To quote from my description, “The ‘Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics’ is a book that is rooted in an ancient Catholic devotion. It is intended to assist Catholics and other Christians find deeper meaning in their struggles with alcoholism, by connecting the oftentimes hard road of sobriety with Jesus’ suffering road to His Crucifixion. The reader sees that their old alcoholic ‘self’ is being led to the Cross and the joy of eventual resurrection of a new sober self can follow. Whether they are still drinking and struggling, or have been sober for many years and still have difficulties coping with sobriety, this book should help readers maintain that sobriety.”
It is available for download and at USD $2.99 and can be read on any ebook reader. It is right now only available through Smashwords.com, but it should be released through Apple, Amazon, Sony and other ebook publishers and distributors perhaps later this week. There will be a followup blog post announcing when that happens.
The meditations are drawn from old posts of mine, but they have been edited for length and quality (I noticed some errors in the originals). These old posts may be deleted this week.
It would make a good Christmas gift for someone you care about!! 🙂
Anyway, thanks, and I hope you all find it useful.
Tribute Books has asked me to review another offering of theirs, and this time it is a children’s story involving “Stanley Seagull.”
“Meet a young seagull named Stanley. Follow him as he wanders far from home and tries to find his way back. Join Stanley on his journey as he learns how humans affect the balance of nature.” (From the publisher’s book summary.)
Stanley lives by the beach along the Atlantic Ocean. He loves living by the beach, flying around with his gull friends and eating seafood all day long. Stanley and company display an unhealthy appetite for the human food that people toss at them, not to mention the weekly feast at the garbage trucks parked on the pier that contains tons of food scraps.
This is a wide-eyed feast that Stanley and his friends just live for!
However, there is a warning: do not stay too long or there will be problems! But Stanley is too busy feasting to pay attention to this and gets trapped in the garbage truck and winds up in a landfill hundreds of miles from his beach home.
I won’t spoil the plot but Stanley learns a couple of important lessons, especially one that factors into the purpose of this blog.
One: the point of the book was how humans affect the balance of nature. I’m assuming the gulls’ overt dependence on human garbage for their nutritional sustenance illustrates this. The authors quite subtly weave this into the tale by juxtaposing the gull’s idyllic life with the images of a garbage feast, leading to Stanley’s journey.
Two: said journey leads to how the book ties in with this blog’s purpose (an addiction and recovery moral tale was more than likely not the author’s intention).
Stanley is “addicted” to human food. The garbage truck and all the food scraps represent the ultimate for him: all the free food he can eat, seemingly forever. He ignores his friends’ warnings and gets lost, far from home.
His attempts to return home represent a type of recovery, with failed attempts, wisdom and advice gained, and a journey based on a plan.
Nice story! A good way to introduce children to the importance of respecting nature, along with a subtle hint at paying attention to advice about seemingly “good stuff.”
Tribute Books has asked me to review another book they are publishing, this time it is “Framing Faith” written by Sarah Piccini with photography by Ivana Pavelka and “ARTS Engage!”
To quote from the synopsis:
“Framing Faith tells the story of the faith of immigrants and their descendants, spotlighting ten Catholic churches in the Diocese of Scranton that were closed due to restructuring. The churches … have rich ethnic heritages. They are Polish, Slovak, Italian, German, and Lithuanian parishes with long traditions and deep roots. Each church was founded by immigrant groups who came to the coal fields of the Lackawanna Valley with little more than their faith in God. Their churches served as the center of the community and touchstones of the Old Country. “Framing Faith” traces their histories from small beginnings through baptisms, weddings and funerals to their final celebrations. Throughout the text are images from each church, visual reminders of what was for many an important part of their lives.
I was originally going to post this review on Mother’s Day, as that was my personal tie-in to reviewing the book. I usually only review books that may have something to do with the scope of this blog. However, I was unable to meet the deadline due to some things going on in my “real life” away from blogging and other online activity. Why Mother’s Day? Because my Mom and Dad grew up in the Scranton, Pennsylvania area and although none of the churches I recall them ever mentioning are among those closing, this still hits home a bit.
The Catholic Church in the United States is restructuring. Churches are closing due to declining membership as people move away from the cities and out to other areas. The churches never recognized the need to evangelize the urban populations surrounding them, and as a result, Catholic parishes close and are boarded up, or are turned into non-Catholic churches. Anyway, the nature of the Church changes.
This is important in some manner to this blog as an authentic Catholic identity is critical one’s spiritual development. Membership in a parish is basic to the practice of the Faith, it provides a home and a framework for a person’s relationship to the greater Church as a whole.
The Introduction to “Framing Faith” provides an excellent glimpse into this idea, as it details the history of the Diocese of Scranton and the creation, growth, and development of the immigrant ethnic Catholic parishes. We see how important to the lives of Catholics these parishes were, how they were a means of social support in the decades before government charity. In addition, they were a means of maintaining a cultural identity in the times before “diversity” became an abused ideology.
Which makes it sad that certain parishes are closing. And why “Framing Faith” is an important book documenting by words and pictures the history and architectural styles of these parishes. Architecture is a means of creative expression, and how members of a Catholic parish or Christian denomination build their house of worship gives a very good indication of their concept of God and their own relationship to Him.
Generations of hard, faithful work by people long ago is now passing away. Who knows what will become of these closed churches. This is a shame, and makes us wonder at the survival of our our patrimony. Will our parishes be around 100 years from now. Will they be mourned? Will current parish members learn from the closure of churches and seek to instill an evangelical vitality so that in the event of demographic and geographic change, the parishes will survive and not be forgotten?
We must not fail in learning from the failures of the past. Get a copy of “Framing Faith”, marvel at the beauty of these churches and wonder just how could they be closing?
Chance, “the Shelter Dog,” is the narrator in a very interesting short novel about adoption.
In Second Chance: How Adoption Saved a Boy with Autism & His Shelter Dog by Sandra J. Gerencher we get inside Chance’s head as he relates the story of how a seemingly ordinary day in his animal shelter pen turns into a new life for him as a woman and her Autistic young son Ryan wander in, see him, and take him home.
Along the way we see the world as Chance (a Rottweiler/German Shepherd mix) sees it, and we learn with him that Ryan is adopted, as is the rest of the “pack” in Ryan’s home (a trio of Pomeranians). It is from this pack that Chance is told that he should ask Ryan about the mysterious word “adoption” that he keeps hearing.
Although we know that Ryan is Autistic, an equally mysterious word to Chance, we learn from Ryan’ and Chances’ conversation how that makes him “different” from others.
We discover that being “different” is not a bad thing, for in our differences we have unique gifts to offer each other. Ryan’s unique gift is that because of his Autism, he can talk to his dogs, and they can talk to him. Apparently persons with Autism sense the world in ways that others do not. Whether this actually lends them unique communication skills might be considered artistic license on the part of Gerencher, but as this novel is based on her real life, it may instead be an unorthodox manner in which to reveal a theory. Ryan is real, as is Chance and the three Pomeranians. Gerencher is entitled to her thoughts on Autism, her real-world observations from living with her son gives her credibility.
Gerencher adopted Ryan (not the son’s real name) and all four dogs. One thing that becomes clear from the book is the loving self-sacrifice that adoptive parent’s must make. Adoptive parents must “make room” in their lives. One does not “have to” adopt. There is no compelling reason to do that except the motivation of love.
John 15:13: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
How does this book review connect to the reason Sober Catholic is online?
We must open our eyes to the many ways of “recovery”, it isn’t just becoming free of an addiction, it is about starting anew. As Chance got a new life when Ryan’s Mom adopted him from the shelter, so do we addicts get new lives when we leave the past behind. Also, the sacrificial nature of adoption (or any other radical work of service) expands and develops our own sense of who we are, and what we can be.
This month I’ve been asked by Tribute Books to review “Red in the Flower Bed” by Andrea Nepa. It is a nice illustrated children’s story about interracial adoption.
At first I wasn’t going to do it as I couldn’t figure out how it might apply to the purpose of this blog, that of recovering from addictions, but then I remembered one of my favorite lines from AA’s “Big Book”:
“We are people who normally would not mix.”
Just as in 12 Step Meetings we quickly learn to look past obvious differences to hear and accept the message that the person has to offer, we learn from this nice little book that “We have a complete rainbow” when we accept others into our family, even though they are different from us. That difference within a unity can be a strength if we acknowledge, accept and cherish our differences as something that makes the whole community greater.
It is a lovely book and nicely introduces interracial acceptance to wee little kiddies.
Once again I have been asked by Tribute Books to review one of their recently published works. This time it is Care for Creation by Christy Baldwin and Shelly Draven.
The children’s book is an nice little tome in which children are introduced to the basics of stewardship of the Earth by way of standard environmentalist (or conservationist) beliefs and practical solutions.
Each point is interspersed with a selection from Sacred Scripture (NIV and “The Message” translations, neither of which are Catholic) that is relevant to that point. This offers a refreshing break away from the arbitrarily political and scientifically questionable arguments made along the “climate change” front. A good, solid Scriptural basis for common-sense care for the creation of God that we are entrusted with is a good way to involve the next generation in this work.
Throughout the book there are wonderful illustrations on each of the points made to care for creation.
I accepted the offer to review this book by the reason that as we are to care for ourselves in our recovery from alcoholism and addiction, we can extend that outward towards the world about us. I occasionally write that we are to “go outside to get outside” of ourselves. That is, we are to experience the beauty of God’s creation so as to get outside or our own heads. Helping the generation inheriting our planet is a fine way to go about doing that.
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:
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:
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.”
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.)
