Category Archives: Heaven

Summary of the Divine Mercy Sunday requirements to receive the Special Graces

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In this post, Divine Mercy Sunday is better than a plenary indulgence!, I go on about how, well, Divine Mercy Sunday is better than a plenary indulgence. (It was easy to come up with the title.) All of this is based on the teachings of Fr. Chris Alar of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception. He has videos all over their YouTube Channel, many on Divine Mercy and on Divine Mercy Sunday. 

In his videos he describes how Divine Mercy Sunday is better than a plenary indulgence (I’m being repetitive to impress upon you that point.) To summarize what he says (and this is all derived from what Jesus told St. Faustina, nothing at all is his innovation):

1) Go to Confession before Divine Mercy Sunday (could be a few days or so, as long as you remain in a state of grace, i.e. no mortal sins.)
2) Go to Mass on Divine Mercy Sunday (Saturday Vigil Mass counts, as that covers Sunday.)
3) Recieve Holy Communion
4) He added this prayer (this is his own composition, not found in the Diary or St. Faustina’s writings, but there’s nothing wrong with it):

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a poor sinner: Jesus, you promised St. Faustina that the soul who has been to confession [l have] and the soul that receives Holy Communion [I just did], will receive the complete forgiveness of all sin and punishment.
Please give me this grace.”

Here it is as a JPEG, you can right-click and save it to your device to use to pray after Communion.

Jesus told St. Faustina, which she recorded in her diary:

300 +Ask of my faithful servant [Father Sopocko] that, on this day, he tell the whole world of My great mercy; that whoever approaches the Fount of Life on this day will be granted complete remission of sins and punishment.

+Mankind will not have peace until it turns with trust to My mercy.

+Oh, how much I am hurt by a soul’s distrust! Such a soul professes that I am Holy and Just, but does not believe that I am Mercy and does not trust in My Goodness. Even the devils glorify My Justice but do not believe in My Goodness. My Heart rejoices in this title of Mercy.

Furthermore:

699 On one occasion, I heard these words: 

My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and
 shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very 
depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon
 those souls who approach the Fount of My Mercy. The soul that will go to 
Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of
sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which
 graces flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its
 sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel,
will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity. Everything that exists has come
forth from the very depths of My most tender mercy. Every soul in its relation to
Me will contemplate My love and mercy throughout eternity. The Feast of Mercy
emerged from My very depths of tenderness. It is My desire that it be
solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have
 peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy.

And:

1109 …

Immediately upon my awakening, God‟s presence enveloped me, and I felt I was a child of God. Divine love was poured into my soul, and God gave me to see how everything depended on His will. He spoke these words to me: I want to grant a complete pardon
to the souls that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion on the Feast of My mercy. Then he said to me, My daughter, fear nothing. I am always with you, even if it seems to you that I am not. Your humility draws Me down from My lofty throne, and I unite Myself closely with you.

Source for the excerpts from the Diary: Divine Mercy in my Soul: Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska (Link is to a purchase page; I do not get any revenue from purchases; if you want other editions of the book, like a compact edition, a nice deluxe leather edition, or Spanish versions, go here: Divine Mercy Diary.)

For your benefit, this is the Plenary Indulgence requirements, if you prefer that route (but why would you? Divine Mercy Sunday is better than a plenary indulgence!):

A plenary indulgence, granted under the usual conditions (sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer for the intentions of Supreme Pontiff) to the faithful who, on the Second Sunday of Easter or Divine Mercy Sunday, in any church or chapel, in a spirit that is completely detached from the affection for a sin, even a venial sin, take part in the prayers and devotions held in honour of Divine Mercy, or who, in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament exposed or reserved in the tabernacle, recite the Our Father and the Creed, adding a devout prayer to the merciful Lord Jesus (e.g. Merciful Jesus, I trust in you!”);

A partial indulgence, granted to the faithful who, at least with a contrite heart, pray to the merciful Lord Jesus a legitimately approved invocation.

From:

Indulgences attached to Divine Mercy Devotion.

More on the Plenary Indulgences – General Conditions. It is good to note No. 7:

Indulgences can always be applied either to oneself or to the souls of the deceased, but they cannot be applied to other persons living on earth.

That may be a good reason to try and satisfy the “formal” method for obtaining the plenary indulgence; you can apply it to a holy Soul in Purgatory. As to a question of whether you can receive the Special Graces promised by Jesus for yourself, but transfer the graces of the plenary indulgence to a Holy Soul in Purgatory? I honestly do not know. I just emailed the Divine Mercy people and asked it and UPDATE!!!!—> I received a reply today, April 10th, the very next day! 

This is what I asked: 

Can someone receive the special graces of Divine Mercy Sunday as promised by Jesus to St. Faustina for oneself, BUT also satisfy the requirements for the plenary indulgence and apply that to a Holy Soul in Purgatory?

And their reply:

Yes, someone can receive the graces of Divine Mercy Sunday for oneself if they intend to receive the Extraordinary Promise of Divine Mercy Sunday.

If they wish to apply the plenary indulgence (a different grace on this day) to a soul in purgatory, they can also do that as well as long as they know there are more requirements for an indulgence (prayer for the Pope’s intentions, doing an indulgent act like venerating the image or participating in Divine Mercy devotions, complete and total detachment for sin, and confession).

For more information, please see these articles:

https://www.thedivinemercy.org/articles/mercy-sundays-special-graces-plenary-indulgence-are-they-same

So, we can reserve the Special Graces for ourselves, but if we also satisfy the Church’s requirements for the plenary indulgence, apply those to a holy soul in purgatory! Wow. God is good.

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 fret because of the wicked

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The excerpt for today is from the Office of the Readings from the Liturgy of the Hours for Tuesday of Holy Week and is Psalm 37:1-4:

Do not fret because of the wicked;
do not envy those who do evil:
for they wither quickly like grass
and fade like the green of the fields.

If you trust in the Lord and do good,
then you will live in the land and be secure.
If you find your delight in the Lord,
he will grant your heart’s desire.

Source: Divine Office.org

This, then, is envy and resentment. You stopped drinking and using and have received some of the promises and benefits from sobriety, but you haven’t gotten the hang of it entirely. And your ol’ drinkin’ buddies are still havin’ a grand time out there, celebrating and carousing, and maybe teasing you for being a quitter.  

Or, you’ve been clean and sober for a nice long time, and once in a while you just watch people enjoying the gentle conviviality of a few glasses of wine during a dinner or a beer while watching a game on TV. Or, have a crisis, binge all weekend, emerge all right and not touch the stuff for a year because they didn’t have to and don’t “need” it. 

While not implying that your ol’ drinkin’ buddies are wicked (it could be used as a metaphor) the idea that someone, somewhere, out there, is having a good time doing something that could kill you if you returned to doing it does burn. I mean, even I, at times, just wish that I could, you know, have just one little…

But no.

Those who continue drinking and using go on to their own reward, which could be nothing harmful at all if they employ moderation; or they could wind up in the rooms of AA next to you. I can see it now: you’re in some church basement awaiting the start of your Thursday Night 8PM Home Group and someone sits down right next to you; but you’re so engrossed in reading a post from SoberCatholic.com that you don’t notice it’s Norm/Norma with whom you used to go around town barhoppin’. They nudge you in the shoulder and you turn and see them pointing to my post on your phone and they say “Hey, Ron/Rhonda! I read that earlier today! Funny meeting you here!” A pause and then they say “Hey,” again pointing to the SoberCatholic.com page on your screen, “Do you have this? That guy wrote it.” And they pull out and well-worn copy of “The Sober Catholic Way.” You reply, “Yeah, I got that! It changed my life! I bought a boxful off of Amazon and put them in my parish’s reading room and Adoration Chapel!” And so you renew acquaintances.

Or, your reading on that same phone the obituaries and a familiar name shows up on your doomscrolling. “Died suddenly.” You know what that means. 

On the other hand, if you trust in the Lord and do good,
then you will live a decent life and be secure.
If you find your delight in the Lord,
he will grant your heart’s desire (continued sobriety.)

Please by my book! Link in the image (or click on this):
00000 TSCWBookCover.jpg.

Thank 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!!)

The past shall not be remembered

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The Reading from the Mass for the Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent comes from Isaiah 65:17-21; although I only excerpted this part:

The things of the past shall not be remembered or come to mind.

Courtesy:  USCCB

This chapter of Isaiah deals with God’s judgement and salvation for His people. I love this particular line because of the obvious: our sins and the stupid, embarrassing things we’ve all done are wiped clean; we will not be tormented by any memory of them. Makes you consider that the suffering we endure until our (hopeful) entrance into Heaven is worth the while. (If that’s not enough encouragement, then consider that many spiritual writers think that our sins follow us into Hell; there we will be perpetually tormented by what we’ve done.)

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!!)

Anxious concern

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From the Reading from the Evening Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours for Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent:

Work with anxious concern to achieve your salvation. It is God who, in his good will toward you, begets in you any measure of desire or achievement. In everything you do, act without grumbling or arguing; prove yourselves innocent and straightforward, children of God beyond reproach. (Philippians 2:12b-15a)

Courtesy: Divine Office.org

“Work with anxious concern to achieve your salvation.” No one’s salvation is guaranteed. We can never really be sure with absolute certitude. Given the stakes of eternity, that’s a big deal. “Once Saved, Always Saved” is a heresy, and given its presumption of God’s Mercy, a sure pathway to Hell. 

“It is God who, in his good will toward you, begets in you any measure of desire or achievement.” God loves you and wants you with Him forever. Not many say that about you. Therefore, He instills or creates in you (begets) the desire to gain Heaven. This is through the graces He freely sends you; your cooperation with those graces determines the eventual outcome. 

“In everything you do, act without grumbling or arguing; prove yourselves innocent and straightforward, children of God beyond reproach.” This is self-explanatory: the inner serenity that you should have as being a child of God should affect your behavior. It should be beyond reproach when compared to seculars.

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!!)

Run so as to win

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The Evening Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours for the Second Sunday on Lent is from 1 Corinthians 9:24-25;

While all the runners in the stadium take part in the race, the award goes to one man. In that case, run so as to win! Athletes deny themselves all sorts of things. They do this to win a crown of leaves that withers, but we a crown that is imperishable.

Source: DivineOffice.org

If athletes can deny themselves all sorts of things for a prize that is transtory (after all, who remembers who won a particular championship years ago? And if that team hasn’t won one since, is that much comfort to fans who want a championship this year?) then we, as sober(ing) Catholics, can deny ourselves the allures of the immediate gratification of alcohol and drugs for the ultimate prize: Heaven. 

Keep your eyes on the prize as you trudge your road of happy destiny.

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!!)

Living with the Lord

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The Verse before the Gospel for the Friday after Ash Wednesday is from the Book of Amos, 5:14

Seek good and not evil so that you may live,
and the Lord will be with you.

Courtesy USCCB

Seems fairly simple. We seek the good and shun the evil, and we may live (Heaven being our destiny, but that’s not assured as we have to persevere to the end.) The Lord will be with us and if we continue to seek the good, it seems fairly certain that (perhaps after a time spent in Purgatory) we’ll live forever with Jesus and our loved ones in Heaven.

When I was reviewing the day’s Mass readings to pick one for this post, this verse from Amos jumped out primarily because I had the visual image of Heaven popping out at me when I got to the word ‘live.’ This reminded me of the four qualities that our glorified bodies will possess if we make it to Heaven. I think it was St. Thomas Aquinas who developed them from studying the post-Resurrection accounts of Jesus. Since in Heaven, we will be like Him, it is reasonable to assume that we will have bodies like His.  The four qualities our glorified bodies are:

Glory: Sometimes called Beauty, this is liked as to an aura. Our bodies shine with a glow that is as bright as it merits. Some saints in Heaven glow with brightness of a trillion suns, other barley flicker. This all depends upon the life lived while in Time on Earth. As there is only Love in Heavem and bo jealousy, resentment, or envy, no one is dissatisfied with their aura. (When compared with the alternative…)

Impassability: This is the lack of suffering and pain. Everyone shares this equally. No more physical pain, no agony, no suffering from the surrounding environment (in the post-Resurrection Heaven, with its ‘New Heavens and New Earth, we can assume there are all sorts of places to visit, with every environment imaginable. This part makes sense when we get to the next two qualities.) But in addition to the lack of physical pain and suffering, there is a total absence of anxiety, anger, fear, want, hunger, drudgery, despondency, regret, resentment, and so on. No mental or spiritual suffering. 

Subtility: The ability to pass through solid objects. Jesus did this; He walked through the locked door in the Upper Room when He appeared to His disciples. There are other accounts pre-Resurrection when He passed through people. 

Agility: the ability to move at the speed of angels; some describe this as the ability to move at the speed of thought, or the will. You wish to go somewhere far away, you’ll be there in not time.

The existence of these last two qualities implies that the post-resurrevtion Heaven will be a vast, infinitely large physical place. We’d need subtility and agility in order to get anywhere (despite having an eternity to get anywhere, it’s still nice to get there at once.) Agility demands the existence of subtility: if you wish to travel somewhere exceedingly far away, chances are there’s many physical objects between you and your destination. 

If you dwell on these, they may cause you to yearn for Heaven even more than you do now. Assuming that you do. I’ve been ready for over 20 years, but I’m still trudging down here.

There’sa wonderful book that I recommend for you if you wish to explore this further. It helped me a lot in healing after my Mom’s death in 2005. The book is called A Travel Guide to Heaven, by Anthony DeStefano. The link to the book has additional links to where it’s available to purchase. It’s a great read, especially if you miss someone you love, and occasionally wonder if this life is worth putting up with. Compared to what’s waiting for us, it is!

From the site’s book blurb:

What Will Heaven Be Like?
“A Travel Guide to Heaven…bubbles joyously about an incredible Technicolor afterlife that makes the journey over the rainbow to Oz pale in comparison.” –New York Times

Down through the centuries, there have been thousands of books written about the subject of heaven. Some have been great theological tomes, some brilliant essays, other beautiful poems. Religious and secular writers from all walks of life have attempted to describe and explain this most elusive of concepts. And yet, while all of these efforts have added to our understanding of heaven, most of them have been missing one key ingredient: FUN.

If heaven is anything at all, it’s fun. It’s a place of unlimited pleasure, unlimited happiness, and unlimited joy. It’s Disney World, Hawaii, Paris, Rome and New York all rolled up into one. And it’s forever.

If your picture of heaven could use a little fine-tuning, then this remarkable book is just the ticket. Fueled by the author’s profound faith, his bold vision, and his irresistible sense of adventure, A TRAVEL GUIDE TO HEAVEN takes us on a virtual tour of eternal life.

This is one trip you won’t want to miss!

And again, you can find places to buy it here: A Travel Guide to Heaven, by Anthony DeStefano.

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!!)

Gracious and merciful is he

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An excerpt from the First Reading from the Book of Joel (2:12-14) for Ash Wednesday:

Even now, says the LORD,
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.
Perhaps he will again relent
and leave behind him a blessing,
Offerings and libations
for the LORD, your God.

Courtesy USCCB

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent; that liturgical season when Christians shed their character defects, attempt to turn away from sin and grow closer to Jesus. We make advances in our spiritual progress; while not technically a period when we engage in ‘self-help’, nevertheless, in amending our lives and turning away from sin, we try to become better people with the hope that when Lent ends, we retain the good we have become.

Since Lent is the time when we approach the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus, and He underwent all of tht in a propitiatory offering for our sins, we may tend to think of God as an angry god seeking to mete out punshment.

But as we see from the Old Testament Book of Joel, we are reminded that when we turn to God with our heart, truly sorrowful for our sins, He does not respond with punitive justice. 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.

Become a better person this Lent. Look at your sins in the light of eternity.  

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!!)

Lourdes, the Immaculate Conception, the Militia of the Immaculata and Sobriety

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Reblogged from several years ago and edited slightly:

This is a story about a Marian feast day, its significance; a saint and what he did with it; and what all this meant for yours truly.

Today is February 11th, day when  Our Lady appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous in a grotto near Lourdes, France in 1858.

The apparition was significant in several respects: the most important was that Our Lady identified herself with the words, “I am the Immaculate Conception.” Not that she was “immaculately conceived,” but rather she was the essence of the immaculate conception. As St. Maximilian Kolbe later pointed out (this is a paraphrase) “To be white is one thing, to be whiteness is another.”

For another, it seemed as if Heaven was endorsing the definition of the Dogma of Mary’s Immaculate Conception in 1854 by Pope Pius IX in Ineffabilis Deus:

“We declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which asserts that the Blessed Virgin Mary, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God, and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from every stain of original sin is a doctrine revealed by God and, for this reason, must be firmly and constantly believed by all the faithful.”

And one more: that Mary’s self-identification as the Immaculate Conception was utterly fascinating and mysterious to St. Maximilian Kolbe, who meditated and pondered on it his entire life. It inspired his “Militia of the Immaculata” and associated media enterprises and friaries.

I discovered St. Maximilian Kolbe and the Militia of the Immaculata in 2002, after I had sobered up sufficiently to search online for what the Catholic Church has to offer me in recovery. As I had stated in my Reversion story, “I had been going to AA meetings, but I knew early on that the brand of spirituality offered there was not going to do the job.” And so I explored the religion of my childhood and never looked back. That St. Max was a patron of addicts helped. When I learned that, I explored more about him.

So I found out about St. Max and the M.I. The M.I. calls for consecrating oneself to the Blessed Mother as her “possession and property” so she can “make of me, of all my powers of soul and body, of my whole life, death and eternity, whatever most pleases” her. That she will use me as “a fit instrument in your immaculate and merciful hands for introducing and increasing your  (note: God’s) glory to the maximum in all the many strayed and indifferent souls, and thus help extend as far as possible the blessed kingdom of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus.” I figured if that’s true (and I never doubted the Blessed Mother) then this may help in my recovery. I doubt that remaining a drunk would be of use to her. This blog post Marian Consecration and the Guarantee of Eternal life expands on how Marian Consecration can help your sobriety. In short, when you become Mary’s possession, she guides you along the path to Jesus. Consecration can heal you, not in any miraculous way (but that could happen!) but it can help you focus and give a new dimension to your prayer and devotional life. I firmly believe that if you consecrate yourself to Mary, the probability of relapse should vanish (your willing cooperation with the graces received through Mary’s interession is assumed.)

And so on October 7, 2002, on the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary, I gave myself to Mother Mary. I joined the M.I. which “is a universal and international public Association of the faithful, erected by the Holy See. The MI was founded by St. Maximilian Kolbe, OFMConv., in 1917, is open to Catholics, of all walks of life, and encourages all people of good will to develop a trusting relationship with Our Lady. The aim of the MI is to win the whole world for Christ through the Immaculata, Mother of God and of the Church.

“The MI is a global vision of Catholic life under a new form, consisting in the bond with the Immaculata, our universal Mediatrix before Jesus.” -St. Maximilian Kolbe.

The MI offers programs that: -Provide formation in the teachings of the Catholic Church
-Foster love for Jesus in the Eucharist and for the Sacramental life
-Promote a deep understanding of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s role in the plan of Salvation and of the gift of consecration to her in the spirit of St. Maximilian Kolbe.
-Ignite with the zeal to become generous instruments of evangelization in one’s own environment, giving witness to the Truth and promoting the sacredness of human life. M.I. members, mindful of their call to evangelize, strive to give witness to the Faith everywhere. They seek to reach out to their own families, friends, co-workers, fellow parishioners, the sick and elderly, youth, adults, and whomever they meet, in order to lead every individual with Mary to Christ, Our Savior and Our Hope.

(Above quote courtesy of M.I. You can also visit that link to learn more about the MI and St. Maximilian Kolbe, along with possibly joining yourself!)

I think Mary started using me right afterwards. She strengthened me against what I perceived as attacks against my Faith in my AA Home Group as well as giving me the courage to stop attending meetings regularly in 2004. Not that I am advocating everyone should stop going to meetings; on the contrary, if you enjoy and need regular meeting attendance, by all means do it. It just wasn’t for me.

Once I drifted from AA, I began looking into what recovery resources the Church offers. You can read about that here: “About this blog.” After a whle I just decided to start Sober Catholic; I mentioned in some earlier post that I believe the Blessed Virgin Mary “inspired” me to do it. A “fruit,” if you will, of of my M.I. Consecration. Not that I received any interior locution or some such thing, just a desire that since no one else was doing this at the time, I might as well. I doubt I’d have the courage on my own.

So here’s the story: A apparition of the Blessed Mother; a saint’s taking that apparition and message and developing it; and a marginal ex-drunk finding a personal mission in it – Trudging the Road of Happy Destiny and taking whoever bothers to read this stuff along with him.

So that’s that! The sanctuary or Our Lady of Lourdes in France is famous for miraculous healings wrought there. Over 7,000 miralulous healinga have been reported since 1858; only 72 (so far) have been confirmed by the Church to me truly miraculous.) Because of that, Pope St. John Paul II also declared today to be the “World Day of the Sick” in 1993. We alcoholics, even though we may be sober, are still “sick.”

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!!)

Indulgenced Cemetery Visits Devotion for November 1-8

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This is an annual post on a fruitful pious devotion for November:

Catholic Culture has an excellent article regarding a very beneficial pious activity that can aid in your own spiritual progression. It also is a good reminder of where we’ll end up someday. (A grave. Morbid, true, but you wouldn’t be here unless you’re more aware than most people that you will die someday.)

Praying for the Dead and Gaining Indulgences During November is something I blog about here annually. It is about the act of visiting a cemetery during the first 8 days of November.

To summarize from the “Catholic Culture” site: “Indulgenced Acts for the Poor Souls: A partial indulgence can be obtained by devoutly visiting a cemetery and praying for the departed, even if the prayer is only mental. One can gain a plenary indulgence visiting a cemetery each day between November 1 and November 8. These indulgences are applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory.

A plenary indulgence, again applicable only the Souls in Purgatory, is also granted when the faithful piously visit a church or a public oratory on November 2. In visiting the church or oratory, it is required, that one Our Father and the Creed be recited. A partial indulgence, applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory, can be obtained when the Eternal Rest  is prayed. This is a good prayer to recite especially during the month of November:  ‘Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.'”

The article explains the differences between plenary and partial indulgences.

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!!)

Hindering God’s Love: self-love as a bad choice

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I went to Confession tonight before Vigil Mass and we had a different priest (a visiting priest from somewhere as ours is in Rome on pilgrimage.) 

This priest was one of those who talked a little after you finished reciting your sins and how many times you committed them. He said something that will remain with me until the day I die. I’ll paraphrase as I don’t remember his exact wording:

“God loves you, despite whatever sins you’ve committed; remember that: God loves you despite everything. However, (and this is the part that’s going to ‘remain with me until the day I die’) our sins hinder our experience of God’s love.”

Wow. I never thought of it that way. I know that sins block or inhibit God’s graces (mortal sins cut you off completely from Divine grace; venial sins clog up the channels of grace like cholesterol does in the bloodstream) but I never really viewed it in the manner of “hindering our experience” of God’s love. I mean, I know that God always loves me no matter what, but I think I conceived of that in a more abstract way, like He loves me but when in deep sin His love is still there, but not a very active way. Sort of like when you love your spouse or child or friend or whoever but when they really tick you off  you’re  a little cool towards them for a while, even though you still love still them.

God is better than that. He’s bigger than your sins and while it is true that sin blocks the flow of grace (that free gift of spiritual help, succor, and support from God) His love is still present and ready to manifest itself when you repent and turn back. God is unchanging. God’s love for you is eternal: even if you were damned and you find yourself in Hell, God still loves you (as shown by His respecting your free will choices in life of rejecting Him and His will and law. True, real, love does not force itself on anyone who doesn’t want it. You avoid God, avoid Church, avoid praying, adopt a purely secular life and viewpoint, mock religion and belief, then the consequences of your decisions land you in Hell. You didn’t want to pay any attention to God during your lifetime, you expect to send eternity with Him in Heaven? Many saints have written that the pains of Hell is the pain of Loss of God: that at the moment of death you experience God face-to-face and that marks your soul somehow; and if you merit Hell, the sudden loss of that vision of God and “what could have been yours forever, the possession and knowledge and vision of God” is the pain, like fire, of Hell. 

Anyway, this “hindering our experience” of God’s love is an important point for us sober Catholics to consider. I’ve written numerous times and you must have read it countless times elsewhere in your spiritual reading that addiction is a “hole in the soul” that we addicts and alcoholics fill with the wrong stuff. Drugs, liquor, pornography, whatever: we seek God but in all the wrong places. God loves us through all of this, but the actions of that love is missed by us. Sometimes when we are in a rally dark place we finally see it and then our recovery begins.

But when we try to fill that hole in our soul with something other than God, or when we persist in a chronic, repeated sin (which may or may not be an addiction, but is an inordinate desire for something contrary to our good) we experience not God’s love, but our own self-love. By ‘self-love’ I do not refer to the healthy kind that is a positive, well-balanced self-assessment; the decent, well-ordered self-esteem kind. I mean that love which puts self-gratification and self-will first; it could be narcissistic; at any rate, it is inward directed as opposed to “other directed,” the “other” being other people. 

Think about that. Imagine how transformed our lives could become if we just made a “fearless and searching” examination of conscience, took a long, hard look at our sins, especially those we routinely confess every time we go, and saw how those sins are a search for God’s love but in the wrong places. We can then petition the Holy Spirit to help us turn to God whenever we seek something other than Him.

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