This is a story about a Marian feast day, its significance; a saint and what he did with it; and what all this meant for yours truly. Today is February 11th, the 160th anniversary of Our Lady’s apparition to St. Bernadette Soubirous in a grotto near Lourdes, France in 1858. The apparition was significant in …
Continue reading ‘Our Lady of Lourdes/World Day of the Sick’ »
Today marks the 100th 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 “win the whole world for Christ …
Continue reading ‘100th Anniversary of the founding of the Militia of the Immaculata’ »
During Sober Catholic’s inaugural year in 2007, I decided to introduce readers to St. Maximilian Kolbe. He is a patron saint of addicts. Last year, on the 75th anniversary of his martyrdom I wrote this on my other blog In Exile : “St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe was executed in the Nazi German concentration camp at …
Continue reading ‘Novena to St. Maximilian Kolbe begins (with updated links to the original)!’ »
Thanks to an email conversation with a reader, I thought it might be useful to divulge what I do concerning my prayer life, especially as it is central to my recovery within the Faith. After I awaken each morning (waking up is key 😉 ) and get a mug of coffee firmly placed on a …
NOTE: Post updated AGAIN with a corrected link and additional items. Calling Catholic men (and ladies, too!) Fr. Richard Heilman of the Roman Catholic Man site has a challenge for you! Quote: “Inspired by the excellent program, “Exodus 90,” and all of the research that reveals it takes 90 days to replace bad habits (even …
Continue reading ‘Spiritual prepping for Fatima and 2017 UPDATED (AGAIN!)’ »
2016 is about to end. It’s easy to insult this past year, given the violence and chaos seemingly gripping the planet by the throat. I won’t even mention the presidential campaign in the USA. However, the bulk of the year was the Jubilee Year of Mercy, of which I took advantage of and am different …
got Jesus? If not, then you can unite yourself to Him by various means. The best and most obvious is to got to Mass and if you’re in a state of grace (no mortal sins on your soul) receive Holy Communion. Next best is to visit the Blessed Sacrament where it may be exposed for …
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 …
Continue reading ‘St. Maximilian Kolbe: martyr, patron of addicts, died 75 years ago today’ »
One of my favorite saints, St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe, once suggested somewhere in his writings that we should meditate on the Passion narratives of Our Lord on Fridays. Or was that St. Therese of Lisieux? Another favorite of mine, I’ve been studying her writings recently along with St. Max’s. I might get their suggestions mixed …
(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 …
Continue reading ‘St. Maximilian Kolbe Relic Tour begins in the USA and Canada (UPDATED)’ »