Announcing the “Matt Talbot Prayer Group”

Posted on December 31, 2018 by paulcoholic

A few weeks ago I was invited to join Hozana, an online prayer community. It is an online gathering space for Catholics and other Christians to come together in prayer and mutual encouragement. It isn’t a social network on the order of a Facebook, MeWe or whatever else is out there, but you can follow others and communicate with them. Activity is centered around prayer communities which are ordered towards novenas and other liturgical seasons, as well as ongoing prayer necessities. There is also a “prayer intentions” feed where members can post prayer requests which remain available for 48 hours (you can always repost, if needed). Members click on a prayer intention which opens up in a little window. A virtual candle lights up underneath the intention and it changes color slowly from bottom to “flame.” Then you click “Amen” and if you wish, continue on to another intention that interests you. The person is notified that you prayed for them. The same for when you post an intention; you’ll get notified when people pray for you! It way cool.

It lacks the noise and obnoxiousness of other social media sites. It’s quiet and I typically reserve one browser tab for Hozana. I pin the tab to one side and return every so often to see who else needs praying for, or visit one of the many communities that interest me. And speaking of which…

The invitation to join Hozana came from a nice lady who volunteers for it; she found this blog and thought I would find Hozana useful as there are many prayer requests involving alcoholism and addictions. Maybe I could start a prayer community for these people, and share stuff from this blog and whatever else that’s helpful? Boy, could I!!!!! And so I did!

So, here is YOUR personal invitation to join Hozana and become a part of the Matt Talbot Prayer Group! Here’s the link for Hozana (in English, the site also has Spanish, French and Portuguese versions): Hozana. And here is the link for the prayer group: Matt Talbot Prayer Group. My profile: Me

From the description I wrote: “Welcome to the Matt Talbot Prayer Group! Join us in prayer and fellowship as we encourage one another in our sobriety and recovery from addictions!

Hebrews 3:13 “…exhort one another every day, while it is still called ‘today’…”

Romans 12:2 “And do not choose to be conformed to this age, but instead choose to be reformed in the newness of your mind, so that you may demonstrate what is the will of God: what is good, and what is well-pleasing, and what is perfect.” (Both from the Douay-Rheims Bible)

Prayers, linked articles, images, quotes from Scripture, the Catechism and the writings of Saints and others that can be useful in your recovery journey will be occasionally posted here. PLEASE make use of the comments section of the posts to reach out to one another!

Our patron is the Venerable Matt Talbot, an Irishman who lived from 1856-1925. A drunkard, he “took the pledge” to quit drinking after his friends one day refused to loan him money to buy liquor. This worked for a while, but it wasn’t until he decided to transfer his love for the drink onto Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary that his sobriety took hold. He was a daily Mass goer and had a profound prayer life. Matt exemplified the recovery values of acknowledging your weakness over addiction and the need for God to come in and restore your life and help you to amend and rebuild it, years before any modern recovery movements were founded.”

I may recruit one or more people to assist in running it. One thing that distinguishes Hozana from other social sites or even traditional discussion forums is that only administrators and moderators can start discussion topics, members can only reply in the comments; so it would help if there are is more than one person running things to keep it active. I have ideas as to whom I may recruit. (I have to know you fairly well.)

A side note for those readers who have been with me for over a decade: I have tried for almost ten years to develop a sustainable online community for Catholics suffering from addictions. Only the first one was any good but it had to be terminated because the platform it was on abolished free communities. As I could not afford to host it with them, it was axed. No successors really had the activity and charm of that first one back in 2008-10. 🙁 This one is different as it isn’t my idea. It wasn’t my will to create it; the suggestion came from someone else, and hence it may be in greater conformity with God’s Will. We’ll see. But regardless, sign up! The link is there, the invitation is open, and the people who run Hozana are nice and friendly. (It is based in France.)

See you there!

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Ember Days for Advent

Posted on December 19, 2018 by paulcoholic

Last September I mentioned the traditional liturgical practice of Ember Days. This week marks the series of days for Advent. They fall today, December 19th and this Friday and Saturday, December 21st and 22nd.

From the Catholic Encyclopedia on New Advent:
“Ember days (corruption from Lat. Quatuor Tempora, four times) are the days at the beginning of the seasons ordered by the Church as days of fast and abstinence. They were definitely arranged and prescribed for the entire Church by Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085) for the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after 13 December (S. Lucia), after Ash Wednesday, after Whitsunday, and after 14 September (Exaltation of the Cross). The purpose of their introduction, besides the general one intended by all prayer and fasting, was to thank God for the gifts of nature, to teach men to make use of them in moderation, and to assist the needy.”

That they fall immediately before the Solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord (a/k/a “Christmas”) is no coincidence. We can use the Ember Days practice of prayer, fasting and abstinence to put the finishing touches on our Advent preparations for Jesus’ Coming.

Use this “mini Lent” to clear out the cruft in your life, to help develop your interior life to better listen to the “still, small voice” of God speaking to you from within. As I said in that September post, any Lenten practice you use for fasting and abstinence will work. Fasting in this instance need not be from food, but could be from behaviour. Fast from profanity, from TV watching, Internet use (well, after you read this post 😉 ) or something else that may get in the way.

May God bless you and keep you safe from harm and may Christmas this year (and all years) be a time of focusing more on Jesus and less on commercialism and materialism. He did not Incarnate so that we can buy stuff.

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Blogging!

Posted on December 19, 2018 by paulcoholic

OK, this isn’t an apology for not having blogged in six weeks or so. I have been busy with things, namely the usual stuff like home life and day job… but also I’ve been getting lost in my reading. In no order of importance I’ve been engrossed in a second reading of “Story of a Soul” by St. Therese of Lisieux, which lead me to order and begin reading numerous other books containing her writings, letters and poetry. I have a much better understanding of her “Doctrine of the Little Way,” which has inspired be to cobble some notes for Sober Catholic blogposts. The Little Way is an intrinsic part of “Sober Catholic” recovery, and followers of the Matt Talbot Way of Sobriety use it. But I haven’t talked about it nearly as much as I should have, but once I organize the notes there should be a few posts on it.

I also have been reading the inspirational and spiritual writings of Mother Angelica (EWTNs Foundress.) Specifically, her Doctrine of the Present Moment. Mental notes have been compiled for posts here on that. The Doctrine of the Present Moment can be a critical and essential survival mechanism for people in recovery. It will go a long way towards healing memories and alleviating fears and anxieties of the future.

When these posts will be published is up in the air, but they will be written.

I’ve dived into other books, but those by St. Therese and Mother Angelica had been foremost among them. But reading has taken up quite a lot of time and hence I hadn’t been here at all.

One thing I have been thinking is whether I should continue blogging; that perhaps this is self-serving and if it is truly God’s Will that I blog, then perhaps I’d be doing it more. But one thing I’ve discerned about God’s Will is that “productivity” is a human virtue. Granted, there have been countless saints who have been “productive” by human standards as a direct result of following His Will, but I think I’ve been thinking of “productivity” more along the lines of its human virtues.

The fact that I sat up in bed during the 3AM hour thinking “Today is the Ember Wednesday in Advent! and I forgot to write about it for the blog like I promised back in September is perhaps proof that I am in fact a blogger. That I am blogging early-ish in the morning on a work day, when I should be doing my morning prayers (they were interrupted, some had to be done before blogging to start the morning with God) and having breakfast is perhaps more proof. A few weeks from now will mark my 12th Bloggaversary, so that may be another indication. So, yeah, I’ll be doing this until they pry a computer from my cold, dead hands…

NOTE: I’ve backdated this post so that the one on Ember Wednesday in Advent appears as the most recent for now.

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)