Devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows

I said in this post that I’d write on devotions to Our Lady of Sorrows.  The devotion to the sorrows of Our Lady dates at least from the Middle Ages, if not all the way back to the Early Church. This is likely, given that Mary was around for a few decades after Christ Ascended …

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Novena to St. Alphonsus Liguori begins July 23

A novena to St. Alphonse Liguori, whose feast day is Aug 1st, begins Saturday, July 23rd. He’s the patron saint of arthritis sufferers and those with scrupulosity (sometimes related to obsessive compulsive disorder). Here are two: Pray More Novenas  and Redemptorists. I love this saint, although I have not read as much of his works …

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TO SLAKE A THIRST: The Matt Talbot Way to Sobriety IS BACK IN PRINT!!!!

Many of you who have ‘been around’ awhile as practicing sober Catholics are devotees of Matt Talbot. Many of you know about, and even possess, the classic book on him which essentially is the ‘basic text’ of a Catholic sobriety movement entitled “To Slake a Thirst: The Matt Talbot Way to Sobriety” by Phillip Maynard. …

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Hypothetical 5th Edition of the Big Book to have major changes?

Although I do not attend AA meetings in person, I still make use of and work the Twelve Steps. I enjoy reading Twelve Step literature every day, whether it be favorite passages from the Big Book or from a few daily meditations and reflections books. I also really enjoy participating in online recovery on In …

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Sober Catholic gift opportunities

Lent will be here in just over three months (in 2021 Ash Wednesday is February 17th) and although it is not normally associated as a season of giving gifts, Christmas is, and that’s just over a month away. There are gifts that might be of interest to a person in recovery in your life (or …

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Susan Tassone: Apostle of Purgatory

Susan Tassone is an author of several books on Purgatory, notably prayerbooks to the Holy Souls suffering the fires of purgation. One of my annual rituals is to use her book Thirty-Day Devotions for the Holy Souls in Purgatory every November, as that is the month dedicated to the dead. The book itself is very useful …

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Books on the Holy Face Devotion. And a chaplet.

I introduced to you the Holy Face Devotion in these two posts: The Holy Face Devotion: what we need for our times and The Holy Face, Disfigured by Sin In short, the Devotion to the Holy Face is a work of reparation to atone for blasphemy against the Lord’s name and the profanation of Sundays and Holy Days. …

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Little Flower and the Story of Her Soul

Today is a feast day for St. Therese of Lisieux, the “Little Flower” and Doctor of the Church (due to her doctrine of “The Little Way.”) I say “a feast day” as today’s is from the Ordinary Form Calendar; on the Extraordinary Form Calendar it is October 3rd. One of the more significant books I’ve …

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Mother Angelica, three years after

Today marks the third anniversary of the death of Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation, the founder of the EWTN Catholic media empire. If you enjoy reading this blog, you can thank her because the primary reason I am a Catholic today is because of her network and the shows on it. I had left the …

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A Lenten Journey with Matt Talbot

The Venerable Matt Talbot Resource Center recommends in A Lenten Journey with Venerable Matt Talbot that: “In addition to any planned Lenten reading, we also recommend reading Matt Talbot – A Lenten Journey (2014), a resource compiled by Fr. Brian Lawless,Vice-Postulator for the cause of Venerable Matt Talbot, and Caroline Eaton.” It can be read …

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