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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For Day 3 in our daily walk with The Novena of Mary Undoer of Knots we cover “this knot in my life…and all the rancor and resentment it has caused in me…’. All right, resentment. Whether the rancor in life is caused by us or by others, the resentment that results is one character defect …
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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 …
During my interview on the “‘On Call’ with Wendy Wiese” radio show on May 1st there was an Anonymous caller at the end who asked a question on the compatibility of the Twelve Steps with the Catholic Church’s sacramental Confession. As the call was near the end of the show, I didn’t fully engage the …
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There was a question and/or comment during my interview on the “‘On Call’ with Wendy Wiese” radio show regarding the Catholic Church and the validity or efficacy of 12 Step Movements. The basic contention of the caller (I think it was “Tom from Minnesota, the Land of 10,000 Treatment Centers”) was that I was dismissing …
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To bury the dead is the last of the Corporal Works of Mercy. It is an act of kindness, and of hope in the resurrection of all when Jesus return to judge the living and the dead. The graves remind us always of our last end, and that there is an eternity afterwards. Time spent …
One thing has repeatedly disturbed me in the over 10 years of sobriety that I have. That thing is the phrase “Recovering Catholic.” I encountered that phrase quite a lot yesterday and today when I revisited an online recovery community called In The Rooms. I joined a few years ago, never did much with it, …
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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Ray: “(choking back tears) Hey… Dad?…. you wanna have a catch?” Dad: “I’d like that…” Field Of Dreams: catch.mp3 (Via MovieWavs Page.) That line and scene from the “Field of Dreams” movie always gets to me. My father is dead, and I’ll never play catch with him again (unless we meet again in Heaven). Playing …
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 …