Category Archives: Church

The healthy do not need a physician

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From the Gospel Reading for Saturday after Ash Wednesday:

Luke 5:27-32

Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post.
He said to him, “Follow me.”
And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him.
Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house,
and a large crowd of tax collectors
and others were at table with them.
The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying,
“Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
Jesus said to them in reply,
“Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”

The season of Lent is the season of repentance. Lent is probably the best time of the Church’s liturgical year for people to focus on the interior life of conversion. It is that time when we seek to identify those aspects of ourselves which demand improvement or shedding.

We cannot do this on our own. As recovered alcoholics we still suffer from the disease or disorder of alcoholism regardless of how long we’ve been sober. We need a physician, as does anyone who is sick. Jesus is the Divine Physician, He comes to minister to us.

Our alcoholic past produced much pain, both in ourselves and in others. In our recovery from alcohol we needed to clean up that past and to make amends. This process resulted in the healing of our self-inflicted wounds and maybe the wounds inflicted on others. This continuing process of amending our life produces the results of our recovery. We attend to our conversion process, we continue to grow and develop.

Jesus is our healer. He heals us when we petition Him, but does so in His own time, not ours. The duration spent in healing (the waiting I feel is a part of it) helps us to grow and develop our relationship with Him. We learn from our patience and from our suffering, and we carry this education in our dealings with others. Everyone is suffering in some way. Everyone is a wounded soul. The wise know this, the fools delude themselves.

As we come to terms with our past, we move forward and learn from our experiences and the pain caused. “We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.” (from Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 2001, pg 83). We have divorced our pain from the memories associated with the past actions, but we retain the experience. The memories push us forward into wanting a better future with others and with God than our past indicated. And so we repent.

“I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners,” Jesus says in John’s Gospel account. We are all sinners, but us alcoholics and addicts have perhaps been a little selfish in accepting and acting on that part of our nature. By repenting, we are truly sorrowful and contrite in our admission of our past actions. We turn to Jesus and beg forgiveness and continued healing. The graces from God are freely available in the sacrament of Confession. It is a sacrament of healing. Guilt is removed and you are restored.

Let the healing begin. Go to Confession.

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

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

Feast of the Chair of St. Peter

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We are not celebrating a chair, so to speak, but rather the authority of the Pope, who derives his authority to teach and lead the Catholic Church by virtue of being the legitimate successor to St. Peter, the first Pope.

Jesus established His Church on Earth, and appointed St. Peter to lead it in His stead. This is why the Pope holds the title “Vicar of Christ”, he is the visible head of Christ’s Church on Earth, and teaches with the same authority. This is shown in today’s Gospel reading:

Matthew 16:13-19

When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi
he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter said in reply,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

St. Peter was the only Apostle to answer Jesus’ question correctly, and Jesus revealed that it was not through his own ability that he answered, but only through the revelation of God the Father. This is a basis for the Catholic Doctrine of Papal Infallibility, that the Pope is protected from teaching moral and doctrinal error by the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit. He is not protected from behaving immorally, as history has shown there to have been “bad popes”, but only when he exercises his authority as the successor to St. Peter in teaching matters of Faith and Morals. He cannot pick the winners of the World Series, the Super Bowl or the World Cup, or mandate that involvement in a war somewhere is wrong. Only in his role as leader and teacher of the fullness of Gospel and Apostolic Truth is he infallible.

This makes sense. You would think that Jesus’ Church would have a leader who has a guarantee of certitude in teaching. Otherwise he’s just a human, subject to human frailties and weakness. He is just a human, and subject to those flaws, but excluded are the areas I already referred to.

This is because Jesus knew that we would be easily led astray but all manner of strange teachings, as shown by all the Protestant and Evangelical denominations that all claim authority, but contradict each other, and often teach things in contradiction to Sacred Scripture. They have no singular authority with the guarantee that was conferred upon Peter and his successors.

This certitude is what attracted me to the idea of the primacy of the Catholic Church in my sobriety. AA was wonderful in helping me to establish my sobriety, but the vagueness and shallowness of its spirituality leaves it open to many personal interpretations and too many risks for falling for anything that sounds good. While this may be fine in some areas, when my immortal soul is at risk, I need a little definition.

In its 2,000 years of history, the Catholic Church has never changed its teachings on Faith and Morals to be fundamentally different than what they were. Her teachings have become more developed as the Gospel and Apostolic writings have become better understood, but the core remains the same.

This, to me, strongly implies that the Church has the guarantee of protection by the Holy Spirit. No mere human institution could have survived the Catholic Church’s turbulent history. It is a creation of God, and therefore as with all things that are of God, endures despite itself.

We, as Catholics, therefore need not have worries or questions about the why’s and what’s of Reality. The answers to everything are all in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition (the body of teachings of the Church from the Apostles and their successors, rooted in and derived from Scripture, and which illuminates it as well.) All other belief systems have some elements of truth, just not the fullness of God’s Truth. The human elements shift and change with passing human fancy.

Not a bad deal to safeguard your sobriety? This is the first of probably many (and occasional) postings on “Why the Church?” as a vehicle for sobriety I mentioned I would write, sometime before.

You want to weather adversity, and the storms that ordinary life tosses at you, no better refuge that the Rock: Peter, his successors and the fundamental certitude of their teachings, solidly rooted in Scripture and Apostolic Tradition.

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!!)

Ash Wednesday-Lent begins

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Today marks the beginning of Lent. For the next 40 days (Sundays excluded) we prepare for the Passion of Christ (the trial, sentencing, Crucifixion and Death of Jesus , the Son of God).

Forty is a significant number in the Bible. It usually marks a time or period of trial or a passage through some thing to somewhere (symbolizing conversion). It rained on Noah and company for 40 days and nights. The Israelites wandered about the Sinai desert for 40 years. Elijah spent 40 days traveling to Mount Horeb from a spot in the desert outside Beersheba. Jesus went into the desert for 40 days and was tempted by Satan.

Fasting and abstinence marks the period of Lent. Catholics are bound by certain obligations regarding such. You can check with a priest to learn what they are (usually listed in the parish bulletin) or you can go to the EWTN website in the sidebar, click on “Lenten Reflections” and then click on “Fast and Abstinence”. Trying to link to it in yesterday’s post caused me much trouble and made me lose the post.

Anyway, fasting involves not eating. There’s more to it that just that. When a Christian fasts, they are linking the act to prayer. Their sufferings of the fast are being offered up to God as a sacrifice. This transcends ordinary prayer, which is powerful, but as you are linking a physical act to the prayer, it is more poignant. God hears all prayers, but the prayer of fasting rings through more clearly and is an acceptable offering pleasing to Him.

Abstinence involves not eating meat. Again, like fasting, abstinence involves much more than the Lenten regulations. The forsaking of something and offering it up as a prayer assists you in detaching yourself from worldly concerns and desires. It liberates your mind to dwell more deeply in God’s Truths, eschewing merely human concerns. Abstinence is the “What are you giving up for Lent?” question. But you do not have to just “give up” something. You can take on additional tasks. Increased prayer and meditation, especially on the Lord’s Passion are fruitful, as well as doing things for others. By doing things for others, it can be said that you are abstaining from the self.

Lent is also and excellent time to start work (or continue) on ridding yourself of character defects and personality problems. What better time to focus on and accelerate your conversion than the season of Lent? It’s perfect, because you are not alone on the journey. Other Catholics are along as well.

Have a productive Lent.

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!!)

Lent 2007

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I had a post marking the beginning of Lent, which starts tomorrow, but lost the whole thing during an edit. I took it calmly. Really. I shall attempt to re-write it tomorrow.

So instead, a small plea: If you are Catholic, please go to Mass tomorrow and receive the mark of ashes on your forehead. It is a wonderful sign of public witness to your Faith. It is a reminder to others that there are considerations besides the purely secular.

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!!)

Hope is the Lord and His Church

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From the First Reading of the Mass for the Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time (11 Feb 2007)

Jeremiah 17:5-8

Thus says the LORD:
Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings,
who seeks his strength in flesh,
whose heart turns away from the LORD.
He is like a barren bush in the desert
that enjoys no change of season,
but stands in a lava waste,
a salt and empty earth.
Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD,
whose hope is the LORD.
He is like a tree planted beside the waters
that stretches out its roots to the stream:
it fears not the heat when it comes;
its leaves stay green;
in the year of drought it shows no distress,
but still bears fruit.

The first two sentences can be thought to describe how we were during our drinking careers. Although we didn’t necessarily trust in human beings while we were drinking, we wanted to. And because we were untrustworthy, we were shunned, and we turned farther away from the Lord, to stand in a lava waste, a salty and empty earth.

After hitting bottom, we turned back to the Lord, by whatever means we had. We eventually ended up learning how to stay sober in AA, and thus were introduced to the concept of a Higher Power as an aid in keeping us sober.

By our own understanding, we came to believe that Jesus is that Higher Power, and by our own willingness were guided by the Holy Spirit in seeking out the Church. Many people in AA are suggested they seek out the Church of their youth as a possible source for spiritual growth and succor. Many Catholics return to the Faith. Many grow in it, but are arrested in their development by accepting too greatly the “Higher Power” concept and regard the Catholic Church as just one of another of Christian denominations. (It isn’t, and I’ll be starting a series of irregular postings on the subject of “Why the Church?” sometime soon.)

But as a seed to that end, re-read the last two sentences of the Scripture quote above. They can be describing us, after we’ve discovered how to handle sobriety, and especially how we are after we’ve accepted Jesus and His Church as the wellspring of our new life. Our “leaves stay green” and in times of drought we “show no distress.”

The Catholic Church is the Church that Jesus established, and it is the guardian of the fullness of the Gospel and Apostolic teachings.

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!!)

Here I am, send me!!

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An excerpt from the First Reading from today’s Mass on the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time:

Isaiah 6:5-8
Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember which he had taken with tongs from the altar.

He touched my mouth with it. “See,” he said, “now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” “Here I am,” I said; “send me!”

The Twelfth Step of AA reads: “Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.”

We were doomed, with unclean lips, unworthy due to our alcoholism (it seemed to us). Yet as a result of our conversion, our recovery from alcohol, our wickedness has been removed (so to speak) and our sin purged.

Now anew, “new wineskins” receiving the “new wine” of the Gospel, are we prepared to seek out and carry out this message of redemption? That no matter what our past, we are now qualified by those experiences to bring the message to those who still suffer? And are we knowledgeable enough about our Catholic Faith to use it in bringing forth the fullness of Gospel and Apostolic truth that is the Catholic Church?

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of Christian recovery websites and blogs. Almost all are Evangelical or non-denominational. That is one reason I started 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!!)

Keeping Your Head on Straight, Part 2 (Regular Daily Prayer)

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I seemed drawn to a more orderly prayer routine, almost liturgical in nature. Perhaps it was the daily Mass on EWTN and later my own Mass attendance at a local parish. At any rate, I found that meditating on the daily Mass readings helped me and gave my prayer life a more fulfilling routine. It also helped me to slowly start to see the year more in light of the Church’s liturgical calendar. The two periods of Ordinary Time, and Advent/Christmas, and Lent/Easter and Pentecost became as real to me as Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. And more relevant, too. This aided me in my continuing reversion to the Church. Seeing the year according to the Liturgical calendar helped me view the Church as a living, breathing organism, with its own tides and times.

When reading the Mass readings, or the Wisdom books and Gospels, I tried to discern a connection between what they were trying to say and my own sober journey. Either the path I was on, or just stuff that I was coping with then. The just gettin’ through the day stuff. Many times I got a connection, or advice on dealing with whatever I was going through. This gave an additional vibrancy to the liturgical calendar. Not to mention developing an increasingly greater tendency to seeking (or seeing) God’s will in daily life.

I then discovered the Liturgy of the Hours. This is also known as the Divine Office, An old name was the Roman Breviary. It is the official daily prayer of the Church, second only to the Mass. Mandatory for the Pope on down to the newest seminarian. Ordinary people (laity) can say it, and I’ve learned that it is increasingly popular amongst us. It is organized around the Psalms and other Biblical readings. It quite often ties in nicely with the daily Mass readings. It is ancient. Praying it connects you to all others in the Church who pray it, plus also those who’ve gone before. This gave a greater structure and sense of rhythm to my day.

To aid in that, this blog also has at the top links to the Daily Mass readings and also to the Liturgy of the Hours. The LOTH links (provided by Universalis) gives greater information on the Divine Office, if you’re curious. there is also a link in the sidebar to Presentation Ministries. In addition to also having the Mass readings, they also provide daily meditations that are beyond compare if you wish to live a radical, authentic Catholic life. They point to the ideal.

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!!)

Keeping Your Head on Straight, Part 1 (Regular Daily Prayer)

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One of my early realizations about AA was that its brand of spirituality wasn’t enough for me. However, one of the good things it taught me was that a regular period of daily prayer and meditation was essential in “getting your head on straight” every morning. At first I read from daily devotionals based on AA’s 12 Steps. Then I progressed to seeking out Catholic texts. Prayer books were obvious.

The need for this is simple. We are at our weakest in the morning. It is then we are most susceptible to depression or any glum view of the day. To fall into a bad routine and not get out of it.

A regular prayer routine, starting as close as possible to when you awaken is essential to survival. Prayer connects you with something greater than yourself. Call it your “Higher Power” if you wish, but doing something ASAP in the general direction of God helps you to get your head oriented in the right direction.

In AA meetings you learn that sometimes a relapse back into drinking occurs before you actually take the drink. The mind relapses and the will follows and then the drinks start pouring. Meetings interrupt the flow of thought in the mental relapse; daily prayer affords the same benefits, but with greater spiritual effects. In prayer, in which you raise your heart and mind to God, either with Scriptural readings or set prayers written by Saints, you are allowing God in and enabling him to do His work. He recharges your batteries, rewires your electrical, fixes your plumbing. Re-orders your thought patterns. He heals.

And so I developed a routine of going through various prayer books I had, in addition to trying Bible reading (namely Psalms and the other Wisdom Books: Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiates, Song of Songs, Wisdom and Sirach. Job is tough and I set it aside for a while. Still haven’t yet read it through.) The Gospels are relaxing. Any of those are a great start in a regular routine of daily prayer. There is no greater prayer book on Earth than the Holy Bible. Fifteen minutes a day is a good start. Don’t be too surprised if you find yourself reading and praying longer.

Next post continues with specifics.

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!!)