Pray the Our Father Like You Mean it

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From the Gospel Reading for the Tuesday of the First Week of Lent:

Jesus said to his disciples:
“In praying, do not babble like the pagans,
who think that they will be heard because of their many words.
Do not be like them.
Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

“This is how you are to pray:

Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

“If you forgive men their transgressions,
your heavenly Father will forgive you.
But if you do not forgive men,
neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.”


 Courtesy USCCB

I think the Lord’sPrayer, as taught to us by Jesus Himself, has lost its impact given how often it’s said. Frequent repetition begats familiarity and then we do not realize or grasp the importance of what’s being said.

Take, for instance, the petition in the Our Father to “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” This literally means, as Jesus Himself explains it:

“If you forgive men their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.”

Can’t get more simpler than that. You want forgiveness? First, YOU have to forgive others for their sins and transgressions against you. You cannot hope to obtain forgiuveness from God if you, yourself are  not willing to be forgiving of what others have done to you (or your country, nation, race, ethnicity…)

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!!)

Begin NOW!

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The Verse before the Gospel for Monday of the First Week of Lent:

Behold, now is a very acceptable time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.

Courtesy USCCB

NOW is the acceptable time to begin following Jesus like you’ve not done before; NOW is the day when you say “I belong to Jesus.” And if so, then you must belong to His Church. Come Home to the Catholic Church.

NOW is the time when you begin to take seriously His command to “take up your Cross and follow Him.”

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!!)

(Not) Living in a Material World

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The Verse before the Gospel for the First Sunday of Lent (Matthew 4:4b) 

One does not live on bread alone,

but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.

 

Courtesy USCCB

Just a simple reminder that the material world and all of its allures, it “morality” and everything that it offers, does not bring life to the soul.  On the contrary, as we know from our own drinking anf using, it often creates a “hole in the soul” that can only be filled by God and His Word. 

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!!)

…the healthy do not need a physician…

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From the Gospel Reading for the Saturday after Ash Wednesday:

“Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”

Courtesy USCCB

This was in response to the question, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” that the Pharisees had for Jesus when He was at table with Levi (Matthew) and the other tax collectors. 

This has always been one of my favorite quotes from Jesus. We are sick people, no matter how long we’ve been sober, the threat of what might happen to us if we relapse is ever present. And we still might not necessarily think normally, especially in response to things happening around us. 

Jesus came for all, but especially for us sinners and sick people. The “righteous” (those who think or feel that they are so, for the truly righteous do not view themselves that way) probably don’t think they need Him. 

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!!)

Living with the Lord

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The Verse before the Gospel for the Friday after Ash Wednesday is from the Book of Amos, 5:14

Seek good and not evil so that you may live,
and the Lord will be with you.

Courtesy USCCB

Seems fairly simple. We seek the good and shun the evil, and we may live (Heaven being our destiny, but that’s not assured as we have to persevere to the end.) The Lord will be with us and if we continue to seek the good, it seems fairly certain that (perhaps after a time spent in Purgatory) we’ll live forever with Jesus and our loved ones in Heaven.

When I was reviewing the day’s Mass readings to pick one for this post, this verse from Amos jumped out primarily because I had the visual image of Heaven popping out at me when I got to the word ‘live.’ This reminded me of the four qualities that our glorified bodies will possess if we make it to Heaven. I think it was St. Thomas Aquinas who developed them from studying the post-Resurrection accounts of Jesus. Since in Heaven, we will be like Him, it is reasonable to assume that we will have bodies like His.  The four qualities our glorified bodies are:

Glory: Sometimes called Beauty, this is liked as to an aura. Our bodies shine with a glow that is as bright as it merits. Some saints in Heaven glow with brightness of a trillion suns, other barley flicker. This all depends upon the life lived while in Time on Earth. As there is only Love in Heavem and bo jealousy, resentment, or envy, no one is dissatisfied with their aura. (When compared with the alternative…)

Impassability: This is the lack of suffering and pain. Everyone shares this equally. No more physical pain, no agony, no suffering from the surrounding environment (in the post-Resurrection Heaven, with its ‘New Heavens and New Earth, we can assume there are all sorts of places to visit, with every environment imaginable. This part makes sense when we get to the next two qualities.) But in addition to the lack of physical pain and suffering, there is a total absence of anxiety, anger, fear, want, hunger, drudgery, despondency, regret, resentment, and so on. No mental or spiritual suffering. 

Subtility: The ability to pass through solid objects. Jesus did this; He walked through the locked door in the Upper Room when He appeared to His disciples. There are other accounts pre-Resurrection when He passed through people. 

Agility: the ability to move at the speed of angels; some describe this as the ability to move at the speed of thought, or the will. You wish to go somewhere far away, you’ll be there in not time.

The existence of these last two qualities implies that the post-resurrevtion Heaven will be a vast, infinitely large physical place. We’d need subtility and agility in order to get anywhere (despite having an eternity to get anywhere, it’s still nice to get there at once.) Agility demands the existence of subtility: if you wish to travel somewhere exceedingly far away, chances are there’s many physical objects between you and your destination. 

If you dwell on these, they may cause you to yearn for Heaven even more than you do now. Assuming that you do. I’ve been ready for over 20 years, but I’m still trudging down here.

There’sa wonderful book that I recommend for you if you wish to explore this further. It helped me a lot in healing after my Mom’s death in 2005. The book is called A Travel Guide to Heaven, by Anthony DeStefano. The link to the book has additional links to where it’s available to purchase. It’s a great read, especially if you miss someone you love, and occasionally wonder if this life is worth putting up with. Compared to what’s waiting for us, it is!

From the site’s book blurb:

What Will Heaven Be Like?
“A Travel Guide to Heaven…bubbles joyously about an incredible Technicolor afterlife that makes the journey over the rainbow to Oz pale in comparison.” –New York Times

Down through the centuries, there have been thousands of books written about the subject of heaven. Some have been great theological tomes, some brilliant essays, other beautiful poems. Religious and secular writers from all walks of life have attempted to describe and explain this most elusive of concepts. And yet, while all of these efforts have added to our understanding of heaven, most of them have been missing one key ingredient: FUN.

If heaven is anything at all, it’s fun. It’s a place of unlimited pleasure, unlimited happiness, and unlimited joy. It’s Disney World, Hawaii, Paris, Rome and New York all rolled up into one. And it’s forever.

If your picture of heaven could use a little fine-tuning, then this remarkable book is just the ticket. Fueled by the author’s profound faith, his bold vision, and his irresistible sense of adventure, A TRAVEL GUIDE TO HEAVEN takes us on a virtual tour of eternal life.

This is one trip you won’t want to miss!

And again, you can find places to buy it here: A Travel Guide to Heaven, by Anthony DeStefano.

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!!)

Taking up your daily cross

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The Gospel for the Thursday after Ash Wednesday:

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 be killed and on the third day be raised.”

Then he said to all,
“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
yet lose or forfeit himself?”

Courtesy USCCB

Taking up your daily cross is something few really enjoy doing. Even if you pray every morning the traditional Morning Offering (or any variant) in which you offer up all of your prayers, joys, and sufferings; and habitually “offer up” to God when the happen your pains, aches, fears, worries and anxieties; insults and attacks on your dignity as a human person; and all the other “stuff” that happens throught the day that we wish would just “go away,” it is still preferable for any f that to not have happened.

Yet Jesus is clear, if we are to folllow Him as His disciples, we must join ourselves to His propitiatory sacrifice of Calvary. Just as He was offered up in sacrifice to atone for the sins He was not guilty of; so, to, must we offer ourselves and our sorrows and sufering to atone for the sins we did not commit. All sin is an affron to God and disturbs the moral order, which has an impact in the physival world. Therefore, when we accept our crosses, we help out in repairing some order to the world about us. 

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!!)

Gracious and merciful is he

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An excerpt from the First Reading from the Book of Joel (2:12-14) for Ash Wednesday:

Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the LORD, your God.
For gracious and merciful is he,
slow to anger, rich in kindness,
and relenting in punishment.
Perhaps he will again relent
and leave behind him a blessing,
Offerings and libations
for the LORD, your God.

Courtesy USCCB

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent; that liturgical season when Christians shed their character defects, attempt to turn away from sin and grow closer to Jesus. We make advances in our spiritual progress; while not technically a period when we engage in ‘self-help’, nevertheless, in amending our lives and turning away from sin, we try to become better people with the hope that when Lent ends, we retain the good we have become.

Since Lent is the time when we approach the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus, and He underwent all of tht in a propitiatory offering for our sins, we may tend to think of God as an angry god seeking to mete out punshment.

But as we see from the Old Testament Book of Joel, we are reminded that when we turn to God with our heart, truly sorrowful for our sins, He does not respond with punitive justice. He is gracious, merciful, slow to anger (likely due to He knows we are weak and frail,) rich in kindness and will relent in His punishments. All we need to do is truly come to terms with our sins, see them in light of the eternity that awaits us, and cast off the behavior that separates us from Him. And when we do that, He will open His arms wide to embrace us.

Become a better person this Lent. Look at your sins in the light of eternity.  

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!!)

Lent 2026!

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Lent is almost upon us! Ash Wednesday is next week, on the 18th.

Lenten regulations:

Abstinence: All Catholics who have reached their 14th birthday are
bound to abstain totally from meat on Ash Wednesday, all Fridays of
Lent and Good Friday.

Fasting: All Catholics between their 18th and 59th birthdays are bound
to observe the Law of Fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. This
practice involves limiting oneself to a single full meal and avoiding food
between meals. Light sustenance may be taken on two other occasions
in the course of the day.

Easter Duty: After they have been initiated into the Most Holy
Eucharist, all the faithful are bound by the obligation of receiving
Communion at least once a year. This precept must be fullled during
the Easter season, unless for a good reason it is fullled at another time
during the year. This obligation may be fullled between February 22,
2026 (First Sunday of Lent) and May 31, 2026 (Trinity Sunday).

You can visit the USCCB site for them, too

I may try and blog every day (or as often as possible) on the Daily Mass readings; or perhaps run through the Ten Commandments and Beatitudes as a kind of examenation of conscience. Or, perhaps do both.

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!!)

Why do some novenas end before the feast day while others end on it?

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Ever since I began this blog (and it might even predate that, it might have been soon after I reverted to the Church) I noticed that sometimes a novena ends on the day of the feast, while at other times it ends on the day before. I was never able to figure out why. 

As I mentioned in this early post:

After His Resurrection, Jesus remained with His disciples for 40 days. He Ascended into Heaven to return to the Father, and promised that He would send the Advocate (The Holy Spirit, a/k/a The Third Person of the Holy Trinity to guide us.) Pentecost was ten days after His Ascension, and after their day’s journey return to Jerusalem, the disciples gathered to pray for nine days.

Acts 1:12-14

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. When they entered the city they went to the upper room where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.
All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

Thus begins the Catholic tradition of praying a novena. It is a prayer of nine day’s duration. Not 24 hours a day for nine days, although the above Scriptural passage seems to imply that they prayed that intensely. Nowadays, it is a prayer of varying duration, said once a day for nine days.

The above passage implies that they prayed for nine days, and then the Feast of Pentecost took place. From what I discovered online, that is the ‘classic’ way to schedule a novena: to finish the day before. The prayerful recitation of the novena is an act of preparation leading up to the feast. This is more of a liturgical style of scheduling the novena and was common in the Early Church and up through to the Middle Ages.

The other method, that of ending on the day of the feast, arose out of popular devotions and parish life (startting around the Middle Ages.) The idea is that the devotees of the saint conclude the novena on the saint’s feast day; thus honoring the saint by including their day (and likely a Mass in their honor) into the novena. This type of novena scheduling is more of a celebratory nature as opposed to the preparatory nature of the liturgical method.

Finally. I’ve been writing this blog for 19 years and quite often I mention my confusion over this; you’d have thought I’d have looked it up by now. Some people!

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!!)

Fifteen Thursdays of St. Rita of Cascia 2026 begins February 12!

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REBLOGGING AN EARLIER POST:
I’m sharing this here because St. Rita’s Feast day is my sobriety date (May 22, 2002) and I think she picked me to be one of her clients. I’ve been doing this devotion for the past few years.

BEGINNING THIS THURSDAY FEB 12th!!!

Quote: “The Fifteen Thursdays of St. Rita devotion — i Quindici Giovedi di Santa Rita, in Italy — takes place on the fifteen Thursdays preceeding May 22, her feast day — i.e., this devotion starts on a Thursday in February and continues on for fifteen Thursdays — until the last Thursday before May 22. Each of these fifteen days begins with the same preparatory prayer followed by a reading on the life of St. Rita, a reflection about the lesson of that aspect of her life, and a final prayer.”

Link to all the prayers including a downloadable pdf file: 15 Thursdays of St. Rita Devotio: Prayers and a downloadable pdf

National Shrine to St. Rita od Cascia (USA)

#RitaUnderstandsUs

Donations to support my work are appreciated!

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!!)