mentality of the Clinton Administration. The situation within the Church is also fragile as many loom just below the surface ready to churn the waves of schism at the signal of wayward leaders. The world is in chaos physically and morally; the El Nino pattern having wreaked havoc throughout the earth and abortion and every sin of the flesh have rendered today's civilization with the coldest and hardest of hearts. Therefore, it is time to turn in prayer to God as one. Tomorrow offers that opportunity from an ecumenical sense. Following is a prayer that was published by Dolores Curran who wrote for the Texas Catholic Diocesan paper for nearly three decades before retiring last year. It was sent to us by Delphine Stanton of Rancho Santa Fe and we share it with all our readers today for it is so meaningful and touches the heart. It is entitled, JUST FOR TODAY:

Today...I will live in peace with God, my neighbor and myself. I will bring peace to my patch of this earth.
Today...I will believe that world peace is possible. I will remember that hope is the most important gift I can give my world.
Today...I will not be a party to pessimism nor join the indifferent.
Today...I will be happy. I will remember that my joy is up to me. I will carry my confidence to all I touch this day.
Today...I will love my enemies. I will pray for them. I will try to see our differences from their point of view.
Today...I will disarm myself of rage by extending my hand in help and forgiveness.
Today...I will know that peace is the child of justice - that peace is more than the absence of war.
Today...I will plant a seed of justice in this global village, in my city, in my neighborhood, in my family and in my heart.
Today...I will pray for peace for all those with whom I come into contact.
Today...I will test my love of peace by doing one act for peace.
Today...I will stand with Christ the Peacemaker.

     The author is unknown but the words are pertinent, especially today! There was a cartoon that caught our eye a few weeks ago by Johnny Hart, creator of the strip "B.C." which best tells the kind of path we, as a nation, are on if we continue to blindly follow the Clinton administration's willful disobedience of God's Laws. It depicts two cavemen characters reading the stones along a walk heading toward the abyss. At the crest of the hill, along the path heading down to the precipice of the abyss is a sign stating: "Good Intentions Next 666 Feet." It bears out the addage, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" for beyond the edge of the abyss Hart illustrates the raging fires of hell. "Good intentions" are an excuse Bill Clinton falls back on constantly, hoping we'll buy his lies and deceit. As Hart depicts, Clinton and those who follow him blindly are playing right into the hands of beelzubub! Both Our Lord and His Blessed Mother conveyed warning messages to the Hidden Flower of the Immaculate Heart well before Clinton was elected, before he was even considered as a serious candidate, that if America was not careful, if they did not return to God and obey His laws, they would elect in their country a man who would take America to the abyss. That is exactly what William Jefferson Clinton is doing both publicly as an elected representative - the highest in our land, and privately as a citizen of ill repute whose moral standards are reminiscent of a street walker and are announced to the world as if his "sexploits" are nothing! With this kind of leadership and example, we need to pray like never before. For Catholics that means taking up the Rosary on a regular basis, like daily or more often if possible, and attending Daily Mass and offering our oblation for the reparation of sinners who continue to ignore God and His Laws, oblivious to His Mercy not to mention His Divine Justice! For Catholics it means to set the example for others by practicing the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy, especially during Lent. For Catholics it means to avoid the occasions of sin at work, home and at play. Holy Mother Church, in her wisdom, has the perfect guidebook for this. It's called penance and sacrifice and Lent is the time these virtues are emphasized, but Lent does not have a monopoly on penance and sacrifice. About the same time Pope Leo XIII composed the powerful Prayer to Saint Michael, the first WORLD DAY OF PRAYER was instituted. Tomorrow, to commemorate the 111th Annual WORLD DAY OF PRAYER, we'd be wise to begin with the Prayer of St. Michael. Sadly, since Vatican II it has been abandoned by so many and that has opened the door wide for his adversary to steal in and infect so many with the deadly disease that could prove forever fatal if we don't take the words of this inspiring prayer to heart - a prayer which graces our PRAYERS & DEVOTION section on the front page today. Tomorrow during WORLD DAY OF PRAYER and every minute of every day, let us pray this prayer over and over so that "May God rebuke him we humbly pray!"

Michael Cain, editor