Category Archives: Blessed Virgin Mary

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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!!)

Our Lady of Sorrows

Posted on by

On September 15th the Church celebrates the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows. This feast honors the Blessed Virgin Mary in her role as the sorrowful Mother of our Lord, sharing in His sufferings and death.

This was predicted in Sacred Scripture in both of the Gospel Readings that can be used in today’s Memorial Mass:

Luke 2:33-35;

Jesus’ father and mother were amazed at what was said about him;
and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,
“Behold, this child is destined
for the fall and rise of many in Israel,
and to be a sign that will be contradicted
and you yourself a sword will pierce
so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

John 19:25-27;

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother
and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary Magdalene.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved
he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”
Then he said to the disciple,
“Behold, your mother.”
And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

The sword that pierced Mary’s heart mentioned in Luke was her Son’s sufferings, crucifixion and death. She is our role model in the sharing of His sufferings, in that we are also to share in them by uniting our trials and tribulations to Him. “Nail them to the Cross.”

In John’s Gospel, we see that Jesus, from upon the Cross, gave the care of His Mother to the disciple John. By extension, He also gave her to us. We are also His disciples, and a proper Christian takes Mary into their home and honors her. This honoring and reverence for Mary is also Scriptural:

Luke 1:46-48;

And Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.

By making Mary blessed in your home and within your soul, you are following the will of God as outlined in Scripture. And as Mary is held up as the role model for all of us in following the will of God, male and female, sober or drunk, we should do well to follow such direction.

She paid for her obedience to God’s will by sharing in her Son’s suffering. We can look to her for guidance and consolation in our own sufferings and trials.

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!!)

Happy Birthday, Mom

Posted on by

Today is the Feast of the Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

May all of you out there be inspired by her ready acceptance of the will of God in her life. Call upon her when you are struggling with God’s will. What it is, or if you know it, with getting through its difficulty.

Hail Mary, full of Grace,
the LORD is with you,
Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb, JESUS!

Holy Mary, Mother of GOD,
Pray for us sinners,
now, and at the hour of our death,
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 Angelus Prayer

Posted on by

The Angelus is a Catholic prayer, usually said thrice daily, morning, noon and evening (traditionally 6AM , noon and 6PM. It is a prayer that focuses on the Annunciation to Mary and the Incarnation of Jesus. The English and Latin versions are here, courtesy of EWTN.

ANGELUS (English)

V. The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
R. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with Thee: blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.* Holy Mary, Mother of God, prayer for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord,
R. Be it done to me according to Thy word.

Hail Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with Thee: blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.* Holy Mary, Mother of God, prayer for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

V. And the Word was made flesh,
R. And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with Thee: blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.* Holy Mary, Mother of God, prayer for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.
Pour forth, we beseech Thee, Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that, as we have known the Incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, by the message of an angel, so by His Passion and Cross we may be brought to the glory of the Resurrection. Through the same Christ our Lord.
R. Amen.


ANGELUS (Latin)

V. Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae.
R. Et concepit de Spiritu Sancto.

Ave Maria, gratia plena; Dominus tecum: benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui Iesus. * Sancta Maria, Mater Dei ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

V. Ecce ancilla Domini,
R. Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum.

Ave Maria, gratia plena; Dominus tecum: benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui Iesus. * Sancta Maria, Mater Dei ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

V. Et Verbum caro factum est,
R. Et habitavit in nobis.

Ave Maria, gratia plena; Dominus tecum: benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui Iesus.* Sancta Maria, Mater Dei ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

V. Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genetrix,
R. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.

Oremus. Gratiam tuam, quaesumus, Domine, mentibus nostris infunde; ut qui, Angelo nuntiante, Christi Filii tui incarnationem cognovimus, per passionem eius et crucem ad resurrectionis gloriam perducamur. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. R. 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!!)

Solemnity of the Annunciation, Part 2 (On Humility)

Posted on by

In the previous post I started out by discussing the Annunciation, and the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary that relates to it. Now, I’ll conclude with a bit on what actually was announced.

An angel appeared to Mary and told her that she was to bear a child and that He will be the Messiah, the Son of God. OK, now here we get into the whole thing about humility.

We are basically saying that God, the creator of the Universe, from the largest galactic super cluster and all the trillions of stars, down to the smallest subatomic particle, and everything in between, was going to be born into humanity. As a baby.

Think about that.

Why? Not about the thinking part, but why as a baby?

Because God wanted to teach us about humility. He became born into humanity so that He can eventually die for us, thus paying the price for our Original Sin. The only other way for its price to be paid would be our extinction as a species. The Original Sin was the Fall of Adam and Eve as told in Genesis, Chapter 3. What exactly happened is unknown, it probably wasn’t literally Satan posing as a talking snake conning some naked lady into the idea that if she and her husband ate an apple then they would be like God and possess His wisdom. But something occurred that convinced our Original Parents that they could find fulfillment outside of God’s will. That they could be like God and determine for themselves what is right and what is wrong. That is Pride, the opposite of humility. And such an evil thing was this expession of pride that we almost died as a species.

For God to teach us this lesson on humility, along with redeeming us for our sin of pride, He bacame a little baby.

He could have come down from Heaven as a mighty force laying waste to enemies of His will, but that would serve no teaching purpose. Humility is learned.

You learn humility by being humbled. By accepting little humiliations and getting stronger as a result.

By these ways we learn that humility is accepting reality for what it is, adjusting your life to that reality, and being content with the result.

We can accept all that more easily by thinking about the result of the Annunciation (the birth of Jesus nine months later). If the God of the Universe can incarnate (become flesh, as opposed to remaining a Spirit) Himself as a baby, and suffer all sorts of indignities as a part of His human-ness, then who are we to complain about the ordinaries of daily living? Of course, He was God, and knew it, and therefore probably had superior coping mechanisms, but He was fully human, and still suffered the ordinaries of being human. Exactly how this is so is a puzzle not comprehended by 20 centuries of Christians, but it was so.

Meditate on this next time you have a lousy day. Like I said at the end of Part 1, stuff like this keeps you sober. It also brings you closer to God.

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 Annunciation, Part 1

Posted on by

On March 25th the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Annunciation. (In the United States and perhaps other countries, it is moved to the 26th of March when the 25th falls on a Sunday as it does in 2007).

The Annunciation is the event in which the Archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary, an innocent little Jewish girl in 1st Century Palestine, and tells her that she has been chosen by God to be the mother of Jesus, the Son of God.

It is perhaps an understatement to say that this is significant on many levels. And the significance involves humility, a topic of so many 12-Step meetings. I’ll get into that in Part 2 of this post.

Set aside the less-than-every-day occurrence of a messenger from God telling you that you’re going to give birth to His Son. According to the Gospel accounts, Mary handled it rather well, better than most perhaps as she merely wondered how it would come to pass as she is a Virgin.

All she needed to say was “Yes”, and the whole epic of salvation would continue on its intended course, and the world would be liberated from its enslavement to sin.

So, we have the humility of Mary accepting the stupendous role of being the mother of the Son of God. Her perfect humility enabled her to bear the responsibility of this role, for if pride played a part she would not have been suitable. Pride is a tool the Devil uses in convincing us that we are responsible for our own talents and achievements, as opposed to a humble acknowledgement that we were placed here by God and we cultivate our talents to the best of our ability.

Mary’s purpose was to be the vessel through which the world received the Savior.

Such a vessel has to be free of all stain of sin, hence the angel’s greeting to her with the phrase “Hail, Mary, full of grace” (or “Hail, Highly Favored One” in some translations.) Mary was preserved from Original Sin by the anticipated merits of Jesus’ eventual death and Resurrection. This is the Catholic Dogma of Mary’s Immaculate Conception. If she had Original Sin, then Jesus, by being in her womb and sharing her body and blood, would have shared in her Sin, which is impossible as God is sinless. One could argue then that why couldn’t Jesus have been conceived immaculately? He could have, but the difficulty in that would be that He still would be in Mary’s womb, and what would be the barrier between Him and Original Sin? His own sacrifice on the cross, decades later? He is divine and sinless, so His own death was not for Himself, He died for humanity. So Mary, by sharing her body and blood with Jesus in her womb, would benefit from the eventual sacrifice of Jesus. Mary is the physical barrier between Jesus and her ancestral line, caught in Original Sin like the rest of humanity. The physical barrier protecting Mary from her mother’s state of Original Sin was Jesus, operating from the fullness of time, as God dwells in Eternity.

I believe it was done in this manner to signify the importance of the sacrament of Baptism. Original Sin is washed away by Baptism, which is the sacrament signified by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. By His Blood we are redeemed of Original Sin and born into the Body of Christ (Christianity). Baptism enables us to receive the Holy Spirit. Mary could not have conceived Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit if she was trapped in Original Sin. If she could have, then there would be little rationale for Baptism. Baptism is so important in our being born into the Body of Christ (well, it’s the only way to accomplish that) that this rather confusing and impossible to fully comprehend method occurred. Her “baptism”, so to speak, was Jesus’ eventual shedding of His Blood during His torture and Crucifixion. Through it, she was preserved from inheriting Original Sin. If Jesus was conceived immaculately, solely by God the Father’s will, then there would be no real need for Baptism. It would be purely symbolic, as the Father could make us into his own by use of His own will.

God asked for Mary’s permission, her acquiescence was key. The whole epic of salvation hinged upon her saying “Yes” to God. God loves us, and needs our cooperation to fulfill His plan.

Phew. I’m tired just writing that. And I still have Part 2, later. (The “Incarnation”.)

She accepted God’s will for herself, as so should we. Her acceptance was necessitated by her being a sinless vessel to bear the Lord. While we are certainly not sinless, we should to the best of our ability resist the tendency towards sin by humbling ourselves before God and willingly accept Him into our lives. We must live out our Baptismal life by being Catholic Christians, fully participating in the sacramental life of the Church. For ordinary rank-and-file butts-in-the-pews Catholics this means going to Mass and recieving Holy Communion. And to recieve it properly by previously going to sacramental Confession and having our sins forgiven. (This is so that we can be a proper receptacle for receiving Jesus into ourselves, as that is what Communion is, the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus, in the form of Bread. (Read, “Does this shock you?” )

What does all this have to do with recovery from alcoholism? Well, this is “Sober Catholic” and the intended purpose of this blog is to help you realize the richness and fullness of the Catholic Faith. Giving you things like the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception to mentally munch on is supposed to get you to start thinking of less mundane things. If you can spend some time every day wrapping your mind around such concepts, things tempting you to drink won’t sstand a chance.

Worked for me.

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!!)