Today is Day 9 and thus the final one in our Novena of Mary Undoer of Knots. We ask Mary’s intercession for “this knot in my life…You know very well the suffering it has caused me…” So, what knot is it? Is it the same one you may have prayed about daily, or one of …
Continue reading ‘A Walk With the Novena of Mary Undoer of Knots, Day 9’ »
Way back in the day when I lived in California I was introduced to the phrase “fat, dumb, and happy.” It is said after you’ve eaten a particularly large and sumptuous meal. I have no idea if that saying is a “California-ism,” but that’s where I first heard and used it. The thought ocurred to …
In light of yesterday’s Giving Glory to God post, I’m dusting off a draft that is related to it. “Hope and Perseverance,” are two things that I can at least grab onto as things I do not lack. Despite this or that excuse or circumstance or “whatever,” every night when I go to bed I …
I read an article in the Catholic Herald about How Catholics can conquer depression. I thought a particular line from it may be relevant to readers, whether or not you suffer from it: “While the sacraments alone were never meant to cure mental afflictions like depression, they can and do play a healing role in …
Just watch: Are you a creative Catholic? “The Catholicpunk Manifesto” is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better! Know someone, perhaps yourself, who might like Catholic devotionals for alcoholics? Please take a look at my books! “The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics” and “The Recovery …
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We all experience our own Garden of Gethsemane: Matthew 26:36-42: “Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’ He took along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to feel sorrow and distress. Then he said …
Quite often in 12 Step meetings and elsewhere it is said that “God will not allow you to be tried or tested beyond your strength or limits.” It is Scriptural, therefore reliable and true. 1 Corinthians 10:13: No trial has come to you but what is human. God is faithful and will not let you …
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A realization came to me at work a few weeks ago. I transferred to a new place within my company, and I had been undergoing a somewhat painful transition. I was wondering about why we have to endure certain things. I know I’ve written a great number of times about the need to accept suffering …
Continue reading ‘Happiness from People, Places and Things’ »
I have probably blogged about this Scripture passage before, but it bears mentioning again. The Gospel reading for today’s Mass (Saturday of the First Week of Ordinary Time) tells us that Jesus came here for the broken and wounded of humanity: Mark 2:16-17: “Some scribes who were Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners …
Continue reading ‘The well do not need a physician, the sick do’ »
Depression is another affliction for us alcoholics, especially in early recovery. With our moods swinging wildly from day to to day, and sometimes more quickly, we fall into a state of wondering “will it ever get better?” It becomes easy to lose hope and to wonder whether this sobriety thing is worth it if an …
Continue reading ‘Our Lady of Lourdes Novena for Alcoholics: Day 3’ »