Category Archives: Divine Mercy

From out of the depths

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The Responsorial Psalm from the Mass for Friday of the First Week of Lent is a great prayer to use during one’s nightly examination of conscience or just before Confession. It is a lament, and a plea for God’s mercy.

Psalm 130: “Out of the depths I call to you, LORD;

Lord, hear my cry! May your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.

If you, LORD, mark our sins, Lord, who can stand?

But with you is forgiveness and so you are revered.

I wait with longing for the LORD, my soul waits for his word.

My soul looks for the Lord more than sentinels for daybreak. More than sentinels for daybreak,

let Israel look for the LORD, For with the LORD is kindness, with him is full redemption,

And God will redeem Israel from all their sins.”

Via USCCB.)

Our sins are many, and this prayer speaks to the depths of despair over our consequential separation from God and our dependency on His ability to rescue us. Without Him, we can do nothing; with Him, we are reconciled.

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!!)

So Jonah went to Nineveh and this happened

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Everyone in the secular world focuses on the fishy part of the story of Jonah. They don’t pay too much attention to the key part of the reason for the Jonah epic in today’s First Reading in the Daily Mass from Wednesday of the First Week of Lent:

Jonah 3:1-10: “The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:
‘Set out for the great city of Nineveh,
and announce to it the message that I will tell you.’
So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh,
according to the LORD’s bidding.
Now Nineveh was an enormously large city;
it took three days to go through it.
Jonah began his journey through the city,
and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing,
‘Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,’
when the people of Nineveh believed God;
they proclaimed a fast
and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.

When the news reached the king of Nineveh,
he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe,
covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes.
Then he had this proclaimed throughout Nineveh,
by decree of the king and his nobles:
‘Neither man nor beast, neither cattle nor sheep,
shall taste anything;
they shall not eat, nor shall they drink water.
Man and beast shall be covered with sackcloth and call loudly to God;
every man shall turn from his evil way
and from the violence he has in hand.
Who knows, God may relent and forgive, and withhold his blazing wrath,
so that we shall not perish.’
When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way,
he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them;
he did not carry it out.”

(Via USCCB.)

It seems that the people of Nineveh (which is I think modern-day Mosul, Iraq) repented and converted immediately upon hearing Jonah’s warning. It says that “when the people of Nineveh believed God…” after Jonah had gone “but a single day’s walk.” After all, it took 3 days to go through it, but word apparently spread more quickly than Jonah’s passage. Perhaps quite unlike the Second Step of Twelve Step movements which implies a conversion process over time. (“Came to believe…”).

When the warning signs appear on your horizon and threaten your serenity and sobriety, what do you do? Do you heed them as soon as humanly possible? Have you trained yourself to recognize the “red flags” that serve as interior warning signs of probable doom? Or do you turn aside and hope they go away?

You do not need to put on sackcloth and sit in ashes to serve as a repentance. Remove the veil from your eyes and see the danger that threatens you and turn to the Lord for help. The last stanza from Psalm 18 excerpted in today’s Morning Prayer is one of my favorite Scriptural passages:

Psalm 18:29-30: “You, LORD, give light to my lamp; my God brightens the darkness about me. With you I can rush an armed band, with my God to help I can leap a wall.”

(Via USCCB.)

Ask God for help in steering clear of the danger to you. Without Him you can do nothing, with Him, anything is possible.

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 sick and the sinners must heed the call

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Who needs Jesus? Whom does He call upon? From the Gospel reading in today’s Mass for the 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.’ “

(Via USCCB.)

Jesus is the Divine Physician. He came to heal the sick and offer comfort and relief to those outcast from society. If anyone recognizes this, it would be us alcoholics and addicts. We were sick, and to varying degrees, still are. We have had a sinful past (as does everyone, but our sinful behavior may have been more distressing) and we more than most are aware of our need to atone for it. We must repent and turn back to the Lord.

This is why Lent is one of my favorite times of the year. It offers a focused means of repentance and forgiveness of sins. While we can do this anytime of the year through the Sacraments of Reconciliation (Confession) and the Eucharist, during Lent we have the greater opportunity for doing so as the whole Church responds to Jesus’ call of repentance.

Go to Confession much? Try it during this Lenten season.

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!!)

Death and Purgatory

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As a person who suffered from alcoholism, I can say that I have already experienced death of a sort.

The old me has died. Some parts of the old corpus may still be twitching, but essentially out of the agony and expiration of the old Paul S. a new person has been reborn.

Oblivion did not result from that death. It could have, as with the case of so many people who died of their addiction before being reached by treatment of whatever manner. Not to mean that oblivion follows death, as a Christian I believe in an afterlife. But an oblivion that results from dying anonymously, forgotten, and not-missed.

My rebirth as a sober alcoholic led me to return to the Catholic Church. In essence, my recovery helped to to sort out the garbage of my life and keep what’s best. My “truer self” is now represented by me.

The death throes of the old Paul S. could be likened to an experience of Purgatory. Purgatory is that state of existence after dying where the souls destined for Heaven need to be “purged” of their attachment to sin and the self. Nothing impure can enter into Heaven, and even if you die in the graces of God, you can still have an attachment to Earthly things that would prevent you from being fit to enter into the presence of God. Some Catholic mystics describe the purging as a pain caused by being near to God but separated from Him, and knowing that their Earthly attachments and selfishness is the cause of that separation. The pain is a longing for God that burns away those parts of the self that separates the soul from God.

I was “purged” of my addiction and character defects through withdrawal from alcohol and hallucinations, and finally just wanting what sober people had. The withdrawal could be likened to a “death”, the wanting what others had the purgation of the flaws of the old self.

In both deaths, the symbolic death of the alcoholic self and the real death we all face, a truer person emerges from the ordeal. In Heaven we will be free from all of our personal failings and shortcomings, all defects and things that hindered our true personality and development.

We will be the persons we are supposed to be.

That journey can begin now with a concerted effort in developing a vibrant prayer life, a commitment to involve oneself in the sacramental life of the Church, and a firm purpose of amending sinful ways.

Live as you were meant to live.

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 All Soul's

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On November 2nd we celebrate the Feast of All Soul’s. It is the day that we as Catholics offer up the Mass and pray for the deceased who are suffering in Purgatory. In another blog of mine, I have posted about Purgatory (and will continue to do so a few more times this month). Here are 2 links to recent posts:

The Four Last Things: Purgatory

and

The Four Last Things: Prayers for the Dead and Dying

This is the Catechism of the Catholic Church’s teaching on Purgatory. It is authoritative, and is a required belief for Catholics:

Purgatory:

1030:All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.

1031: The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire.

As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.

1032: This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture: ‘Therefore [Judas Maccabeus] made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin.’ From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God. The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead:

Let us help and commemorate them. If Job’s sons were purified by their father’s sacrifice, why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them.“

(Via USCCB.)

Attend Mass on November 2nd. Remember the dead who have gone before you. Remember your deceased loved ones, family and friends, think of people long ago. Remember all those alcoholics and addicts who died a lonely death, still caught in the slavery of their addiction.

If you do not remember them, who will remember you after you have passed?

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 sins of my youth

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In the Liturgy of the Hours reading for Daytime Prayer (Midday) there is a line from Sacred Scripture that stood out:

Psalm 25:7: “Remember no more the sins of my youth; remember me only in light of your love.“

(Via USCCB.)

Our alcoholic and addictive past is full of wreckage, mostly sinful. The weight of that past drags us down unless we clean it up by turning to God. The Sacrament of Reconciliation (aka “Confession” or “Penance”) is there for our use. It cleanses us of our sins and washes clean our past before God. It is a Sacrament of Love in that our Father in Heaven takes us back and welcomes us to Him because we repented of our sins and turned to Him for forgiveness.

In the “Big Book” of AA (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. New York, 2001) there is a line on page 83,

“We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.”

This is part of the 10th Step Promises, which detail a list of positive changes in attitude if one has persevered in working the first Nine Steps. I won’t go into all that now. But our regret of the past is rooted in the stain of sin on our souls, our wish to “not shut the door on it” is rooted in humility. If we do not remember our past, we will make the same mistakes again. Our remembering the past tempers any judgmental attitude towards others and helps us to use compassion in our dealings with people. Quite often they are as messed up as we are.

Psalm 51:3-5: “Have mercy on me, God, in your goodness; in your abundant compassion blot out my offense.

Wash away all my guilt; from my sin cleanse me.

For I know my offense; my sin is always before me.”

(Via 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!!)

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!!)

God's Merciful Love

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I am posting about another blogging project that I am involved with. The new blog is God’s Merciful Love and it was started by my wife, Rose S., yesterday.

As the title suggests, it is about God’s love and mercy. Specifically, it is on the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. They are:

The Spiritual Works of Mercy

Correct the sinner.
Instruct the ignorant.
Counsel the doubting.
Comfort the sorrowful.
Be patient with those in error.
Forgive offenses.
Pray for the living and the dead.

The Corporal Works of Mercy

Feed the hungry.
Give drink to the thirsty.
Shelter the homeless.
Clothe the naked.
Visit the sick.
Visit the imprisoned.
Bury the dead.

The blog is Rose’s baby, but I will be a contributor. “God’s Merciful Love” will hope to instruct and involve people in the various works of mercy, either online or wherever they are. There may be “Events” or “Meetups” in various parts of the world where people can engage in these works.

For those readers who feel that we are saved only by professing a belief in Jesus Christ and that works are “bribing God”, this is utter nonsense and unsupported by Scripture. We as Christians are called to respond to the Gospel and build the Kingdom of God on Earth, we will not do that by just saying “Jesus, Jesus.” Faith and works go hand-in-hand, by faith we profess in Jesus and by works we demonstrate that Faith. Works do not get us into Heaven, we can never earn or merit our way in. But by our works we prove our faith in Jesus.

Email me or go visit the blog and support my wife’s endeavor!

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 Matt Talbot for Alcoholics: Day 8

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Today we pray the eighth day of our Novena to Matt Talbot for Alcoholics. Like yesterday we begin with:

PRAYER FOR THE ADDICTED

God of mercy, we bless You in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, who ministered to all who come to Him. Give Your strength to N., Your servant, bound by the chains of addiction. Enfold him/her in Your love and restore him/her to the freedom of God’s children. Lord, look with compassion on all those who have lost their health and freedom. Restore to them the assurance of Your unfailing mercy, and strengthen them in the work of recovery. To those who care for them, grant patient understanding and a love that perseveres. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Again, as in the past few days I’ll take the post hint from the “Prayer for the Addicted.” This time I’ll concentrate on the “assurance of Your unfailing mercy” line.

God’s mercy is limitless. We place limitations on it by not seeking it out or by assuming that our sins are greater than His mercy.

There is nothing that anyone has done that God cannot forgive. Period. His mercy endures forever as it says in the Psalms, and is there for the asking.

No matter how bad your past, it is wiped clean in God’s mercy.

In the sidebar of this blog there are a group of links entitled “Divine Mercy”. Please spend sometime exploring them as they will open up to you the wonders and riches of God’ mercy.

We conclude the daily novena with:

Official Prayer for the Canonization of Blessed Matt Talbot

“Lord, in your servant, Matt Talbot you have given us a wonderful example of triumph over addiction, of devotion to duty, and of lifelong reverence of the Holy Sacrament. May his life of prayer and penance give us courage to take up our crosses and follow in the footsteps of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Father, if it be your will that your beloved servant should be glorified by your Church, make known by your heavenly favours the power he enjoys in your sight. We ask this through the same Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.”

The source of these prayers is Circle of Prayer – Matt Talbot Intercedes for Alcoholics .

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 well do not need a physician

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The Gospel reading from today’s Mass (Saturday daily, not Sunday Vigil) has a particular relevance for us alcoholics:

Mark 2:13-17;

Jesus went out along the sea.
All the crowd came to him and he taught them.
As he passed by, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus,
sitting at the customs post.
Jesus said to him, “Follow me.”
And he got up and followed Jesus.
While he was at table in his house,
many tax collectors and sinners sat with Jesus and his disciples;
for there were many who followed him.
Some scribes who were Pharisees saw that Jesus was eating with sinners
and tax collectors and said to his disciples,
“Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
Jesus heard this and said to them,
“Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

This is why Christianity, and in particular Catholic Christianity with her sacraments, is an excellent spiritual path for people recovering from an addiction. Jesus doesn’t care who you are, what your background is or anything else that the “world’ deems important. People that the world shuns and deems inferior, He runs to and picks up and heals. Jesus came for all humanity, but in particular for the broken and the wounded. In the Gospel accounts He was frequently associating with the outcasts of society. He was always taken to task for it, as is the case in today’s reading.

We alcoholics and addicts are broken and wounded, regardless of the length of sobriety. We will always remain a little bent and cracked, but Jesus and His Church are always there to pick us up.

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!!)