Category Archives: Books

“Why God Matters: How to Recognize Him in Daily Life”

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I have been asked by Tribute Books to write a review for one of their recent titles, “Why God Matters: How to Recognize Him in Daily Life” by Karina Lumbert Fabian and Deacon Steven Lumbert.

Fabian and Lumbert are a daughter-father duo and they’ve written a very spiritual little book (114 pages) that would serve well as a guide to living a fully Catholic life.

Each short chapter is organized along four different parts: a story drawn from the personal life of each writer (they alternate), followed by a “Life Lesson” that draws out the story through questions and comments, then a Scripture passage and lastly an excerpt from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. As I read the book, drawn into each personal account of how God interacted or interceded in their lives at critical points, I was struck by the notion that “Why God Matters” would be a great companion to take to a Holy Hour of Adoration.

The major premise of the book is that faith is to be lived. Not just for an hour on Sunday and sequestered the rest of the week, but consciously lived in all areas great and small. If you listen to the “still, small voice” that God uses to speak to His people, you will learn to recognize Him in your daily activities.

Another premise is that faith is most especially to be handed down to the next generation. It is an inheritance that must be nurtured and “watered” as if it were a seed to spring into growth at an opportune time later in life. In fact, the soul is likened to a seed, the “seed of eternity.” So, in essence, the soul and faith are inextricably linked. Faith is an ongoing daily process of conversion. “Spiritual progress”, if you wish to use that term. It is a lifelong journey wherein we learn to breathe in Christ’s breath, and gradually grow in Christ.

The personal stories clearly illustrate these premises. Each story is from an episode in the lives of Fabian and Lumbert, about how God involved Himself in the major and the seemingly “small” events in their lives, and how their Faith was influenced and grew in response.

That God is present and intervenes in the “little areas” of life is a comfort to all of us. He is not only present during the obvious major happenings in life, but also in the less-than-obvious times where He quietly makes Himself known.

God is there, answering the most “meager of prayers”, and is present not only in the darkest of days but also in those times when you are deluged by the most trivial of oppressions (when everything seems to be going wrong and all is conspiring against you). It is during these times that God sometimes makes the biggest impact.

I very much recommend this book to readers of Sober Catholic. Many of the book’s “Life Lessons” caused me to go back a re-read the chapter as they gave a deeper insight into the story. That is a lesson in itself. As the readers of Sober Catholic are affected by recovery from one sort of addiction or another, this book is a wonderful guide to spiritual progression.

For further information, here are the following links:

The book’s website: Why God Matters: How to Recognize Him in Daily Life by Karina Lumbert Fabian and Deacon Steven Lumbert

To buy it through Amazon, click: Amazon.com

Karina Fabian’s Blog: Fabianspace

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

How often do you pray and go to Church? Part 4

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In Part 3 of this series I discussed the Breviary and the Rosary. Now… the Bible!

The Bible is the Word of God. Jesus is the Word made human. The Bible is Jesus and Jesus is the Bible. The Old Testament pointed the way to Jesus, the New Testament revealed Him. To not study the Bible is to not study Jesus. St. Jerome, the Early Church Father who translated the Bible into Latin from the original Greek and Hebrew stated that “Ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ.”

In the first 4 centuries of Christianity, the Bishops of the Western and Eastern branches of the Catholic Church put the Bible together. The Bible is a Catholic document.

There is a way to read the Bible that is enriching and if successful (meaning you are patient, persistent and persevering) will bring you much closer to God that most other forms of prayer. I have not been able to master it yet despite trying a few times. This method of reading the Bible is called “Lectio Divina.” It is a slow, prayerful, meditative reading of Sacred Scripture in which the Bible itself pulls you along, and thus you “hear” the Word of God speak to you, as in a whisper to your soul.

This is a classic online explanation/how-to of lectio divina:

Introduction to Lectio Divina

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

How often do you pray and go to Church? Part 3

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Continuing on from Part 2 on living a Catholic life through prayer and the Mass:

Beneath the Mass in importance is the “Liturgy of the Hours”, also known as the “Divine Office” or “Breviary.”

Depending upon the version used, it is said either 2-3 times a day for non-religious (people who aren’t priests, nuns, monks, etc) or up to seven times for the latter. It sanctifies (makes holy) the day through prayer. It consists mainly of Psalms and Canticles from the Bible, as well as short excerpts from Old and New Testament readings.

In saying the Divine Office you establish a prayerful rhythm to the day, always keeping in mind a spiritual and holy connection to God and also with all others who pray this. This helps you maintain a sense of perspective and balance during the day, keeping you from completely getting inundated with worldly nonsense.

So, how often did you drink back in the day? Morning, noon, and night? A few shots in the morning to fortify you? Maybe a few more throughout to keep you going? A few more to get you to sleep? The Divine Office has prayers for when you rise, another set to mark the beginning of the day, more for mid-morning, mid-day, the afternoon, nightfall and bedtime. Sounds like an old drinking schedule?

The printed form of the Office comes in 2 versions, a one volume book and four volume set. A one volume version titled “Christian Prayer” costs around $29-39 USD. This abbreviated version is intended for non-religious. (There is another one volume version titled “Benedictine Daily Prayer.” Costs somewhat more.) The “official” four volume set (for religious) costs about $129-149 USD. It is titled “The Liturgy of the Hours.” If either cost is prohibitive there are always online versions:

Universalis: “This is the link that is at the top of this blog, above the posts.”

Divine Office – Liturgy of the Hours – Breviary : “free audio MP3 and podcasts.”

Roman Breviary: “online and also in mobile format.”

Liturgy of the Hours Apostolate: “PDF and mobile formats.”

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!!)

Crossing the Goal

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Note: cross-posted from Trudging Paulcoholic’s Road .

I just watched the encore broadcast of “Crossing the Goal”, a new EWTN program on Christian living and spirituality for men (Although probably women can benefit from it, especially if they have a man in their lives that they love and care about).

I make mention of it here as a recovered alcoholic I found many aspects of my life not fully developed and ripe for improvement, not the least of which was how to live as a man. In my spiritual progression out from alcoholism, I discovered that to be fully recovered (or on the path to being that) I had to rediscover what it means to be a man, not by today’s sexually overcharged, confused or ambiguous standards, but how to live as a virtuous and sober Catholic Christian man. It was the only way I felt that I could keep the drink at bay. There have been various aids along the way, one of which is the book entitled Spiritual Workout of a Former Saint (Via Our Sunday Visitor.) by former NFL All-Pro and New Orleans Saints coach Danny Abramowicz. Coach Abramowicz is a co-host of the show, and one reason why I tuned into it.

Today’s episode was on “Courage” and I won’t do the program justice by going into what they discussed, but it set the tone for the series as a weekly guide on how to find your true calling in life and live up to your potential. It also seems to serve as an antidote to the idea that religion and spirituality is the territory of women (how many men are there at Mass as opposed to women, at least in Western countries? Same for parish organizations? Not complaining nor judging female involvement in the Church, but it does seem that men have ceded activity in the Church to women. For the Church to be healthy, men need to take a greater, cooperative role.)

The website of the show is Crossing the Goal , and it contains the show’s airdates. It is repeated several times during the week. I highly recommend that you watch. (I don’t have cable nor satellite TV, I was able to watch it on my Mac using QuickTime.)

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!!)

An effective prayer against the usual mental maladies that plague us

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There is a prayer at the end of the Divine Mercy Chaplet that I say quite often when I am experiencing fear, anxiety, stress, resentment (and so on):

Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your Mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is love and Mercy itself.

It is from paragraph 950 in the diary of St. Faustina, entitled Divine Mercy in My Soul (advance notice, music will play after site loads, so quiet your speakers if you’re in a public place).

It has been a very effective prayer when I experience doubts and any of the above named mental issues.

NOTE: The online Diary does not number the paragraphs, but you can click on the link for Notebook 2, page 2, and scroll towards the end. Or go to any Catholic bookstore or the online Divine Mercy shrine gift shop and purchase a copy (I get no commission, despite the plug. I just enjoy using my new blog editor, Mars Edit. It makes writing for blogs easy, especially for inserting links 🙂 Just wait until I figure out all the media uploading tools!)

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!!)

Year of St. Paul

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Pope Benedict XVI has declared that the following year, from today June 28th through June 29th, 2009 to be the Year of St. Paul .

St. Paul is important, not the least of which being that he was the Apostle to the Gentiles. It was as a result of his efforts that Christianity spread around the Mediterranean and therefore to the rest of the world. Secondly, I was named after him. :-). But also to anyone who has undergone a conversion process, whether of a religious kind, or just the conversion of one’s interior life such as stopping drinking and drugging, St. Paul is the model. Not that he was an alcoholic or addict (he wasn’t), but his life underwent a radical conversion and as a result of that conversion lived his life to the fullest in pursuit of souls for Jesus. No compromiser, he. Whatever his interests and loves were prior to his conversion, they were set aside for the love of Christ.

There are a number of sites that you can visit to learn more about the Year of St. Paul. The Catholic News Agency has a nice introductory page, as does the Catholic Educator’s Resource Center. Catholic Culture has another guide to the whole year.

He took the message of Christ and proclaimed it to the world. We are called to do that as well, at least in our own way in the manner best suited to us.

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!!)

Sacred Heart

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Various months of the year have different themes or devotions. June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. (May, incidentally, is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and I blew it in not talking about it. I’ll make up for it over time. This blog is still new and wobbly.)

The Sacred Heart of Jesus has special significance to sober alcoholics, especially to those who are familiar with AA. If you know your AA history, back in its early days one of the co-founders of the movement, Dr. Bob Smith, was greatly assisted in his treatment of alcoholics by a Catholic nun by the name of Sister Mary Ignatia Gavin, an administrator of St. Thomas Hospital in Akron, Ohio. After an alcoholic completed his stay at the hospital, Sister Ignatia would “award” him with a Sacred Heart Badge, sort of a “graduation” gift, I suppose. This eventually developed into the practice of AA’s recieving medallions or coins representing whatever sobriety anniversary they were celebrating. This is detailed in the book Sister Ignatia: Angel of Alcoholics Anonymous, 2nd Ed., by Mary C. Darrah; Hazelden Pittman Archives Press; 2001 (ISBN 1-56838-746-6. Probably available through Amazon, or Hazelden)

Anyway, the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is one of the oldest and most Catholic of devotions, next to the rosary. Quite simply it is a devotion concerning a person’s healing and also reparation for sins committed against Jesus.

The “Litany to the Sacred Heart of Jesus” illustrates the nature and meaning of the devotion. A litany is a Catholic prayer in which an individual prayerfully repeats various titles or invocations of God, Mary, or a Saint. The idea is that it will “tune” your heart and mind to the virtues of the prayer.

Litany of the Sacred Heart

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

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.

Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mother, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, substantially united to the Word of God, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, of Infinite Majesty, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Sacred Temple of God, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Tabernacle of the Most High, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, House of God and Gate of Heaven, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, burning furnace of charity, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, abode of justice and love, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, in whom dwells the fullness of divinity, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, in the Father was well pleased, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, desire of everlasting life, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, patient and most merciful, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, enriching all who invoke you, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, fountain of life and holiness, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, loaded down with opprobrium, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, bruised for our offenses, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, obedient to death, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, source of consolation, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, victim for our sins, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, salvation for those who trust in you, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, hope of those who die in you, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, delight of all the saints, have mercy on us.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

V. Jesus, meek and humble of heart,
R. Make our own heats like yours,

Let us pray. Almighty and eternal God, look upon the heart of Your most beloved Son and upon the praises and satisfaction which he offers You in the name of sinners; and to those who implore Your mercy, in Your great goodness, grant forgiveness in the name of the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with Your forever and ever. Amen.

(Thanks to the Sacred Heart website.)

Say the prayer slowly and meditatively. Think about each of the invocations (the parts immediately before “have mercy on us”) and ponder their meaning to you. Allow them to help you grow spiritually.

The Sacred Heart is about Love.

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!!)

My Daily Bread

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Time for another VERT prompt. Owen this time asks his bloggers to write about a book we are reading now, or, a book that helped us come home. For me, that would be My Daily Bread by Anthony J. Paone, SJ; Confraternity of the Precious Blood; Brooklyn, NY; 1954. Still in print, and I’ve seen it in the devotional racks of Catholic bookshops, where prayer books and missals are kept. Major Catholic mail-order catalogs offer it.

It’s a small book, it can be read in one sitting, but I think that it is best if you use it as a daily meditation and read one chapter a day. This would give you time to savor, meditate on, and incorporate each chapter into your spiritual development.

It is divided into 3 parts. “Book One” is “The Way of Purification”, and is subdivided into “Conversion”, “After Conversion” and “Temptation”.

Book Two is “The Way of Imitation”, and is subdivided into “Following Jesus in Daily Life”, “Virtues Leading Directly to God”, “Man’s Relationship with Neighbor and Himself”, and “The Spiritual Combat”

Book Three is “The Way of Union”, and is subdivided into “Union Through the Holy Eucharist” and “Union Throughout the Day.”

The above gives you a very good idea as to the intensity, the scope and breadth of the book. It is intimate. Not as in small, but it takes you deep inside yourself and assists you in starting or continuing your conversion process. If you’ve been Catholic for a long while, it will help you to develop your Catholicism far more seriously, and far more deeply spiritual than it was before.

You will learn about the importance of the interior spiritual life, the need to become closer to God and to be obedient to the authentic teachings and legitimate authority of the Catholic Church, and how this is liberating, and not confining.

The book is basically a boot camp on getting your soul in order. It explains how adopting the proper perspective towards God, the Bible and His Church frees you from the narrow, limiting human way of thinking, which follows the passing fancies of the World. This helps you to understand God, the Bible and the Church better. Too many people approach them from a human point of view, this book helps you to adopt a God-centric perspective (as best as any human can do that).

My Daily Bread was key in my thinking that the Catholic Faith can and should take primacy in maintaining ones’ sobriety. The universality of the Church and Her teachings, along with her primary task of safeguarding the Gospel and Apostolic Truths, are driven home. Much of the Gospel is about healing, and peaceful, proper, holy living. No better textbook.

It was the first step that led me years later to start Sober Catholic.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)