Category Archives: Conversion

If you are a Simon of Cyrene…

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The Second Reading from the Office of Readings from the Liturgy of the Hours for the Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent is from a homily by Saint Gregory Nazianzen, bishop:

If you are a Simon of Cyrene, take up your cross and follow Christ. If you are crucified beside him like one of the thieves, now, like the good thief, acknowledge your God. For your sake, and because of your sin, Christ himself was regarded as a sinner; for his sake, therefore, you must cease to sin. Worship him who was hung on the cross because of you, even if you are hanging there yourself.

Courtesy: Divine Office.org

We are all Simon of Cyrene. We all are called to take up our Cross and follow Christ (Matt 16:24) Or, help Him carry His. (Colossians 1:24)

We have been crucified because of the sins of our addictions and through the process of recovery. This passage from St. Gregory Nazianzen is a call for us to acknowledge who is the source of our recovery and the new life in Christ we now have. And then what? We show Him gratitude: we worship Him and pay Him homage. Our sins don’t excuse us.

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 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!!)

From hidden faults acquit me

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The excerpt from the Daytime Prayer for the Liturgy of the Hours for Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent comes from Psalm 19:13.

But who can detect all his errors? From hidden faults acquit me.

Courtesy: Divine Office.org

This passage gives me comfort for when I go to Confession. I typically say at the end of the recitation of my sins and their number: “…for these and all my sins, I am truly sorry.” To me, this includes any that I have forgotten. I am tempted to say the Psalm passage during my next Confession. 

We all sin, and despite our best efforts during our examination of conscience to recall all of our transgressions, we may miss a few. But we should avoid becoming scruplulous. If we honestly missed a few due to faulty memory and have not deliberately withheld any, we can just honestly say during Confession something like the above; either “…for these and all my sins, I am truly sorry;” or “But who can detect all his/her errors? From hidden faults acquit me.”

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!!)

He will bind our wounds

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This excerpt from the First Reading for the Mass for Saturday of the Third Week of Lent is from Hosea 6:1

Come, let us return to the LORD,
it is he who has rent, but he will heal us;
he has struck us, but he will bind our wounds.

Courtesy: USCCB

That’s what Lent is all about! It is a time for returning to the Lord; we come to Him broken and wounded from our sins and from all the times we have abandoned Him. If God seems far away, it was you that moved! Go to Confession this weekend; maybe start spending the rest of Lent reading a good spiritual book. Regardless, there is no sin so great that God cannot forgive it; nothing is beyond His Divine Mercy.

Take your wounds to Jesus in the Sacrament of Confession and he will bind them in His Mercy.

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!!)

Resist the devil and he will take flight

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The Reading from the Evening Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours for the Thursday of the Second Week of Lent is from James 4:7-8, 10.

Submit to God; resist the devil and he will take flight. Draw close to God, and he will draw close to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, you backsliders. Be humbled in the sight of the Lord and he will raise you on high.

Courtesy: Divine Office.org

Abuse of the drink is a tool of the Devil to pry you away from God. The hole in your soul, which everyone has, is supposed to be filled by God. Everyone pursues God, even atheists. However, the pursuit is often misdirected and the person fills that hole in the soul with anything but God. Porn, prostitutes, greed, power, you name it. And then there’s addiction. 

Turn to God and resist the call of the drink or drug. Satan will take flight and leave you. 

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!!)

Return to me with your whole heart

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The reading from the Morning Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours for Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent is from Joel 2:12-13.

Return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the Lord, your God.
For gracious and merciful is he,
slow to anger, rich in kindness,
and relenting in punishment.

This is not just the essence of Lent, but the meaning of addiction recovery itself as we proceed down the path towards freedom. 

 

Return to me with your whole heart: replace the hole in your soul that was previously occupied by your addiction with God.

With fasting, and weeping, and mourning: Shed the desirw for alcoho or drugs, repent and have remorse for your sins.

Rend your hearts, not your garments: Practice deep, interior conversion rather than outward signs of ‘spritual progress.’

And return to the Lord, your God: pretty much what it says. Come home to the Father like the Prodigal Son did.

For gracious and merciful is he: God loves a repentant soul and He will shower you with the graces you need to tay on the path, and if you are truly repentant and confess your sins, you will be forgiven.

Slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment: as I said earlier in Gracious and merciful is he, 

He is gracious, merciful, slow to anger (likely due to He knows we are weak and frail,) rich in kindness and will relent in His punishments. All we need to do is truly come to terms with our sins, see them in light of the eternity that awaits us, and cast off the behavior that separates us from Him. And when we do that, He will open His arms wide to embrace us.

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!!)

Do not conform yourselves to this age

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This excerpt from the Evening Prayer for the Monday of the Second Week of Lent is from Romans 12:2.

Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may judge what is God’s will, what is good, pleasing and perfect.

Courtesy: DivineOffice.org

This was the very first Scripture verse I even memorized because I found in it the central theme of addiction recovery by the graces of the Catholic Church. 

“Do not conforme yourselves to this age:” We are Catholic. We reject the false morality of the secular world which would have us murder unborn babies; treat with grave inhumanity undocumented immigrants fleeing poverty, violence and corruption; accept sexual deviancy as normal; and acept the general dehumanization of everyone through economic exploitation.

“But be transformed by the renewal of your mind:” Through prayer and the reading od Sacred Scripture and good spiritual reading, we can help our mind become renewed in Jesus.

“So that you may judge what is God’s will, what is good, pleasing and perfect:” And once that renewal has begun, we are better able to see God’s will in our lives and in the society around us.

I have written about this passage numerous times before:

Be Transformed by the Renewal of Your Mind

Transformed

Renewing Your Mind

What is Good and Pleasing and Perfect

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!!)

Wash yourselves clean!

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The Reading from the Morning Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours for Saturday of the First Week of Lent comes from Isaiah 1:16-18

Wash yourselves clean!
Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes;
cease doing evil; learn to do good.
Make justice your aim; redress the wronged,
hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow.
Come now, let us set things right,
says the Lord:
Though your sins be like scarlet,
they may become white as snow;
Though they be crimson red,
they may become white as wool.

This is similar to yesterday’s lesson. This is also the process of recovery: in ‘washing ourselves clean’ we cast away our character defects and through our fearless and searchiung moral inventory, discover how deep our “evil” had been.  And then we begin to fix things. We mend our relationships with those we have wronged, we give help to those who need it when we are capable; and we seek to be outside of ourselves, we turn outward after fixing our interior and we try to make right the ills of the things around us. “Outside issues” may be a way to keep societal wrings and injustices out of the discussion in recovery meeting rooms (and rightly so, for they distract from the immediate issue of recovery) but in our lives “out there,” in society, we can take the lessons from the Church as she teaches us through Scripture and prayers and the sacraments, and try to heal the world around us.  

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!!)

Begin NOW!

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The Verse before the Gospel for Monday of the First Week of Lent:

Behold, now is a very acceptable time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.

Courtesy USCCB

NOW is the acceptable time to begin following Jesus like you’ve not done before; NOW is the day when you say “I belong to Jesus.” And if so, then you must belong to His Church. Come Home to the Catholic Church.

NOW is the time when you begin to take seriously His command to “take up your Cross and follow Him.”

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!!)

Taking up your daily cross

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The Gospel for the Thursday after Ash Wednesday:

Jesus said to his disciples:
“The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected
by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.”

Then he said to all,
“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
yet lose or forfeit himself?”

Courtesy USCCB

Taking up your daily cross is something few really enjoy doing. Even if you pray every morning the traditional Morning Offering (or any variant) in which you offer up all of your prayers, joys, and sufferings; and habitually “offer up” to God when the happen your pains, aches, fears, worries and anxieties; insults and attacks on your dignity as a human person; and all the other “stuff” that happens throught the day that we wish would just “go away,” it is still preferable for any f that to not have happened.

Yet Jesus is clear, if we are to folllow Him as His disciples, we must join ourselves to His propitiatory sacrifice of Calvary. Just as He was offered up in sacrifice to atone for the sins He was not guilty of; so, to, must we offer ourselves and our sorrows and sufering to atone for the sins we did not commit. All sin is an affron to God and disturbs the moral order, which has an impact in the physival world. Therefore, when we accept our crosses, we help out in repairing some order to the world about us. 

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!!)