Mother Angelica is as helpful and inspiring today as she was decades ago

 I couldn’t this morning decide what to watch on TV during the time I set aside for that before ‘beginning my day.’ Old reruns of “Sliders?” How about “Farscape?” “Babylon 5?” Maybe pick up where I left off during an interrupted binging of the original “Quantum Leap?” No, no, no, and no. I was restless …

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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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WWJD

There’s a fad, mostly over, I think, concerning how a Christian should behave in a particular situation. “WWJD,” as in “What Would Jesus Do?” The implication is that He would be “nice.” There’s a joke going around the Internet which suggests that whenever asked, “WWJD?,” you should state something like: “An acceptable response might be …

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An Exhortation to Persevere from the Book of Sirach

While doing my morning meditations today I read the following passage from the Old Testament “Wisdom” Book, the Book of Sirach (Chapter 2, Verses 1-13). I found it to be a very good and hopeful exhortation to persevere in keeping faith with the Lord; for those who persevere to the end will be saved (as …

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Gratitude: Wanting what you have

In the rooms of AA, I’ve learned that gratitude means “wanting what you have.” At first I had thought this was silly and trite. Of course, I “want what I have!” But upon further thinking it became obvious the trite phrase has a deeper meaning. In our alcoholism, one drink was never enough. The idea …

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A Walk With the Novena of Mary Undoer of Knots, Day 9

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 …

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Crucible of Faith

Earlier this month I wrote: Just enough. This is a sequel. The reason I am writing this sequel is that I need to expound somewhat on the “suffering” aspect of that post. Although you might think that there would be increased confidence in relying on Divine Providence, there is a lag time between when the …

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Gratitude: Wanting what you have

One of my least favorite 12 Step meeting topics is “gratitude”. Not that I am not grateful for anything in sobriety, for I have plenty to be grateful for. My main issue whenever this topic is brought up is that quite often the attendees just launch into a list of the things they are grateful …

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Patient endurance

The Office of Readings from the Liturgy of the Hours for this morning had “A treatise on the value of patience, by St Cyprian” from which I excerpt the following parts: “What we do not see, we hope, for Patience is a precept for salvation given us by our Lord our teacher: Whoever endures to …

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Patience has a practical purpose

The Reading from Evening Prayer for today has advice concerning patience, a topic not unfamiliar in 12 Step Meetings: James 1:2-4: “My brothers, you will always have your trials but, when they come, try to treat them as a happy privilege; you understand that your faith is only put to the test to make you …

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