Category Archives: Me

A Novena of Novenas for Justice, Peace, and Creation I: to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin

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And so begins the First of the Nine Novenas for Justice, Peace, & Creation, and this one is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Servant of God Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. It runs from June 20 — June 28, 2020. I will not post this every day as the prayers and intentions are the same for each day. I’ll just leave it here for nine days; if I need to blog in the interim, I will just blog a reminder afterwards. For the background, please read this post (especially if you need to learn about who Bob Waldrop, the creator of this Novena, was, and why I am introducing it to you.) Or go here: A Novena of Novenas for Justice, Peace, & Creation.

Don’t worry if you jump in at some point later in the 81 days. To paraphrase Bob “just pick up whenever you happen to join in.”

AFTER THIS SENTENCE, THE WRITING IS ALL THAT OF BOB WALDROP, not me, Paulcoholic.

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Novena of Novenas for Justice, Peace, & Creation I: to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin (June 20 — June 28, 2020)

“Getting Started:

Begin each novena prayer with a time of quiet prayer. You may find it helpful to pray some repetitions of the Jesus Prayer (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner), a decade of the Rosary, the Chaplet of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, or a time of spiritual reading or lectio divina that will prepare your mind and your heart for the prayer to come. This could be a time for a daily examen, where you consider your actions of the day and how they relate to God’s call in your life.”

General Intentions: For the redemption of structures of violence, oppression, exploitation, and despair with beauty, goodness, mercy, and peace. Reparation for sins against life.

The First Work of Justice and Peace: Live simply and justly in solidarity with the poor and marginalized and be a good neighbor. Make no war on them, rather, be one with them in spirit, truth, and love.

Act of Caring for Creation: Pick up trash in a public place.

God, come to my assistance. Lord, make haste to help me. + Let us pray together in peace, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, help the helpless, strengthen the fearful, comfort the sorrowful, bring justice to the poor, peace to all nations, and solidarity among all peoples. Give us strength to stand against the demonic powers which prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.

Open our eyes to see the beauty, joy, redemption, and goodness which comes through obedience to your Son our Lord. Teach us to be a refuge of hope for all who are oppressed by injustice and violence.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for those who serve the poor and who accompany them in their journeys; may we who keep this sacred commemoration experience the joy and love of the grace of your Son; may His most Sacred Heart, together with yours, pierced with sorrow for the evils of the world, be a sure refuge of hope in a time of trouble for all who are oppressed by injustice and violence.

The Magnificat of Mary. My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; for He has looked with favor on His lowly servant. From this day all generations shall call me blessed.

The Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is His Name. He has mercy on those who fear Him in every generation.

He has shown the strength of His arm, He has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of His servant Israel for He has remembered His promise of mercy, the promise He made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever.

Dorothy Day: Dorothy Day, friend and partner of the poor, guiding spirit for the Catholic Worker, home always open to the unwanted, early, often lonely, witness in the cause of peace and conscience, eloquent pattern of gospel simplicity, Dorothy Day, disciple of the Lord, may we continue your gift of self to the needy and your untiring work for justice and peace. Help us to follow your example and dedicate our lives to the creation of structures of beauty and goodness, wisdom and mercy. Amen.

Peter Maurin: Peter Maurin, Holy Fool, teach us to give and not to take, to serve and not to rule, to help and not to crush, to nourish and not to devour. As we create a new society within the shell of the old, remind us that ideals and not deals, creed and not greed, are what makes humanity humane. Amen.

Prayer to St. John Chrysostom on behalf of the U.S. Catholic bishops.

Most Glorious and Venerable St. John Chrysostom,
Grace shining forth from your lips like a beacon
has illumined the universe.
It shows to the world the treasures of poverty;
it reveals to us the heights of humility.
Teaching us by your words, O Father John Chrysostom,
intercede before the Word, Christ our God, to save our souls!

Pray for the bishops of the United States of America,
who do not teach or practice the Catholic faith in its fullness,
that God will deliver them to orthodoxy,
and reform their ways of living,
so that as exemplars of orthopraxis, they will protect all life,
from the moment of conception to the time of natural death.

Teach them true solidarity with the poor, so that they
understand the consequences of their moral abandonment
of entire nations of human beings to a collective fate of cruelty and violence
because they were in the way of the American Empire and
its gluttonous lust for oil, supremacy, and blood.

As you refused to obey the aristocratic commands of your era,
help our bishops turn away from the political demands
that cause them to preach a false gospel of moral relativism regarding war and peace.

Having received divine grace from heaven,
with your mouth you teach all people to worship the Triune God.
Instruct our bishops with the wisdom of the Gospel,
so that they repent of their material cooperation with the objective evil of unjust war,
and call all people, in authentic word and deed, to live in solidarity, peace, and justice.

All-blest and venerable St. John Chrysostom,
we praise you, for you are our teacher, revealing things divine!
Pray for us that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

O God, Who by the preaching and teaching of Saint John Chrysostom
has given us an example of fortitude in the face of persecution and political corruption,
grant that we who reverence his life and ministry may also imitate
his example of fidelity to wisdom, truth, justice, and beauty,
through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Our Father . . . Hail Mary… Glory be. . .

Thoughts for the journey. Today many swords pierce the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Injustice, oppression, violence, war, murder, the rape of Creation — all these and more are sins and structures of sin against justice and peace. We know that within our hearts are the seeds of the problems the world faces.

This redemption begins in my heart and your heart. It all starts, as they say, with the man — or the woman — in the mirror.

If we want to see a better relationship of Christ and the world, we must ask first about our own personal relationship with Jesus. Is he the Easter Bunny? Someone who makes us feel good, but who is remote and not really involved? A cultural construct? A topic in a religious education course?

Or is Christ a living reality in my life?

We are in this for the long haul, and it will be a long haul. We will not wake up on the 82nd day after 81 days of nine novenas and discover that we have prayed and worked ourselves into a new world of justice and peace that cares for Creation as God intended for all of us. There is much more work and prayer to come.

If we think we can do this in our own strength, we are wrong.

If we are going forward in the work of justice and peace, the place to start is with an examination of our own lives. How do my sins of omission and commission create and support structures of injustice and oppression? How do I participate in and profit from the social sins and unjust wars of this age? What must be redeemed in my life so that I live in solidarity with those our society has pushed to the edge and further, into the abyss? How can I change my life so that I promote peace, rather than demanding war? Can I end (or minimize) the ecological harm I cause to Creation by my lifestyle?

Have I abandoned Christ for secular saviors? Do I bury myself in the busy-ness of life and ignore God’s call?

As you pray these novenas for the next 81 days, let this be a time when your personal relationship with Christ blooms and flowers. Our prayer for everyone who takes up these novenas is that their hearts will be open to the reality that Christ is alive and he loves each and every one of us. He gave his life to save us and our societies from sin and oppression. He lives today and is at your side every moment of every day to enlighten, strengthen, and free you. OK, I am paraphrasing Pope Francis here, but I think the point is clear: the journey of justice and peace is a journey with Christ.

If we are to change the world, each of us must begin with himself or herself as we ourselves become the change we wish to see in the world. That change is the fruit of the Spirit that grows from our personal relationship with Christ.

Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin:

Dorothy Day was an early advocate of women’s rights who wrote for radical leftist newspapers in the early years of this century. She was a bohemian as they said in those days — but when she looked in her heart of hearts, she found it empty. By the grace and providence of God, she found our Lord and was baptized into the Catholic Church. Thus began a journey which led to the founding of the Catholic Worker movement, together with Peter Maurin and the other first Workers.

It’s clear from their writings that both Dorothy and Peter experienced a tender and intimate relationship with Christ. This relationship was the source of all that they were able to do for the cause of justice and peace. Dorothy was not a stranger to activism; for years she had struggled in the streets as part of the great social battles of the first years of the 20th century — women’s suffrage, the 40 hour week, the right to join a union, justice for workers.

Peter Maurin, a French peasant who came to the United States via Canada, taught that it was a great blessing to assist the rich in coming to the assistance of the poor. Too often, “never the twain shall meet,” and certainly, in this day and age, communication between the poor and the rich is as bad as it has ever been. Communication requires that each person who wants to be heard and understood must see and hear the “Other” as a human person. It’s not easy, and it takes practice.

The program that Peter and Dorothy offered to the world was direct, personal involvement with other human beings. They called us to open houses of hospitality, to engage in clarification of thought so we would understand what needs to be done, and to found agricultural communities as the seeds of new villages. They believed in the importance of the Eucharist, the Rosary, and many traditional devotions — because their work responded to their lively interior relationship with Christ. They were suspicious of the imperial State. They wanted the Catholic Worker movement to be an organism, not an organization, that drew its strength from the Eucharist and the real presence of Christ in the lives of the workers.

As the United States empire entered a time of great triumph, they called for establishing the seeds of a new society within the “collapsing ruins of the old. ” They taught that the poor should be fed by Christians, not by large government bureaucracies. Peter wrote many “Easy Essays” — short little works, almost poetry in their simplicity, each one packed with intense theological concepts about the human person and how we relate to one another in community. He also reminded us of the nobility — and the necessity — of manual labor (something we’d often like to forget in this day of convenience and instant gratification).

Dorothy and Peter worked to create and live structures of beauty and goodness. In the midst of the slums of New York, they provided hospitality to the poor while working for social justice. They learned that the works of mercy and the works of justice and peace are one and the same, different aspects of the same journey, all going the same direction.

Long before it was a theological mantra, the “preferential option for the poor” was a living reality in the life and work of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. They were informed critics of current events, prophetically looking for the truth in the signs of their times, and finding Jesus in the poor, rejected, and marginalized.

Their example inspires us today to consider how we can ensure fair distribution, subsidiarity, economic opportunity, justice, and food security for everyone everywhere. As we open our eyes, our minds, and our hearts to the Spirit’s guidance, we can discern our response to the signs of these times. We then can see the structures of sin that bind us in poverty and war, and name the demons which oppress us.

We can buy farms and dedicate them for the purpose of raising food for the hungry. We can organize microenterprise co-operatives in every city to provide opportunity for the poor. We can look at our own individual situations, and adopt lifestyles of simplicity and frugality, rejecting the culture of materialistic conspicuous consumption in favor of a life of living simply, that others may simply live. We can minimize our use of fossil fuels and thus remove one of the major causes of war. We can buy our food directly from farmers, and stop funding the destruction of the family farm community. We can discern the cry of the widow and orphan in our own neighborhoods, and be the hands and feet of God in relieving distress and creating justice. We can open our own hearts to the reality of life in Christ, and embrace him as savior and friend.

Dorothy Day used to quote St. Catherine of Sienna — “All the way to heaven is heaven.” May this be our prayer, in Jesus’ holy name.

Caring for Creation

Our act of reparation during this 9 day novena, and going forward, is to pick up trash in a public place. You won’t have to look far, but I think there are extra blessings for picking up trash in low income neighborhoods. Trash is endemic everywhere. It is a sign of our careless attitude towards the gifts of this Earth that God has so freely given us. Much trash is useful — many items can be recycled or repurposed, but often we think only of our selfishness and do not take the time or the care to do the right thing by Creation and reduce our impact on the planet by recycling. Examine your conscience! Do you sin against God’s Creation by your casual attitude towards waste? Now is the time for actual works of penance, which is why we pick up trash in public places.

Courtesy: Bob Waldrop, St. Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House

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(Paulcoholic, back. Thank you for reading and praying. Just a few thoughts of my own, here, on some of the language Bob used, particularly referring to the US as an “empire,” within a pejorative context. Well, it is painful, but the United States IS an Empire. While an Empire in and of itself is not a bad thing, ours is costly. Excessive tax dollars are spent on maintaining a military presence overseas we can hardly afford; money that could be spent domestically on infrastructure, healthcare, education and other things. In my thinking, there is little reason why we should still be maintaining military bases in Europe. They can potentially defend themselves. NATO served its purpose as the defense of the West against any potential Soviet/Warsaw Pact invasion; after the fall of the Communist alliance NATO should have been mothballed and the European nations taken upon themselves some form of collective defense, if needed. While engaging in military action against terrorists might have seemed a good idea in the early 00s, in reality continued action in the Middle East has only served to create more terrorists. I’m uncertain as to the solution, but the way things are going there and domestically, I think we should cut our losses and our troops recalled. )

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!!)

Back to Mass!

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This next Sunday I get to go to Mass again! With the recent alleviation of COVID-19 cases, restrictions on public gatherings have lessened and the local Bishop has lifted most objections on Mass attendance. Social distancing must be maintained, a cap of total number of attendees is still in place and the Mass obligation is still lifted. Those who are sick or who still feel uncertain about their safety can still remain home and watch streamed Masses.

Not me. Technically I can use “feeling uncertain about safety” as an excuse as I am susceptible to COVID-19. But my Mass is a lightly attended TLM in the best of times so I’m saddlin’ up and goin’ in.

It is the External Solemnity of Corpus Christi. (“External” as in the Solemnity is actually today, the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, but where it isn’t observed as such it is transferred to the following Sunday.)

Whatever. I’m going to Mass! I’m going to Mass!! I’m going to Mass!!! I’m going to Mass!!!!

It’s been three months…. No Eucharist….  Palm Sunday missed…. Easter Sunday missed….Divine Mercy Sunday missed… Ascension… Pentecost… Trinity Sunday. We’ve taken hits.

Now that we know what we’ve been missing, perhaps we can appreciate it more and become more faithful, observant, and orthodox Catholics.

 

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!!)

If you can read this, then I am still blogging!

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The domain name registration for our blogs (this one, another I barely use, and my wife’s site) became due a week ago and without hesitation we paid for another year. I really should blog more. I know I’ve said that in the past about 89,621 times, and have apologized 64,229 times for not doing so, and have announced schemes plans 95,628 times for “blogging more.” I short, I do like it, and perhaps I should be just content with sticking it out and blogging the handful of times a month I do and let that be that.

It’s not as if there’s nothing to blog about, with plenty of “prompts” to do just that, such as the Liturgical Year, including devotional times, saint’s feast days and such (which I have made ample use of in years past.) There’s the apocalyptic times in which we live  replete with possible societal collapse, and how to pray and cope with all that; the very possibility that we could be on the receiving end of a Divine Chastisement! Lots of stuff! There is even tech to assist with that, such as calendars and notifications, reminders, blogging, writing and notetaking software!

Tools everywhere. Sigh.

The purpose of this post? None, whatsoever. Just checking in, I suppose. 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!!)

Willing to be ridiculous to obtain the miraculous.

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I tried posting this on LinkedIn either as a stand alone post or a profile description, but it exceeds the maximum length for either. Then I remembered that I have two blogs and so I decided to make use of them for this personal matter. The post title is an allusion to a famous quote of Mother Angelica, the Foundress of EWTN. She said, “Unless you are willing to do the ridiculous, God will not do the miraculous. When you have God, you don’t have to know everything about it; you just do it.” This kind of post sounds ridiculous, and proper people with proper concerns about proper appearances probably wouldn’t bother, but I am looking for the miraculous, and so be it. (However, I know quite a bunch about what I’m looking for, so there’s that…)

In this time of pandemic, with the relevant health concerns, (or scares, depending upon your POV) I am considering a career change. I hinted at my day job on a prior LinkedIn profile description (now edited out in favor of the current transitional one) but I would now like something different. What have I done for a living? Nice that you should ask: I am currently laid-off (due to the pandemic) from a thrift store chain where I received used goods at an outdoor remote donation center. What was a temporary job “until something better came along” has endured for over six years now. So, loyalty and perseverance are expressed character traits! I found that I actually enjoyed the work, hard as it was at times given the need to work in all types of weather and dealing with all types of individuals. I found the diversity of people and their offerings interesting, especially when they talked and told stories about themselves or their goods. I’d often wonder about the history of unusual or odd donations. Also, during periods in between receiving and sorting/stocking duties I found plenty of time to read and think, which assisted my enduring for 6 years. I even got a great idea for a novel which I have been puttering with.

My company is considering reopening next week (June 1st) in an upcoming “Phase.” Although I do welcome the opportunity to return, I have also enjoyed staying safe at home these past few months. I have health concerns which render me susceptible to COVID-19, although my health care professionals think I’ll survive. But given the impermanence of unemployment insurance, generous though it is, work is a need for personal dignity, economic sustainability and independence. I find myself wanting something that can make better use of my past professional, academic and general life-skills. And thus I am pursuing a career-change. I am seeking a remote (telework, “work-at-home”) position in what might variously be called “content creation,” or “copywriting” or “copyediting,” in other words, you have a site or product that needs words, well, I got loads of ’em and I know how to use them, too! Another position that I would be interested in is chat-based customer service. After completing training on your company’s products and services and assimilating appropriate knowledge, I can serve customers who have issues and problems in a chat interface. (I prefer the written word to the spoken.) I use a Mac, hopefully this is not an impediment to any proprietary software.

If you’re interested, or have job leads, or even advice and prayers, please email me at the addresses found here: MY CONTACT INFO. You can also reach me through LinkedIn; my profile is Paul Sofranko on LinkedIn. There is also this “About Me” page on my other blog. I am diligent, loyal, and possess a great work ethic. Salary is negotiable, I’d prefer flexible hours, or if fixed hours, then afternoons through evenings (i.e. “second shift.”) I am looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you for considering me, I do appreciate any interest.

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!!)

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A sudden inspiration regarding forgiveness

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While praying this morning a sudden thought occurred to me regarding the concept of forgiveness. I do not recall by now where I was in my Morning Prayers and what triggered the thought. It doesn’t matter, really.

I have struggled with forgiveness quite a lot over the years; what it means, do you ‘feel anything,’ does it ‘take’ or do you have to forgive the aggressors or antagonists again and again if the feelings and resentments still oppress you.

My struggles with forgiveness stem primarily from the treatment that I was subjected to by my blood family, mostly siblings, in the aftermath of my Mom’s death in 2005. I won’t go into details about what they did, but it all made me consider suicide. I actually drove about my home county looking for a cliff or ravine I could drive off. I don’t recall why I settled upon that method of demise, but I was spared by a phone call from my pastor which alleviated some core issues.

So, back to the topic of forgiveness. Simply, what is it and what does it mean? Simply put, in my inspiration this morning, it means that…

…you no longer desire for those who have trespassed against you to be punished for their crimes. 

That’s it. No vengeance against them, no reconciliation with them, no alleviation or elimination of your feelings or resentments, no psychological process to cut off your emotional connection to the events that caused you suffering (nice, if you can do that and it works, but not necessary) no desiring their eternal damnation or even considerable time in Purgatory. You simply do not want them to suffer punishment for their actions against you.

That’s all. They wronged you, they hurt you even to the point of despair and possible suicide, and whatever else… it is no matter. Despite what they did, you just do not desire them to suffer for their crimes. At all.

Perhaps they’ll be punished for it someday. But you won’t be the agent of it, for be assured that God knows what they did and unless they repent and have remorse for their actions they will suffer for it.

Romans 12:19 “Do not defend yourselves, dearest ones. Instead, step aside from wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is mine. I shall give retribution, says the Lord.””

Luke 11:4 “And forgive us our sins, since we also forgive all who are indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”

Courtesy: Sacred Bible: Catholic Public Domain Version

We see from those two Scripture passages that vengeance is reserved to the Lord alone and that our sins are forgiven if we forgive those who have sinned against us. Want forgiveness? Be forgiving. Leave it up to God what to do about those who have harmed you.

As a concluding note: Perhaps they can even let you know in some way that they’re sorry, and would like to make amends. That would be nice. An email, message through Facebook, an actual snail mail letter. Whatever. Some satisfaction, assuming they’re humble and compassionate enough to reach out to you. “I’m sorry, Paul, for hurting you so much. I’m sorry I made your grief worse; that what we did to you was like rubbing salt in a fresh wound. I’m sorry for driving you to consider suicide. I’m sorry for not coming to your aid against the one who was primarily responsible for your pain and despair. I’m sorry for not being there. I’m sorry you were so alone and abandoned…” Yeah, that would be nice. Don’t hang too many hopes on it happening, it may be best to just let it go.

I looked up “Forgiveness” in the search engine for this blog, found many posts but these seemed most interesting for today:

Reconciliation and Forgiveness

Forgiveness and the Adversary

Or there’s the post archive (warning, there IS A LOT): Forgiveness post archives 

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!!)

Why I prefer the Latin Mass

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The weather this weekend where I live is abominable and to make sure I made my Sunday Mass obligation I attended a Vigil Mass in the Ordinary Rite (the Mass that is the most common and is everywhere. The Mass in the local language). The weather proved difficult on Sunday and thus I stayed home, missing my Mass in the Extraordinary Form (The Traditional Latin Mass.) I watched it online, streaming from St. Mary’s of Pine Bluff, WI.

I missed going in person. The “New Mass” doesn’t do it for me. I’ve long thought about why. I won’t go into the transcendence or the beauty or history or any of that. That’s better written elsewhere on blogs devoted to liturgy. My reasons for preferring it are all those mystical, wondrous reasons plus a few more ordinary ones.

Mainly, it’s more reflective of how I pray in the home. I do have a fairly hefty prayer life. By no means is this intended to be boastful, but my morning prayers take 60-90 minutes. Not so long in the evening, maybe 15 or so. I recite the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary (a pre-Vatican II version, dating from the early 20th Century) as well as the Liturgy of the Hours. Add to those a few prayers from the Militia of the Immaculata Prayer Book and Mother Angelica’s Prayer Book as well as some other odds and ends.

These all steep me into some pretty deep prayers and meditations. When I attend and pray the Latin Mass, I am connected to that. When I say my morning prayers, I am reminded of the Latin Mass. The two reinforce each other, which is as I think it should be.

The “New Mass” seems too trite and watered-down. I have witnessed exceptions to this. These exceptions all involved priests and altar servers who obviously understood that Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is Truly Present in the sanctuary; Really Present – Body, Blood Soul and Divinity in the Eucharist and they comported themselves in a manner acknowledging this reality. For too many other times it seems as if the priest and servers and other laity in the sanctuary just think the Eucharist is a symbol. Or perhaps they thinks He’s the hippy Jesus that “understands and accepts” everything and is cool with things. They do not appear to behave in a manner consistent with the belief that the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Who is the Just Judge (and King of Mercy) is there. With them. Watching.

Also, when I’m at the Latin Mass, I feel that there is something mysterious going on. Some supernatural religious ritual enshrouded in mystery and antiquity is happening, I don’t fully grasp what is going on, but that’s all right. I don’t think I should because this is something greater than me. And we need mystery in our lives.

Kind of sad when you think your personal prayer life is more substantive and reverential than the common Mass.

Anyway, not that anyone’s asked, but that is why I prefer the Latin Mass.

See also: Spiritual Progression, Latin style and This Side of Paradise

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!!)

WordPress app test post

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This is a test. This is a test of a new (to me) posting system. For the next few lines this post will be written by yours truly using the WordPress smartphone app. It’s a handy little thing that I can use to post to this blog and my other one on In Exile. I’ve already used the desktop version for quite a while; it’s great, from one piece of software you can post and manage everything for multiple blogs. You are also able to follow many other blogs using the included “Reader.” Commenting on other people’s WordPress blogs is also possible.

WordPress can be almost like another social network.

This might mean that I can post more often; for many times I just don’t feel like firing up the laptop but the phone is always on. We’ll see!

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!!)

Paulie X; or “Get your recovery where you can.”

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“Get your recovery where you can” is an odd title, but it’s a very accurate description of my methods in maintaining my sobriety these seventeen years. It basically means just that: as I am reading or watching something, I have a tendency to try and glean something useful from it to help my sobriety. (The ‘Paulie X’ part is inferred later.)

You can find something valuable almost anywhere. TV shows, for instance. Three episodes of two different TV series have been critical in helping me maintain that sobriety. NONE of them are related to recovery; they weren’t non-fiction health shows or even religious and spiritual programs on EWTN, for example.

They are two Star Trek series and Babylon 5. Yes, science-fiction TV dramas.

I have had this blog post in mind for quite a while, but something happened the other day while watching a Star Trek episode that finally caused me to write it now.

I am a Trekkie (an avid fan of the whole Star Trek franchise.) I’ve watched it from the early 1970’s, so for about 45 years. Not too much in the past decade or so for reasons unimportant, but last week I ordered and recieved the “Complete Series” DVD collection for the Original Star Trek series; the “Classic” one, featuring the interstellar adventures of Capt. Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy and others on the Starship USS Enterprise, (“NCC-1701. No bloody A, B, C, or D”.) And so I started watching the episodes in the order presented in the collection. I hadn’t see these in perhaps fifteen years. It was like getting reacquanted with old friends, absent from your life since forever. (I had seen these episodes probably dozens of times over previous decades. Down to quoting whole parts and winning Star Trek trivia contests.)

I got to the episode entitled “Charlie X.” In that episode, “the Enterprise takes seventeen-year-old Charles Evans aboard for transport after he spent fourteen years alone on a deserted planet, but his inability to reintegrate with his fellow Humans is compounded by his very un-Human powers.” (Information courtesy Memory Alpha.)

Many of us who are alcoholics and addicts have poor social skills. Even after a period of sobriety, we may be a little odd. But Charles Evans had never been socialized, at all. He only had computer tapes and non-human incorporeal beings to talk to. No real information on how to properly interact with others of his own species.

This causes problems, exacerbated by the “super” powers the aliens had given him to survive.

In short, Charlie is a self-centered, egotistical jerk who thinks that needs and wants are identical, and his immediate gratification needs are paramount.

There are numerous scenes which illustrate this, and the growing conflict with the crew a consequence. One such scene is a chess game between Charlie and Mr. Spock, the logical-by-culture science officer and Enterprise second-in-command.

Charlie wanders in the rec room just when Captain Kirk defeats Spock in a game; Charlie asks to play and Kirk leaves him to Spock. Play begins and Spock defeats Charlie in two moves. Charlie initially denies having been checkmated, but the result is obvious and Spock leaves. Charlie studies the game boards and realizes that, indeed, he has lost. In anger he uses his powers to melt the pieces he played with.

This reached right inside me where it matters most and I saw myself melting those chess pieces.

What?

You see, one of my character defects (and I still have very many) is that inanimate objects really yank my scapulars when they don’t do what I want them to do. This has been for quite a while; back in the day when I was an AA meeting-goer I mentioned it; people thought it quaint. (I usually referred to the defect in humorous terms.) I also personalize it, as if the inanimate object is ticking me off intentionally, like it has a will of its own. (Electronic and mechanical devices are particular offenders. Don’t get me going about touch screens.)

Stupid, huh?

At times I do get seriously irritated when this happens (the inanimate objects’ refusal to cooperate, not my reaction). Once in a while I give the object a murderous look, as if I wanted to melt the thing with the sheer force of my anger.

That’s when I saw myself as Charlie X, in the chess piece melting scene. “Oh, my, gosh…”  I thought. I can relate to that.

The ego, immaturity, selfishness, the stupidity…

The silliness, too. I mean, really. Stuff just doesn’t work right sometimes. Or you’re using it wrong. Or gremlins…

Anyway, this whole experience had the impact of me witnessing something from an objective point of view. You see someone else exhibit bad behaviour that you’re guilty of and you see how ridiculous or wrong it is.

And so for the past few days whenever I feel like I want to melt something with my eyeballs, I grab hold of myself and mutter “Charlie X, remember Charlie X…”

Silly, yes, and it’s only been a few days; but so far, so good. Mostly. Realization-and-reaction-times are off once in a while. (By “realization-and-reaction-times” I mean the times when you realize you’re doing something wrong and your reaction – i.e. “self-control” – kicks in.)

So that’s that. Paulie X.

Oh, I mentioned that there are three episodes of two series. The others are “Emmisary,” from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and “Passing Through Gethsemane,” from Babylon 5. You’ll have to wait a little, maybe later this week.

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!!)

Soberversary! Seventeen years sober, today.

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Today I achieved my seventeenth year of sobriety. That’s One Day At A Time repeated 6,209 times.

A certain Twelve Step movement helped a lot at first; but I credit my endurance to Our Lord and Saviour’s Church, the Holy Catholic Church and to His Most Holy Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. I think a few saints assisted along the way, too.

That’s all. No major revelations. “If I can manage to become sober, so can anyone.”

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!!)

Signal grace from St. Rita of Cascia

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A “signal grace” is a free gift from God (grace) that is extraordinary in nature and evident in some manner (signal). It may be a visible sign or deep interior feeling that a prayer has been answered or a direction you’ve been seeking has been given. Another name for signal grace is “God-incidence,” a play on “coincidence” as with God there are none, because God actually works in that mysterious intersection where seemingly unrelated events in space and time meet up.

Well, I received one of those signal graces today.

Almost every day I stop off at my territorial parish and pray for a few minutes in front of the Blessed Sacrament. I’m blessed that He is Really, Truly, Present: Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity just a couple of miles away. Anyway, this morning I wander in and see this by the side entrance:
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…a painting of St. Rita of Cascia. She is important to me in that her feast day, May 22nd, is also my sobriety date. This year will mark my 17th year sober. Just have to make it another thirteen days. 😉 I’ve written about her before: St. Rita of Cascia, Patroness of Lost Causes

Near this side entrance is a table where people can leave things for others to have. Usually the items are books, sometimes statues or prayer cards and other Catholicy things. Today, however, were a few paintings and posters. I saw St. Rita and went “Wow. MINE!” Although just to be sure that I could take it I hunted down someone with reasonably appropriate authority to give and found the nun who runs the social justice ministries. I figured she was official enough, so I asked her and she said “Yeah, take it. All that stuff out there is free.” I already knew that but this, to me, was a major haul and I had to check.

OK, so by now you’re asking, “That’s wonderful, Paulcoholic, but how is a beautiful painting of St. Rita of Cascia a signal grace? And could you get to a point?” Well, yes I am. Please read on…

I have been wondering a lot recently about life; (actually, my life has been consumed by this “wondering about life”) and where mine is going. I spent part of last night tossing about in bed wondering… I like to write or blog or whatever it is when you put words on paper or screen for others to read. Thing is, I don’t do it as often as you’d think I would. So, it got me to thinking, “Was it all just ego? Pride? Oh, look at me and read my thoughts?” I have been working on fiction off and on over the past 5 years, somewhat steadily (by my terms 😉 ) compared to prior eras but the novel is nowhere near being finished. I like working on it though; I love the characters and sometimes they go for rides in the car with me and we talk (Um, all righty…..) but seriously, the odds of it getting completed are somewhat low. But I might surprise myself. Or maybe not. Could it have all been a deception by Satan to keep me from doing better things? Or is it me with a discipline issue? Or, maybe the discipline issue was God’s way of keeping me from writing and publishing junk that I’d disown now since my reversion to the Catholic Church in 2002? Because the stuff I was working on back in the ’80s and ’90s was crap, no evidence of Faith (when I even had it) or a decent moral conviction. But mostly crap. So it might not have been a bad thing to be a slacker then as the stuff went unpublished or unfinished. Besides, I got material from slackerdom for writing when I did it later. BUT, since my reversion in ’02, and my desire to become a Catholic writer, one needs to know more about the Faith in order to be a good Catholic writer, and that takes time and maturation. So, my slowness in getting the novel written is actually all about me spending time learning more about the Faith, in order to write a better Catholic novel. Because I do read a lot. Or maybe that’s all hogwash and I’m just a lazy slacker, no matter how you slice it and reading is just an reputable way to be a slacker. But, see, I couldn’t be…. And then there’s…

See? This is what goes on in my brain. You would never want to take a stroll in there.

So, while tossing and turning in bed last night I was going over all this. All the reasons why I shouldn’t give up the whole fiction thing, (’cause I’ve been working on that most years since high school, I can’t give up now. Except for when I was drinking; then I stopped. You see, the stereotype is that writers drink a lot, as it’s a lonely profession or you get inspiration. But not me, I didn’t drink when I was writing and when I started drinking I gave up writing. I can’t even do that right.) Where was I? Oh, …Why I should try and do both it and blogging, or maybe just blunder along and be dissatisfied with both and give credence to the voices in my head.

And then I saw St. Rita this morning. And I thought, (right after going “Wow. MINE!) “OK, so I should focus on the blogging, after all St. Rita’s feast day is also my sobriety date, and she is the patroness of lost causes, and boy-oh-boy am I one. She ties it all together. After all, perhaps God gave me way back when the whole ‘like to write or blog or whatever it is when you put words on paper or screen for others to read’ so that after I stop drinking years later and sober up, I’d have sufficient skills to write a moderately enjoyable and reasonable blog on how the Catholic Faith can help maintain sobriety. The fiction could be just a hobby, or therapy. Maybe if that’s God’s will, too, it’ll get done somehow.” (yeah, like if I get a chunk load of money and can retire and scribble full time, yeah…)

I’ll have to mull this over (NO!!! IT’S A SIGNAL GRACE, YOU MORON; THERE’S NOTHING TO MULL OVER!). So, OK, now there’s certitude about things. I’m supposed to do this thing at SoberCatholic. “Blogging” is how my “writing” career will come to fruition. It’s not like all plans work out the way you intended. And sometimes write fiction, whenever, but not stress over it; if stuff gets finished, stuff’ll get finished. And from this some degree of confidence infuses other things in life. And I can still read a lot.

Perhaps this is a part of all that Divine Mercy stuff about “Jesus, I Trust in You,” and confidence in Divine Providence. TRUST, and He’ll let you in in things when you ask…

Here’s a close 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!!)