Category Archives: Blessed Virgin Mary

The Apparition of Our Lady of La Salette as a help in your addiction recovery

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I ran across this article on Spirit Daily about Our Lady’s apparition to two young French shepherd children in La Salette, France in 1846 (today, September 19, is the 180th anniversary of it.) 

In the remote Alpine village of La Salette, France, two shepherd children, Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud, encountered a weeping woman bathed in light, her head in her hands. They had been shepherding the cows inntheir charge during the day; however, Melanie had fallen asleep during the afternoon, and Maximin had wandered off; the cows were lost. They quickly searched and found them deeper in the valley. This is where they discovered the beautiful woman crying.

Her message combined maternal tenderness with prophetic urgency, addressing both the decline in the practice of the faith by the local villagers and material issues. The Lady revealed her profound sorrow over humanity’s sinfulness, particularly the violation of Sundays with commercial activity and the neglect of Mass; and the profanation of her Son’s name through casual blasphemy. The message prophesied agricultural failure as a consequence of sin and linked spiritual causes to the material suffering.

According to “Our Lady of La Salette: History, Message & Apparition,” the Message of La Salette involves:

  • A call to conversion and penance for personal and societal sins
  • Warning about divine punishment if humanity refused to repent
  • Emphasis on proper Sunday observance and reverence for God’s name
  • Promise of abundance if people returned to faithful practice
  • Prediction of crop failures and famine as consequences of sin

Taking these points and applying them today involves:

  • Renewed Sunday observance – Protecting the Lord’s Day from secular encroachment
  • Reverence in speech – Avoiding casual profanity and blasphemy
  • Regular sacramental confession – Embracing reconciliation as ongoing conversion
  • Authentic penance – Accepting sacrifice as expression of love and reparation
  • Active evangelization – Sharing faith urgently with those drifting from God

All of these can be applied to your Sober Catholic Way of recovery.

A call to conversion and penance for personal and societal sins;  this is basic to any recovery program, but is adds a distinctly Catholic dimension to it in the reparative work for other people’s sins. Most (if not all) recovery programs concern themselves with helping the alcoholic or addict with remoiving their own defects of character and making amends to others. None concern themselves with the person in recovery making amends for other people.

Warning about divine punishment if humanity refused to repent/Prediction of crop failures and famine as consequences of sin. You are a part of Humanity; your sins contribute to the whole. Your repentance and penance for yours (and others) mitigates this divine punishment. Apparently people hadn’t heeded the Message of La Salette and the Blessed Virgin repeated this at Fatima when she said “War is punishment for sin.” Later, Jesus told St. Faustina, His Apostle of Divine Mercy, that “Mankind will not have peace until it turns with trust to My mercy.” (Diary, 300)

Emphasis on proper Sunday observance and reverence for God’s name/Promise of abundance if people returned to faithful practice. Catholics are obligated to attend Mass on Sunday; missing it is a mortal sin (except when you cannot attend due to extenuating circumstances like illness, weather and other unsurmountable issues.)  “Promises of abundance” should be taken in its proper context. For our purposes of recovery, it could mean material abundance, it could also mean the abundance of graces for those willingy cooperating with God’s Will.

Reverence in speech – Avoiding casual profanity and blasphemy Violating any one of the Ten Commandments is a mortal sin; apart from that, even causal profanity implies a lack of self-control and self-discipline. (I need to work on this; while I do not take the Name of the Lord in vain, I cuss a lot.)

Regular sacramental confession – Embracing reconciliation as ongoing conversion/Authentic penance – Accepting sacrifice as expression of love and reparation It goes without much saying that this is a core part of any Catholic-based recovery program.

Active evangelization – Sharing faith urgently with those drifting from God Start a recovery blog or podcast about your own Catholic-based recovery! Or, just talk about Jesus as best you can with other; or, live the Gospel (“preaching without words.) 

The article also connected the La Salette apparition to Our Lady of Sorrows, whose feast day we just celebrated this past Tuesday (September 15th.)

This sorrowful aspect connects Our Lady of La Salette to the prophecy of Simeon, who told Mary that a sword would pierce her heart. At La Salette, that sword pierces anew as she witnesses her children rejecting her Son through negligence, blasphemy, and hardened hearts. Her weeping calls Catholics to recognize sin’s gravity and embrace the reconciliation Christ offers.

That “embrace the reconciliation Christ offers” recalls Divine Mercy and how important that is to peace: both peace in our hearts, minds, bodies, and souls; and peace in the world.

Other resources on the Apparition:

The National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette

Our Lady of La Salette at Catholic Tradition

Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette

Our Lady of La Salette at Roman-Catholic-Saints

Our Lady of La Salette at Simply Catholic

La Salette: Sorting Fact From Fiction

“Our Lady of La Salette “ is one of Our Lady’s apparitions that I’ve not paid too much attention to since the message of it has been corrupted by the repeated false claims that the statements and prophecies of one of the seers (Melanie Calvat) were approved and are a part of the ‘message,’ despite her making them decades after the apparition. (See the last link I added on “Sorting Fact from Fiction.”) Because Calvat is a seer of an approved apparition, many things she has said decades later have been mislabelled as being a part of the approved apparition. This is incorrect. Approval of an apparition does not extend to things the seers have said or done after the apparition is over.  

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His Mother Stood at the Foot of the Cross

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Today is the day we honor Our Blessed Mother under her title of Our Lady of Sorrows.

From the Gospel according to St. Luke: “And a sword will pass through your own soul, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

Source: Sacred Bible: Catholic Public Domain Version

From the Second Reading of the Office of readings of the Liturgy of the Hours for the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows:

Perhaps someone will say: “Had she not known before that he would not die?” Undoubtedly. “Did she not expect him to rise again at once?” Surely. “And still she grieved over her crucified Son?” Intensely. Who are you and what is the source of your wisdom that you are more surprised at the compassion of Mary than at the passion of Mary’s Son? For if he could die in body, could she not die with him in spirit? He died in body through a love greater than anyone had known. She died in spirit through a love unlike any other since his. (St. Bernard.)

Our Lady of Sorrows 1.

St. Paul reminds us in Colossians 1:24-25 (taken from the Morning Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours for today:)

Even now I find my joy in the suffering I endure for you. In my own flesh I fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body, the church. I became a minister of this church through the commission God gave me to preach among you his word in its fullness.

Liturgy of the Hours excerpts courtesy of Divine Office

Join with Our Lady in enduring sufferings for the sake of Christ. It is a work of reparation: the repair of the damage our sins have caused, and the damage that the sins of others have caused, too.

In this post: Promises for those devoted to the Sorrowful Mother I detail the spiritual benefits of cultivating a devotion to the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady. Among them is recovery from addictions!

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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!!)

Our Lady of Sorrows Novena (Sept 6-14) and the Promises for those devoted to the Sorrowful Mother

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Just a friendly reminder that the annual Novena to Our Lady of Sorrows begins on September 6th,so as to end on September 14th, on the eve of the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. That date of the 14th is also important as it is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (also known as the Triumph of the Cross.)

It is quite appropriate to beigin the novena so that it ends on the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The Sorrowful Mother stood at the Foot of the Cross as Jesus was dying, your novena meditations can take you along with our sweet and sorrowful mama as she suffers with Jesus. To end the novena of the feastday that commemorates the discovery of the True Cross by St. Helena is very symbolic of the connection of the Cross to Our Lady’s Sorrows, and that sorrow can be turned into joy (or that sorrow can help us appreciate joy.) 

Our Lady of Sorrows 1.

Here are Jesus’ four promises to those who devote themselves to Our Lady’s Seven Sorrows:
1. “That those who invoke the divine Mother by her sorrows, before death, will merit to obtain true repentance of all their sins.”
2. “That He will protect such in their tribulations, especially at the hour of death.”
3. “That He will impress upon them the memory of His passion, and that they shall have their reward for it in heaven.”
4. “That He will commit such devout servants to the hands of Mary, that she may dispose of them according to her pleasure, and obtain for them all the graces she desires.”

Our Lady’s Seven Promises to those who meditate daily on her Seven Sorrows:
1. “I will grant peace to their families.”
2. “They will be enlightened about the Divine Mysteries.”
3. “I will console them in their pains and I will accompany them in their work.”
4. “I will give them as much as they ask for as long as it does not oppose the adorable will of My divine Son or the sanctification of their souls.”
5. “I will defend them in their spiritual battles with the infernal enemy and I will protect them at every instant of their lives.”
6. “I will visibly help them at the moment of their death — they will see the face of their Mother.”
7. “I have obtained this grace from My Divine Son, that those who propagate this devotion to My tears and sorrows will be taken directly from this earthly life to eternal happiness, since all their sins will be forgiven and My Son will be their eternal consolation and joy.”

Source: The Promises of those who meditate upon Our Lady of Sorrows every day

The Seven Sorrows Rosary, or the Seven Sorrows Chaplet, dates back to the Middle Ages. However, Our Lady of Kibeho reintroduced this devotion to visionary Marie-Claire Mukangango in Kibeho, Rwanda, in the 1980s.

Our Lady’s messages to Marie-Claire focused on an “urgent call to repentance”:

“Repent, repent, repent! Convert while there is still time.”

Many graces result from praying this devotion; however, it should not replace the traditional rosary. Our Lady requests the faithful to pray the Seven Sorrows Rosary on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Below are Our Lady of Sorrows’ promises to those who pray the Seven Sorrows Rosary, according to Marie Claire’s visions:

1) With the recitation of the Seven Sorrows Rosary, the hardest hearts shall change, if you pray it for yourself or for others.
2) By the recitation of the Seven Sorrows Rosary, you shall be freed from obsessions and addiction.
3) This rosary, when said from the heart, it will win us true repentance of our sins and free our souls from guilt and remorse.
4) Those who say it often, especially as recommended by Our Lady to Marie Claire, on Tuesdays and Fridays, shall obtain a clear understanding of their weaknesses and flaws causing them to sin, and those things we don’t like about ourselves and thought were a part of our character, shall change.
5) You shall obtain whatever you ask for through this rosary, praying this rosary from the heart.

Source: The Promises of Mary to those who pray the Seven Sorroews Chaplet

ALSO: Seven Sorrows Rosary Prayer

Daily meditations on  the Seven Sorrows could be done by reciting the Seven Sorrows Chaplet every day, or by using books. The two best available (among others) are “The Glories of Mary” by St. Alphonsus Liguori and “Devotion to the Sorrowful Mother” by The Benedictine Convent of Clyde. Both of these are available thru Tan Books: 

Devotion to the Sorrowful Mother
The Glories of Mary

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!!)

Our Lady of All Help

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Imagine being deaf all of your life and the first sound you hear is the voice of the Blessed Virgin Mary. That is what happened to Jeanne Courtel, a 12 year old sheperdess who had been deaf and unable to speak her entire life until August 15, 1652, when the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to her in Querrien, Brittany, France. 

Mary appeared to Jeanne , who was tending to her familiy’s flock of sheep. Mary appeared to her in a manner strikingly similar to how she would appear two  centuries later to St. Bernadette Soubirou, in Lourdes, France. Jeeanne reported feeling the wind, and then seeing a beautiful young lady of about 12-15 years of age dressed in white. The first thing that happened was that Jeanne was cured of her deafness and inability to speak; for she heard the Lady speak:

“I choose this place to be honored. Build for me a chapel in the middle of this village and many people will come.” 

The Lady continued, “Charming shepherdess, give me one of your lambs.”

Jeanne  replied, “These are not my sheep. They are my father’s. If he wants to give one to you, I am happy to agree.”

The Lady pressed on: “Return to your parents and tell them that I require a lamb.” 

Jeanne asked Our Lady, “But who will keep my herd?” 

Mary replied, “Myself. I will keep your sheep!”

Jeanne returned to her parents who were astonished when the little girl told them, “A Lady came to see me, and she asked me for one of your lambs.” 

The father, overjoyed at his daughter’s miraculous recovery, replied, “Ah, my daughter. Because this Lady has made you speak, we will give her all the flock.” 

Her father asked Jeanne if the Lady told her who she was.

“She said that she was the Virgin Mary, and we need to build a chapel in the village so many pilgrims will go there to honor her.” 

The father agreeably replied, “If this is true, we will ask the bishop to allow us to build a shrine to the Virgin Mary.” 

The next day, Jeanne sees the Virgin again, who tells her: “I am the Virgin Mary. I chose this place to be honored. I want you to be built a chapel in this village. I want you to see the rector and ask him to work towards building a sanctuary for me here in Querrien.” 

Mary also said, “To prove that the message that comes from heaven’s command, I tell you that you will discover a few steps from the fountain of Saint-Gal an image that was honored in ancient times.”

In the year 610 A.D., St. Gall had visited the region to erect a hermitage. He had personally sculpted a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary, which was eventually lost when the chapel was destroyed. However, on August 20, 1652, it was found to be exactly where Our Lady said it would be: buried beneath a pond and in a miraculously preserved in excellent condition.

On September 11, 1652, Msgr. Denis de La Barde, the bishop of Saint-Brieuc, visited the area and was told all about the events. After investigating the happenings, he formally recognized the validity of the apparition on September 20th. He also blessed the first stone to be used in constructing the chapel. Construction soon began and it was completed in 1656. It was enlarged in 1759 to accommodate the crowds of pilgrims visiting the chapel.

Jeanne Courtel was entombed within the shrine after she died in 1703 at the age of 63. All in all, Mary appeared to her 15 times during the period of August-September 1652.

The title of Mary in this apparition in French is “Notre-Dame de Toute-Aide,” which in English is “Our Lady of All Help” or “Our Lady Who Helps in All Things.” It is also often known as “Our Lady of Eternal Aid,” which is nice, but inaccurate, as it gives theologians who prize accuracy and precision in such matters the heebie-jeebies. 

Mary was known by this title from the Querriens apparition because it denotes her motherly care for people. Consider: Mary cured a young girl of her deafness and speech defect, without having been asked. Only a loving, tender Mother who loves her children so much would do this. That a statue was found, still in excellent condition despite being buried for nearly a millennia, also harkens to her ability to care for ‘all things.’ 

 

Sources: Divine Mysteries: Our Lady of Eternal Aid, Querrien, France, 1652

 

Miracle Hunter: Querrien, Bretania, France (1652)

 

Sensus Fidelium YouTube Channel: The Forgotten Marian Apparition That Foretold Mary’s Triumph: Our Lady of Eternal Aid

 

Sanctuary Our Lady Of All Help (In French, but translatable in many browsers.)

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!!)

Our Lady of Fatima Novena begins May 5th

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Just a quick reminder that the novena to Our Lady of Fatima begins on May 5th so as to end on the Feast day of May 13th (It could also have begun today, May 4th.)

If you do not have a novena to Our Lady of Fatima, here are two good ones:

Pray More Novenas

America Needs Fatima

Fatima12c seers.

Image Courtesy Novena.com

Archive of Sober Catholic Posts on Fatima

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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!!)

Lenten Novena to Our Lady of Sorrows: Day 9

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Day 9 (Thursday)

Vigil of the Feast

The King has descended to the Dead, preaching the Gospel to the righteous Just of the Old Testament. Adam and Eve, Abel, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Kind David, and all the other Patriarchs and Prophets up until His own foster father Joseph and John the Baptist are nown hearing the Good News (although Joseph and the Baptist already knew it.)

Mary, meanwhile, has remained in the Upper Room, bereft with grief over her Son’s death. Yes, she knows that He will rise again; but this does not lessen her grief. The deeper your love, the deeper your grief, and His promised rising again doesn’t overcome the pain of her loss.

We can perhaps use this time during Lent to increase our empathy for other’s pain. Rather than make excuses or some other way to ignore or account for it, perhapswe can try to see through other’s eyes and feel through other’s hearts the pain they are going through. I need to do this. It’s scary.

The harrowing of hell 13247.

Wounded with his every wound,
Steep my soul till it hath swoon’d,
In His very blood away;
Be to me, O Virgin, nigh,
Lest in flames I burn and die,
In his awful Judgment day.
(Stabat Mater)

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Lenten Novena to Our Lady of Sorrows: Day 8

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Day 8 (Wednesday)

The Burial of Jesus

And so Jesus is buried. If we keep with the theme of death being the extinguishing of the old self, then the burial in symbolic of the consigning to the past (God’s Mercy) that old self. Have you let go of that self? Are you still clinging to aspects of that life? Time fpr another Step 4 if you’re still “working the Steps” or another thorough examination of conscience. lent is winding down, now is the time when many parishes have Penance services. Make use of one, there are often many more priests available than during your typical weekend, plus you get to talk to a priest you might not know (not important, but if it relieves your stress and anxiety…) 

Soon, a new journey will begin.

BurialofChrist CarlBloch.

Virgin of all virgins blest!,
Listen to my fond request:
Let me share thy grief divine;
Let me, to my latest breath,
In my body bear the death
Of that dying Son of thine.
(Stabat Mater)

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!!)

Here I am, Lord; I come to do your  will

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The refrain from the Responsorial Psalm for the Mass on the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord is adapted from Psalm 40:8-9

Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.

Courtesy: USCCB

If you are reading this blog, then I am assuming you have some degree of sobriety behind you. What have you done with it? If you are doing your best to lead a normal life, being a responsible family person (husband, father, wife, mother, sibling) or citizen (gainfully employed and such like) then that is great! But you can do more. if you are specifically reading this blog because you are Catholic, then perhaps you are seeking “what to do” about your Catholcism. It’s OK to “just be responsible.” Most people aren’t. But you can do so much more. God may be calling you to be a Christ-bearer to others, just like Mary!

Botticelli, annunciazione di cestello 02.

Here I am, Lord; I come to do your  will. Pray to the Holy Spirit for discernment in how to do that. If you need help, there’s my book, Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics. 

Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics is a call to arms, or rather, a call to pens, paintbrushes, and video cameras, for creative Catholics to take up St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe’s call to infiltrate pop culture and help alleviate the ills that pervade contemporary society. St. Maximilian saw back in the 1920s how the use of cinema, radio, and mass-market books was corrupting society. He thought that those same tools could be used as a countercultural force to overcome this corruption.

Furthermore, it explains through the example of three critical apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Guadalupe, Lourdes, and Fatima how she herself suggested strategies and alternatives to the dehumanizing and increasingly pagan contemporary culture we have today.

Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics concludes by showing how the Catholic Faith can be used to provide a road map out of our current morass and a blueprint to build a more just and fair society constructed according to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy and other elements of traditional Catholic Social Teachings.

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!!)

From his misery he raises the poor

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The excerpt from the Psalmody for Evening Prayer I for the Solemnity of the Annunciation on the Tuesday in the 5th week of Lent (that’s a mouthful) is from Psalm 113:7.

From the dust he lifts up the lowly, from his misery he raises the poor.

Courtesy: Divine Office.org

As alcoholics and addicts we were shunned and cast off towrds the margins of decent society. And rightfully so, for our actions caused this. Nevertheless, God loves each and everyone of us as we are, even in the depths of our sins. He made us, how can it be otherwise? We all have equal dignity in His eyes regardless of our worldly status. So, when He sees us deep in our addiction, He is at the ready to help. Sometimes He waits for us to reach out to Him, and at other times He doesn’t wait.

Just as Mary said “Yes,” to when the Archangel Gabriel announced to her that the Holy Spirit desriref to overshadow her so as the Second Person of the trinity could manifest Himself in her and redeem the world, you can say “Yes” to Him and become another Christ-bearer to others. 

The annunciation 1667.jpg!Large.

And He is not frightening, either. This is why He came to the world as an infant. God, the Creator of All, King of the Universe (and Multiverse, if that exists) entered intto human existence as a baby. He humbled umself that much just so as to be approachable. If it helps you to approach God in thaty manner, that is, regarding Him as an infant, that is perfectly acceptable! There is a old, venerable Catholic devotion known as the Devotion to the Infant Jesus (usually involving the “Infant Jesus of Prague.”) 

BY THE WAY: THIS ISN’T A DEVOTION FOR WOMEN, ONLY! Although it appears that women would be more attracted to this, it is a great way for men to learn humility. 

These websites have detailed information on the devotion to the  Infant Jesus. 

The Story of the Infant Jesus of Prague

Infant Jesus of Prague History & Devotion

Infant Jesus of Prague Novenas, Chaplet & Devotions

Prayers and Devotions to the Divine Infant Jesus of Prague

The Infant Jesus of Prague (EWTN!) Mother Angelica had a huge devotion to the Infant Jesus! See:

“Build Me a Temple”: Mother Angelica’s Mystical Visions of the Divine Child Jesus,

Mother Angelica describes her vision of the Divine Child Jesus,

and finally: Divino Niño Day

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!!)

Lenten Novena to Our Lady of Sorrows: Day 7

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Day 7 (Tuesday)

Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross

He is dead. He, through whom all things were created; the King of Heaven and Earth, is now dead. His body hangs lifeless upon the gibbet He was crucified on to atone for the sin of Adam and Eve and all those who inherited their legacy.

His friends raise up a ladder up to reach Him and remove the nails which have pierced His hands and feet. They gently bring Him down and lay Him in the arms of His Sorrowful Mother. She gently holds Him, weeping over the brutality visited upon His body: the wounds, gashes, blood, and sweat still present. Pietà - Hallwylska museet - 107520.
Mary was also sorrowful unto death. Sorrowful for our sins which did this to her Son. She grieved a deeper grief than anyone before or since has felt. In her sinless nature, preserved from committing the least fault because God redeemed her at her conception, and preserved her from sin so she could be the tabernacle of the Lord, she felt the pain of our sins ever more profoundly (given that she never felt the pain of anything she, herself, had done.) The pain she felt all her life, the seven swords of sorrow that pierced her heart, was all due to other’s rejection of Jesus. Think about this as you continue your life’s journey. Especially during this Lenten season as we use this period to remove our character defects and grow closer to the Lord: Mary is there to help you. She points the way to Jesus and she will help you remove from your actions the things that cause Him offense. For it is not just jesus that is sorrowful for your sins, but Momma Mary, too. 

Let me mingle tears with thee,
Mourning Him who mourn’d for me,
All the days that I may live:
By the Cross with thee to stay;
There with thee to weep and pray;
Is all I ask of thee to give.
(Stabat Mater)

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!!)