Category Archives: Me

Faithful in small matters

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I am struggling with a few things. (So what else is new?) If I were to time travel back a few years and report on this to a past self this would be a little surprising to that old self given that I am more successful in life now than I had been in any previous period.

The main thing I am struggling with is time for my writing and blogging. I have a full-time job consisting of four shifts, each of ten hours. Add to that the time for the commute and a nice home life, four days out of my week are accounted for. The remaining three days never seem like enough to do what I need and want. “Wow! I have 3 days off!” Real life things seem to crop up, as they do for everyone. This isn’t a complaint, just an observation. I actually like real life. It is just a bit messy. My real life has a lot of neat things in it that kind of get in the way of my creative efforts. But real writers and bloggers have that stuff going on, too, and they seem to have time for their creative work.

Two words: “Time management”.

I can do better with that. One thing I had contemplated was changing jobs (never easy for me) to one that is a more normal one of 5, eight hour days.

But the thought occurred to me that this would give me just more time to do non-writing things. “Work expands to fill the time allotted it” is a saying I found sometime ago. I think it is also true that “anything” expands to fill the time allotted it. Or, the conflicting thought that in working 5 days I would have one more day to be too tired from work and not write or blog that day, either, as well as having real life stuff take up more of the two remaining days.

I can be complicated, especially in regards to time.

Which comes back to those two words: “time management”.

So, how to do that? There’s all sorts of “Getting Things Done” courses and computer applications to help you better organize your time. Yeah, like they would work for me.

I was in Eucharistic Adoration (my weekly Holy Hour) and the following scriptural passage drifted across my brain:

Matthew 25:21: “His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.'”

(Via USCCB.)

It was the ending of the parable of the talents, in which a Master gave 3 servants different amounts of money, 2 of them did well with the gifts and were rewarded with more, one failed and was punished.

So, in thinking of that, I decided that time can be treated in this manner. Make the most out of the gift of time that you have and do not squander it. I am aware that this is no stunningly original realization, millions have latched onto this notion as a motivating factor to do things before they run out of time. But this is from a Christian angle. We are given a limited amount of time on Earth. We are all called to do God’s will and to help establish the kingdom of God here on Earth. Treat time as a currency that we invest in building God’s kingdom on Earth so that ultimately we are rewarded with the greeting from the passage.

Rather than asking for more time to do certain things like write and blog, perhaps instead I shall endeavor to make the best use of the time I already have. Maybe in doing this, a better job opportunity may somehow present itself to me in which I will have subsequently more hours to write and blog. (Such as online writing work that pays?)

I am not treating this as an “if/then” statement. Like: “If I write more with the time I already have available, then God will give me a better job.” That’s simplistic and formulaic. But perhaps the more disciplined life that results from this will have a correspondingly more productive effect on other areas of life, especially writing and blogging.

This isn’t the first time I’ve tried “time management”, but perhaps things were too chaotic for my meager attempts before. Life is somewhat more stable (relatively speaking). Anyway, as long as one always picks oneself up after a fall, failure can’t be conceded.

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!!)

Faith and Transitions

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Over the past few months there have been a number of ongoing transitions in my life. Changes at work and such were particularly debilitating, and I feared the ability to cope with it all. This is just a short post as I am testing something out with this blog, and I just needed to quickly state something simple and obvious. That if it wasn’t for my faith might not have made it through as well as I did. I used the “trials” as a way to learn about myself and my relationship with God, and how through prayer, you really do establish a partnership with the Lord.

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!!)

Hey… Dad?…. you wanna have a catch?

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Ray: “(choking back tears) Hey… Dad?…. you wanna have a catch?”

Dad: “I’d like that…”

Field Of Dreams: catch.mp3

(Via MovieWavs Page.)

That line and scene from the “Field of Dreams” movie always gets to me.

My father is dead, and I’ll never play catch with him again (unless we meet again in Heaven).

Playing catch with my Dad was one of the happiest experiences with him I had when I was a child.

We did not part on the best of terms, but that is all in the past. I feel he is watching over me from Heaven, and is probably wondering why I am wasting a perfectly good sunny day sitting inside typing on my computer, when I can be outside doing something in the yard. (Unless there was a baseball game on TV, that might merit staying in. But we don’t have cable or satellite TV, so that’s out. 🙁 The Yankees might be on the radio, but I hate the Yankees. 😉 )

Later…

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!!)

Just enough

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Quite often over the past few years I have been given lessons by God Himself on the importance of trusting in Him and His Providence. “Divine Providence” is basically God taking care of you. It does NOT mean that you pray for something and “BOING!” you get it. How you obtain what you need (not want) varies but essentially you trust in the Lord and cooperate with His will, and your basic needs are met. There may be a lag time in when you obtain the need, (“I want what I want, and I want it now!”) or in the perceived quality (“I want a MacBookPro! You mean I gotta settle for an ASUS netbook? AAARRRGH!!”) and so on. But if you look back and humbly assess the situation, you will find that although your wants were not satisfied, your needs were met.

Recently I’ve discussed this with my wife, and we basically refer to this phenomenon as getting “Just enough.” We have “just enough” to get by. We may be a little iffy for next month or the one after that, but somehow we have “just enough” to meet our current needs. The future may be dark, but right now the lights are still on.

We rely on Divine Providence. Sure, it would be nice to have a cushion. But this includes God more in our lives, as there is a partnership with us. This seems to be how He works. He did not need us, but we were created anyway. God’s will seems to quite often involve our cooperation. Sure, He can just will something to happen and solve something. But now, instead He chooses to involve us. Perhaps doing so respects the gift of free will.

One of the first major situations when I started keeping track was a few years ago after my Mom died. I was working as a part-time janitor for my local parish. My priest “just happened” to need someone around for light maintenance work just after Mom died (turns out the previous guy left for something else full time, if I recall correctly. My priest also knew someone who “just happened” to have an available apartment, which would come in handy as I was about to be kicked out of my Mom’s old house.) Anyway, my car needed a new muffler. Badly. I did not have the money for a new one. I had spoken to my priest about financial difficulties and he gave me a basic raise. But still, I would not have enough cash for the muffler.

Payday arrives. I get my paycheck, and it turns out the pay included the raise retroactive for the previous pay period, not the upcoming one as you’d expect. It provided me with “just enough” money to get the new muffler.

This does not always happen to the faithful. Something like this also happened a long time ago when I was a “spiritual seeker”. I believed in God but not religion, but apart from believing in Him I paid Him little attention.

A job I had when I lived in Southern California had just ended. One of the perks I had as the employee was an apartment (right near the beach, like a block in!) Naturally, when the job ended so did the lease. So, all of a sudden I was facing unemployment and eviction. Within the space of maybe 2-3 days just before Thanksgiving 1993 I had obtained a job through a temp agency and an apartment (still near the beach, but a block farther in.) This blew my mind, that I was able to accomplish that so suddenly. Street savvy/life-survival skills were not my strength, and accomplishing this made me proud.

(Unfortunately, the job led me to meet a woman I had a disastrous romantic situation with, which I reacted to by altering my drinking habits from occasionally social to daily coping. But that may or may not be another post.)

It could also happen in little things. The event that caused me to start thinking about this post happened yesterday when I finally planted our vegetable garden. I had “just enough” plants for the garden space I dug, “just enough” fencing and fence posts to lay around it, “just the right size” pallet for the garden gate. Nothing major, but it got me thinking.

So:

Matthew 6: 24-34

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat (or drink), or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they?

Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?

Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin.

But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them.

If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?

So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’

All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

But seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.

Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.

(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!!)

Trudging My Road of Happy Destiny

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As part of the “personalization” of this blog, I figured I’d “reboot” and reintroduce myself.

Hi, I’m Paul, and I’m an alcoholic. (Well, no kidding.)

I am also a faithful Catholic Christian and blogger and in 2007 I combined them all. I write this and another blog: The Four Last Things. Both of them are on maintaining your sobriety by the use of the Catholic Christian faith. This one is more broad in the Faith and its importance in your sobriety, and now will also be exploring my own personal use of the Faith when I get all “discretely personal and confessional”. I tried that before and discontinued it because I found that writing about myself to be dull. I still think I’m uninteresting, but what may be dull to me may not be so to others. Maybe that is a false humility?

The Four Last Things focuses on death and dying, topics infrequently mentioned in Twelve Steps meetings.

I basically started them because when I had sobered up in 2001 and 2002 I spent some time looking online for interactive Catholic resources on sobriety and found none. So I started a blog that had what I was looking for.

I decided to reboot this blog at the suggestion of a friend (and the support of the notion by others) because it has been said that expanding and expounding upon one’s own “experience, strength and hope” may draw readers closer to the blog and be more useful and helpful. This blog may begin to resemble other personal blogs on alcoholism and addiction in that its focus will include my own path.

Early on I did introduce myself a bit, here are links to those blogposts:

Hi, I’m Paul, and I’m an alcoholic!

Reversion story

Drunkalogue

Well, that’s it for now. Later!

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!!)

Turning the page on this blog

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The 9th anniversary of my sobriety date seems like a good opportunity to announce some changes to this blog.

Over on Plurk I asked someone for advice on changes to this blog. Along with some design suggestions, some of which I had already considered and am planning on doing, she suggested that I get more personal. As in I talk more about my personal daily struggles and such things. I had discounted that as I had tried that before and found myself to be rather boring. But she said that a lot of people also do (find writing about themselves boring, that is), but making it personal helps readers connect more with the blog and the person behind it. And I have to admit that people who do that sort of thing seem to have a more active comments section. :-O

So, there will be an expansion in the scope of this blog, more personal, a lot more postings then (which may be a good thing.)

I shall be careful in what I babble about. I still think I’m rather dull and uninteresting, but if how I personally use my Catholic faith is a help, hey, that’s cool. 😉

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!!)

Time and Sobriety

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Today, May 22, 2011 marks my 9th sober anniversary. I did a little reflecting on the 9 years and thought “what a long, strange trip it’s been.” (Apologies to Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead.)

I think I’ve made the best of it. I sobered up in time to care for my Mom before she died. (Although my family disputes the importance of my being there for her. One reason I speak as little to them as I can.) I had enough strength to cope with her death and the painful struggles (quite a bit were family-inflicted) afterwards. I eventually found love and married a nice lady (ARTIST4GOD: Rose Santuci-Sofranko) and established myself in a nice job caring for people with disabilities.

I also started this site which has been well received, for a niche blog in the Catholic blogosphere.

Yes, nine years of sobriety. One of the 12 Step daily meditations says that we alcoholics have 2 lifetimes, the one before sobriety and the one we are given after sobering up. So, today I am 9 years old.

Happy Birthday to me! 🙂

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!!)

Voting begins today!

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This is a rare digression from the usual postings here, namely it is personal and FUN! (Well, sort of fun.)

There is Something in our attic. Something big and lumbering. My wife and I think it is a raccoon, as it is their mating season and they usually take up residence somewhere to lay their baby ‘coons.

Anyway, my friend Mike L over at What Does Mike Think? has a poll for you to vote in .

We do plan to call specialists for a humane removal of… the Something.

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!!)

Listen for me on the radio during the week of March 7th

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I will be on Catholic radio! A few months ago, I was interviewed by Judy Zarick of St. Anthony Messenger Press for the “American Catholic Radio” show. My interview will be aired the week of March 7th. During that week you all can find it at FranciscanMedia. Look for American Catholic Radio over to the right, and click on “Current Program”. I will be featured in the “Living Faith” segment of program identified as #11-11. The segment only last about 5 minutes. ACR is heard on Catholic radio stations all over, if it isn’t in your area, you can listen online.

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!!)