Author Archives: paulcoholic

About paulcoholic

I am a writer and blogger whose currently avocation focuseson addiction. I am the author of two Catholic devotional booklets for people in recovery. My primary creative desire, apart from continuing the devotionals, is to write Catholic-themed spiritual fiction. I hope to explore those areas at the intersections of Faith and Reason; contemporary drama with side trips though the preternatural with rest stops in the boundaries of the afterlife. I am one of those who think there is another reality just out of the corner of your eye; you turn to look, it disappears. I try and focus on my characters as I have found that by creating interesting people I can actually sustain the writing effort. My characters need a life, and the novels they will be in help them to discover such a one as they work out their situations and each other. So, I suppose that Catholicism, addiction recovery, reading, writing, death and the fuzzy gray areas along the borders of life are interests. Oh, I also like cats and Mac computers. Or just go here: https://www.sobercatholic.com/paulcoholic/

St. Dismas and the Month of the Dead

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November is coming up, and I was hoping there might be some information online connecting St. Dismas, the “Good Thief” with devotions for the dead. Alas, I couldn’t find any. I even asked ChatGPT, which came up with:

St. Dismas is primarily invoked for mercy and repentance due to his final act of faith on the cross, which aligns with the Church’s teachings on divine mercy extended to souls in Purgatory. His story reflects the hope for salvation even at the moment of death, mirroring the charitable act of praying for those undergoing purification.

St.Dismas probably skipped Purgatory, given that he was ther ecipient of the first ever plenary indulgence. You could argue that he might have been in Purgatory for a brief period, but after all this time, it is of no matter since he’s on the Church’s list of saints.

This post serves as a reminder that November is soon upon us, with its rich treasure of indulgences for practices and devotions for the dead; as well as that St. Dismas is a great intercessor for those who are at the moment of death, and who might be despairing of salvation. We are reminded in one Gospel account that both thieves mocked Jesu, and in another, Dismas appealed to Jesus for salvation. How can this be? Dismas experienced a deathbed conversion; quite possibly through the intervention of the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the Ven. Maria.de Jesus of Agreda, while at the Foot of the Cross, the Blessed Mother interceded for Dismas. A pious legend has it that Dismas was practicing his thieving livlihood decades earlier in the Egyptian desert, and came upin the Holy Family while they were fleeing Herod. He had a change of heart about robbing them, and whereupon the Infant Jesus predicted that they would be crucified together in Jerusalem, and that Dismas would accompany Him to Paradise. 

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!!)

I went on a retreat this weekend and didn’t even realize it

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I went on a retreat this weekend and didn’t even realize it.

I’ve been feeling a combination of being ‘sorry for myself’ and dealing with recurring stress and anxiety (who isn’t these days?) Much of my stress is over chronic pain (fibromyalgia, arthritis, osteoarthritis… if it’s a muscle or a joint, it hurts. And hurts really bad, too. Plus I’ve had two tooth extractions over the past month. Can anyone say “Broken down, crotchety old man?” Not to mention that I’ve been plagued for the past few months by a voice in my head that has been repeatedly putting me down.

When this happens and I want to remain at home, I often select one of Mother Angelica’s books. I’ve written about this before .

And so I opened Mother Angelica’s Little Book of Life Lessons and Everyday Spirituality and read a few passages on pain, meaning accepting it and the benefits of offering it up. I knew all this as I continually ‘offer it up’ for the usual devotional suggestions (reparation for sins – mine, yours, other people’s; reparations for sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary; for the conversion of sinners; for saving souls…….)

And so I felt better. But I could feel even more better. So I watched a few of her classic programs on EWTN On-Demand. I caught one on using the scraps of your life. “Scraps,” according to Mother, are those things in your past that you cannot let go of. All the mistakes, the stupid, rotten, bad things you’ve done or were done to you,  traumas perpetrated against you, and so forth that still haunt you. I know all about scraps; they are the fuel for my fiction writing. I am a firm believer that writing is a form a therapy. Even if you don’t publish a word, creating stories in which you dump all the dumb things you’ve ever done or traumas you’ve experienced to flesh out characters and backstory helps your perspective on them. It also objectifies the pain. But she went on about how the scraps can be used to sanctify yourself. That the scraps of you past life can make you sensitive other people who also are carrying bags of scraps. People who are hurt often are more sensitive to other people who are hurt. 

That latter sentence is where I have some difficulty at times. I’ve seen social media memes that say something like “Hurt people hurt other people.” Meaning that hurt people often lash out at others. Their pain causes them to make others feel pain. (This is often the reason why the ‘bad guys’ in fiction often become bad guys. Something bad happened to them long ago, they never got help or justice and so their pain festered and transformed them into a ‘bad guy’ and they kill a lot of people, or rampage across the galaxy enslaving entire species or go around blowing up planets or are just truly wicked. I wrote about that on my other blog. 

The “where I have some difficulty ‘at times’” is the feeling that lashing out at others can be justified if the ‘bad guy’ never got justice, help or some kind of moral satisfaction against whoever perpetrated the evil done to him. Of course that’s wrong. The ‘bad guy’ is just creating more victims from innocent people; he is extending to others the evil done to him. It is easy to fall prey to the idea of being justified in one’s victimhood; hey, if no one helped me when I was being driven to suicide by my family long ago, why should I be considerate of others?   

OK, I went off on this topic longer that I thought I should, but I’m leaving it in. The thing is, and this is what struck me out of the blue as I was watching Mother talk about sensitivity to others and the marginalized seeking solace in one another due to the accumulated scraps from their past, is that although I didn’t really have an ally or advocate during the many times in my life when I was bullied, mocked and ridiculed or made an outcast, (or driven to consider suicide,) I really did (though I didn’t realize it until later, but that’s OK.) This may sound trite, but my allies were Jesus and His Blessed Mother. I may have mentioned this in a much earlier post (I can’t find it) but I often go to my nearby Adoration Chapel… because I felt summoned to go there. Or to attend a Daily Mass when I didn’t feel like it….because I felt summoned to go there. Same for prayers, at time…. I am just ‘not up to it’ but feel that call to pray a rosary or whatever. 

To me, that means that Jesus and Mary want me around them. Therefore, there is no need for me to ever feel like I’ve never had an advocate or an ally. Yes, it would have been nice for God to have ‘done something’ back when I was going through trials, but we all know, but often forget, that trials are there for a reason. (Mother Angelica has lots to say about that in the book I mentioned way up above. In short, they are there to prune us of our pride, self-will, self-love, and teach humility.) In God’s time, justice will be served, and not earlier. I can, right now, just take some comfort in the fact that I am not alone; besides my wife (who also seems to enjoy having me around, go figure) there is Jesus and Mary asking me to spend some extra time with them every so often. They know about the bad things that have happened to me in the past, all the scraps of my life that still haunt me and mutter in the recesses of my mind that “I’m a loser.” But in their own fashion, they will deal with the people who’ve hurt me. And what they can do about them  is far better than whatever I could have done. By some divine combination of Mercy and Justice, all will come out in the end. I just have to remain cognizant that my pains and agonies can be companions on the journey and not tormenters. I can convert them into assistants to help me to be kinder and more compassionate.

Incidentally, I watched more than just a few of Mother Angelica’s classics on EWTN On-Demand, but the other shows are beyond the scope of this post. But they all contributed to the feeling that I went on a retreat this weekend for a few hours and my head got rescrewed back on. The little negative voices that have been tormenting me these past few months have fallen silent, today. I hope they stay quiet as it may have been a case of demonic oppression, but I hesitate to give extra credit to Satan to what may have merely been low self-esteem. But on the other hand, given the voice’s persistence….

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!!)

In memory of a tooth.

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When I was living in Washington, DC, way back in the olden times of the late 1980s, I ordered a lot of Chinese delivery from the Blue Diamond restaurant. They were a few blocks away from my Dupont Circle studio apartment and had great food. 

One day I ordered Kung Pao chicken. Mistake. Oh, it tasted great. Only thing is, the peanuts broke a tooth. I had no dentist or dental coverage, but I found a dentist a few blocks away (I think he was on the corner of Farragut and some state avenue) and I paid out of pocket (I was a poor graduate student so the Bank of Mom and Dad actally paid.) 

Why am I blogging about a dental proedure? Because yesterday I had that tooth pulled. OK, so, why is that worthy of a blog post? Aside from the fact that this is my blog and I can write whatever I please, it’s that after the tooth originally broke, it needed a root canal and a crown. It needed additional work done just before; the dentist had used a then ‘revolutionary’ tooth reconstruction substance he called ‘build up’ to hold it all together. Safe to say that after that, plus the root canal and crowning, the tooth looked like a franken-tooth. 

But it had held together since 1986. Almost everytime I did a personal inspection of my teeth, or eat nuts, I’d worry about it. I’d look in and still see it there, in all its dental weirdness. 

But my new dentist where I live now said a wall had fallen off and its days were numbered. The tooth seemed to have a different opinion as the extraction was difficult. I swear the dentist (she’s little) almost had to climb on my chest to get a better perspective and angle on the thing (it had broken during the extraction and she had little to grab onto.)

I feel a part of me is missing. OK, that IS literally true, but I meant more in a mystical, metaphysical sense. Something that I worried about for 38 years, and was a visible connection to an earlier time in my life, is now gone. Good Golly, Miss Molly, am I sentimental or what?

My old dentist also gave me a free dental cleaning as a going away present in the Summer of 1991 (I was moving to California.) I just thought I’d throw that in there.  

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!!)

What I’ve done with my Marian Consecration

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Twenty-two years ago today I made myself the property and posession of the Blessed Virgin Mary when I consecrated myself to her accordng to the method and formula of St. Maximilian Kolbe and so became a member of the Militia of the Immaculata.

This has meant different things to me over the years. For the first decade or so, it was merely a pious devotional act. “I belong to Mary! Yay!” And nothing beyond that. At times, it didn’t mean much of anything and was something on the periphery of my devotional life. 

However, within the past decade it has taken on a more substantive meaning. It had partly to do with the centennial anniversary of the MI in 2017. I became more interested in what it actually meant to be an MI and consecrated to Mary. The sudden availablity of Mary’s Knight,an epic biography of St. Maximilian that I long had my eye on, but had been out of print, helped with that. It is a very comprehensive biography with incredibly detailed information, presented in narrative (it reads like a novel) form. Toss in the Complete Writings of St. Maximilian Kolbe and I was on fire.

This lead to me also consecrate this blog to Mary.

In more recent times my consecration has lead me to try and implement the teachings and life of St. Maximilian Kolbe in my blog and writing as well as to figure out how to work out my consecration in a practical, concrete form. I had written a few posts on ‘Marching Orders from Mary’ which, after a fashion, became fleshed out as a book, ‘Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics.’

BuildingaCivilizationofLoveCover81224-4.1 copy.

(This is the second version of the book, the earlier version “The Catholicpunk Manifesto,” is now unpublished and pulled from circulation; “Building…” is a revised and retitled edition. The Catholic Punk material is still present, but I’ve added several chapters on Our Lady of Guadalupe, Lourdes and Fatima. Why? Read on…)

I really thought that at this time in my life I should have something to show for it. “It” being my life. Or, more precisely, “it” is more like “proof” that Marian Consecration has made a significant impact and difference in my life. I wanted to show some sign that that Marian Consecration impacted my thinking and that I have something important and useful to suggest and share with others. 

Marian Consecration via St. Maximilan’s method contains and outward evangelican dimension. That’s the fundamental difference between it and DeMontfort’s. With St. Maximilian’s, you become a tool of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a “pen” or “paintbrush” in her hands. You take your consecration and do something with it to change the world. And in writing that book, “Bulding a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics,” I had thought to provide some inspiration and motivation to other Catholic creatives. The book is NOT a ‘how to write,’ or ‘how to do a podcast,’ or anything else like that. It is directed at people who are creatives, have done something about it, but may need encouragement and inspiration to ‘get them through’ tough times when they might doubt their efficacy or purpose. It is also directed at people who aren’t ‘working creatives’ but who have the dream of writing or filming and so forth, but like established creatives, might need a ‘manifesto’ to help them ‘get going.’ (Not to mention page after page at the end of “creative prompts” derived from litanies to St. Max Kolbe. The prompts aren’t just for writers…)

One reason why I unpublished the original version is that it was  made known to me that calling it “Catholicpunk Manifesto” may be offputting. But that also inspired me in another way: I had gotten some ideas on expanding it. Hence, the first half is now on Our Lady of Guadalupe, Lourdes and Fatima. Why? Because in studying their messages and lessons I detected some themes that serve as blueprints for a ‘new world order’ (oh, my!) but based upon Catholic social and moral teachings. Mary, in those apparitions, has the answer to today’s slide towards cultural and social moral decadence and decline, plus the antidote to the negative and demeaning identity politics that are rampant today. I used those chapters to exhort Catholic creatives and creative “wannabes” to apply the lessons the Blessed Mother taught us in Mexico, France and Portugal. 

Again, the book is not a how-to on writing, filming or painting. It assumes you know your craft and how to perfect it. What it hopes to accomplish is to inspire you to more effectively connect your Catholic faith to your creativity and change the world.

For information on how to order, visit: ‘Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics” or visit my Amazon Author Page. Direct link to Amazon: Kindle version and paperback version.

Thank you!

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!!)

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

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In The Holy Face of Jesus Chaplet for Alcoholics and Addicts, I mentioned:

Now, I am working of a new book of prayers for Sober Catholics, and I am including material on the Holy Face Devotion. While attending to that chapter, I got the idea that we can say the chaplet ourselves with the intention of making reparation for the abuses of our senses during the time of our addictions. Each one was abused by us during our addictions; for with each we committed sins against ourselves and others. 

Take some time to reflect on they ways by which you sinfully used touch, hearing, sight, smell, and taste during your active addiction. 

Instead of waiting for that book to come out (no release date planned yet, because it’s nowhere near being finished) I thought I’d write a few things that expand upon the above quote. This post could serve as a rough draft for that portion of the Holy Face Devotion chapter.

OK, like  I said in that above quoted post:

The chaplet of the Holy Face is comprised of 33 beads divided into five groups of six beads, headed by another bead, with three extra ones at the end. At the head of the Chaplet are an image of the Holy Face of Jesus and a Cross. The chaplet of the Holy Face has the purpose of honoring of the five senses of Our Lord Jesus Christ, all of which were abused during His Passion. The 33 beads represent the 33 years He spent on Earth.

When you say the chaplet, (available from EWTN here and here or at other Catholic shops selling rosaries and chaplets) just try and contemplate the sins you’ve committed with those senses. 

This aligns quite nicely with the reparative work of the chaplet. Each set of beads corresponds with that sense of Our Lord that was abused by the Romans during Passion: from the night of Holy Thursday when He was arrested and lead away to be tortured, all the way through to His Crucifixion. The Holy Face Devotion, like the Sacred Heart Devotion, is a work or reparation. We pray it to make reparation for the sins of others. When we use this to recall our sins committed by our senses during our addiction, we make reparation for them. 

The first sense prayed about is touch. Possible sins of touch are any of self-inflicted impurity (masturbation.) Also, the hands in picking up the drink, or in using drugs. 

The second sense is that of hearing. Possible sins could be in hearing the call of the drink, or the drug. Listening to sinful music. Listenng to gossip. There could be more. Dwell on that.

Next sense is sight. Pornography is an obvious one. Also, watching sinful movies and TV. Another could be letting your eyes distract you from whatever purpose you have in front of you.

Next is smell. Ever snorteed drugs or any bother substance? (Offhand, those are all I can think of regarding this sense.)

Next is taste. Drinking and drugging are the obvious ones. Also, gluttony. 

So, every time you recite the “Holy Face Chaplet (of Sobriety/of Recovery)” meditate on the senses and how you abused them. If you are a Twelve-Stepper, this could be useful in your Step Four work. This could also be an Examination of Conscience, either your daily one, or the one done just before Confession.

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 end of an era in compassion and healing

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I received an email this morning from Marty Tousley who ran the wonderful Grief Healing Discussion Groups. Due to lack of funding and donations, as well as the increasing difficulty in running it (Marty is 81! I’m feeling the pain of running a couple of blogs and the associated social media promotions and I’m only 61!) she announced that on January 1, 2025 the discussion groups will fold.  

I am saddened by the news that these forums will be going away in three month. That place helped me survive the death of my Mom in late 2005 (was it that long ago?) From shortly after her death through all of 2006 and pretty well into 2007, those discussion groups were my online home; the place was an oasis in the churning turmoil of the psychological abuse directed at me by my family and the hole in my soul wrought by my Mom’s death. 

Although I largely stopped visiting the goups after I had achieved my ‘new normal,’ somehow I thought the place would ‘always be here’ in the event I’d need it again.

I do regret not making it a more permanent online home for me. Nevertheless, I shall cherish the memories of the people I met there. Although we’ve parted ways since the deaths of those that brought us together to discuss our pain and sorrow, everyone that touched my heart from ’05-’07 and helped to heal my soul are still in my daily prayers (even if I forgot some names, God knows who theyy were.) I hope to meet and be reunited with all of them in Heaven, even those that briefly were in the community but whose emotions and pain burned brightly in their posts. And of course, I’d love to meet those dear, departed loved ones whose loss brought them here. (I also hope this for the Syracuse (NY) Hospice and Hope for Bereaved, places where I went for face-to-face grief healing and counselling.)

Thank you Marty, and all those whose wisdom and knowledge and compassion helped and healed so many people. The Grief Healing Discussion Groups will be missed.

NOTE: Marty posted quite a lot of resources for grief healing on the site; I will pore through all of them and add many to the resources pages of Sober Catholic.

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!!)

St. Therese, learning the Little Way, and her canonization centenary

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The “Little Way” of St.Therese of Lisieux, aka “The Little Flower,” has an entire chapter devoted to her in my new book The Sober Catholic Way. Below is a social media thingy I whipped up as a part of my attempt to learn a graphic design suite (Affinity Publisher, Designer and Photo.)

SCWChXIIIStTHERESE930 1.

I need more training. But I’m doing better than I expected. It’s kind of fun, actually. I’m having a much better time learning these than when I tried to learn similar (but inferior) software a few years ago on a job. But I digress. 

It was important to me to write that chapter, given her influence over Matt Talbot and my own life. I feel more drawn to her than ever. In rrsponse to that grace, as well as that 2025 is the 100th Centenary of her canonization, I will begin a happy redeing of her complete works. These are her diary (“The Story of a Soul,”) her two-volume ‘Letters’, collections of her prayers (the ones she composed) and her plays, poems and her last conversations. I’ve had them for years and managed to read parts here and there, but I do feel that applying myself to dive into the richness of her spirituality by going directly to the source is long overdue. (Incidentally, “The Story of a Soul: Study Edition”  is excellent. My copy is highlighted and annotated all over!) If your budget is limited, I’d recommend the Study Edition and the Letters (both volumes.)

I think the application of The Little Way is needed more than ever, given the state of the world and the nonsensical political divisiveness caused by lunatics on both the Left and Right.

Surviving democracy requires a miracle, I think. 

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!!)

“How To Break EVERY Addiction: The Catholic Way” (EDITED)

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I chanced upon a YouTube video (YT suggested it) and was immediately intrigued by the title. “How To Break EVERY Addiction: The Catholic Way.” I do not recall seeing this YouTuber before.

In summary, Riecker suggests that one recite the Seven Sorrows Rosary of Our Lady of Sorrows. Why? Because Our Lady made several promises to those who do so faithfully. One key promise is: “By the recitation of the Seven Sorrows Rosary, you shall be freed from obsessions and addiction.”

Riecker provided a link to where he found these promises: 16 Powerful Graces Our Lady Promises To Those Who Honor Her 7 Sorrows.

I must, however, remind you that this is not a thing you can assume will happen just because you do it. As with every promise, such as the promises of the Sacred Heart for those who do the Nine First Fridays, or the promises given to those who say the rosary daily; the mere act is not in itself a guarantee it will work. You must have the faith in the power of the prayer and apply the devotion to your life (like make it into a spiritual relationship with the object of the devotion) so that it transforms it. I think many people just do the requirements of the devotion and feel “that’s it.” You must do it in such a way that your faith in it plus your desire to grow closer to the object (in this case, Our Lady of Sorrows) helps accomplish the deired result; in this case, freedom from addictions. I may have to watch the video again, but I do not recall Riecker saying anything like that. 

The video is below. I highly recommend the video, even though he deleted my comment on it (probably because I linked to Sober Catholic and The Sober Catholic Way).

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!!)

SoberCatholic.com is 4th best “Living Sober Blog” on Feedspot!

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w00t! I rose from being number 11 in 2018 to number 4 in 2024! 

https://addiction.feedspot.com/living_sober_blogs/

(Read about my initiation to this exclusive club here: SoberCatholic named a top sober living blog)

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!!)

St. Michael the Archangel’s connections to mental health and addictions

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Out of curiosity, I asked ChatGPT the following question: “In traditional Catholic spirituality, what connections does St. Michael the Archangel have to illness, mental health and addictions?”

The answer is actually rather good, and continues below interspersed with my commentary or observations. ChatGPT’s answer

is contained within the block quotes and any boldface text is mine…

…while my words are in regular body paragraphs.

ChatGPT began with:

In traditional Catholic spirituality, St. Michael the Archangel is primarily known as the protector against evil, the leader of God’s armies in the battle against Satan, and the guardian of souls at the moment of death. His role as a defender from spiritual harm has made him a popular intercessor for those battling not just physical enemies but also internal struggles, including illness, mental health issues, and addictions.

Again, the boldface parts were mine and reflect precisely why I felt drawn to him in the early days of my reversion and sobriety. My early sobriety was not easy, replete with “internal struggles” of recovery and family relationships and mortality. 

I recall after my reversion to the Church I explored as many aspects of Catholic spirituality and devotions I could find online; and I discovered chaplets. I found the Chaplet of St. Michael the Archangel. I was hooked and since then I developed the practice of reciting the chaplet during periods of intense spiritual duress. 

1. Protector Against Evil

St. Michael is often invoked by those facing challenges that they attribute to spiritual warfare, which includes mental and emotional struggles. Addictions, particularly, are often seen through a spiritual lens in Catholic theology as forms of enslavement to vice. St. Michael is invoked to defend against the temptations and attacks of the devil, which can manifest in various forms, including addiction and mental health difficulties.

Given that Satan will exploit any means to trap souls, it is not surprising that addiction would be a vector through which he’d gain access. I discerned that St. Michael would be a powerful ally given that he is Satan’s chief adversary.

2. Liberation from Oppression

The connection to addiction and mental health lies in the belief that St. Michael can provide strength and deliverance from the oppression of harmful habits or destructive spiritual influences. In Catholic thought, addiction is often seen as a form of spiritual bondage, and St. Michael’s role as a liberator makes him an important figure in prayers for freedom from these afflictions.

Continuing along the theme of St. Micahel being Satan’s chief adversary, it is natural to associate St. Michael with being a liberator from oppression. Addictions are bondage; given that St. Michael is the commander of God’s angelic armies, you can assume that a warrior and his troops must be summoned to liberate the conquered! Dwell on this if you may have some reservations about becoming a devotee of St. Michael. Who says that he works alone? Just like he lead the angels of light against those of darkness in that mysterious time when God subjected the angels to a test and a third rebelled under Satan’s leadership: St. Michael can lead a cohort of angels to your aid when you are in really dire straits.

3. Prayer for Strength

People battling addiction or illness often seek St. Michael’s intercession for courage, fortitude, and strength. The famous Prayer to St. Michael asks for his protection against “the wickedness and snares of the devil.” This is relevant for those struggling with conditions like addiction, where the individual may feel trapped or powerless.

The prayer referenced here goes: “St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen. 

You can read about it here: The popular St. Michael Prayer (short and long version)

4. Mental Health

While St. Dymphna is the primary patron saint of those with mental health issues, St. Michael is still invoked as a powerful protector and guide for people battling psychological or emotional turmoil. The overarching theme of St. Michael’s role as a defender against all forms of evil extends to emotional and psychological battles that people may face, including those related to mental health.

In the broader tradition of Catholic addiction recovery, such as the programs promoted by organizations like sobercatholic.com, St. Michael may be seen as a patron for those seeking spiritual aid and strength to overcome the grip of addiction.

This integration of spiritual protection with the pursuit of mental and emotional healing aligns with the Church’s holistic understanding of human suffering and the need for both divine grace and human cooperation in the healing process.

And there is a nice summary of the battle. Evil extends to emotional and psychological battles. While mental illness usually has a medical (clinical) origin, it is foolish to assume that Satan has nothing to do with psychological illnesses. Therefore it is reasonable, as well and encouraged, for you to develop a relationship with St. Michael. That being said, if you think you suffer from mental illness, it is stongly advisable to seek out a qualified mental health professional.

I’m glad ChatGPT referenced me. Of course, I had something to do with that. 😉

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!!)