Category Archives: Blessed Virgin Mary

Four things to help you get through difficult times

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I am going through some ‘stuff’ right now; some personal issues as well as the usual anxieties about world and national events. The latter are bothersome, but I’ve gotten to realize that there’s not much I can do about them apart from prayer. The personal stuff is very worrying and those worries intrude on my limited personal time (evenings and a short weekend.) 

This post is on “Four things to help you get through difficult times” and although they are not new to me nor probably to you, I have been reacquainted with them in my recent spiritual readings and recollections. They are beginning to help me cope with the difficulties that are besetting me.

I have a two-hour Holy Hour on Friday evenings and the one on February 18th spurred much of this. I read a lot of what St. Maximillian Kolbe wrote on ‘suffering’ during that Holy Hour and it summarized or synthesized the entirety of traditional Catholic teachings on it. So here is the first thing:

Suffering. It shows that God is pruning you of pride and self-love; that bearing up with suffering in the spirit of ‘taking up your Cross’ will give you greater glory in Heaven; in a related note, that God is preparing your soul for special graces and this will mark you in a special way when your Earthly exile is over. Now, I had known this, and have even blogged this before, but I needed a reminder. St. Maximilian’s simple and unadorned way of writing helped to knock some sense into me and in presenting these time-honored truths in his simple style, brought them to me as if I was being introduced to them for the first time! That was an amazing Holy Hour. It was as if Jesus knew I needed a primer on suffering and got St. Max to teach me.

The next three things grew from that Friday.

The Present Moment is the second. St. Max didn’t write about this (or at least I can’t recall at this time,) but Mother Angelica of EWTN did write and talk about it a lot, and since I closely associate St. Maximilian with Mother Angelica (there are a lot of parallels in the development of their evangelical ministries), reading St. Max made me think of her and naturally her doctrine of the Present Moment. To describe it briefly, all we have is now. The past is left to God’s Divine Mercy, the future to His Divine Providence; leaving only the here and now to His Divine Grace. God does not give you His special helps (graces) for the past. Nor does He give it to you for the future. His graces are given to you for what is going on right now. This may help with things done in the past, such as healing from trauma and addiction and such, and He may give you a grace now that will develop into something for a future issue, but it is still given to you for where you are now. (The ‘Now’ could be regarded as the intersection of the past with the future; so that may help with understanding the previous sentence.) Anyway, being too worried about the future may cause you to not receive and cooperate with the graces being given to you now. In a way, it’s like you’re driving down a road, craning your neck out the window of your car to see something going on farther down, and a truck coming up from the right that you didn’t see collides with you. You would have seen it had you been paying attention. Ok, a little graphic, but it paints the picture. Naturally, since thinking about St. Max’s writings lead me to think about Mother Angelica, she got me to think about St. Faustina Kowalska, the “Apostle of Divine Mercy,” since Mother’s EWTN is the major promoter of the Divine Mercy devotion. St. Faustina wrote in her diary about the Present Moment:

2 “When I look into the future, I am frightened, But why plunge into the future?

Only the present moment is precious to me, As the future may never enter my soul at all.
It is no longer in my power,
To change, correct or add to the past;
For neither sages nor prophets could do that.

And so, what the past has embraced I must entrust to God.

O present moment, you belong to me, whole and entire.
I desire to use you as best I can.
And although I am weak and small,
You grant me the grace of your omnipotence.

And so, trusting in Your mercy,
I walk through life like a little child,
Offering You each day this heart Burning with love for Your greater glory.

Trust in Jesus is the third thing. Since Max lead me to Angelica, and she lead me to Faustina, the big thing about the latter is the whole ‘Jesus I Trust in You’ theology of the Divine Mercy message. Trust in Jesus. He’s got your back, so to speak. He knows more than you do what’s going on with you, and why. Trusting in Him gives Him great delight; it allows Him to operate more freely within your soul, granting you the graces needed to help you get through ‘stuff.’ And it is a soothing balm to comfort you in trying times. All that is within your reach you can deal with; beyond that (the past, the future, and contemporary trials that are beyond your control) is in God’s hands. If your relationship with God has developed where you believe it’s now a personal one, then this should not be too hard. You love God, you know He loves you, it’s not hard to trust in the ones you love. I know, (trust me, I know!) that it is difficult at times to take that ‘leap of faith’ and believe that Jesus will ‘take care of the matter,’ but when this happens, think about all the times in the past when Jesus rescues you from a situation. Why would He abandon you now?

Trust in the Blessed Mother is the fourth thing. You have to have a pretty good devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary to get this. But it does bring things to a full circle; Maximilian took me to Angelica, who took me to Faustina who took me back to Maximilian. Not surprising since Faustina and Max were Polish contemporaries and their teachings parallel each other. St. Maximilian wrote that “Whatever does not depend upon our will is surely the will of the Immaculata.” This takes some meditation to get. In essence, he means that whatever is beyond the grasp of our will, falls within the grasp of Mary’s. It is his teaching, as well as that of many other great Marian saints, that Mary’s will is identical to that of God’s. Since Our Lady was conceived with Original Sin, she didn’t suffer concupiscence. She never sinned. Sin is essentially turning your will away from God’s. Therefore, her will was always united to God’s. So, we can conclude that since Our Lady is in Heaven watching over us and interceding on our behalf, what she wants for us is the same as what God wants. Trusting in the Blessed Mother and her maternal intercession is complementary to trusting in Divine Providence and Jesus. Our basic trust in Our Lady is evident in the Hail Mary prayer:

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

There, she is praying for us now, and at some future time when we die. If you are consecrated to her in some manner, such as by the method of St. Louis de Montfort or St. Maximilian Kolbe, then you belong to her and are under her special protection as well as guidance. Entrust your problems, your ‘stuff’ to her and her Son. Using inspiration, graces, including perhaps signal graces, Jesus and Mary will lead, guide, console, and intervene. Patience is necessary since Heaven’s Time is not ours. But then we go back to the first thing, suffering, which we can offer up in redemption for our sins, those of others, and for the general intercessory powers of Heaven.

Now, regarding that quotation from St. Maximilian, “Whatever does not depend upon our will is surely the will of the Immaculata.” There is a tricky thing about that. Our will is that tricky thing. If our will is united to God’s will, to the best of our ability to discern that, then anything beyond that is the will of the Virgin Mary. And what depends upon our will is helped by God’s grace. That’s great. Solutions to the ‘stuff’ are in the works. But, if our will is mostly self-willed pride, and therefore divorced from God’s will, then there lies a problem. What depends upon our will is going to be a great struggle, a tremendous burden, and a trial. We may begin to doubt ourselves, our pride is wounded or we get angry and aggressive. Perhaps the ‘stuff’ that you are going through is the result of your self-willed pride. Perhaps not. (This is what I am attempting to discern about my ‘stuff.’ Am I doing God’s will? Or I’m not and I’m suffering as a result? Or I am and His will is for me to suffer the ‘stuff’ right now? Who knows? (And neither do you since I haven’t identified the ‘stuff’ I’m going through 😉 )

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!!)

Immaculate Conception Novena begins today

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Today begins the Immaculate Conception Novena (November 29 through December 7th. It’s all right if you get this too late and begin it on November 30th, it’ll end on December 8th, the actual Feast Day.)

The Church teaches that the Blessed Virgin Mary was exempt from Original Sin by virtue of the anticipated merits of the death and resurrection of her Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This is entirely fitting with the prerogatives of God the Father, for Whom all things are possible. And it is perfectly in keeping with what Scripture says regarding the Fall of Adam and Eve and the subsequent tainting of our human nature with Original Sin. Everyone is born with Original Sin which is cleansed from us by Baptism, and all those who are not baptized are essentially subject to the Devil’s rule. If Mary was subject to Satan from contracting Original Sin, then so would Jesus when He was conceived. This is untenable and thus Mary was preserved from that Sin. Given that Jesus only had genetic material from Mary, this gets around the obvious counterpoint that well, why wasn’t just Jesus preserved? That is possible, but only if He had also received genetic material from Joseph, as well. But Joseph was not His biological father. The Holy Spirit ‘fathered’ Jesus. How could the Holy Spirit espouse Himself to a person enslaved by Original Sin? That is as untenable as the idea of Jesus being under Satan’s rule! Therefore, unless Jesus was the biological son of both Joseph and Mary, His Mother had to be preserved from Original Sin. To think otherwise is blasphemy and anathema! 

An additional point is also made that wouldn’t God, Who knew from all Eternity His plan of Salvation, and decided that His Son would be born of a woman rather than Incarnate as a mighty king and lord fully grown, wouldn’t He have taken great pains to decide upon the formation of she who would bear His Son? If YOU had the opportunity to design your own mother, wouldn’t YOU insist that she the among the most beautiful, intelligent, and talented of all? One of the Ten Commandments holds that we should “Honor our Father and Mother,” well, wouldn’t God also follow that? Even one was to declare that He is not subject to His own Commandments and laws, why wouldn’t He follow that one at least, to provide an example?

EWTN has a nice Novena. You can find it here: EWTN Immaculate Conception Novena.

As sober Catholics, we should have a particular devotion to Our Immaculate Mother. What better person to unite our prayers and suffering to than a wholly pure and stainless one? Especially considering the depth of our own sins? Our loving Mother care for us and like any good Mama, dusts us off, washes us clean with her prayers and intercessions and present us to her Son. 

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 Miracle of the Sun at Fatima

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Note: this was originally posted in different form long ago here at Sober Catholic:

On October 13, 1917 the final Marian Apparition at Fatima, Portugal took place.

I know the anniversary was a few weeks ago, but I decided to post this today, the Feast of All Hallow’s Eve (a/k/a “Halloween”). I’ll explain at the end.

Seventy thousand people attended the event, which was supposed to have a miracle promised by the Virgin Mary so that all may believe.

Amongst those present were representatives of the Portuguese media, all socialist and all anti-clerical (theophobes who despised the Catholic Church, professed atheism, and who cooperated in what they hoped would be the eventual destruction of the Church in Portugal. The country had undergone a revolution in 1910 which deposed the Catholic monarch and imposed restrictions on the Church.)

Our Lady appeared as promised, but not alone. St. Joseph also appeared, holding the Christ Child.

Oh, yes: the sun also danced in the sky. Witnessed by all those in attendance, and by more hundreds of miles away, the sun whirled about in the sky, terrifying the witnesses.

It also appeared to hurtle towards the Earth, convincing people that the World was ending (and this part of the Apparition is why I decided to take advantage of my posting tardiness and write this today.)

One note on the sun dancing: for anyone who may be skeptical, one evidence that “something” happened lays in the fact that it had been raining heavily all day long, so much so that the ground throughout the area was drenched. Saturated with water, and combined with the foot traffic of 70,000 attendees, it was a horrific muddy mess.

Until the sun dried it. Nearly instantly. According to all those present, after the Apparition was over and the sun returned to its normal state, the ground was hardened as though it had not seen rain for weeks.

And another note for skeptics: this was all duly reported by the anti-clerical media. The reporters had gone there hoping (or rather assuming) that the whole event would be a non-happening; that the seers would be shamed,the Church embarrassed and once and for all the foolish belivers would have their religious superstitions exposed for what they are – nonsense.

But no, they couldn’t deny the event, their skepticism and non-belief didn’t prevent them from witnessing the Miracle of the Sun, nor acknowledging the effects on the physical environment.

So much for that. How the whole thing happened is a mystery; how only those in the vicinity witnessed this but for people all over the rest of the world the Sun operated normally is known only to God, who is not subject to the laws of Nature. (That’s why certain events are called ‘miracles.’ Perhaps someday, when our science progresses to a more sophisticated level, someone can postulate a theory. But until science catches up with Faith…)

Now, as to why I posted this today:

As the sun plunged to the Earth the believers were understandably freaked out. They thought the world was ending.

The liturgical calendar for the Catholic Church has tomorrow as the Solemnity of All Saints, and after that the Memorial of All Souls. All Saints is for all those in Heaven, officially canonized by the Church or not; and All Souls is for the Faithful Departed who are undergoing purification in Purgatory. These two Feast Days kick off the Month of November, dedicated by the Catholic Church to the dead. (This is why there will be an uptick in the number of posts here regarding death, Purgatory, and all that over November. (Apart from my finally finishing the migration of posts from my old death blog, “The Four Last Things.” Many of these posts are reblogs from there. See the ‘Additional NOTE’ at the end. There is no link to that blog as the posts are being unpublished as they get transferred to here or In Exile.)

These two days are there (amongst other reasons) to remind us of our ultimate end. Someday we will all die. There is no escaping that.

Maybe this is something for you to consider, before God decides to hurl the Sun at you!

Note: I have written before on the Marian Apparitions at Fatima, Portugal. Please see—> Fatima Posts Archive.

Additional NOTE: This is a “retropost,” a post from an old blog I wrote on “The Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven (& Purgatory) and Hell” that I shuttered a few years ago. Individual posts are being transferred to either In Exile or Sober Catholic, whichever seems appropriate. Some are backdated, others postdated, some edited, in case you’re confused as to why you never saw a particular post if you’re a diligent reader. The process should be completed by early 2022.

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, Mama Mary

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September 8th is the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary; exactly nine months after we celebrated the glorious Feast of her Immaculate Conception on December 8th.

I hope that you readers, as sober Catholics, are doing something special in honor of our Heavenly Mother’s birthday.

You could consider consecrating yourself to her in the manner of St. Louis de Montfort or St. Maximilian Kolbe.

You could attend Mass. If it’s too late because this wasn’t posted in time for a reminder, you could watch one online and make a Spiritual Communion.

Start devotional practices to her in addition to whatever you are doing now.

Develop a filial devotion to her. She is more your mother than she whom gave birth to you; in your Baptism, Mother Mary gave you a new birth into  the sacramental life of grace. Without your baptism, you would not be in the Mystical Body of Christ and therefore would never attain the Beatific Vision of God in Heaven.

She loves you more than any other person on Earth can love you; she desires your salvation more than you do. No matter how grievous your sins she will intercede for you with her Son. All you have to do is ask.

Anyway, this day should be more than just a passing feast day on the calendar. God, from all eternity, decided that He would incarnate among us and he also decided to do it in a very unique way: to be born of a woman and not descend unto Earth in some glorious, majestic and awe-inspiring manner. God’s will is paramount, how He chooses to do something is not a trifling matter. To dismiss the Virgin Mary as insignificant is a grave error. And the birthday of she who bore the Redeemer should be given a great consideration in your sacramental and devotional life.

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!!)

More on the experience of ‘eucatastrophe,’ but from the life of St. Maximilian Kolbe

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I am doing my annual novena to St. Maximilian Kolbe ( a different one from the one I publish for my readers) and in it I have been reminded of some examples of ‘eucatastrophe,’ the term coined by JRR Tolkien that I introduced to you in “This is enough, O LORD! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” It means a sudden reversal of fortune resulting in a great good; as opposed to ‘catastrophe, meaning something ending in disaster.

Those of you who are familiar with the Life of St. Maximilian know of these; the first example is when he had started printing his monthly newspaper. He was under orders not to incur any debt for the friary he was posted to, and yet when the bill came for the print run for the first issue, he couldn’t afford to pay it. With this catastrophe looming before him, threatening to destroy his apostolate before it even was launched, St. Maximilian turned to Our Lady and prayed for assistance. While leaving the chapel, he noticed an envelop resting upon the altar with the words “For you, Oh Immaculate.” In the envelope was the exact sum in Polish marks that he needed to pay the bill. His apostolate was largely self-supporting afterwards (which is not to say that it never incurred debt, just that the means were eventually found to pay it before disaster!)

Another time was when his apostolate was getting too large for the friary it was based in. St. Max knew that he needed a more centralized location in Poland. The friary was then located in Grodno, in eastern Poland, which is now in Belarus. He desired something more in the country’s interior, perhaps near Warsaw or Krakow. He discovered suitable land, easily near population centers and transportation hubs that was perfect for his needs. Upon approaching the owner of the land, he convinced him that the land should be donated. The property was originally for sale at a price too high for St. Max. Upon discussion, and perhaps being influenced by St. Max’s personality and charm, with no small amount of assistance from the Immaculata, Prince Drucki-Lubecki donated the land. 

These are two examples of ‘eucatastrophe,’ wherein Divine Providence reaches out to someone either in despair or great need, and suddenly they find themselves in a situation markedly different from just before, and a situation that is highly positive and beneficial.

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!!)

Emergency Fatima Novena!!!

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There seems to be numerous novenas at this time of year. That is possibly just my imagination, but nevertheless today begins another novena. This one is to Our Lady of Fatima for the commemoration of the Miracle of the Sun Apparition on October 13, 1917. I know that the typical Fatima novena  celebrates the first apparition on May 13th, but in light of “everything that is going on,” from pandemics to presidential elections and threats of war and economic depression, as well as the ever-looming threat of religious persecution in areas not used to such things, I thought that it would be a great idea to have what I am calling an “Emergency Fatima Novena.”

You can say whatever prayers you’d like; you can do an online search for “Fatima Novena” and pick one that’s preferable or just grab a Rosary and say an extra one every day for the intentions of Our Lady of Fatima. But my “Emergency Novena” will consist of these intentions, which may sound strange or unconventional, but in light of how 2020 has been, I think quite reasonable. So here goes, my intentions and the explanations or reasons for them:

  • Peace
  • Reparation
  • Conversion of Russia
  • Magnificat Option
  • End to the Pandemic

OK. The first one, PEACE. At Fatima Our Lady promised there would be peace if we heeded her warnings. There wasn’t, and WWII happened with the Cold War following right after. Now I am not requesting ‘peace’ as in the absence of war, but that a just peace be established wherein every nation sees no need for aggressive action against another; no nation sees the need to establish global domination and all of the arrogance and conceit that have plagued nation-states for centuries. One reason why I am starting this Novena today, so that it ends on October 13th, is that today (October 5th) is also the feast day of St. Faustina Kowalska, the “Apostle of Divine Mercy.” Pope Francis elevated her feast day to the General Roman Calendar earlier this year. I think it’s placement is significant. St. Faustina reported Our Lord’s words that “Mankind will not have peace until it turns with trust to My mercy.” (Diary, paragraph 300)  I may read too much into coincidences, but with St. Faustina dying on the day she did, with her eventual canonization elevating that day to a spot on the Church calendar, it’s significant in connecting the Divine Mercy Message to the Fatima Message. Taking coincidences one step further, we have St. Maximilian Marian Kolbe being referred to as the “Prophet of the Civilization of Love” in the approved private litany to him. He established his Militia of the Immaculata for the express purpose of ushering in an eventual “era of peace” when everyone would be consecrated to Our Lady and the world is united under the banners of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Such a world is one founded upon peace, the kind of peace that can only be found in the universal acceptance of the Gospel. And while I’m referring to coincidences, the fact that St. Maximilian founded the M.I. only three days after the Miracle of the Sun apparition is something that cannot be ignored. (I know of no source which tells us that St. Maximilian was aware of the Fatima Apparition. Not too surprising, given the state of communications of that era, that Europe was convulsed in WWI, and how slow the news of the Apparition spread. It really did not become too well known until after WWII. But that doesn’t matter. God works through us, and we may not be aware of how our apostolic work may be done in coordination with another’s.) Taking this back to the Fatima Message where Our Lady promised a period of peace, and we can see the connections between the Divine Mercy and Fatima Messages, as well as St. Maximilian’s work. Please bear in mind that this “era of peace” has nothing to do with certain periods of peace referred to by many heretical prophecies (I think they’re called “millenarian,” and are popular in Christian Evangelical circles as well as some Catholics who are not grounded in Church Tradition. This isn’t a literal 1,000 years of peace where Jesus rules until the Antichrist, or whatever. It is just ‘a period of peace’ of an undetermined length.)

So, to tie all that in, my “Peace” intentions are just for, by however Our Lord and Our Lady intends, the relaxation or elimination of all threats to the global order; that the nation-states of the world realize that their ultimate security will lie in not threatening the security of other nations. Naive? Yes, but I’ve always held that if the world was as naive as I can be at times, it would be much better off. 😉  If there is a Divine intervention of some kind (popularly referred to in Catholic prophetic circles as a “Warning,” “Illumination,” or “Chastisement,” who can say? I’ll leave the details up to Jesus and Mary.)

Next up: Reparation. This is obvious. We pray and make reparation for the sins against the Blessed Virgin Mary, for sins of impurity and blasphemies against Our Lord. There is plenty of all that going on every day and almost everywhere. From the vandalization of statues and churches, to sexualizing children, to normalizing sexual perversity and deviancy, to blaspheming Jesus in the propagating of false doctrine by “Catholic” priests and bishops; there’s more than enough sinning going on that dwarfs that which happened in the time of Noah or just before Our Lord’s Incarnation. How the Divine hand has been restrained only bespeaks of the power of prayer and reparation, but it is only a matter of time before the Father takes action.

OK, now the Conversion of Russia. Yes, I know that since the overthrow of Communism when the USSR collapsed in 1991 there has been a flowering and revival of Orthodox Christianity in that land. And yes, I know that Russia was consecrated to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart in 1984. But Orthodox Christianity is still schismatic (they do not recognize the authority of the Pope over their Churches.) I pray that “by however Our Lord and Our Lady intends,” that Eastern Orthodoxy, including especially the Russian Orthodox Church, comes into communion with Rome.

Next, the Magnificat Option. There are Options galore in today’s Catholicism. There’s the Benedict Option, the Dorothy Option, the Hobbit Option, and who  knows what else. I came up with the “Magnificat Option” in a post on my Facebook.

In the Magnificat, we hear Mary pray,

He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation. 
He has shown the strength of his arm, 
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, 
and has lifted up the lowly. 
He has filled the hungry with good things, 
and the rich he has sent away empty.

That, my readers, is the core of the Magnificat Option. That God , by however He intends,” shows His mighty strength and humbles the proud that currently govern our world, be they Presidents, Presidential candidates, Prime Ministers, globalists, banksters, and neocons, endless-war profiteers, and the elites who pervert our culture.

Last up, for the end to the pandemic. No need to explain.

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 the Rosary

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I really need to make better use of a Calendar; I almost forgot another novena. This one is particularly important to me as it happens on the anniversary of my Consecration to Our Lady and enrolling in the Militia of the Immaculata!

The Novena to Our Lady of the Rosary (Feast Day October 7th) begins today, September 28th. Although if it is already the 29th where you live, you can still begin it, you’ll just end on the day of the feast rather than on the vigil.

Here is a good novena, based upon the Apparition of Fatima.

Our Lady of the Rosary Novena

Here is another from EWTN: Our Lady of the Rosary Novena

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!!)

Queenship of Mary

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Today, August 22nd, is a special day for everyone devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the Traditional Liturgical Calendar it is the celebration of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (which became a moveable memorial feast day in the New Calendar after Vatican II). In the New Calendar, it is the feast day of the Queenship of Mary.

This is one of those times when I think the New Calendar ‘gets it right,’ for just one week ago was the Solemnity of the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven (and did I ever mess up in not writing about it; there’s always next year.) Today would mark the Octave, or eighth day of the feast. Octaves were much more popular a long time ago than in the post-Vatican II era. Octaves were celebrations of an important feast day for eight days; for example, Easter and Christmas are Octaves in the New Calendar, therefore it is ‘as if’ Christmas Day or Easter Sunday stretches out for eight days. Octaves establish that feast as being Really Important. So, the Queenship of Mary would be a perfect way to mark the Octave of the Assumption in that since Mary was Assumed into Heaven body and soul due to the divine prerogatives granted to her by virtue of her Immaculate Conception, what else could have happened on her glorious entry into Heaven than for her to be crowned Queen of the Universe and of All Creation?

Take Mary as your Queen. Consecrate yourself to her by either the method according to St. Louis de Montfort or St. Maximilian Kolbe. Entrust yourself to her motherly care and allow her to guide you in your daily actions. With her as a Mother, your sobriety is assured as your love for her and her Son Jesus will take away any need or desire for the drug or the drink.

 

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 of Novenas for Justice, Peace, and Creation VIII: Our Lady Mother of Charity and Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange.

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Today begins the Eighth of the Nine Novenas for Justice, Peace, and Creation, and this one is dedicated to Our Lady Mother of Charity and Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange. It runs from August 22 through August 30, 2020.

I will not post this every day as the prayers and intentions are the same for each day. I’ll just leave it here for nine days; if I need to blog in the interim, I will just blog a reminder afterwards. For the background, please read this post (especially if you need to learn about who Bob Waldrop, the creator of this Novena, was, and why I am introducing it to you.) Or go here: A Novena of Novenas for Justice, Peace, & Creation.

Don’t worry if you jump in at some point later in the 81 days. To paraphrase Bob “just pick up whenever you happen to join in.”

AFTER THIS SENTENCE, THE WRITING IS ALL THAT OF BOB WALDROP, not me, Paulcoholic.

…

Our Lady Mother of Charity and Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange

General Intention: For the gift of fortitude for all who work for justice and all who suffer injustice.

Sixth Work of Justice and Peace: Celebrate life, goodness, beauty, virtue, responsibility, and joy. Practice peace, non-violence, servant leadership, harmony, community, voluntary cooperation, and the proper stewardship of God’s creation. Pray without ceasing.

Act of Caring for Creation: Protect Earth’s creatures! Leave a place for our fellow creatures who share in Creation. Bell the cat. Support programs that provide free or low cost spay/neuter, and veterinarian services to the pets of low income people.

God come to my assistance. Lord, make haste to help me. + Let us pray together in peace, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, help the helpless, strengthen the fearful, comfort the sorrowful, bring justice to the poor, peace to all nations, and solidarity among all peoples.  Give us strength to stand against the demonic powers which prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.

Open our eyes to see the beauty, joy, redemption, and goodness which comes through obedience to your Son our Lord. Teach us to be a refuge of hope for all who are oppressed by injustice and violence.

Our Lady of Charity, who came to us as a messenger of peace across the sea, we know you hear the cry of all who are at the mercy of others who are stronger than they. Give your gift of comfort and courage in our time of grave need. To your motherly heart, we entrust our desires and hopes, our work and our prayers.

We pray for our families, that they may live in fidelity and love. We pray for our children, that they may grow strong in spirit and in body. We pray for our young people, that their faith may increase, as well as their desire for the truth. We pray for the sick, the homeless, the lonely, the exiled, and for all suffering souls. We pray for the triumph of love, mercy, and justice throughout the world.

Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange, your holy example of courage and faith in the face of injustice and oppression strengthens us during this time when politicians profit and the common good is defiled with messages of hate and fear. Pray for all who stand with faith today against the demons who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Walk with us as we journey towards peace and justice. Amen.

Novena to St. John Chrysostom on behalf of the
Bishops of the United States of America 

Most Glorious and Venerable St. John Chrysostom,
Grace shining forth from your lips like a beacon has illumined the universe.
It shows to the world the treasures of poverty; it reveals to us the heights of humility.
Teaching us by your words, O Father John Chrysostom,
intercede before the Word, Christ our God, to save our souls!

Pray for the bishops of the United States of America,
who do not teach or practice the Catholic faith in its fullness,
that God will deliver them to orthodoxyand reform their ways of living,
so that as exemplars of orthopraxis, they will protect all life,
from the moment of conception to the time of natural death.

Teach them true solidarity with the poor, so that they
understand the consequences of their moral abandonment
of entire nations of human beings to a collective fate of cruelty and violence
because they were in the way of the American Empire and
its gluttonous lust for oil, supremacy, and blood.

As you refused to obey the aristocratic commands of your era,
help our bishops turn away from the political demands
that cause them to preach a false gospel of moral relativism regarding war and peace.

Having received divine grace from heaven,
with your mouth you teach all people to worship the Triune God.
Instruct our bishops with the wisdom of the Gospel,
so that they repent of their material cooperation with the objective evil of unjust war, and call all people, in authentic word and deed, to live in solidarity, peace, and justice.

All-blest and venerable St. John Chrysostom,
we praise you, for you are our teacher, revealing things divine!
Pray for us that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

O God, Who by the preaching and teaching of Saint John Chrysostom
has given us an example of fortitude in the face of persecution and political corruption, grant that we who reverence his life and ministry may also imitate
his example of fidelity to wisdom, truth, justice, and beauty,
through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Our Father . . . Hail Mary… Glory be. . .

Thoughts for the Journey. In the early 1600s, a statue with an inscription “Our Lady of Charity” was found floating in a bay after a storm by two Indians (Rodrigo and Juan de Hoyos) and a young slave (Juan Moreno). As at Guadalupe, this revelation came not to the rich and the powerful, but instead to the poor and outcast.

The same call to charity, fidelity, and service comes to us today – from “across the sea”. Will we respond in faith, prayer, and action?

First we must feel the sufferings of others in true solidarity. Then, having the desire to help, we must actually do something practical! If you have food for five people, then feed five hungry people and be grateful for  the opportunities. If you have food for five, and fifty ask you for food, feed whoever you can and then start asking questions – why are there all these hungry people in my community? Then you can start creating structures so that there is enough food (and justice!) for all.

It’s not complicated. You don’t need a foundation, an endowment, insurance, or anything other than eyes that are open to see, and hearts that are open to Christ and the realities He shows us, and hands that are busy doing goodness, beauty, and love. Don’t let anyone tell you that you don’t have the authority to do this, because your baptism is all the authority that you need.  This is what it means to celebrate life and goodness, to practice peace and justice (so we get good at ’em!), We pray without ceasing because that is the way that Christ shows us.

Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange founded the first religious order in the United States for women of African descent, the Oblate Sisters of Providence on July 2, 1829. She was born a slave on the island of Santo Domingo, but came to the United States after the Haitian revolution of 1791 and settled in Baltimore. She and her sisters started a school, widows’ home, and orphanage; they provided vocational training and taught adults to read and write. They endured many hardships, including opposition from a racist bishop.

Her order today ministers in inner cities, Africa, and several countries in the Carribean. Her faith and hope gave her the determination necessary to realize her vision and create new opportunities in the midst of injustice and oppression for the victims of racism and slavery. Her example inspires us today to follow her path of service and justice, and in these words of the Oblate Sisters, refuse to “tolerate any expression of racism, prejudice, discrimination, violence or injustice that violates the sanctity of life, demeans the dignity of the human person and desecrates family life.”

With Christ within us, it becomes easier to understand what is important.  So we always must ask — How is my life open to the reality that Christ is alive and he loves me?  Jesus gave his life to save us and our societies from sin and oppression. He was with the Mother Lange as she struggled through the darkness of Jim Crow segregation and vicious institutionalized racism. Jesus lives today and is at our side every moment of every day to enlighten, strengthen, and free us.  Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, of our journeys of justice and peace.

Act of Caring for Creation:  Protect Earth’s creatures! Leave a place for our fellow creatures who share in Creation. Bell the cat. Support programs that provide free or low cost spay/neuter, and veterinarian services to the pets of low income people.

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 Militia of the Immaculata movie is out!!

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And it’s available embedded, courtesy of Militia of the Immaculata Movie.:

And you can just click on these links in the language of your choice, if you’d rather not hear it in English:

 

I enjoyed it. It’s a very good overview of the M.I. and Marian consecration’s impact of individual lives. It’s about 16 minutes long.

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!!)