Today, January 20, would have been my Mom’s 91st birthday. She died November 7th, 2005. Although she might have suspected that my Catholicism in the 1990’s was less than sincere, she never let on.

She watched EWTN a lot on TV. One thing she watched daily was the Divine Mercy Chaplet. (I’ve added a special collection of links in the sidebar so one can learn about Divine Mercy, in addition to a selection of EWTN links.)

She taught me to pray it and I believe that learning it was one of the crucial things that happened along the way in my return to the Catholic Church. This is in addition to the other things I told in my reversion story, but this was the single prayer I was proactive about and not just responding to any interior prompting of the Holy Spirit. This was when I engaged God and asked Him to help me, please.

I miss my Mom. I still use the rosaries she prayed the Chaplet on, and when I look at them I sense her. She told me numerous times that I was the primary reason she prayed the Chaplet.

Thanks Mom, Happy Birthday. It took many years, but you eventually saw me home.

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!!)