On the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Church rightly teaches that Mary was conceived without the stain of Original Sin, based upon the anticipated merits of the passion, death, and resurrection of her Son, Jesus Christ. In 1854, Pope Pius XI proclaimed in Ineffabilis Deus the following: We …

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The Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary! Part 5

It’s Sacred Heart Friday time and this week I’m getting all mystical. The Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary began when Jesus dwelt within the womb of Mary. Like all children when they are living within their Momma’s womb, He shared the body of Mary and thus she became the tabernacle for …

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Gratitude




Back in the day when I typically attended AA meetings I loathed discussions on ‘“gratitude.” Primarily because a sharer would just run through a laundry list of what they are grateful for. That’s nice, at times, but often I’d be bored out of my gourd. I have come to realize that gratitude is an essential …

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Marian Consecration and the Guarantee of Eternal life

Many saints have said that those who are consecrated to the Blessed Virgin Mary are never lost. Sts. Louis deMontfort, Alphonsus de Liguori, and Maximilian Kolbe have all declared at one time or another that those souls who become ‘the property’ of Our Lady will never suffer eternal damnation. This may seem to some as …

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Let’s start a Triduum of Monthly Marian Consecrations!

The idea: Popularizing a Triduum of Monthly Marian Consecrations. What’s a Triduum? A Triduum is three consecutive days on the liturgical calendar commemorating or celebrating a feast day. We used to have many back in the olden times before Vatican 2. We’re really down to just the Easter Triduum of the evening of Holy Thursday  through Easter …

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16th Bloggaversary of Sober Catholic: How I stayed sober for almost 21 years

Today marks the 16th Bloggaversary of Sober Catholic. In honor of that, I’ve edited and cleaned up a messy note I wrote who-knows-when on “The Sober Catholic Way.” It is a summary of everything I’ve been doing since I became sober on May 22, 2002. Some I do better than others.  This was originally a …

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Our Lady of Perpetual Help

I have recently been the recipient of multiple odd ocurrences of the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH). The seeming randomness has gone beyond being mere coincidence; I think it has reached the point of being a ‘signal grace.’ I could be watching a Catholic YouTube channel and the host has images of …

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Four things to help you get through difficult times

I am going through some ‘stuff’ right now; some personal issues as well as the usual anxieties about world and national events. The latter are bothersome, but I’ve gotten to realize that there’s not much I can do about them apart from prayer. The personal stuff is very worrying and those worries intrude on my …

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Blog History and a new job!

It has come to my attention that I last posted here about six weeks ago. This means history has been made here at Sober Catholic! December 2021 was the very first month without any blogposts. I was going to say “That’s nothing to be proud of!” but when you consider I’ve been doing this since …

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Immaculate Conception Novena begins today

Today begins the Immaculate Conception Novena (November 29 through December 7th. It’s all right if you get this too late and begin it on November 30th, it’ll end on December 8th, the actual Feast Day.) The Church teaches that the Blessed Virgin Mary was exempt from Original Sin by virtue of the anticipated merits of …

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