Today is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary; originally known as Our Lady of Victory, it was created to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary whose protection and intervention were credited with the Holy League’s defeat of the Ottoman Navy in 1571. Failure of the League would have been disastrous for Christian Europe, already riven by heresy and schism. Not much would have prevented victorious Moslem forces from overrunning Europe and forcibly converting Christians (Catholic, heretic, schismatic) to Islam.

Today also happens to be the 21st Anniversary of my Consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary by the manner developed by St. Maximilian Kolbe. I credit my consecration for starting this blog; I honestly don’t think I would have had the courage to do it on my own, without the graces given to me through Mary. From this consecration arose my recent book, “The Catholicpunk Manifesto,” which is my way of applying my consecration in a practical manner.

Today is also Immaculate Heart Saturday. It is also First Saturday, which I did today (recall I missed yesterday’s First Friday.) Hopefully you did your devotional duty and fulfilled the five requirements! Saying the Rosary every day and doing the Five First Saturdays are wonderful ways to weave garlands of roses for Our Lady.

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!!)