Living with the Lord

Posted on February 20, 2026 by Paul

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.

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

Posted on February 19, 2026 by Paul

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.

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

Posted on February 18, 2026 by Paul

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.

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!

Posted on February 14, 2026 by Paul

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.

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?

Posted on February 14, 2026 by Paul

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!

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!

Posted on February 11, 2026 by Paul

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!

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!!)

Lourdes, the Immaculate Conception, the Militia of the Immaculata and Sobriety

Posted on February 11, 2026 by Paul

Reblogged from several years ago and edited slightly:

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, day when Our Lady appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous in a grotto near Lourdes, France in 1858.

The apparition was significant in several respects: the most important was that Our Lady identified herself with the words, “I am the Immaculate Conception.” Not that she was “immaculately conceived,” but rather she was the essence of the immaculate conception. As St. Maximilian Kolbe later pointed out (this is a paraphrase) “To be white is one thing, to be whiteness is another.”

For another, it seemed as if Heaven was endorsing the definition of the Dogma of Mary’s Immaculate Conception in 1854 by Pope Pius IX in Ineffabilis Deus:

“We declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which asserts that the Blessed Virgin Mary, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God, and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from every stain of original sin is a doctrine revealed by God and, for this reason, must be firmly and constantly believed by all the faithful.”

And one more: that Mary’s self-identification as the Immaculate Conception was utterly fascinating and mysterious to St. Maximilian Kolbe, who meditated and pondered on it his entire life. It inspired his “Militia of the Immaculata” and associated media enterprises and friaries.

I discovered St. Maximilian Kolbe and the Militia of the Immaculata in 2002, after I had sobered up sufficiently to search online for what the Catholic Church has to offer me in recovery. As I had stated in my Reversion story, “I had been going to AA meetings, but I knew early on that the brand of spirituality offered there was not going to do the job.” And so I explored the religion of my childhood and never looked back. That St. Max was a patron of addicts helped. When I learned that, I explored more about him.

So I found out about St. Max and the M.I. The M.I. calls for consecrating oneself to the Blessed Mother as her “possession and property” so she can “make of me, of all my powers of soul and body, of my whole life, death and eternity, whatever most pleases” her. That she will use me as “a fit instrument in your immaculate and merciful hands for introducing and increasing your (note: God’s) glory to the maximum in all the many strayed and indifferent souls, and thus help extend as far as possible the blessed kingdom of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus.” I figured if that’s true (and I never doubted the Blessed Mother) then this may help in my recovery. I doubt that remaining a drunk would be of use to her. This blog post Marian Consecration and the Guarantee of Eternal life expands on how Marian Consecration can help your sobriety. In short, when you become Mary’s possession, she guides you along the path to Jesus. Consecration can heal you, not in any miraculous way (but that could happen!) but it can help you focus and give a new dimension to your prayer and devotional life. I firmly believe that if you consecrate yourself to Mary, the probability of relapse should vanish (your willing cooperation with the graces received through Mary’s interession is assumed.)

And so on October 7, 2002, on the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary, I gave myself to Mother Mary. I joined the M.I. which “is a universal and international public Association of the faithful, erected by the Holy See. The MI was founded by St. Maximilian Kolbe, OFMConv., in 1917, is open to Catholics, of all walks of life, and encourages all people of good will to develop a trusting relationship with Our Lady. The aim of the MI is to win the whole world for Christ through the Immaculata, Mother of God and of the Church.

“The MI is a global vision of Catholic life under a new form, consisting in the bond with the Immaculata, our universal Mediatrix before Jesus.” -St. Maximilian Kolbe.

The MI offers programs that: -Provide formation in the teachings of the Catholic Church
-Foster love for Jesus in the Eucharist and for the Sacramental life
-Promote a deep understanding of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s role in the plan of Salvation and of the gift of consecration to her in the spirit of St. Maximilian Kolbe.
-Ignite with the zeal to become generous instruments of evangelization in one’s own environment, giving witness to the Truth and promoting the sacredness of human life. M.I. members, mindful of their call to evangelize, strive to give witness to the Faith everywhere. They seek to reach out to their own families, friends, co-workers, fellow parishioners, the sick and elderly, youth, adults, and whomever they meet, in order to lead every individual with Mary to Christ, Our Savior and Our Hope.

(Above quote courtesy of M.I. You can also visit that link to learn more about the MI and St. Maximilian Kolbe, along with possibly joining yourself!)

I think Mary started using me right afterwards. She strengthened me against what I perceived as attacks against my Faith in my AA Home Group as well as giving me the courage to stop attending meetings regularly in 2004. Not that I am advocating everyone should stop going to meetings; on the contrary, if you enjoy and need regular meeting attendance, by all means do it. It just wasn’t for me.

Once I drifted from AA, I began looking into what recovery resources the Church offers. You can read about that here: “About this blog.” After a whle I just decided to start Sober Catholic; I mentioned in some earlier post that I believe the Blessed Virgin Mary “inspired” me to do it. A “fruit,” if you will, of of my M.I. Consecration. Not that I received any interior locution or some such thing, just a desire that since no one else was doing this at the time, I might as well. I doubt I’d have the courage on my own.

So here’s the story: A apparition of the Blessed Mother; a saint’s taking that apparition and message and developing it; and a marginal ex-drunk finding a personal mission in it – Trudging the Road of Happy Destiny and taking whoever bothers to read this stuff along with him.

So that’s that! The sanctuary or Our Lady of Lourdes in France is famous for miraculous healings wrought there. Over 7,000 miralulous healinga have been reported since 1858; only 72 (so far) have been confirmed by the Church to me truly miraculous.) Because of that, Pope St. John Paul II also declared today to be the “World Day of the Sick” in 1993. We alcoholics, even though we may be sober, are still “sick.”

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 the Message of Lourdes

Posted on February 10, 2026 by Paul

Reblogged from last year:
Tomorrow is the Feast Day of Our Lady of Lourdes, commemorating the first apparition Our Lady to a young sheperdess, St. Bernadette Soubirous, in this date in Lourdes, France, 1858. You can learn all about it here: The official website of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes as well as: Lourdes Sanctuary.

Given the significance of this Apparition to us alcoholics and addicts (recovered or not) I wrote an entire chapter on it in “The Sober Catholic Way.”

From Chapter XVI: “Live the Message of Lourdes:”

How is the Apparition of Our Lady at Lourdes related to the Sober Catholic Way? We are sick people, regardless of the length of our sobriety. Our Lady of Lourdes is our special channel of healing graces. Jesus is the Divine Physician and He works through His Mother at Lourdes.

Furthermore, Our Lady told Bernadette several times about the need for penance. This strikes at the heart of who we are. For we have hurt and damaged others through the sins we committed against them during our active years of addiction. Penance is something we desperately need.

Therefore:

We should also willingly “take up our Crosses” and accept those trials, troubles, and tribulations that come into our lives every day and offer them up in reparation for our sins and those of others.

You could rephrase a part of that in Twelve Step language as a type of ‘making amends.’

And one last thing: it’s OUR FEAST DAY, TOO!!

Pope St. John Paul II had declared February 11th as the “World Day of the Sick,” a special day for healing Masses and prayers for anyone suffering from any illness, malady, or disability. It’s our feast day!

Donations to support my work are appreciated!

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!!)

Holy Face of Jesus Novena 2026!

Posted on February 7, 2026 by Paul

An annual reminder:

The Holy Face Novena begins on Sunday, February 8th, so as to end on Monday, February 16th. The Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus is Tuesday, February 17th, 2026 (it is always the day before Ash Wednesday.)

Novena prayers are listed at these sites:

The Holy Face Novena at The Holy Face Devotion dot org

There are THREE Novenas listed here: Holy Face Novena and Act of Consecration to the Holy Face at Illumina Domine

This is the one that I will be saying (as it’s also on a prayer card I use):

(Short Novena) Holy Face Novena Prayer by The Holy Man of Tours, Leo DuPont

O Lord Jesus Christ, in presenting ourselves before Your adorable Face, to ask of You the graces of which we stand most in need, we beseech You, above all, to give us that interior disposition of never refusing at any time to do what You require of us by Your Holy Commandments and Your Divine inspirations.

O Good Jesus, Who has said: “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you,” give us, O Lord, that faith which obtains all, or supply in us what may be deficient. Grant us, by the pure effect of Thy Charity and for Thy eternal glory, the graces we need and which we look for from Thine infinite mercy. Amen.

Be merciful to us, O God, and reject not our prayers when, amid our afflictions, we call upon Your Holy Name and seek with love and confidence Your Adorable Face.

We thank You, O Lord, for all Thy benefits, and we entreat You to engrave in our hearts feeling of love and gratitude, putting upon our lips songs of thanksgiving to Your eternal praise. Amen.

HEAD’S UP: That last resource (Illumina Domine) has a really interesting post on something I never knew.

Many Catholics are unaware of the fact that this millennium was dedicated to the Face of Christ by Pope St. John Paul II. He lifted high before the Church the banner of the Holy Face of Jesus at the dawn of the millennium. The Face of Christ was to be the standard for the faithful to follow in this spiritual battle that exists in the world between light and darkness.

You can read that wonderful post here: Pope St. John Paul II.

I have written before on the Holy Face Devotion. In The Holy Face Devotion: what we need for our times I said:

This Devotion is intended to make reparation for the sins of blasphemy against the Holy Name of God and the profanation of Sundays and Holy Days. In addition, it is to be a spiritual weapon against Communists.

I think it can, and should, be used as a spiritual weapon against right-wing extremism and not just Communism. Communism and Fascism are two sides of the same coin; both glorifybthe power of the State at the expense of God, and Fascism adds the glorification and near idol-worship of the leader it centers around.

You can apply the Holy Face Devotion to your alcoholism and addction recovery! Please read these two posts:

The Holy Face of Jesus Chaplet for Alcoholics and Addicts

Using the Holy Face Chaplet as a “sobriety’ or “recovery” chaplet

Resources on the Holy Face Devotion:

The Holy Face, Disfigured by Sin

Books on the Holy Face Devotion. And a chaplet.

A Prayer to the Holy Face from EWTN

The archive of posts on the Holy Face is here.

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!!)

Sober Catholic

Catholicism, Recovery, Sobriety, Conversion, Prayer, Fasting, Repentance, Penance

Living with the Lord

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Taking up your daily cross

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Gracious and merciful is he

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Lent 2026!

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

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

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Lourdes, the Immaculate Conception, the Militia of the Immaculata and Sobriety

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Living the Message of Lourdes

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Holy Face of Jesus Novena 2026!

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