A review of two books on the Sacred Heart: “Healing Promises: the Essential Guide to the Sacred Heart” and “A Little Book of Reparation: First Friday Devotion of the Sacred Heart of Jesus;” both by Anne Costa

For this Sacred Heart Friday I am reviewing two great books on the Sacred Heart Devotion. Both of them are by Anne Costa, of Revive Hope and Healing Ministries.  I wish Anne had written these years ago. Waybackwhen I’d always wanted to have a greater insight into the Sacred Heart Devotion, but for some reason just …

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Our Lady of Lourdes Novena Begins Today

EMERGENCY NOVENA REMINDER! I ALMOST FORGOT! I was reminded by a post in a Facebook Group I admin that the Novena to our lady of Lourdes begins today. If you’re somewhere and didn’t realize this until the 3rd of February, that’s OK; the novena will just end on the 11th of February. Here are some …

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16th Bloggaversary of Sober Catholic: How I stayed sober for almost 21 years

Today marks the 16th Bloggaversary of Sober Catholic. In honor of that, I’ve edited and cleaned up a messy note I wrote who-knows-when on “The Sober Catholic Way.” It is a summary of everything I’ve been doing since I became sober on May 22, 2002. Some I do better than others.  This was originally a …

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St. Martin of Tours: Patron St. of Reformed Alcoholics

Today is November 11, the Feast of St. Martin of Tours. His hagiography his readily available online (just look him up) but one thing that intrigued me about him is one particular aspect of it. He is frequently referred to as a “Patron St. of Reformed Alcoholics.”  I have no idea why, except for references …

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St. Mark Ji Tianxiang, patron saint of drug addicts?

St. Mark Ji Tianxiang was born in Hebei, China on 1834 into a Catholic family where he was raised in the Faith. He was a doctor, and in his early thirties he suffered from a stomach ailment for which he treated himself with opium. This cured him, but he developed an addiction to it. In …

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NOTE TO SELF: Novenas coming up

Today is the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker. It is in honor of his role within the Holy Family as the provider and breadwinner; inasmuch as he had never said anything recorded in Scripture, there’s the added concept of his humility and quiet service in supporting his loved ones. The Feast was established to …

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How St. Rita can help those of us in recovery

St. Rita, whose feast day is today, May 22nd, is the patroness of ‘impossible cases,’ as well as women in abusive marriages, mothers and those with serious illnesses and especially of wounds. A lot of that is appropriate for anyone in recovery, since we’ve experienced abuse and have given it, as well as succumbing to …

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St. Rita and me

Do you think it’s possible that a saint can select you to be a client of theirs, rather than the usual way of us picking someone because we were named after them or something about their life resonated with us?  Today is the Feast of St. Rita of Cascia; it’s also my sobriety date. Nineteen …

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Year of St. Joseph

On the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Pope Francis issued the Apostolic Letter Patris Corde which established these upcoming twelve months as the “Year of St. Joseph.” This had long been speculated by those who do that sort of thing, and they were finally proven correct. Like other “Year of’s…” the faithful among us are to delve …

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Novena to St. Maximilian Kolbe begins today!

Reblogged from last year: Today begins a novena to St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe, one of my favorite saints for a myriad of reasons. One of them, and not the primary one, even, is his patronage of addicts. He was not an addict himself, but the Church in Her thinking has anointed him for that role …

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