Declare your sins to one another

Posted on March 6, 2026 by Paul

The Reading from the Evening Prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours for Friday in the 2nd week of Lent is:

Declare your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may find healing. The fervent petition of a holy man is powerful indeed. My brothers, the case may arise among you of someone straying from the truth, and of another bringing him back. Remember this: the person who brings a sinner back from his way will save his soul from death and cancel a multitude of sins. (James 5:16, 19-20)

Courtesy: DivineOffice.org

Lent is upon us! Many parishes have Lenten penance services scheduled so that people have easy access to a priest to confess the sins they’ve been shedding all season. Usually there’s an abundance of priests from all over. Perfect time to confess to a priest who doesn’t know you all of those embarassing peccadilloes you’re ashamed to confess to your regular confessor. PRO TIP: your regular confessor “has heard it all before” and likely isn’t surprised by anything; so, if you missed the penace service or if there isn’t one, apart from travelling to a different parish, just suck it up and go to Confession this weekend at your parish! Try to go more than you normally do outside of Lent. Pope St. John Paul II suggested long ago that Catholics who wish to progress spiritually should go to Confession at least once a month.

Another thing you can do: start a Catholic spirituality blog, podcast or YouTube Channel. Talk about hown the Catholic faith and her sacraments, the Mass, prayers and devotions can assist anyone in growing closer to God. You can even clear the way for your eventual death and enter Heaven. “Remember this: the person who brings a sinner back from his way will save his soul from death and cancel a multitude of sins.” Just make sure you know what you’re talking about and it’s Catholic teachings you’re promoting, not your own masquerading as Catholic. There’s too much masquerading going around.

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

Posted on March 3, 2026 by Paul

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.

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

Posted on March 2, 2026 by Paul

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

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!

Posted on February 28, 2026 by Paul

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.

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!!)

Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.

Posted on February 26, 2026 by Paul

The Responsorial Psalm for the Mass for Thursday of the First Week of Lent is:

Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me

Courtesy USCCB

Gratitude is the topic for today. When you were at your bottom, when all seemed lost and life was at its darkest, when you wished for death to escape the slavery of addiction, you called on God for help. It may notn have been in any recognized prayer, or even words, (mental or spoken.) But in some manner of will or action, you cried out to God for deliverance. And He responded. Somehow, you got the help you needed and yoiu’ve been clean and sober since then. One day? Twenty-five years? Not matter. How have you responded to His aid?

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!!)

To behold his temple

Posted on February 25, 2026 by Paul

From the Evening Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours for Wednesday of the First Week of Lent:

There is one thing I ask of the Lord,
for this I long,
to live in the house of the Lord,
all the days of my life,
to savor the sweetness of the Lord,
to behold his temple.

Source: DivineOffice.org

Lent is a journey. We begin on Ash Wednesday and arrive at the Easter Triduum of Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday; and hopefully throughout the season we grew to match the image and likeness of God (the natural result of our fasting, penitential prtactices, and shedding of character defects.)

In a manner of speaking, it is a metaphor for living. If we desire to progress spiritually and enliven our souls with God’s graces through the sacraments of the Church, we eventually arrive at the time of our death in a condition ready to be accepted into God’s home for all eternity. To be united with God and the Communion of Saints and enjoying the sweetness of life there…. that is the ultimate goal of every Christian. And Lent is that “training ground” to prepare our souls for that eventuality.

To behold his temple. Spend this Lent wisely. Regardless of when you start to take the penitential practices of the season seriously, it’s never too late to have a good Lent. Heaven depends on it.

Image: JillWellington.

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!!)

…the healthy do not need a physician…

Posted on February 21, 2026 by Paul

From the Gospel Reading for the Saturday after Ash Wednesday:

“Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”

Courtesy USCCB

This was in response to the question, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” that the Pharisees had for Jesus when He was at table with Levi (Matthew) and the other tax collectors.

This has always been one of my favorite quotes from Jesus. We are sick people, no matter how long we’ve been sober, the threat of what might happen to us if we relapse is ever present. And we still might not necessarily think normally, especially in response to things happening around us.

Jesus came for all, but especially for us sinners and sick people. The “righteous” (those who think or feel that they are so, for the truly righteous do not view themselves that way) probably don’t think they need Him.

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!!)

BOOK REVIEW: “Encouraging Words to Live By: 365 Days of Hope for the Anxious and Overwhelmed” by Anne Costa

Posted on January 16, 2026 by Paul

“Encouraging Words to Live By: 365 Days of Hope for the Anxious and Overwhelmed” by Anne Costa was published through The Word Among Us Press in 2019, and I wish I had it back then as it would have helped me better deal with anxiety and recurring feelings of being overwhelmed.

The book is aptly named.

What is it about?

From the site blurb:

Feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or sad? Here is a collection of daily reflections that will lift your spirits and give you a sense of direction with reminders of God’s great love and acceptance. Drawing from Scripture, the wisdom of the saints, and pastoral expertise, Anne Costa has written a spiritual resource that will enable you to look upon each day with hope.

This book will help you (or a loved one) when overwhelmed by life or struggling with anxiety or depression to renew your connection with God and others.

Encouraging Words to Live By.

I began reading it this year (2026.) With the world and nation going increasingly insane and daily living threatened by the actions of stupid political leaders in ways previously unheard of (due to things being amplified by social media and 24/7 news channels) this book will provide a sane and soothing respite for the few minutes every day that you take to read and ponder the wisdom of Anne as well as from those sources she’s culled it from. You might even be inspired to grab your Bible afterwards and look up the Scripture passage.

My favorite day so far (and NOT the only one in my two weeks of reading) is the entry for January 5th.

Excerpt:

…How we talk to ourselves—the messages we send—can either feed or starve our souls. We shouldn’t let our inner chatter drown out the voice of God, who is love….

…Let the condemning thoughts die down like a distant echo and allow the whisper of the One who loves you fill your listening heart….

I think I need to place that page on my printer, make a copy, and tack it onto the wall next to me. I have mentioned at least once before about “inner voices” running me down. They typically sound like the voices of family members who had driven me to consider self-harm, but often it’s a generic voice not associated with any particular person. But it’s always a running critical commentary, but sometimes petty and ridiculous; like the source of the voice can’t come up with anything big so it resorts to something stupid.

Each page has a quote from Scripture, followed by Anne’s “Encouraging Words,” basically a short inspirational passage she wrote, based on the Scripture passage and often tied to the liturgical feast of that day. The day’s reading concludes with a nice, short prayer.

After I finish writing and publishing this review, I’m going to go back through the entries for January 1 through 16 and highlight certain passages, maybe scribble a note or underline with a pen. I rarely do that, but when I do, it “annoints” the book with a sort of personal blessing. “This book is essential to my well-being” and “It’s important in helping me cope.” I’ll be keeping the highlighter and pen next to it. Within a few years the book will show evidence of heavy-duty highlighting, underlining, and annotating. There’s no entry for February 29: on that day I’ll just flip through and reread other days.

Where to get it:

The book’s page on Anne’s website: Encouraging Words to Live By on REVIVE Hope and Healing Ministries

Through Amazon

Barnes and Noble (and check out the Nook sample!)

Or visit your nearby local bookshop (especially if you have a Catholic bookshop around!) and politely request that they carry it. Buy two, one for yourself and for someone you know.

Anne’s website is REVIVE Hope and Healing Ministries. They have a Prayer Community on Facebook. Check out her podcasts (DISCLAIMER: she interviewed me last year. That DID NOT influence my review. If I didn’t like the book, I wouldn’t have reviewed it.) A full list of where you can listen is on Podbean.

I hope you enjoy reading it! If you do, spread the word! People need this book!

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!!)

The Hail Mary as a Christocentric meditation

Posted on January 14, 2026 by Paul

I was engaged in a debate on the r/catholicism subreddit regarding the propriety of the Hail Mary prayer, the Rosary, and devotion to Mary at all; since the poster felt it took away from reverence or attention properly due the Father and Jesus; and that we should just focus on saying the our Father, ‘as Jesus taught us.’ The poster felt that the Hail Mary wasn’t enough about Jesus and the Father.

While praying my daily Rosary I thought of another counterpoint to make to the poster, and felt that it would make a good post for Sober Catholic. It’s kind of like a meditation on the Hail Mary, with a Christocentric/Patercentric appeal. To make it obvious, I use all caps whenever God makes an appearance in the Hail Mary.

Hail Mary, Full of Grace (Mary is ‘full of grace’ only because she had to be so that the HOLY SPIRIT can overshadow her so as to conceive JESUS.)

the Lord is with you. (Who else is this referring to, but JESUS?)

Blessed are you among women; (She is only ‘blessed’ because she will be the Mother of GOD, a/k/a JESUS.)

and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. (There is that JESUS person, again!)

Holy Mary, Mother of God; (JESUS, anyone!)

pray for us sinners, (Why are we sinners? Because we turned away from JESUS, who, if you read especially the Gospel of John, came to do the will of the FATHER. ‘Sin’ is when our actions are contrary to GOD’S will, pr when we abuse the natural gifts given to us by GOD.)

now, and at the Hour of our Death,

AMEN

Mary is referenced 6 times, while the Trinity is referenced or implied 8 times, as I count them. Now, multiply that by the number of beads on the Rosary.

You can see that the focus of the Hail Mary is less on Mary, but more of the Father and Jesus; it forms a perfect complement to the Our Father, thus making the Rosary an ideal form of devotion to the Father.

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!!)

The Hour of Grace, December 8th, Noon to 1PM local time

Posted on December 4, 2025 by Paul

This is from an approved apparition (see: Green light for devotion to Our Lady Mystical Rose, plus, you can just look up stuff yourself on Our Lady of the Mystical Rose/Mary, Mystical Rose/Our Lady of Montichiari/ or the seer Pierina Gilli)

Image courtesy: Luisa Piccarreta

The Hour Of Grace is on December 8th, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

From 12 Noon To 1 PM, (your local time, so this should cover the Earth with graces for a 24 hour period.)

THE REQUEST OF OUR BLESSED MOTHER FOR THE HOUR OF GRACE:

1. The Hour of Grace is to be one full hour of prayer, beginning at 12:00 Noon and continuing until 1:00 PM, on December 8th, Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

2. During this hour, the person making the “Hour of Grace” either at home, church, the grotto, must put away all distractions (do not answer the phones or answer any doors or do anything but totally concentrate on your union with God during this special Hour of Grace).

3. Begin the Hour of Grace by praying Psalm 51 three times with out-stretched arms.

4. The rest of the Hour of Grace may be spent in silent communication with God meditating upon the Passion of Jesus, saying the Holy Rosary, Precious Blood Chaplet, Divine Mercy Chaplet, Chaplet of St. Michael, Sorrowful Mother Chaplet, etc.

The Blessed Virgin has requested that Her important message be sent throughout the entire world. Please help Her Mission: “that all souls be drawn to God and that Jesus will be loved in every heart.”

If the children cannot recite Psalm 51 between 12 noon and 1:00 p.m., because they may be in school, say it in the evening as a family.

The Blessed Virgin Mary promised that whatever a person asked Her for during this Hour of Grace (even in impossible cases) would be granted to them, in accordance with the Will of the Eternal Father.

Here’s more info on the Devotion to Mary, Mystical Rose: Devotions to honor Our Lady, the Mystical Rose

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!!)

Sober Catholic

Catholicism, Recovery, Sobriety, Conversion, Prayer, Fasting, Repentance, Penance

Category Archives: Grace

Return to me with your whole heart

Like this:

Do not conform yourselves to this age

Like this:

Wash yourselves clean!

Like this:

Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.

Like this:

To behold his temple

Like this:

…the healthy do not need a physician…

Like this:

BOOK REVIEW: “Encouraging Words to Live By: 365 Days of Hope for the Anxious and Overwhelmed” by Anne Costa

Like this:

The Hail Mary as a Christocentric meditation

Like this:

The Hour of Grace, December 8th, Noon to 1PM local time

Image courtesy: Luisa Piccarreta

The Hour Of Grace is on December 8th, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

From 12 Noon To 1 PM, (your local time, so this should cover the Earth with graces for a 24 hour period.)

THE REQUEST OF OUR BLESSED MOTHER FOR THE HOUR OF GRACE:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Image courtesy: Luisa Piccarreta

The Hour Of Grace is on December 8th, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

From 12 Noon To 1 PM, (your local time, so this should cover the Earth with graces for a 24 hour period.)

THE REQUEST OF OUR BLESSED MOTHER FOR THE HOUR OF GRACE:

Share this:

Like this: