Category Archives: Blessed Virgin Mary

Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes for Alcoholics: Day 2

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Anxiety is another cross that we alcoholics have to bear. Fears and worries about the future or about present circumstances and the apparent powerlessness over them leads to anxiety.

Anxiety happens when faith is weak or absent. We lack the confidence that God is there to help us or provide for us, and we feel we are cast adrift. Our inability to deal with things in the past had pushed us to drinking as a means to cope, and now without that crutch anxiety fills the gap.

Anxiety fills the empty spaces where love and faith should abide.

At Mass is the following dialogue after the Lord’s Prayer:

Priest: Deliver us, Lord, from every evil, and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Via Catholic Resources.)

One of the little-known effects of the Mass is that it is a weapon against anxiety. If we are the faithful servants of our Lord then we should be confident that the One who died for us will not let us stumble and fall beyond His reach.

The Mass is the drama of God’s love for us. Immerse yourself in it. (Helpful if you are a member of a parish with a reverent priest who says the Mass properly.)

Pray:

Oh ever Immaculate Virgin, Mother of Mercy, Health of the Sick, Refuge of Sinners, Comfortess of the Afflicted, you know my wants, my troubles, my sufferings. Look upon me with mercy. When you appeared in the grotto of Lourdes, you made it a privileged sanctuary where you dispense your favors, and where many sufferers have obtained the cure of their infirmities, both spiritual and corporal. I come, therefore, with unbounded confidence to implore your maternal intercession. My loving Mother, obtain my request. I will try to imitate your virtues so that I may one day share your company and bless you in eternity. Amen

From: Prayers – Catholic Online: “Prayer to Our Lady of Lourdes”

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!!)

Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes for Alcoholics: Day 1

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We are all individuals. Sometimes our sense of individuality gets unhealthy and and is replaced by a feeling of aloneness. We feel isolated and no longer a part of whatever community or communities we belong to. This separation is distinctly harmful and will lead to all sorts of thoughts about our well-being that are untrue. Our problems are worse that anybody else’s. No one likes me. No one notices me, I am invisible.

No one suffers with us.

We somehow must re-establish our connections with those around us and reassert our balanced perspective as to how we are in relation to others.

Prayer is one way. Prayer, that seeking out conscious contact with God and uplifting our hearts and minds to Him reconnects us to the Divine, and in turn helps us to be aware that we are not truly alone. God is there and He softens our hearts and assists us in seeing those about us.

In this novena, we turn to Our Blessed Mother and request her intercessory powers to aid us in our healing. We can turn to her and ask that our feelings of aloneness be banished when they arise.

Pray:

Oh ever immaculate Virgin, Mother of Mercy, Health of the Sick, Refuge of Sinners, Comfortess of the Afflicted, you know my wants, my troubles, my sufferings. Look upon me with mercy. When you appeared in the grotto of Lourdes, you made it a privileged sanctuary where you dispense your favors, and where many sufferers have obtained the cure of their infirmities, both spiritual and corporal. I come, therefore, with unbounded confidence to implore your maternal intercession. My loving Mother, obtain my request. I will try to imitate your virtues so that I may one day share your company and bless you in eternity. Amen

From: Prayers – Catholic Online: “Prayer to Our Lady of Lourdes”

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!!)

Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes for Alcoholics

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On February 11 is the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. It honors the 1858 apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France. Along with the apparition at Fatima, Portugal, it is one of the best known of Marian apparitions. Even non-Catholics have heard of it due to miraculous healings of people immersed in the waters of its springs. This article from New Advent contains the basic information Lourdes.

At daily Mass this morning I got the idea of starting a novena (a prayer of petition or supplication said daily for nine days.) in honor of this feast day. I might have thought of it last year, but never got to it for whatever reason.

It will start tomorrow, February 3rd, and end on the feast, February 11th. Some novenas start 10 days before the feast and end the day just before, others start 9 days before and end on the day of the feast. Honestly, I never got a straight answer from anyone as to why this is so, so I just start them so that they end on the day of he feast. Other Catholic bloggers that you read might have started their own novenas to Our Lady of Lourdes today. That’s OK, I just wanted to explain why we’re a day off.

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!!)

Our Lady of the Rosary: year in review reflection

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Today was the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. That link is a post I wrote last year.

It has been quite a year for me since that post. In that year I relocated to a new city to be closer to my then-girlfriend (after commuting weekly 360 miles/580 km round-trip for nearly 2 months), took a low-paying part-time job just to be near her, got a new job a few months later – just before the actual wedding, and endured a lot of change and trials on that job these past 8 months on it. I proposed to her 10 months ago today on the Vigil of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Rose said “Yes” but made me propose again the next day as she felt it was more proper to do so on the day of the feast instead. Women… (!!!). ) All in all, a new life, and a year that most people would have taken several years to live out. No boasting, just a lot of life development and such all packed in to one year, that others would have experienced over a longer period.

A strong faith and strong sobriety was key in my surviving this past year. There was much that could have undermined my sobriety, ask any long-term member of a 12 Step group and they would have said something about too much change too soon. Change, or big change and a lot of it, isn’t good for any recovered/recovering alcoholic. Having something worthwhile to achieve (like a great lady) helps.

From Romans 12:12: “Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer.”

(Via USCCB.)

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!!)

Feast of the Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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From a post last year saying Happy Birthday, Mom

Call your Mother. Say the Rosary.

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 Scriptural Rosary website

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From Bill B., a Sober Catholic reader:

Hello,

I was surfing through Catholic blogs and came across your blog. It was especially interesting to me because my father was an alcoholic and he eventually passed away when his liver failed him.
He was a great dad! Somehow he managed to coach our ball teams, provide everything we needed and was always there for us. He was never abusive physically or verbally. I wouldn’t have traded him for any other dad. Still, he had a drinking problem and it eventually killed him.

Any way, the reason I was surfing catholic blogs was to try to create an awareness of a new Scriptural Rosary site that I have published. I’m soon to become a full time volunteer and the Rosary is a big part of my journey. I felt compelled to share my favorite way to pray it.
Take a look, if you like it, I hope you’ll visit often and share it with friends and readers of your blog. Perhaps if I loved the Rosary this much when I was younger, it could have helped my dad.


…


Thanks for your time.

God Bless,

Bill

Here is the link .

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!!)

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

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Today the Church celebrates the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I wrote about it in a previous post here , on the occasion of another day dedicated to Mary.

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!!)

Consecration Anniversary

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Today marks the fifth anniversary of my consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary as a member of St. Maximilian Kolbe’s apostolate, the “Militia of the Immaculata”. An apostolate is a Catholic organization, or the work of one Catholic, to spread the Gospel of Jesus. In the sidebar, if you scroll way down you’ll see a collection of links under “Militia of the Immaculata – St. Maximilian Kolbe” that can tell you anything that you want to know about the MI and St. Max.

Being consecrated to Mary means that you’ve given yourself to her, or sworn yourself to live for her honor. This may be a little hard or strange to comprehend if you’re new to the Catholic Faith, either as a convert, a revert (one who went away and then came back), or you’re just exploring Catholicism. Don’t stress out about it, just put it in the back of your mind for future reference or consideration.

I’ve often wondered as to the effect or impact on my life that my consecration has. I do believe that it has been important to my sobriety. I struggled very hard with my sobriety early on. It took 7 months of AA meetings before I sobered up and even then it was due more to a physical inability to get to a liquor store than any 12-Step living. Even after I stopped, I relapsed after 3 1/2 months, and after that my sobriety was wobbly. Yeah, I was not a model member of AA.

Perhaps it ended up as a result of just an evolving clear headedness or sustained sobriety, but my sobriety (sober date 22 May 2002) has survived a considerable number of shocks to it. And through it all I have felt a steady, guiding hand. Perhaps the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and my receptivity to its promptings, or maybe also the guidance and maternal protection of the Spirit’s spouse: Mary. Throughout these shocks, from my own Earthly mother’s decline in health and subsequent death, to job and financial struggles and also familial rifts, there has been this soft, loving presence in along with the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit.

Mothers are usually the glue that holds a family together. Everything revolves around Mom. Mom provides the healing touch, the kiss on the boo-boo or the unconditional understanding and love when you mess up. Mom is always there for you, no matter what you do.

Mary, it is often mentioned in Catholic devotional literature, often makes up for what we are lacking in our prayer life. At least for those devoted to her. Whether we are distracted in prayer, or our prayer is stumbling and flawed, she corrects it for us on its way to God.

If those devoted to her are themselves stumbling and flawed (and who amongst us isn’t?) then her maternal protection and correction helps us along.

My consecration to her 5 years ago I do believe strengthened my sobriety for the tougher times I was going to face in the next 5 years (and long into the future). This is my belief, and I have no empirical data to support it. Such is the way of faith. But there is a strong part of me that shudders to think of what the last 5 years would have been like for me without my consecration to Our Lady.

Now, the Militia of the Immaculata is NOT a recovery organization, nor is it a rehabilitation or treatment center. But I think it was important enough for my sobriety that I included all those links to it in the sidebar to my blog. Visit them when you can.

Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee, for all those who do not have recourse to thee, for enemies of the Catholic Church, and for those recommended to you. St, Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us. Amen.

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 Rosary

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The Rosary is an ancient devotion used by Catholics. It has been around for about 800 years. I have added links in the sidebar (See “Rosary”) that go into its history and development in more detail than what I shall do here.

The Rosary isn’t about the Blessed Virgin Mary, it’s about Jesus. In Catholic teaching, Mary points the way to Jesus. We received Him through her; the first prophecy of Him during His life was after Simeon took Him from Mary’s arms during His presentation in the Temple; His first public miracle was after her prodding (wedding feast at Cana); and she became our Mother after He gave her to his disciple John on Calvary. Mary is the path to Jesus.

It is Scriptural. I said it’s about Jesus. The Bible is the Word of God and Jesus is that Word of God made flesh (Incarnate), therefore the Bible is Jesus.

It is also Twelve-Step friendly. The 11th Step of AA reads:

“Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God (as we understand Him), praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry it out.” (from Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th edition, New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 2001. Also known as “The Big Book”)

You want to know God’s will for you? The Bible is a good place to start looking. You want a great model for following the will of God? His own Mother is perfect. By saying the rosary you will be meditating on her and the Scriptural passages each section to the Rosary refers to. You can nicely combine Mary’s submission to God’s will with direction from Sacred Scripture.

There are four groups of “Mysteries” of the Rosary. A Mystery is something Divine we cannot fully understand.

The first are the “Joyful Mysteries”. These relate to Jesus’ birth. The five Joyful Mysteries are the Annunciation, in which the Archangel Gabriel announced the coming of the Messiah to Mary, pursuant to her acceptance of her role. (The will of God thing.) The second Joyful Mystery is the Visitation, in which Mary ran off and visited her cousin Elizabeth, who was pregnant with the precursor to the Messiah, John the Baptist. The third is the Birth of Jesus, Himself (the Incarnation). The fourth is the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, in which the prophet Simeon publicly acknowledged Him to be the Messiah, and foretold His role in Jewish history. And the last Joyful Mystery is the Finding of Jesus in the Temple. Apparently when Jesus was twelve, Mary and her husband Joseph lost track of Him when they were celebrating Jewish Holy Days in Jerusalem. He was missing for two days before they noticed. (“I thought He was with you!” “No, I thought He was with you!” Oy, vey!!!) Anyway, they went looking for Him and found Him in the Temple, speaking with the scribes and other teachers of the Law.

Next up are the Luminous Mysteries, which concern the life of Jesus. The first Luminous Mystery is the Baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan by John the Baptist. The next is the Wedding Feast at Cana. The third Luminous Mystery is the Proclamation of the Kingdom of God. The fourth is the Transfiguration, in which Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus on Mount Tabor, and they clue Him in to what awaits Him in His upcoming Crucifixion. The last is the Establishment of the Eucharist (the Last Supper).

The next group of Mysteries are the Sorrowful, which concern the Passion of Jesus. First up is the Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, the second is the Scourging at the Pillar. The third Sorrowful Mystery is the Crowning with Thorns. The fourth is the Carrying of the Cross. The last Sorrowful Mystery is the Crucifixion.

The last group of mysteries are the Glorious, which involve His post Crucifixion life and also involve Mary herself. We start with the Resurrection, followed by the Ascension into Heaven, after which is the Descent of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost). The next two involve Mary, and although are not explicitly referred to in Scripture, are strongly implied if you comprehend Biblical theology about Original Sin and the importance of Mary and her acceptance of God’s will. “Strongly implied” like the Trinity is strongly implied even though there is no specific reference to God being a Trinity of Divine Persons, although still just one God. The fourth Glorious Mystery is the Assumption of Mary into Heaven. Rather than dying and suffering the corruptibility of death, at her death she was bodily assumed into Heaven. (She was free of Original Sin, being immaculately conceived, and bodily decay is a consequence of Original Sin. Read Genesis 3. I’ve written about the Immaculate Conception before, in this post .) The last is Mary’s Coronation as Queen of Heaven. This is significant as Mary is the daughter of God the Father, the mother of God the Son, and is the spouse of God the Holy Spirit. She was handpicked from all eternity to be the woman fulfilling those roles. Of all of our Fallen Race, she is the best.

Common practice holds that the Joyful Mysteries are recited on Monday and Saturday, the Luminous on Thursday, the Sorrowful on Tuesday and Friday, and the Glorious on Wednesday and Sunday. This isn’t mandatory, but following this custom united your prayers with all those who are also praying the Rosary that day.

You can read about how to pray the Rosary here . If you have speakers on, the site plays a nice song to Mary. Turn off your iTunes and listen. 🙂

Why am I bringing up all this about the Rosary? Sober Catholic is a blog about Catholic spirituality and how it can be the primary tool to achieve and maintain your sobriety. The Rosary is probably, after the Mass, the most common Catholic spiritual practice and devotion. It can be a means by which you can focus your sober Catholic spirituality.

Plus, I am going to plant myself in front of my iMac and write 20 posts this weekend about the Rosary. One post for each Mystery. Makes up for my relative lack of posting this past week or so as I was mulling over how to do this.

PS: I just noticed that this is my 150th post. What is interesting is that the traditional Rosary had 150 “Hail Mary’s” said amongst the Mysteries (the non-traditional Mysteries are the Luminous ones. (They were added by Pope John Paul the Great in 2002. They are optional, but I recommend including them.) Nice coincidence.

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!!)

Our Lady of the Rosary

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October 7th is celebrated in the Church as the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. It stems from a major naval battle that Catholic Christian forces won against a superior invading Moslem fleet. It was fought on October 7, 1571. You can read about it here.

To celebrate the decisive victory, which if lost would have opened up Europe to Muslim invasion and probable forced conversions to Islam, the Pope established the Feast of Our Lady of Victory. If you read the article in the link above, the victory was attributed to the Blessed Virgin Mary’s intercession. The Feast was renamed “Our Lady of the Rosary” later on.

The following is a “Litany” which is a form of prayer in which a greeting to or title of the saint who’s intercession you are requesting is said, followed by a response. It can be said by one person, or in a group. If in a group, a leader reads the text not in italics, and the others gathered respond with the text in italics. Litanies are nice prayers because they can help you focus your mind on specific aspects of the saint and Catholic spirituality.

My thanks to Rose S., a non-alcoholic special friend of mine for finding this for me. 🙂

Our Lady of Victory Litany

Lord, have mercy on us,
Christ, have mercy on us,
Lord, have mercy on us,
Christ, have mercy on us,
Christ, hear us,
Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us,
God, the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us.
God, the Holy Spirit, Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, Have mercy on us.

The response for the following greetings is ‘Pray for us.’
Our Lady of Victory,
Victorious daughter of the Father,
Victorious Mother of the Son,
Victorious Spouse of the Holy Spirit,
Victorious servant of the Holy Trinity,
Victorious in your Immaculate Conception,
Victorious in crushing the serpent’s head,
Victorious over all the children of Adam,
Victorious over all enemies,
Victorious in your response to the Angel Gabriel,
Victorious in your wedding to St. Joseph,
Victorious in the birth of Christ,
Victorious in the flight to Egypt,
Victorious in your exile,
Victorious in your home at Nazareth,
Victorious in finding Christ in the temple,
Victorious in the mission of your Son,
Victorious in His passion and death,
Victorious in His Resurrection and Ascension,
Victorious in the Coming of the Holy Spirit,
Victorious in your sorrows and joys,
Victorious in your glorious Assumption,
Victorious in the angels who remained faithful,
Victorious in the happiness of the saints,
Victorious in the message of the prophets,
Victorious in the testimony of the patriarchs,
Victorious in the zeal of the apostles,
Victorious in the witness of the evangelists,
Victorious in the wisdom of the doctors,
Victorious in the deeds of the confessors,
Victorious in the triumph of all holy women,
Victorious in the faithfulness of the martyrs,
Victorious in your powerful intercession,
Victorious under your many titles,
Victorious at the moment of death,

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Spare us, Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Hear us, Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Have mercy, Lord.
V. Pray for us, blessed Lady of Victory.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray: Our Lady of Victory, we have unshaken confidence in your influence with your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Humbly we ask your intercession for all of us associated under your title, Our Lady of Victory.

We beg your powerful assistance also for our own personal needs (Please mention here your special intention in your own words.) In your maternal kindness please ask Jesus to forgive all our sins and failings, and to secure His blessings for us and for all the works of charity dedicated to your name. We implore you to obtain for us the grace of sharing Christ’s victory and yours forever in the life that knows no ending. May we join you there to praise forever the Father, His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, one God, for all ages to come. Amen.

OK, I introduce this Litany aside from the fact that the Feast is tomorrow, because I am about to embark on a series of major postings on the Rosary this weekend. October is dedicated to the Rosary, and therefore it is a fine time to introduce this devotion to Sober Catholic readers who may be rusty or unfamiliar with it. It is a great method to focus your spirituality.

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!!)