Category Archives: Sacraments

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

Posted on by

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 couldn’t get it. I don’t know why; I was never taught much about it “growing up Catholic” except that it’s important to go to Mass for nine consecutive first Fridays of the month and there were also those twelve promises. But what’s that all to do with Jesus’ Heart? I always felt I was missing out on some key piece to a puzzle. That, in itself, may not be too surprising: try and show me any alcoholic or addict that didn’t think they missed something keenly important that they’re supposed to know! These two books by Costa fill in the details; together they comprise an invaluable handbook to the Sacred Heart! Read these and you’ll ‘get it;’ not only that, you’ll be wanting more!

First up is “Healing Promises: the Essential Guide to the Sacred Heart”

B0BVC77TKY c9c51db8 cover

If you know nothing about the Sacred Heart Devotion, or just the basics, like it involves a statue of Jesus pointing to His Heart, or going to Mass for a bunch of Fridays, and that it inspired generations of Catholic parents until the 1950s to name their daughters “Margaret Mary,” then this book is for you! In a very accessible style Anne introduces you to everything you need to know to make it a part of your devotional and sacramental life.

Part One has a basic history of where and when the devotion started and a biography on St. Margaret Mary.

Part Two gets into the nitty gritty of various aspects of the devotion, such as consecration and reparation, the centrality of the Blessed Sacrament, its Solemnities and Feast Days – including saints associated with the devotion, and Enthronement of the Sacred Heart in your home (and this is a major theme of the book.) Part Two finishes up with chapters connecting the Blessed Mother to the Sacred Heart and (and this is what I particularly enjoyed) putting the Sacred Heart Devotion in context with the Divine Mercy Devotion. I personally have long held that the Divine Mercy devotion according to St. Faustina Kowalska was like a 20th Century update or ‘reboot’ of the centuries older Sacred Heart. Costa’s chapter connects the two. In my devotional life, the two will from now on become intertwined!

Part Three goes into the Twelve Promises of the Sacred Heart. There are actually many more promises that Jesus told to St. Margaret Mary for those who work out the Devotion, and they are detailed in the classic book by Fr. Croiset. The Twelve that are popularly listed in virtually any book on the Sacred Heart are a summary of most of the promises. Anne has one chapter for each promise!

Each chapter in Part 3 also has testimonials or inspiring stories which illustrate how that Promise was fulfilled in the life or family of someone. I love testimonials. Just reading about how someone’s life was changed for the better by something greatly moves me.

Throughout the book are little ‘Heart Notes,’ brief asides ‘to encourage further reflection and practical ways to bring the Sacred Heart devotion to your life.’ 

After Part Three are appendices which serve as wonderful references and collections of prayers, including ceremonies for Enthronement along with additional resources on the Sacred Heart.

Next up is a nice little book that can easily serve as a companion to Healing Promises: A Little Book of Reparation: First Friday Devotion of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It focuses on one of the more critical parts of the Sacred Heart Devotion, the Nine First Fridays. The Kindle edition is also free at the link above!

UntitledImage

The book tells you everything you need to know about the First Friday Devotion: where it came from, its purpose, the dispositions needed, and much on acts of reparation one can do.  It includes suggested approaches for reparation, along with excerpts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church and a selection of prayers. 

It is a wonderful companion to take with you to Mass on the First Friday of every month!

Costa has written other books, including the excellent “Praying for Those with Addictions”

“Anne Costa is a devoted wife, proud mother, inspired writer and impassioned speaker on all things related to faithful living, authentic womanhood and healing the soul. Her books are written to encourage, affirm and inspire Christians and Catholics with practical messages of hope-“ from her Amazon Author Page.

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!!)

What is good and pleasing and perfect

Posted on by

The Evening Prayer for today (Monday, First Week of Lent) has one of my favorite passages from Scripture and the first one I ever attempted to memorize.

To me, it is at the heart of being a person in recovery: Romans 12:2 “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.”

In recovery, we are essentially becoming transformed. We live by the principles of our recovery program (be it Twelve Step or something else) and if we are Christian, we seek out what the Church has to offer people struggling with their addictions. And one key thing, and this is something I’ve stressed from time to time: you don’t conform to this age, you do not seek value in the so-called “morals” of the World. They do not offer anything of substance and certainly they do not offer anything good for your salvation. In this “transformation” and our “renewal” we gain the capacity to discern what is the will of God, “what is good and pleasing and perfect.” How to discern the Will of God? Reading Sacred Scripture is one way. In another Gospel passage Jesus tells His disciples: Matthew 16:24-27 “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay all according to his conduct.” Again, “taking up the Cross” is essential to our recovery. We do not seek to run away from our troubles, all of the problems, big or small, that life throws at us daily. That is what we did while drinking. Everyone has troubles, it is a fact of human existence. We now have to tools to effectively deal with them, and perhaps even people around us who can assist us. But it’s more than that. It’s building a new life in recovery, and becoming a better follower of Jesus Christ! Our lives today are better than when drinking. And even better than before we first picked up a drink due to our “renewal” and “transformation.”

Mass Readings via USCCB.

So, “renewing your mind” is a recovery theme. We drop our old ways of thinking, acting, reacting and feeling and so on, and adopt new ones assisted by God’s grace. “Taking up the cross” is what all Christians are supposed to do, we cannot be followers of Christ unless we willingly embrace the Cross.

NOTE: This post is an edited version of two older posts. 

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!!)

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

Posted on by

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 long, 2,000ish word post. There was the summary you see in the next paragraph followed by a longer version that fleshed out the details. But then I decided this morning during a feeling-sorry-for-myself pity party that the longer version is itself a summary of an even much longer version that’s been lurking in my head for 15 or so years. That being a book on the topic of “The Sober Catholic Way of Sobriety.” Or something like that. I shall begin working on that right away. I do not know when it will be finished.

The summary of the ‘Sober Catholic Method’ or ‘Way’ or ‘whatver’ is:

Wow, that’s a long list, Paulcoholic? Isn’t a Twelve-Step program simpler? Yeah, maybe. But doing the above has kept this sick puppy sober for over 20 years and I knew that AA couldn’t. Some people demand happiness in this life and they find it often by avoiding suffering all costs and more and more turn to things which can only be called ‘addictions.’ Whether it is the typical alcohol or drugs, or an inordinate attraction to the self, or to the Internet and social media, or  to fandoms (pop culture things like TV franchises, movies, comics or other entertainment stuff.) Someone may not be an alcoholic or a drug addict, but I betcha they’re ‘addicted’ to something. You need a lot of tools to crowd all that stuff out or at least keeping them in their proper perspective is an attribute of the Sober Catholic Method. Or Way. Or whatever… 😉 So this all could be a wholistic approach to dealing with life in general and addictions in particular.

There are probably books or devotions that should be on there, but this my list. Yours may be slightly different. Anyone who takes a look at the list will arrive at the conclusion that it is simply a decent Catholic lifestyle. We are all supposed to go to Mass, Confession, and live the Gospel life which is learned by studying the Bible, Catechism, lives of the Saints and their teachings along with a few particular devotions to assist us on our way – to help us ‘stay on the beam.’ So be it. What makes it a ‘Sober Catholic Way?’ Life hasn’t been perfect for me nor am I a serene, happy saint-to-be. Life sucks at times, and I am often cranky and melancholic. But God never promises happiness and peace in this life. Only in the life to come. This should help me get there.

If you’ve appreciated this blog as well as this post, you can PayPalMe a non-tax deductible donation (my real name is Paul Sofranko, like the destination link says.) I will greatly appreciate every donation. (I do have plans for the money; plans to buy software which will help out in the production and marketing of self-published books. I figure that if I can raise sufficient funds through the kindness of strangers, then I’ll feel responsible and actually start working on the planned books. More on that later. )

 Or, you can just buy a lot of my books I’ve already 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!!)

National Eucharistic Revival: A Grassroots Response to God’s Invitation

Posted on by

The Bishops of the United States are launching us on a three-year long Eucharistic Revival. I first heard about it in a recent issue of the Militia of the Immaculata-USA monthly magazine Knight of the Immaculata. (This may initiate a PDF download in some browsers.)

Why is this being done? From the he US Bishops site especially set up for it: National Eucharistic Revival:

Revival’s in the Air!
AN EXCITING JOURNEY AHEAD:
Our world is hurting. We all need healing, yet many of us are separated from the very source of our strength. Jesus Christ invites us to return to the source and summit of our faith—his Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist. Watch the video to learn more about the exciting journey ahead and how you can be a part of it!

Scandal, division, disease, doubt. The Church has withstood each of these throughout our very human history. But today we confront all of them, all at once. Our response in this moment is pivotal.

In the midst of these roaring waves, Jesus is present, reminding us that he is more powerful than the storm. He desires to heal, renew, and unify the Church and the world.

How will he do it? By uniting us once again around the source and summit of our faith—the Holy Eucharist. The National Eucharistic Revival is the joyful, expectant, grassroots response of the entire Catholic Church in the U.S. to this divine invitation.

It takes time to kindle a living, loving relationship—and a relationship with Jesus Christ is no exception. That’s why the Eucharistic Revival allows three years for discernment, encounter, and grassroots response on the diocesan, parish, and individual levels.

The Timeline:

It begins this June 19, 2022, the Feast of Corpus Christi “Launch of the Eucharistic Revival.” (It actually started with the Novena to the Body and Blood of Our Lord, which I totally forgot to do. Go figure. I blew it already!)

Then the “Diocesan Year of Eucharistic Revival” begins Monday, June 19, 2022 and lasts until June 11, 2023.

After that it moves to the Parish level with the “Parish Year of Eucharistic Revival” from June 11, 2023 – July 17, 2024.

And then there will be a National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, Indiana from July 17 – 21, 2024. I have never been to a Eucharistic Congress. I’ve heard of them and known that some amazing things happen at them. These are not recent, they go back over a century, with the first International Eucharistic congress happening in 1881. I would love to attend this one! Indianapolis isn’t that far away! It isn’t an ‘International’ one, but this is as close as I’ll get.

When that is done, there begins the “Year of Going Out on Mission,” from July 17, 2024 – Pentecost 2025. 

Three years. Equal to the number of year Our Lord openly preached on Earth. If we get behind this, we can work wonders in our country and in the World. There’s no reason why you can’t participate in some manner. Get started by learning about the Church’s teaching on the Eucharist. A majority of Catholics only think it’s a symbol. It is not. It is literally the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the form of bread and wine. If you receive Holy Communion and don’t believe this then your are receiving Him unworthily. St. Paul teaches that this brings condemnation on oneself. If you’ve done this because you just didn’t know, then your culpability is lessened. But you must believe that He is truly, Really Present in the Eucharist. 

Read up on this. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is a great place to start. I may look up some great, informative sites on the Real Presence and post them this weekend. Another awesome practice to do is Eucharistic Adoration. Just spend some time, when you can, in silent prayer and reverence before the Lord. If the parish you attend does not have Eucharistic Adoration, then go to Mass early and Adore Him reposed in the tabernacle. Or stay later after Mass. If your parish is like a gabfest in the church before Mass and it’s difficult to pray, then perhaps charitably and kindly talk to the priest about suggesting to people that they take their conversations outside, or somewhere else on the parish grounds that’s more appropriate. Perhaps he can tie it in to the Eucharistic Revival; that the parish’s contribution is to be transformed into a house of prayer before each Mass, so that people can ‘get to know’ Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament by means of quiet prayer. And maybe after three years it’ll stay that way!

I’m excited. It is something to provide a focus for over the next three years. Get behind it! The Mass (said correctly, with proper reverence and solemnity) and Adoration is the closest thing we have to Heaven on Earth!

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!!)

Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus

Posted on by

Last year I began a new devotion, the “Work of Reparation,” also known as the Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus. I initially wrote about it here, but to quote from that post for a refresher: “During the late 1840’s. Our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to a Carmelite nun in Tours, France, and revealed a message to her that was to be shared with the world. That message was the Devotion to His Most Holy Face. Sister Marie of St. Peter was tasked with making this “Work of Reparation” known.

This Devotion is intended to make reparation for the sins of blasphemy against the Holy Name of God and the profanation of Sundays and Holy Days. In addition, it is to be a spiritual weapon against Communists.”

I went on to say, “This is a devotion gravely needed for our times. Western Civilization is conceivably in a state of collapse as evidenced by the political and popular responses to the Coronavirus pandemic, riots and mob thuggery in our cities and Leftist infection of our cultural elites and the resulting aggressive action by the power centers they control in culture and society.” I am afraid that in addition to the threat of Leftist violence in the USA, Right-wing violence over the Presidential election results is now also a possibility. We may not have ‘passed the point of no return,’ regarding correcting our collective path to perdition, but to me, it’s only a matter of time before there is a Divine intervention of some kind. God does not provide miracles when there are still ordinary means to resolve problems and crises, but I think we’re coming to some such thing  soon. When? No idea, but the time for spiritual preparation is NOW (actually, it has been for a while.)

And so we come to the Holy Face Devotion, which in recent months  I am seeing more evidence of online (namely in the form of You Tube channels dedicated in part to it.)

Today is traditionally the Feast Day for the Holy Face. It is not celebrated in the Ordinary Form of the Mass, and in the Extraordinary Form (‘Latin Mass’) is is an optional votive Mass. But in years past the day before Ash Wednesday id dedicated to the ‘work of reparation,’ which is interesting given that the same day in secular cultures is dedicated to getting the last bit of debauchery out of your system before Lent begins the next day.

“Fr. Z,” who has a You Tube Channel where he celebrates the Latin Mass, posted yesterday on his blog, the Mass Propers for the Votive Mass in Honor of the Holy Face of Jesus. Here’s a link from that post for a downloadable PDF file for the Propers :  PDF of Mass Propers for the Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus. If you want to watch the Mass, go here.

You can get a clear insight into the Holy Face Devotion by contemplating the Propers. I urge you to prayerfully read them!

ARCHIVE OF SOBER CATHOLIC HOLY FACE DEVOTION POSTS

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!!)

Feast of Matt Talbot

Posted on by

June 19th also happens to be the feast day of Matt Talbot, the Irish hard laborer and ex-drunkard who if he ever gets around to interceding miraculously, will get beatified and then canonized, and become a patron saint of alcoholics and addicts.

If you are a reader of this blog, then you probably know of him; how he was a drunk, begging and borrowing money to support his pub crawling, lending money when he had it to support others’ drinking habits, and how on that awful day, when he had no money and worse, no beer, turned out he had no “real” friends either, since no one wanted to spot him any further cash, discovered he had no access to the drink and decided to “take the pledge,” total abstinence from the drink.

It worked, and Matt led a life of humble piety, going to daily Mass, reciting the Rosary every day, and reading many spiritual books, including “Total Consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary,” by St. Louis De Montfort.

Matt’s basic plan was to transfer his “love for the drink” onto the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He took to heart the admonition to “seek ye first the kingdom,” and made a throne for the Sacred Heart in his own soul. “Where your heart is, there shall your treasure be,” and the treasure of Matt’s heart was Jesus’ Sacred Heart and His Most Immaculate Mother, Mary.

It is said that Matt’s piety, devotion and sacramental life lead him to live out the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous decades before they were ever conceived. In essence, he discovered them independently of Bill Wilson (AA’s Founder.) This should silence all Catholic critics of AA and the Steps who claim it fosters indifferentism. It does, if one’s Faith is weak, but if you simultaneously reach out and explore the spiritual riches of your Catholic Faith while also working the Steps, you should become a stronger Catholic. A good Catholic faith and prayer life, rooted in the Sacraments, the Beatitudes and the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy “just happens” to parallel the Twelve Steps.

I’ve written about him before, see Matt Talbot Post Archives and there are also links on him in the sidebar.

EDIT: The one thing I do not know is why his feast day is June 19th rather than June 7th, the day he died. Typically, someone’s feast day is their date of “entry into Heaven,” i.e, if they get beatified or canonized, their death day. If anyone knows…

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!!)

Christmas 2019 in this Dark Age

Posted on by

Merry Christmas to all my Sober Catholic readers; I hope your Advent season bore much spiritual fruit in your lives as you prepared for this day, the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

If any of you paid attention to the Mass readings during Advent or even to the Office of Readings in the Liturgy of the Hours you are aware that Advent wasn’t just about preparing for the commemoration of His First Coming as an infant; no, the readings were also about the need for us to prepare for His Second Coming as a Just Judge, bringing history to an end and taking the righteous home to eternal life with the Father and casting into Hell the unjust, the oppressors, persecutors, the selfish and the exploiters. The damned.

Based upon all this, and combining that all with the variety of spiritual reading I’ve done in recent memory, it appears to me that the World is in almost as dark a place now as it was in the times immediately preceding Our Lord’s birth. Barbaric times of slavery and oppression, infanticide, wars and the commoditization of human beings, these times are little different. Oh, we seem more sophisticated nowadays and are more conscious of our troubles, but factor in abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, human trafficking (modern slavery) endless war, economic and political corruption, the degradation and dehumanization of human life… these times aren’t that much different.

Seems like we need a Saviour, again.

Of course, He is here, still among us in the Eucharist and the Mass; in some places He us available 24/7 in Eucharistic Adoration chapels. Otherwise, through prayer and meditation you can establish and maintain your conscious contact with God and keep that channel of life sustaining grace flowing into your soul.

He doesn’t need to Come again now to save the World from itself; He is here in His Church and Her sacraments and prayer life. We can partake of these and be Christ -bearers to others lost in the World. Many are starving for objective Truth and they know not where it is or even that it exists.

You can be a Christ-bearer in this Dark Age and bring His light to those blinded by the World. You need not become street preachers or add your voice to the blogosphere; you can merely be Christian. By doing things with great love, fulfilling the duties of your state of life, by trying to see the brokenness and woundedness of others about you. Not easy when we are often absorbed by our own pain. But we try.

How long this Dark Age will continue is unknown. There are Catholic prophecies that state that light of Christ may appear to vanish before the Second Coming; that His Church may suffer many tribulations and persecutions and will be all but destroyed. There are also Scriptural signs about what must happen before He returns. Nevertheless we must be like the servant in the parable who does his duty not knowing when his master will return. We do what is in front of us, care for each other and prepare… for we know not when He will Return, either and the end of time or for us personally. Our lives must be like a continual Advent and Christmas season; ever watchful in preparation for His Coming, and being Christ-bearers to others.

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!!)

Divine Mercy Novena Reminder!

Posted on by

Just giving all my readers a heads up that the Divine Mercy Novena begins on Good Friday.

This is an excellent annual novena to take yourself on the journey to Divine Mercy Sunday, that annual festival wherein we bathe ourselves in the ocean of mercy that is God’s love and forgiveness.

No matter how bad a sinner you may have been, there is no sin that God cannot forgive, no sinner that God will not take back in His loving, merciful arms. The only barrier is pride and lack of humility and repentance.

Information on how to pray the Novena is in the link in the first sentence; information on Divine Mercy Sunday is in the link in the second paragraph. And in that last link there is a reminder to yours truly: “I posted before about this day, and perhaps next year I will, God willing, post more in the days leading up to it.” So, all righty, then. “NOTE TO SELF: post a bunch of stuff next week on Divine Mercy Sunday!” 😉

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!!)

Spiritual Warfare

Posted on by

I said in an earlier post, DON’T LEAVE JESUS BECAUSE OF JUDAS that “Those that are in the Church and are guilty of the crimes reported are followers of Judas. They will go to their own reward unless they repent. And speaking of who else dwells in the place of that particular reward, the scandals and corruption seem to me proof that Satan himself knows which Church is the One True Faith, for it would be that very Church which would suffer the most targeted and evil demonic attacks.”

(This is the “follow-up post. There will be others.)

We are engaged in spiritual warfare. It is us versus the Evil One. We have the Church and Her Sacraments and sacramentals, prayers, devotions and the MASS in our armory of weapons. Not to mention the considerable force of the Blessed Virgin Mary, she who will “crush the head” of the serpent.

Jesus established His Church (the only one, all others having been spun off of Her over the millennia) to safeguard His teachings and those of the Apostles and their successors. Satan knows this and has as his chief goal Her destruction. Hence, the primary target of his attacks on the Church has been against the hierarchy and priesthood.

No Pope, no Bishops and no priests: no Church.

This is not the time to remain weak, fair-weather Catholics.

St. Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the directors of this world of darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in high places.”

Courtesy: Sacred Bible: Catholic Public Domain Version

That is what we are doing battle with; to that end I will be reviewing my browser bookmarks and adding a new link section to Sober Catholics’s sidebar: “Spiritual Warfare.” For THAT is what we are engaged in, warfare. I’ll do a post announcing when it’s on the sidebar. I will also add a new post category with that same name as I will be writing more on weapons to be used in our spiritual warfare.

See: I won’t leave Peter because of Judas. Men don’t leave the Lady when She’s under attack. Stand and fight and defend Holy Mother Church. That was a Tweet I posted in the aftermath of the initial reports of the sex abuse scandal. (I referenced “Men,” obviously women are called to fight and defend the Church as well; I was referring to men due to our traditional roles as warriors and fighters for a cause.)

Start arming yourselves. Take up your Cross and follow Jesus. He is to be found truly, really Present in your Catholic Parish. Start spending time in Adoration.

Grab your Rosary, start saying it daily maybe even 4 times a day! It does make a difference!

Study your Catholic Bible. I recommend the Jerusalem Bible, primarily because Mother Angelica, EWTN Foundress loved it and used it in her Bible studies. It’s also a good read. I also like the Revised Standard Version-Catholic Edition (RSVCE), it’s also a good read and Fr. Benedict Groeschel, who appeared often on EWTN, loved it. The Douay-Rheims is excellent if you’re in a traditional mindset. Available: EWTN Religious Catalog: Bibles

Study your Catechism. Not just the “Catechism of the Catholic Church,” circa 1997, but also the venerable “Roman Catechism,” also known as the “Catechism of the Council of Trent.” The former is available in bookstores as well as EWTN Religious Catalog: Catechism, the latter, here: TAN Books (Note: you can also order the Douay-Rheims Bible through TAN.)

Frequent the Sacraments. Attend Mass every Sunday as well as Daily, if possible. If there is a Traditional Latin Mass with driving distance from your home, attend that. (I will post either here or on my other blog, In Exile Latin Mass resources.)

Study the Divine Mercy Message. Get St. Faustina’s Diary. (Available through the link in the previous sentence.)

Read the diary of St. Therese of Lisieux (“Story of a Soul.” Available anywhere.)

Try saying the Stations of the Cross; they’re not just for Lent, you know.

Learn about the Sacred Heart Devotion.

Another devotion is to begin saying (daily, if you can, otherwise whenever you are able) the Chaplet of St. Michael the Archangel. His Feast day is coming up on September 29th, so a Novena to him begins on the 20th; I will post some novena prayers for you as well as how to say the chaplet. (Probably within a few days, but just in time.)

This is a lot. But all is necessary. Studying the Bible and the Catechisms as well as the diaries I mentioned is important. There are many claims as to the “root causes” of the sex abuse scandal. All may be true to this or that degree, but the root cause of all is dissent. Toleration, acceptance and promotion of dissent from the teachings of Jesus as expressed through His Church is what caused all of this. This is why I referred to the perpetrators of the scandal as “Judases.” For they betrayed Him just like the original Traitor. All dissent is treason, if you are culpable (know that it is dissent, and not that “you didn’t know any better.”) So fortifying yourselves with TRUTH via the Catholic Bible, the Catechisms and great spiritual reading is paramount if we are to defeat the forces of darkness pervading the Church.

All of the above have their own links in the sidebar of Sober Catholic: as this blog was intended for people who might have left the Church due to various reasons encountered in their addictions or recovery, I placed many links to sites to help people learn about the Faith. Hence…

…How to Become Catholic or Return to the Church
The Church and the Bible
For all things Catholic…

Sacred Heart
Rosary
Divine Mercy…

… are all groups of website links in the sidebar. Visit and learn! There are other groups of links in the sidebar more particular to the purpose of this blog, peruse those as well. You never know what you might find of interest.

We are all in this together. We also need to pray for one another in these times; Satan will attack those fighting him. I know I will be under some manner of spiritual attack (it happens quite often.) So, if you’re a regular reader of Sober Catholic, please pray for me and this blog. Even if you’re not, please pray for me! 😉

As I said up above somewhere, there will be more posts in this category; I will bring up prayers and devotions, sacramentals, point out other websites that are fighting in the trenches, too.

We’ve got this, we will win.

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!!)

This side of paradise

Posted on by

I blogged a few months ago about my decision to start attending a “Traditional Latin Mass,” or the “Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite,” to refer to it by its proper name. This post may repeat some of the points I made then, so bear with me.

This post also further explains my recent blogging disappearance. Why would a Mass affect one’s blogging? Because I have become almost obsessed, nay, call it addicted to learning the rubrics (the “rules” of how to offer a liturgy) of the Latin Mass and thus have spent hours poring over Latin Mass websites, or Facebook Groups on Catholic Tradition and liturgy, or digesting the “words in red” in the Missal I use. As the saying goes, “Say the black, do the red,” the black being the prayers and readings recited, while the red in missals and breviarys are the directions or instructions as to what is supposed to be going on and what to do. I’m finding this stuff fascinating. The Missal that I use is the St. Andrew Daily Missal. I’m finding the “words in red” to be not just instructional, but informative as to the deeper religious and spiritual meaning of what is going on. This isn’t always the case in the more recent liturgical books. As I said elsewehere, “‘Ritual’ is also the hidden word in spiRITUALity,” and my “spiritual progress” since attending the Extraordinary Form has improved.

Why have I become so affected by the Latin Mass? It is uplifting. The beauty of it, even when said simply, is awesome. I feel disconnected from the outside world. This is what the Mass is supposed to do for you: when you first walk into a Catholic Church, you should feel different. You should feel that you have left the secular world and have entered into an extension of Heaven. And the Mass that is offered should take you further away from the world outside. Otherworldiness…. and I just can’t get over the notion that all my favorite saints celebrated or attended this same Latin rite.

Although I do believe that the Mass imposed since 1970 is valid and licit, there is too much of a discontinuity with the Ancient Rite; the closest that I’ve experienced in the Ordinary Form that compares to the Traditional Mass is when the former is said by a pious priest more attentive to the rubrics and to the proper worship of God than he is to making certain that the people are entertained or are totally incredible for being there.

The Mass is about the right and proper worship due the Lord; it is not about us.

I’ll just leave you with that…

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!!)