Category Archives: Divine Mercy

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!!)

Have Mercy on me…

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The Responsorial Psalm from today’s Mass on the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time is probably one of my favorites for when I desire a conversion of heart and need to repent of something horrible and get right with God.

Psalm 51:3-19;

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.
Against you alone have I sinned; I have done such evil in your sight That you are just in your sentence, blameless when you condemn.
True, I was born guilty, a sinner, even as my mother conceived me.
Still, you insist on sincerity of heart; in my inmost being teach me wisdom.
Cleanse me with hyssop, that I may be pure; wash me, make me whiter than snow.
Let me hear sounds of joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Turn away your face from my sins; blot out all my guilt.
A clean heart create for me, God; renew in me a steadfast spirit.
Do not drive me from your presence, nor take from me your holy spirit.
Restore my joy in your salvation; sustain in me a willing spirit.
I will teach the wicked your ways, that sinners may return to you.
Rescue me from death, God, my saving God, that my tongue may praise your healing power.
Lord, open my lips; my mouth will proclaim your praise.
For you do not desire sacrifice; a burnt offering you would not accept.
My sacrifice, God, is a broken spirit; God, do not spurn a broken, humbled heart.

Carefully go over each line of this excerpt and imagine it having a healing affect on you. You are a sinner, broken, bruised, come to be made aware of your sins. (The psalm was written by King David after his infidelity with Bathsheba was exposed. He had her husband killed in battle so he could be with her.) You feel that God Himself has rejected you because of what you did, or had done with your life up to this point.

This would be a good prayer to say when you complete your 4th Step moral inventory if you are in a 12 Step program. (The Fourth Step: “Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.” From Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th edition, New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 2001; p.59. Also known as “The Big Book”)

The psalm describes a soul blackened with shame and guilt over wrongdoing, and describes a process where he turns to God, begs forgiveness and ask God to transform him into something he wasn’t before. All that the souls offers is sorrow, remorse and contrition, nothing else can make up for the deed, the soul offers up its own pain as a sacrifice.

This is basically all that we, as sobering alcoholics have to offer. We have nothing after we hit bottom and painfully turned our lives around. All we have is the wreckage of our life and the pain emanating from it. The healing of our pain by God due to our sincere remorse and contrition heals our souls and allows us to no longer be defined by our past.

Sacramental confession with a priest is necessary to remove the sins from your soul, but saying Psalm 51 helps prime you for that part of your healing.

I always feel better after saying this prayer, and I find the courage I need to go to Confession. When I say the psalm, I say it slowly and many times repeating a particular verse until I “feel something”, then I continue. If needed, I say the psalm again.

No matter how bad your sins, no matter how scarlet they are, there is no sin that God cannot forgive. Your sins are not stronger than God’s mercy. There is no debating this. No matter what you have done, God can and will, forgive.

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!!)

Pit of Destruction

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You are an alcoholic or addict an all seems lost and hopeless. You are at the “jumping off place”, that place where you feel that if you continue to drink you will die, but if you don’t drink, you may wish to die.

Call upon the Lord and He will hear your prayer.

From the Responsorial Psalm from the Mass on the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, (Year C):

Psalm 40:2-4

I waited, waited for the LORD; who bent down and heard my cry,
Drew me out of the pit of destruction, out of the mud of the swamp, Set my feet upon rock, steadied my steps,
And put a new song in my mouth, a hymn to our God. Many shall look on in awe and they shall trust in the LORD.

God will hear your cry, as plaintive and as weak as it may feel to you. The depth of your pain and anguish is a loud scream reaching out to Heaven. God and all of Heaven hear it. In my opinion, every alcoholic and addict who has died and been saved hears it.

Being drawn out from the pit of destruction, whether you put yourself there or got there by however addicts and alcoholics get that way, won’t be easy. But ask, and God will assist. “Seek first the Kingdom of God” instead of the easy pleasures of the world, and you will be drawn from the pit. Your feet will be (eventually) steady and you will love God with a new gratitude. A new song (or perhaps a new way of life?) will be sung by you and you will learn to trust in God. You will listen to Him, instead of the world you tried to hide from in your addiction.

For an explanation as to why you’re reading this on a post date of “Thursday” instead of the expected “Sunday”, read this post .

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 Through St. Maximilian Kolbe – Day 8

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Almost there! Day 8 of our novena through St. Maximilian Kolbe for anyone, or yourself, still struggling with addiction to drugs or alcohol. Like on previous days, go here and then read this, and ponder:

James 2:13;

For the judgment is merciless to one who has not shown mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

Remember this. “Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

God’s mercy triumphs over God’s judgment. For all your faults and failings and struggles, if you are sincere in your effort to stop drinking and drugging, God will look upon you with mercy instead with harsh judgment.

Remember this when others are harsh with you and treat you like filth. They may be judging you, but they have no business doing so. They may withhold their trust and keep you at bay for a while if you’ve hurt them with your drinking and drugging. And that is a Cross you have to bear.

He will help you bear it, He who is Mercy.

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!!)

Snatched from the grave

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While praying the Liturgy of the Hours recently a line from a Psalm popped out at me and demanded attention:

Psalm 107:17-20

Some fell sick from their wicked ways, afflicted because of their sins
They loathed all manner of food; they were at the gates of death.
In their distress they cried to the LORD, who saved them in their peril,
Sent forth the word to heal them, snatched them from the grave.

I’m not sure as to the authoritative Church interpretation of this passage, but it struck me a pretty apt description of an alcoholic careening towards their bottom, and then asking for God’s help.

Our “wicked ways” are all the harm we have caused to happen to other people that we will clean up in the Steps and in our own conversion process within Catholicism.

“Loathe all manner of food”, well, I lost a ton of weight towards the end. I could barely stomach food. Said stomach couldn’t handle it, and besides, it minimized the effect of alcohol consumption.

We were all at the “gates of death”.

And most assuredly, even if we didn’t know it, in our “distress” we “cried to the Lord”, who indeed saved us from our peril. We wound up in AA or some alternative program of recovery, and I’d like to think you found this blog as a part of His response to you pleading.

His Word healed us, we were snatched from the grave.

Edited 24 July 2007. Left out “their sins” in Scriptural quote in original post. Ooops.

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!!)