A passage from the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Matthew, from today’s Mass for the Monday of the First Week of Lent: Matthew 25: 31-46 “But when the Son of man will have arrived in his majesty, and all the Angels with him, then he will sit upon the seat of his majesty. And …
In the Gospel for today’s Mass for the Thursday after Ash Wednesday, Jesus exhorts us to come and follow Him. However, there’s a catch. The road isn’t easy. Luke 9:22-25 Jesus said to his disciples: “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and …
Since this blog is about “Conversion, Prayer, Fasting, Repentance, and Penance,” amongst other things, Lent is a natural time to blog a lot since those ‘abouts’ correspond to the season. I have often in previous Lents blogged daily, or at least a few times a week, taking inspiration from the daily Mass readings or the …
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’ »
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?’ »
It’s all over the news, so I won’t post any links, but what has been known for months due to a leak has now become official: the utterly barbaric USA Supreme Court decision from 1973 known as ‘Roe vs Wade’ has been overturned by the current Supreme Court. Protection of the unborn now reverts to …
On the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Pope Francis issued the Apostolic Letter Patris Corde which established these upcoming twelve months as the “Year of St. Joseph.” This had long been speculated by those who do that sort of thing, and they were finally proven correct. Like other “Year of’s…” the faithful among us are to delve …
In a recent post, Plenary Indulgence for Cemetery Visits in November Extended, I mentioned something at the end about coping in these uncertain times (please note the bold italics: “Hang tight, pray the Rosary daily and stick close to the Church. And by that I mean the Mass and Sacraments, your Catholic Bible, the Catechism (The ‘Roman …
Continue reading ‘On humbly submitting to Church authority on private revelations’ »
Today begins the Ninth of the Nine Novenas for Justice, Peace, and Creation, and this one is dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows & Saint Archbishop Oscar Romero. It runs from August 31 through September 8, 2020. I will not post this every day as the prayers and intentions are the same for each day. I’ll …
Continue reading ‘Novena of Novenas IX: Our Lady of Sorrows & Saint Archbishop Oscar Romero’ »
Today, August 22nd, is a special day for everyone devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the Traditional Liturgical Calendar it is the celebration of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (which became a moveable memorial feast day in the New Calendar after Vatican II). In the New Calendar, it is the feast day of the …