Category Archives: Conversion

“Second Chance Lent” is Coming Up!

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This is just a reminder that this Saturday marks the Church’s Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. This means that another 40 day period of penance and conversion, albeit an informal an unofficial one, starts on August 6th. This is what I am now calling “Second Chance Lent,” just in case you fell short of your penitential and conversion goals for the real Lent earlier this year, you have another opportunity in a few days.

I got this idea from a source I have long forgotten (some Catholic thinker in some daily devotional mentioned it). The Feast of the Transfiguration, based on the Lord’s conversation with Moses and Elijah on Mt. Tabor regarding His upcoming trial and Crucifixion, is 40 days before the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross on September 14th.

Information on this Feast is here:

Triumph of the Cross

(Via Catholic Culture.)

And so the Church in Her wisdom established these feast days 40 days apart to enable the faithful to have another season to focus on repentance and spiritual growth. I hardly think this is coincidental. Go to Confession and Daily Mass if possible (or as often as you can). Focus on your relationship with the Lord and how you’ve harmed it by sin. Repent and believe in the Gospel.

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!!)

Upon discovering Truth

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You can make a cucumber into a pickle, but you cannot make that pickle back into a cucumber again.

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!!)

Jonah and Nineveh

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Today’s First Reading for Wednesday of the First Week of Lent is the story of Jonah and his trip to Nineveh. I have a post from 2 years ago…

So Jonah went to Nineveh and this happened

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!!)

Now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation

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The Second Reading for the Mass for Ash Wednesday announces a particularly good news:

2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2: “Brothers and sisters: We are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Working together, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says: In an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you. Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

(Via USCCB.)

Lent is now. It is our time to return to the Lord. No matter what our religious and spiritual life has been, no matter how great our sacramental and prayer life has been, we are still “too far” from God. Now is the season of repentance, of turning our backs on sin and striving to become closer to the Lord.

There is a special reason for this. As the Apostle Paul write in the beginning of this Reading, we are emissaries of God, and His work in the world is accomplished through us. We have a special mission to carry out His will on Earth, we can only do that if we repent and reconcile our lives to the Lord.

We alcoholics and addicts understand conversion. But we can go beyond what is taught in 12 Step Meetings and merely “do not drink” or use and make spiritual progress in that regard.

We can take up our call to be ambassadors for Christ.

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!!)

Xtreme Makeover Season is on

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Tomorrow begins Lent, a 40 day period of personal interior conversion and renewal. It is also a time to examine our relationships with other people and perhaps repair them. As Christians we are a community, members of the Body of Christ. If our relations with other people are in a shambles, then our attempts at interior conversion and growth in personal holiness will fall short. Remember the words of Jesus in the prayer that He taught us: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

I admittedly write that with some fear and trepidation as there are relationships in my life that are in need or repair, if not outright resurrection from the dead. I leave them up to God’s will, for Him to provide the opportunity and courage to actually do anything, as I am unwilling to tread those paths.

Anyway, Lent is here, and I am posting links to two previous blogposts from earlier years, right here,
and here. Read them as an introduction and background.

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 interview on American Catholic Radio

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Well, it’s out! Judy Zarick’s interview with me, scheduled for this week, is available here:

American Catholic Radio looks at Ash Wednesday, conversion and social justice

The program is called “Living Faith with Judy Zarick.”

(Via Franciscan Media.)

All in all, the editing was great. It is a 5 minute distillation of a 20-25 minute-long interview.

(The only issue is that although the physical link to my blog is correct, at the end she spoke the old Blogger link. No matter, it just gives me a greater reason to edit the old site so that it is clear it is the defunct version.)

Anyway, click on the link above and give a listen!

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!!)

Making room in the Inn

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Advent, a time of waiting for the coming of Christ the Lord. How well do we receive Him into our lives? Is He welcome in all areas of it or do we compartmentalize (pigeon-hole) Him in convenient places?

There are many distractions, and we do not make sufficient room for Him in the inn that is our lives. He is pushed outdoors.

Some of these distractions are addictive. These addictions fill the “hole in the soul” that should be filled by Jesus and the Sacraments. Grace alone should suffice but we improperly seek it. We are misdirected in our gropings in the dark for Truth and Life. We don’t find them in the right places. We stray from the path marked out for us.

Jesus is ever-present in the Blessed Sacrament and ever-waiting for us to come to Him. We prepare our way to Him through prayer, meditation and examining our consciences. We offer up a contrite heart as a sacrifice to Him, so that we will be pleasing in His sight.

And then Jesus, upon being asked, enters our lives and fills our very being with the stuff we seek: healing, direction, life. Things we sought elsewhere and failed miserably because we were deceived.

Christmas is coming, with Jesus in the Manger. Are we prepared to welcome and receive Him?

(Blogger’s Note: This post is a part of the 2010 Catholic New Media Advent Calendar on Catholic Roundup For those new to Sober Catholic my usual source for inspiration is either the Sunday and Daily Mass Readings, or some commentary on the liturgical season. I then try to make it applicable to those recovering from alcoholism and other addictions. But, if you are in a conversion or a development of the interior life mindset, (or just love the Sacrament of Confession), you might find my ramblings useful. 🙂

My other blog, with it’s own post for the Calendar, is: The Four Last Things a blog on Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. Its first post explains it: The Four Last Things.

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!!)

He is a glutton and a drunkard

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The Gospel Reading for the Mass for Friday of the Second Week of Advent is the one in which Jesus is called a “glutton and a drunkard.”

Matthew 11:16-19: “‘To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is vindicated by her works.'”

(Via USCCB.)

I had written about this before where I approached it from the theme of people being resentful of you for the new life of sobriety that you lead. The notes section in the NAB explain that the passage may mean that (I’m paraphrasing) teachings are rejected, that expectations of others are not being fulfilled. “We do this and that, and you didn’t respond as we thought.” You are doing something that others don’t understand or desire, and therefore you are rejected, just as John the Baptist and Jesus were.

However, just like “by their fruits you shall know them,” if you hold fast, you will be vindicated (proven right).

So, please read the earlier post, right here:

A Glutton and a Drunkard.

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!!)

Throw off the works of darkness

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Today is the First Sunday of Advent. Advent is a time of conversion, in a somewhat similar vein like Lent. However while Lent focuses on Christ’s death, in Advent we focus on His birth. Both are critical events in humanity’s salvation history. In Christ’s birth He took on human flesh so as to redeem our nature from sin, in His death He destroyed sin and liberated us from its shackles. (This is not to say sin no longer exists, for it clearly does. But His death gives us the means to overcome it.)

The Second Reading from the Mass for today exhorts us to cast off sin.

Romans 13:11-14: “Brothers and sisters: You know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand. Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and lust, not in rivalry and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.”

As alcoholics and addicts who seek to obtain and sustain sobriety, we have character defects to be rid of. They were the mark of our addiction, and now sober we strive for a better life. St. Paul writes in his letter to the Romans that we have to “throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light” for salvation is near. St. Paul might have thought that Jesus was to return in his lifetime, He clearly didn’t. But as Jesus Himself said in the Gospel for today’s Mass:

Matthew 24:42: “For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.”

And so it is today. We must prepare for the arrival of the Lord. Whether it is the memorial of His Nativity and we prepare by going to Confession and amending our lives or the actual, real end-times Second Coming, Jesus is near and we must be ready.

Note: all Scripture passages courtesy of USCCB.

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!!)

Language for edification

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Ran across this in a friend’s blog:

Ephesians 4:29: “No foul language should come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for needed edification, that it may impart grace to those who hear.”

(Via USCCB.)

I post this here as I can be rather profane in my personal speech, and aside from offending and hurting my wife, this also makes me somewhat of a hypocrite. I know that we all basically are, but just the same: if we profess the Gospel in word and deed, the same mouth that utters the Gospel should not also have filth spring forth from it. We should care that a lot of what issues forth from our lips should not cause people to doubt the truth or sincerity of the things we mean to say to assist people in their conversion.

This relates to the scope of this blog inasmuch as we alcoholics have many character defects to eliminate, some tougher and more durable than others. We must persevere in ridding ourselves of them, by whatever means we have at our disposal.

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!!)