Category Archives: Saints

St. Michael’s Lent begins today!

Posted on by

Today, August 15th, the Solemnity of the Assumption of Our Lady, is also the beginning of the Franciscan devotion known as “St. Michael’s Lent.” It is a 40-day period of fasting begun by St. Francis of Assisi in the 1220’s similar to the actual Lenten season. It ends September 29th on the feast of St. Michael. It was during one of these fasts in 1224 that St. Francis received the stigmata.

I looked up this observance online, didn’t find much beyond what I stated above (there was an informative link that I referred a few years ago on Sober Catholic from a Franciscan site that is now a broken link.) But, I assume that you can just observe a fast of sorts (food or bad habit/character defect, etc.) and whatever other penitential practices you can think of.

I do believe that it is significant that this period begins and ends when it does. The Solemnity of the Assumption is observed because as Mary was preserved from Original Sin in her conception, she was bodily assumed into Heaven when her mortal period of time on Earth was over, thus preserving her from the corruption of death. St. Michael was the champion and leader of the blessed angels in their battle against Lucifer and his demons in the Fall of the Angels, and in his victory cast Satan out of Heaven. We can gain strength from theses days in our struggles against drinking and drugging, and especially against sins of impurity. If you are anxious and stressed about things (and what isn’t stressful nowadays?) you can perhaps “fast” from anxiety. Easier said than done. No wonder Satan uses impurity and addictions and fear in his ongoing war against those made in the image and likeness of God.

(Just in case anyone counts the number of days from Aug. 15 to Sept. 29, you’ll get “46.” .Don’t count the six Sundays that occur and you’ll get the forty. Sundays aren’t considered a part of any Lenten observance.)

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!!)

California Mystic- future saint?

Posted on by

I learned of a new potential saint in the Church, Servant of God Cora Evans. Born into Mormonism in in Utah in 1904, she died a Catholic in California in 1957. Her Cause for Beatification and Canonization was opened in 2012.

Her appeal is based upon numerous mystical visions she experienced, including many which revealed new details on the life of Christ and St. John the Baptist. I won’t go into details here, rather than duplicate efforts I strongly urge you to read 20th Century California Mystic, On The Road To Sainthood: Servant of God Cora Evans on Glenn Dallaire’s excellent blog, Mystics of the Church.

The reason why I am making this Servant of God known to you is that there are some interesting teachings contained in her writings from these visions. Namely, the “the Mystical Humanity of Christ, a way of prayer that encourages people to live with a heightened awareness of the indwelling presence of Jesus in their daily lives.” (From the Mystics of the Church blogpost on Evans.) This is not a new teaching, no private revelation ever has anything new to add to the Sacred Deposit of Faith. But revelations can emphasize certain “old” teachings or present them in a new way, perhaps to remind us of something forgotten or to prepare us for whatever is coming up in human history.

This “Mystical Humanity of Christ” appears to be a re-presentation of the Pauline doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ; the divine indwelling of Jesus in each of us baptized is nothing new, either. But apparently her writings teach a manner of prayer where this can be maintained constantly. Even that isn’t really new, for we are exhorted in the New Testament to “pray unceasingly.” Perhaps Evans offers a practical method. (I have not read any of her writings beyond what is excerpted on her Cause’s site: The Writings of Cora Evans. If you spend time on that site and study Glenn’s post on his Mystics… blog, you’ll know as much about Cora Evans as I do.)

If this “heightened awareness of the indwelling presence of Jesus in their daily lives” is legit, then this is an excellent spiritual exercise for all Catholics, but especially for those of us struggling with addiction (regardless of how long sober or clean.)

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!!)

Saints Jacinta and Francisco Marto, pray for us!

Posted on by

We have two new saints! Francisco and Jacinta Marto, brother and sister seers of Fatima, were canonized today in Fatima, Portugal by Pope Francis. You can read more about them by clicking on the links in the previous sentence.

I awakened extra early this morning to watch the Canonization Mass Live on EWTN. Today marks the 100th Anniversary of the day when the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, appeared to three little Portuguese shepherd children from an obscure village. See Fatima posts archive on Sober Catholic.

The Message of Fatima is the message of this blog (if I may be so bold!): “Prayer, penance, conversion, reparation.” We must pray, especially the Rosary… and daily! We must do penance, for ourselves and also for other people’s impenitence (reparation). And we must work on conversion. Our own is a lifelong process. We can never say “I’m done converting! I’m as Catholic as I’m ever gonna be!” And we must never stop praying and working for the conversion of other people.

Today’s new saints did all of that, even though their lives were short. They served as perfect models in their innocence of what we should try and achieve in our adulthood sophistication.

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!!)

St. Maximilian Kolbe: martyr, patron of addicts, died 75 years ago today

Posted on by

NOTE: This is an edited version of a post previously published to “Paul Sofranko’s Blog”

St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe was executed in the Nazi German concentration camp at Auschwitz seventy-five years ago today for being a Catholic priest.

He was a Conventual Franciscan friar and Guardian (leader, administrator) of Niepokalanow, then the world’s largest friary and a major Catholic media center. It is located some distance west of Warsaw, Poland.

He was canonized a saint by the Church in October 1982.

In late July 1941 a prisoner escaped and as was Nazi policy, ten men from that cell block were randomly selected to be sentenced to a starvation bunker until the escapee was found (dead or alive.) In reality, the ten condemned wouldn’t be released at all, regardless of the escapee’s status.

Death by starvation and dehydration is a very slow and very painful way to die. The ten were stripped naked and placed in a cell that measured three meters by three meters (that about 9 feet on a side.)

One of the ten was a Polish Army sergeant by the name of Franciszek Gajowniczek, who, upon being selected, wailed that he was a husband and father and bemoaned the fate of his family. Upon hearing this, Fr. Kolbe stepped out of line, went forward to the commander and offered to take the sergeant’s place.

The Nazi officer was duly astounded. Perhaps taken aback and confused by this act of selfless sacrifice, he accepted Kolbe’s offer and the Gajowniczek was excused. He survived the war.

Over the course of the next few weeks, the ten died, one-by-one. Every day an attendant would go into the cell to retrieve the dead.

Prison guards and camp survivors reported that while there would typically be sounds or rage and anger, of wailing and crying and begging, during the two weeks that Fr. Kolbe was imprisoned in the cell with the others, the sounds were quite different. Hymns were sung. Rosaries said. It was as if Fr. Kolbe had turned the bunker into a chapel. On August 14th, seeing that he was still alive, the Nazis got impatient that he wasn’t dying fast enough and had him injected with carbolic acid. For this reason, he is considered a patron saint of addicts.

When he volunteered to take the sergeant’s place, the Nazi asked Fr. Kolbe who he was. His answer?

“I am a Catholic priest.”

This was his identity, it was who he was. He died for being a priest; he died being a priest, ministering to his fellow condemned.

Week48IAmACatholicPriest

(Image via MI Canada)

Being a priest was enough to have him targeted by the Nazis; however there was more to him than that. For nearly twenty years he published “Knight of the Immaculata,” a monthly magazine dedicated to being the voice of the Militia of the Immaculata movement he founded in 1917 (more on that, later.) This publishing venture, begun in 1922, gradually expanded over the 1920s and ‘30s to include other periodicals and a daily newspaper. Circulation was amongst the largest in pre-WW2 Poland (and significant amongst global circulations, too.) Fr. Kolbe had already launched a shortwave radio station, although it was limited at first to just being on the Amateur bands. He also had plans for a TV station. Expansion of the radio station to non-amateur broadcasting and the TV enterprise were halted by the Nazi and Soviet invasion of September 1939. Fr. Kolbe also had plans for a motion picture studio.

He was “New Evangelization” before anyone else thought of it. If you wish to get the gist of what he did and also what he planned, what Mother Angelica did in Alabama 50 years later is essentially that.

I have also blogged about him before, numerous times (he has become my favorite saint.) Read more of my stuff about him here: St. Maximilian Kolbe post archives.

There is a special group of links for St. Maximilian Kolbe and his Militia of the Immaculata in the sidebar.
But for starters:

Militia of the Immaculata in the USA
The global Militia
“Niepokalanow”
another official Niepokalanow site

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!!)

For those addicted to gambling…

Posted on by

…you may have a patron in St. Camillus de Lellis.

St. Camillus was born on May 25, 1550, at Bucchianico, which is now in Abruzzo, then part of the Kingdom of Naples. His mother was about 50 when she bore him, and died when he was 12. His father was in the military and seldom home. He grew up neglected by the family.

He enlisted in the military and had a commendable career, having been wounded in the Battle of Lepanto. He suffered a wound which refused to heal and eventually left military service when his unit disbanded. He served as a day laborer for a while, and at this point I suggest that you look up his bio in the links I’ll list at the end of this post.

St. Camillus had, according to several “lives of the saints” bios I’ve read on him, an addiction to gambling. Apparently he wasn’t good at it, losing most everything he owned. In 1575 he had a religious conversion and this led him to enter into a life of service to the sick and terminally ill. He helped reform the care of such people, who previously had been neglected or cared for by less-than-diligent people. He wound up founding an order that was a precursor to the Red Cross.

He led an ascetic life, performing penances and other mortifications. His devotion to the sick and the dying, coupled with his Faith enabled him to abandon his prior worldly life.

St. Camillus de Lellis on Catholic Online

St. Camillus de Lellis on American Catholic

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!!)

Mother Angelica of EWTN dies, Easter Sunday 2016

Posted on by

Mother Angelica, the Poor Clare nun who founded EWTN, died today. She was 92.

941093_10153601933737582_5298888822310695096_n

(Image via EWTN Facebook Page)

Mother Angelica was, to say the least, a significant factor in my reversion to the Catholic Church in 2002. It was a process that stretched over several years, but ultimately came to fruition when I was felled by my alcoholism and would up doing nothing but laying on my Mom’s couch for weeks on end as I was too ill to go anywhere and do anything. Mom watched EWTN every morning, mainly the Daily Mass and several devotional programs, particularly the Divine Mercy Chaplet. All of that, as well as Father Angelus Shaughnessy’s homilies and Father Benedict Groeschel’s programs. These all helped me straighten out my thinking.

My Mom had taught the Divine Mercy Chaplet to me during the years before my reversion and recovery. I think Mom knew something wasn’t quite right concerning my relationship to the Church, but she never said anything. Maybe she just taught it to me because I didn’t know it. Whatever, God knew, though! Mother Angelica’s broadcast of the Divine Mercy Chaplet devotion as well as the annual Divine Mercy Sunday celebrations from Eden Hill, MA slowly drew me back home. Although I wasn’t practicing the Faith, the annual Divine Mercy Sunday telecast was an annual event. I actually looked forward to it. The seeds were planted and slowly took root. Alcohol masked the interior growth. When I finally succumbed to it, being too physically weak to go anywhere, exposure to EWTN finally brought the Faith out from the dark nether regions of my soul where it had lain dormant.

Mother Angelica and EWTN helped me a lot in early recovery when I knew AA’s 12 Steps weren’t going to be enough. I had looked at them, thought them interesting and valuable, but felt they were at the shallow end of the spiritual pool. I needed something deeper. EWTN illustrated to me that Catholicism wasn’t something that you did for an hour on Sunday, but was a way of life, infusing your heart and mind with a manner of living and thinking that draws you closer to God, and ultimately, to our true Home, Heaven.

She had much to say about how to apply the Faith to daily living. Several books of hers directly dealt with problems and coping and just “How do I get through this…life…?” I have them all.

12063833_10153275019701486_7320296862602003998_n

(Image courtesy of EWTN)

EWTN has a full scedule of events this week, including her funeral, listed on their: Memorial site on Mother Angelica. The site also has much information on her life and work.

See also: CNA’s Schedule of Events on Mother Angelica

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!!)

St. Maximilian Kolbe Relic Tour begins in the USA and Canada (UPDATED)

Posted on by

(NOTE: I was so excitipated over the relic tour that I messed up some links in the body of the post. The “St. Maximilian Kobe Post Archives” link should be fine, and I now include links to the news article as well tour schedule.)

I learned yesterday that a first-class relic of St. Maximilian Kolbe will be taken on a pilgrimage tour of the USA and Canada during 2016. I’m blogging about it only today as I was so excitipated I couldn’t get anything done. See: St. Maximilian Kolbe Relic Tour Begins in U.S.. The schedule is here:
Click here to see if the Tour goes near you.

To be “excitipated” means to be “so excited about something that you cannot function productively.” I made the word up. Yes, St. Maximilian Kolbe is one of my favorite saints.

St. Maximilian Kolbe is a patron saint of alcoholics and addicts. I’ve written many times about him on this blog. See the St. Maximilian Kolbe Post Archives for all the posts on him.

I am also a member of the Militia of the Immaculata, a personal conversion and evangelization apostolate he founded in 1917. He established the MI while in Rome in response to a massive anti-Catholic protest and demonstration by Freemasons.

His relics will be at a parish not very far from me. I will be able to see them on May 22nd, which is a date of much significance to me, for that is my sobriety date. It is also the feast day of St. Rita of Cascia, patron of lost causes and impossible situations.

So, one of my favorite saints, who’s a patron of addicts, will be having his relics pass right by me on my sobriety date. And I’ll be able to see them. Paulcoholic is excitipated!

St._Maximilian_with_beard-255x329

A note on “relics.” From the Mother Teresa of Calcutta Center: “What is a Relic?

A relic is something connected with a saint or blessed, including a part of their body (e.g. hair or a piece of bone), their clothing, or an object that the person used or touched.

Relics are classified as 1st Class – a part of the person’s body, for example: blood, hair, or bones; 2nd Class ‑ an article touched by the person or touched directly to part of his or her body; and 3rd Class ‑ something touched indirectly to the person, that is, to a 1st or 2nd Class relic, to the tomb, etc.

It is not the kind of relic or how big it is that is important, but rather the faith and prayer that the relic occasions. By the communion of saints, it is that person who is close to us, blessing and praying for us.”

The first-class relic of St. Maximilian is hair from his beard. Since he was murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz, his body was dumped in a crematorium. No remains were saved. A barber had shaved his beard in 1939 just after the Nazis invaded Poland. It was hoped a beardless face would attract less attention. (This is from the National Catholic Register article on the Tour linked to up above.)

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!!)

Blessed Michael Sopocko: A Divine Mercy intercessor for alcoholics

Posted on by

In my study of the Divine Mercy devotion, particularly focused in this Jubilee Year of Mercy, I ran across in one of the biographies of St. Faustina information concerning her spiritual director, Blessed Michael Sopocko (in Polish: Michał Sopoćko.) It is pronounced “Soh-potch-ko.”

I won’t get into a biography of him here (there’s a link later on that is a biography) but Blessed Sopocko was instrumental in guiding and advising Sr. Faustina during her life, especially in getting her to write down the messages she received from Jesus as well as other observations on her life (a spiritual journal, or diary.)

The information in particular that attracted my attention, apart from his assistance to Sr. Faustina and the Divine Mercy Message, was that in postwar Poland Fr. Sopocko was involved in a sobriety movement. I found nothing in particular as to what he did except for “In October 1947, the new academic year started at the seminary in Białystok. Father Sopoćko taught the same subjects that he had taught in Vilnius: catechetics, pedagogy, psychology, and the history of philosophy. His work at the seminary was not limited solely to teaching. He was also a confessor of the seminarians and conducted for them numerous retreats. At the same time, he also pursued pastoral, religious, social and educational activities. An important part of his activities were his educational programmes promoting sobriety in a society.“ From: Biography of Bl. Sopocko

I feel that since we sober (and sobering up) Catholics deeply need Divine Mercy to assist us in achieving and maintaining our sobriety, we should avail ourselves of yet another intercessor. Especially one who is closely acquainted with Divine Mercy and its Apostle. When you read his biography and do additional research on him in the Divine Mercy links in the sidebar, you can appreciate what a powerful intercessor he can be. He lived a difficult life, especially after St. Faustina died in 1938. From the Nazi invasion and occupation of Poland, to the later Soviet sequel, to the banning of the Divine Mercy Message as taught by St. Faustina for over a 20 year period, Bl. Sopocko suffered persecution. A lesson many of us can draw strength from. Although we may not suffer persecution in our work, we can ask Bl. Sopocko for the strength to persevere.

He was beatified on September 28, 2008. His feast day is February 15th.

More on Fr. Sopocko.

On the Year of Mercy and us sober Catholics: The Year of Mercy and what it means for us sober Catholics and St. Faustina and Divine Mercy.

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!!)

St. Maximilian Kolbe: August 14, 1941

Posted on by

Today is the feast day of St. Maximilian Kolbe, who was martyred on this date in 1941 by Nazi death camp guards. His death is an heroic tale of self-sacrifice, courage and dedication to the family.

maxkolbepriest

In short, and I won’t do the story justice, but ten prisoners were selected to die because another had escaped. One of the chosen was a Polish Army sergeant named Franciszek Gajowniczek who protested that he had a wife and family. Cynical people would say that his protest was pointless as the Nazis couldn’t care less about that. But, enter Auschwitz Prisoner No. 16670, a Catholic priest named Maximilian Kolbe. He offered to go in the sergeant’s place. To the astonishment of all gathered, the Nazis agreed to the switch. You’d have thought they’d have just have added him and make eleven. But no.

Gajowniczek survived the camp and the war, and lived to give testimony to Kolbe’s heroism.

John 15:13 “No one has a greater love than this: that he lay down his life for his friends.”

He is a particular favorite of mine as he is considered to be a patron saint of addicts and alcoholics due to the manner of his martyrdom. I have blogged about him numerous times before: St. Maximilian Kolbe post archives. There are numerous links on him in the sidebar.

Marytown, the National Shrine of “St. Max” has a nice piece on him: Who is St. Maximilian Kolbe?

Photo courtesy of MaryPages

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!!)

Prayer to be Merciful

Posted on by

There is a prayer that I have said off and on over the years, but this past month I have “taken it to heart” and have said it with more devotion. It is “St. Faustina’s Prayer to be Merciful”.

This is the abbreviated version on the prayer card that I use:

Help me, O Lord, that my eyes may be merciful, so that I may never suspect or judge from appearances, but look for what is beautiful in my neighbors’ soul…

Help me, O Lord, that my ears may be merciful, so that I may give heed to my neighbors’ needs…

Help me, O Lord, that my tongue may be merciful, so that I should never speak negatively of my neighbor…

Help me, O Lord, that my hands may be merciful and filled with good deeds, so that I may do only good to my neighbor…

Help me, O Lord, that my feet may be merciful, so that I may hurry to assist my neighbor…

Help me, O Lord, that my heart may be merciful so that I myself may feel all the sufferings of my neighbor.

May Your mercy, O Lord, rest upon me.

The full version, taken from St. Faustina’s diary, “Divine Mercy in My Soul,” can be found here: St. Faustina’s Prayer to be Merciful. Otherwise, if you have a copy of her Diary, it’s in paragraph number 163.

I have found it to be a very fruitful prayer, a good way to practice the Works of Mercy in a small way, and at least to open oneself up to the task of doing them. The prayer can even merely be a petition to deal with others in a more Christ-like way.

The line: May Your mercy, O Lord, rest upon me, has become a short aspiration that I say throughout the day, particularly before having to do something or deal with a person. It’s a good aspiration to quickly say on a job. 😉

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!!)