Today is the feast day of Servant of God Fr. Wenanty Katarzyniec, possible patron of alcoholics

Today is the feast day of Servant of God Fr. Wenanty Katarzyniec. He died March 31, 1921. A Franciscan friar of the same branch as St. Maximilian Kolbe, he died ‘in the odor of sanctity’ as they said back then of people who’ve lived a holy life. I thought I had written about him before …

Continue reading ‘Today is the feast day of Servant of God Fr. Wenanty Katarzyniec, possible patron of alcoholics’ »

The Sacred Heart Devotion as a recovery method

The idea of using the Devotion to the Sacred Heart as a way to keep clean and sober isn’t strange to anyone familiar with the Matt Talbot Way. The Sacred Heart is central to the Way. It is essentially transferring your love for your favorite chemical onto Jesus. You ‘give’ your love for your addiction …

Continue reading ‘The Sacred Heart Devotion as a recovery method’ »

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

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 …

Continue reading ‘16th Bloggaversary of Sober Catholic: How I stayed sober for almost 21 years’ »

Today is the 105th Anniversary of the founding of the Militia of the Immaculata

NOTE: Edited from an earlier post.  Today marks the 105th Anniversary of the founding of the Militia of the Immaculata, an evangelization apostolate of St. Maximilian Kolbe. Established on the evening of October 16, 1917 at the Conventual Franciscan’s College in Rome by St. Maximilian and six of his fellow students, its goal is to …

Continue reading ‘Today is the 105th Anniversary of the founding of the Militia of the Immaculata’ »

St. Mark Ji Tianxiang, patron saint of drug addicts?

St. Mark Ji Tianxiang was born in Hebei, China on 1834 into a Catholic family where he was raised in the Faith. He was a doctor, and in his early thirties he suffered from a stomach ailment for which he treated himself with opium. This cured him, but he developed an addiction to it. In …

Continue reading ‘St. Mark Ji Tianxiang, patron saint of drug addicts?’ »

Announcing the 31 Day Rosary Challenge!!! Join the Militia of the Immaculata!!!

I received an email from the Militia of the Immaculata this morning announcing a new apostolic initiative of theirs! Here’s the email (I copied it.)     Join the Militia of the Immaculata for a 31 Day Rosary Challenge set to begin on October 1st!!! The idea is to pray the Rosary at different hours and different places, …

Continue reading ‘Announcing the 31 Day Rosary Challenge!!! Join the Militia of the Immaculata!!!’ »

Today is my Twentieth Soberversary

I have been sober today for twenty years. To me, anniversaries ending in “0” or “5” are monumental. I don’t know why, it just seems that way. I had to let that sink in. Twenty years. While I am not trying to act out the sin of pride, if you knew me way back when …

Continue reading ‘Today is my Twentieth Soberversary’ »

Four things to help you get through difficult times

I am going through some ‘stuff’ right now; some personal issues as well as the usual anxieties about world and national events. The latter are bothersome, but I’ve gotten to realize that there’s not much I can do about them apart from prayer. The personal stuff is very worrying and those worries intrude on my …

Continue reading ‘Four things to help you get through difficult times’ »

Blog History and a new job!

It has come to my attention that I last posted here about six weeks ago. This means history has been made here at Sober Catholic! December 2021 was the very first month without any blogposts. I was going to say “That’s nothing to be proud of!” but when you consider I’ve been doing this since …

Continue reading ‘Blog History and a new job!’ »

More on the experience of ‘eucatastrophe,’ but from the life of St. Maximilian Kolbe

I am doing my annual novena to St. Maximilian Kolbe ( a different one from the one I publish for my readers) and in it I have been reminded of some examples of ‘eucatastrophe,’ the term coined by JRR Tolkien that I introduced to you in “This is enough, O LORD! Take my life, for I …

Continue reading ‘More on the experience of ‘eucatastrophe,’ but from the life of St. Maximilian Kolbe’ »