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/

Test to make sure blog is working

Posted on September 27, 2024 by paulcoholic

I did some updates to the blog and now I cannot post to it from the desktop blog editor I use. I have been on chat for 90 minutes with a BlueHost tech to resolve the issue. BlueHost is the webhosting company that I use. This particular problem has happened before, and despite my supplying the tech with the error messages and what happened in the past, he couldn’t fix things. (Don’t worry about what the issue is, this is merely an attempt on my part to see if I can at least post while directly logged in. If you can read this, then I was successful.

Now is NOT the time for me to be unable to write!

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!!)

New site look

Posted on September 26, 2024 by paulcoholic

This is in one part a test post and in another an announcement that I installed a new blog theme for Sober Catholic. One neat aspect of the change of appearance is the header image, taken by my wife at Letchworth State Park in the Finger Lakes are of upstate New York, and a site icon, also an image taken by my wife. The site icon is the little image you see in your browser tab representing the site.

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!!)

Introducing the Sober Catholic Coffee mug and Rosary case!

Posted on September 24, 2024 by paulcoholic

In an effort to increase revenue and support my overall Sober Catholic apostolate, I have opened a Fine Arts America shop on their Pixels website.

What is “Fine Arts America (FAA)” and “Pixels?” FAA is an online place where graphic artists can upload images which are then placed upon products. Anything from coffee mugs, stickers, phone covers, wall tapestries, and so forth. Pixels is an FAA storefront; most purchases are done through there. My wife has been doing this for years and I finally am getting involved. I am learning some graphics software (Affinity Publisher, Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer. I’ve already used them in making those yellow and blue social media posts promoting my new book, “The Sober Catholic Way” that you’ve hopefully seen on my various social media channels. As I become more proficient with the Affinity software, I will create more stuff.)

And here it is! Introducing the official Sober Catholic Coffee Mug! Imagine drinking your hot, deelish coffee (or tea or hot chocolate!) in a mug with the logo of your favorite Catholic sobriety and spirituality blog!!! Just click on the words or the image below! You can even customze the color! Blue, brown, yellow, green, whatever you prefer! It also comes in two sizes: “Small” is 11 oz, while “Large” is 15oz!

Next up is the and the official Sober Catholic Rosary Case! At 6”x4” this is perfect to keep your Rosary and even Divine Mercy Chaplet handy! And like the mug, you can customize the color! Click on the image below of the words in the first sentence of this paragraph. White is the default…

..but you can also order it in blue (Mama Mary’s favorite color!)

I do hope you patronize my store and buy a mug or two (or three) and to rosary case (which is technically a “zippered pouch.”) Christmas is on its way and these would make nice gifts! There are more products that these two, but I thought I’d lead off with posting about these. There is also a Sober Catholic Throw Pillow and a Sober Catholic Tote Bag, for example. But I’ll “go on about those” on other social media.

Thank you and may God Bless you!

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 popular St. Michael Prayer (short and long version)

Posted on September 22, 2024 by paulcoholic

The popular prayer to St. Michael the Archangel originated with Pope Leo XIII in the 1880s after he had witnessed a vision of Satan in converaation with God in which the Devil said that he woud need “about 100 years” to destroy the Catholic Church. (It is open to debate as to when the 100 years began; I personally think it began in 1917, with the time up to then spent by Satan preparing for his work. Also, knowledge of this and the spiritual countermeasures wrought by prayer may have interfered with Satan’s timeline.)

St. Michael slaying Satan!

Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Michael4.jpg

The following are the prayers written by Pope Leo XIII in response to the vision. The short version used to be said after every Low Mass, but was discontinued after Vatican II (although it is making a comeback as a post-Mass devotion.) My wife and I recite the short version often throughout the day. I strongly advise every Sober Catholic to memorize and recite it at least once, daily, if you haven’t started doing so by now. Perhaps you can say the long version during the times you feel called to do so.

Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel (short version)

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the malice 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, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.

Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel (long version)

“O Glorious Prince of the heavenly host, St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in the battle and in the terrible warfare that we are waging against the principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against the evil spirits. Come to the aid of man, whom Almighty God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of Satan.

“Fight this day the battle of the Lord, together with the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in Heaven. That cruel, ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels. Behold, this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage. Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay and cast into eternal perdition souls destined for the crown of eternal glory. This wicked dragon pours out, as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity.

“These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where the See of Holy Peter and the Chair of Truth has been set up as the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety, with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck, the sheep may be scattered.

“Arise then, O invincible Prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and give them the victory. They venerate thee as their protector and patron; in thee holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious power of hell; to thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude. Oh, pray to the God of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the Church. Offer our prayers in the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly find mercy in the sight of the Lord; and vanquishing the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, do thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations. Amen.

V. Behold the Cross of the Lord; be scattered ye hostile powers.

R. The Lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered, the root of David.

V. Let Thy mercies be upon us, O Lord.

R. As we have hoped in Thee.

V. O Lord, hear my prayer.

R. And let my cry come unto Thee.

Let us pray.

O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon Thy holy Name, and as supplicants, we implore Thy clemency, that by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin Immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious St. Michael the Archangel, Thou wouldst deign to help us against Satan and all the other unclean spirits who wander about the world for the injury of the human race and the ruin of souls. Amen.”

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!!)

Feast of St. Michael the Archangel is coming up!

Posted on September 21, 2024 by paulcoholic

Septemeber 29th is the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel. (in the contemporary Church, that date is shared by the other two canonical archangels, Sts Gabriel and Raphael. Pre-1970 (or 1962?) they each had their own day.)

St. Michael is important for us Sober Catholics for a number of reasons. He is the patron of:

the fight against temptations
emergency medical technicians, EMTs, paramedics
pharmacists, druggists
sick people
holy death…

… as well as the protector of the Church. In these times of spiritual warfare, St. Michael is an ally we need; every single one of us Sober Catholics should cultivate a devotion to him, I often say the Chaplet of St. Michael. I mean to say it daily, but only manage to keep with it for a week or two, at best and then its set aside until my next attempt.

If you take a look at the list above if those he is the patron saint of, you can see why he is relevant to us. We fight temptaions on a daily basis. Everyone does, but I feel that recovered alcoholics may be more aware of them. We were definitely sick people, and as the patron of emergency personnel, pharmacists, and druggists, these responsibilities of his have seen more than their share of us at our worst.

So, look him up and place yourself beneath St. Michael’s Shield.

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 Triumph and the Sorrow

Posted on September 15, 2024 by paulcoholic

This weekend was a special one; yesterday was the feast of the Triumph (or Exaltation) of the Cross and today is the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.
Both are important inasmuch as the Triumph of the Cross can be compared to our triumph over our addictions. Alcoholism and drug addiction would have been our death, but we survived. Whether it was through a Twelve Step program of we ‘found religion’ or a combination, we triumphed over that which was crucifying us. We nailed or addictions to the Cross and rose again as new people, clean and sober.

Our Lady of Sorrows present another dimension to the suffering: just as Our Lady suffered throughout her life because she knew through the prophecy of Simeon that Jesus was to suffer a death that would pierce her heart and soul, to so did the people in our lives suffer over our addictions and the behaviour we acted out. As Mary stood at the foot of the Cross watching her Son die, so to did many of our loved ones (those that did not abandon us) watch us, often helplessly, as we strode towards death. And they rejoiced as we beat the addiction and rise again.

I found an old post that, like this, was written about these feast days late. From 2009:

Earlier this week (September 14th and 15th) the Church celebrated two feasts which I had written about before in these two posts: Triumph of the Cross and Our Lady of Sorrows.

I think it is intentional that these 2 feasts are linked by being placed a day apart.

The triumph of Jesus on the Cross was His death. Death is usually a defeat but His liberated us from the prison that was ours. He opened the gates of Heaven for us. Heaven is now attainable, whereas previously it was prohibited to us by the Original Sin of Adam. The Sorrows of Mary were many but in tying these dates together, the Church is perhaps emphasizing Jesus’ suffering, death and burial and how they must have ripped apart the heart of Mary as she witnessed them.

Both Jesus and Mary are marked in their obedience to God the Father’s will. Jesus accepted that His role and mission was to suffer and die for our sins. Mary accepted hers as being the bearer of the Messiah, the Savior of Humanity. Her willing submission to God’s will linked her life to that of Jesus.

So it can be said of us. If we accept that our duty as Christians is to submit ourselves to God’s will in our lives, looking to the Church for guidance, then we open ourselves to the sufferings and sorrows about us. In accepting God’s will for us, it is necessary for us to “die to ourselves” so that the inspirations and beckoning of the Holy Spirit can be felt. We decrease, so it can increase. In so dying, we are reborn into the person God intended for us to be and therefore are able to fulfill His plan for our lives. The sufferings and sorrows we feel are our compassion for others.

As addicts and alcoholics, we are especially attuned to this. Our old selves died when we gave up drinking and using. Our truer selves were resurrected from the Cross we nailed our addictions to. And in our new lives we see others about us differently. We see others and broken and wounded souls, as we are also. Our hearts are pierced by the swords of their pain and suffering.

As Jesus on the Cross gave Mary to each of us to be our Mother, we, in our recovery, are given to others to nurture and sustain them.

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 Holy Face of Jesus Chaplet for Alcoholics and Addicts

Posted on September 1, 2024 by paulcoholic

In this post: “Books on the Holy Face Devotion. And a chaplet,” I introduced to you the Holy Face Chaplet.

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.

I’ve become a little addicted to reciting it, it is quite comforting. On the cross you recite the prayer: “God, come to my assistance; Lord, Make haste to help me,” and then the “Glory be…” Then on the each first large beads announce the sense of our Lord (for the first section, “Touch”) and say “My Jesus, Mercy,” followed by the “Glory Be.” Then on each of the six smaller beads say, “Arise, O God, let thy enemies be scattered and let those who hate thee flee before Thy Face.” Then repeat this for each of the next four sections, each one representing the senses of hearing, sight, smell and finally taste. After “Taste,” say “My Jesus, Mercy,” followed by the “Glory Be” on the next large bead. After follows three small beads which you would probably be curious about what to do about them, if you had the chaplet already. You recite on each bead, “Arise, O God, let thy enemies be scattered and let those who hate thee flee before Thy Face.” Then on the image of His Face dangling from near the cross you say, “O God, Our Protector, please look upon us and cast your gaze upon the Face of Thy Christ.” And that’s it! It doesn’t take long to say.

I say it every morning, right after my Chaplet of St. Maximilian Kolbe.

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. You can find the Hoy Face Chaplet available at most vendors who sell Catholic goods and books. I bought mine through EWTN Religious Catalog.

NOTE: there is a sequel to this post at “Using the Holy Face Chaplet as a “sobriety’ or “recovery” chaplet.”

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!!)

A Prayer to the Holy Face from EWTN

Posted on September 1, 2024 by paulcoholic

I ran across this prayer to the Holy Face of Jesus from EWTN on my Facebook feed a few minutes ago. I had been planning on writing a post on the Holy Face Chaplet as it can be used by alcoholics, so I took this as a reminder to get around to it (which will be the next post in a little while after this.)

The Holy Face | EWTN

I included a screenshot in case the link vanishes (as does happen quite a lot with EWTN links after several years pass.)

If you read the prayer, it invokes the Sorrowful Mother (“piercing sorrow of Our Lady as she beheld You in Your cruel Passion”) and that line served as yet ANOTHER reminder to ME to remind YOU that today kicks off the month of September, which is dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows. Her Feast Day is September 15, which is a Sunday this year which means there will be no Mass honoring Our Lady under that title this year.

Nevertheless, I will post a few things about the Devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows over the next two weeks.

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!!)

Devotion to St. Dismas

Posted on August 30, 2024 by paulcoholic

A little while ago I wrote about St. Dismas, the “Good Thief.” This is another post on him, as part of my promise to him to help spread his devotion.

So I took a look around the Internet and found this bit of history of him, along with a “Good Thief Prayer.”

There is even more information on St. Dismas over at Pray More Novenas: Novena to St. Dismas.

While looking up stuff, I found that I had written about him way back in the early days of this blog. Take a look at “Remember Me…”

As I find more stuff on the Good Thief, I’ll post more; if he interests you, bookmark the St. Dismas Post Archives.

Why should I write about him? Like I said in the post linked to in the first sentence:

I think St. Dismas would be a great saint for us alcoholics and addicts to know. He left behind no writings and nothing for certain is known about him apart from the Gospel accounts. But, he was a ‘last minute,’ ‘deathbed’ conversion. And he led a life of sin, some say he was a robber, others a revolutionary. These do not contradict each other; revolutionaries often commit crimes to serve the rebel cause. But the point I am trying to make is that at the very end, when he was facing eternity, he grasped salvation from the lips of the Saviour. There is hope for everyone. Maybe pray to St. Dismas for the conversion of another whom you feel may have too ‘hard a heart’ to convert? Many prisoners in jail are alcoholics and addicts. Conversion is difficult in that environment; perhaps St. Dismas can do what others cannot.

His feast day is March 25, the traditional date for the Crucifixion.

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 Annual Novena to St. Maximilian Kolbe begins August 5th

Posted on August 4, 2024 by paulcoholic

An annual post:

August 5th begins a novena to St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe, one of my favorite saints for a myriad of reasons. One of them, and not the primary one, even, is his patronage of addicts. He was not an addict himself, but the Church in Her thinking has anointed him for that role by virtue of his death, for he was executed by a lethal injection.

His Feast Day is August 14th.

The following are links to a novena to him I wrote near the time when I began this blog:

The Novena to St. Maximilian Kolbe for Alcoholics and Addicts: