Category Archives: Meditations

Sacred Heart

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Various months of the year have different themes or devotions. June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. (May, incidentally, is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and I blew it in not talking about it. I’ll make up for it over time. This blog is still new and wobbly.)

The Sacred Heart of Jesus has special significance to sober alcoholics, especially to those who are familiar with AA. If you know your AA history, back in its early days one of the co-founders of the movement, Dr. Bob Smith, was greatly assisted in his treatment of alcoholics by a Catholic nun by the name of Sister Mary Ignatia Gavin, an administrator of St. Thomas Hospital in Akron, Ohio. After an alcoholic completed his stay at the hospital, Sister Ignatia would “award” him with a Sacred Heart Badge, sort of a “graduation” gift, I suppose. This eventually developed into the practice of AA’s recieving medallions or coins representing whatever sobriety anniversary they were celebrating. This is detailed in the book Sister Ignatia: Angel of Alcoholics Anonymous, 2nd Ed., by Mary C. Darrah; Hazelden Pittman Archives Press; 2001 (ISBN 1-56838-746-6. Probably available through Amazon, or Hazelden)

Anyway, the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is one of the oldest and most Catholic of devotions, next to the rosary. Quite simply it is a devotion concerning a person’s healing and also reparation for sins committed against Jesus.

The “Litany to the Sacred Heart of Jesus” illustrates the nature and meaning of the devotion. A litany is a Catholic prayer in which an individual prayerfully repeats various titles or invocations of God, Mary, or a Saint. The idea is that it will “tune” your heart and mind to the virtues of the prayer.

Litany of the Sacred Heart

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mother, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, substantially united to the Word of God, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, of Infinite Majesty, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Sacred Temple of God, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Tabernacle of the Most High, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, House of God and Gate of Heaven, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, burning furnace of charity, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, abode of justice and love, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, in whom dwells the fullness of divinity, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, in the Father was well pleased, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, desire of everlasting life, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, patient and most merciful, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, enriching all who invoke you, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, fountain of life and holiness, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, loaded down with opprobrium, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, bruised for our offenses, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, obedient to death, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, source of consolation, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, victim for our sins, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, salvation for those who trust in you, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, hope of those who die in you, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, delight of all the saints, have mercy on us.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

V. Jesus, meek and humble of heart,
R. Make our own heats like yours,

Let us pray. Almighty and eternal God, look upon the heart of Your most beloved Son and upon the praises and satisfaction which he offers You in the name of sinners; and to those who implore Your mercy, in Your great goodness, grant forgiveness in the name of the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with Your forever and ever. Amen.

(Thanks to the Sacred Heart website.)

Say the prayer slowly and meditatively. Think about each of the invocations (the parts immediately before “have mercy on us”) and ponder their meaning to you. Allow them to help you grow spiritually.

The Sacred Heart is about Love.

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!!)

Human + Being

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We are Human Beings. This means that we possess two halves to our existence. We are “human”, that is, we possess a physical body; and we are a “being”, something that connotes more than mere physical existence and behavior. We have a spiritual side.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, the “CCC”, teaches us: (There’s a link to the CCC in in the sidebar. The numbers are the paragraphs, like the Bible is divided into Book/Chapter/Verse for easy reference, you can find things in the CCC by paragraph numbers)

362
The human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once corporeal and spiritual. The biblical account expresses this reality in symbolic LANGUAGE when it affirms that “then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” Man, whole and entire, is therefore willed by God.

363
In Sacred Scripture the term “soul” often refers to human life or the entire human person. But “soul” also refers to the innermost aspect of man, that which is of greatest value in him, that by which he is most especially in God’s image: “soul” signifies the spiritual principle in man.

365
The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the “form” of the body: i.e., it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature.

367
Sometimes the soul is distinguished from the spirit: St. Paul for instance prays that God may sanctify his people “wholly,” with “spirit and soul and body” kept sound and blameless at the Lord’s coming. The Church teaches that this distinction does not introduce a duality into the soul. “Spirit” signifies that from creation man is ordered to a supernatural end and that his soul can gratuitously be raised beyond all it deserves to communion with God.

Alcohol attacks this mind/body, human/being, body/soul existence. This is why alcohol abuse is evil. We feel more “spiritual” when drinking, but that is the lie and deception that we are poisoned by. The “hole in our soul” that needs to be filled is improperly filled by the illusions of alcohol. We can see by the above quotes from the CCC that we human beings are meant for greater things than what we are promised by alcohol. Alcohol poisons us spiritually at first, then proceeds on to harming us mentally, and then finally we are physically sick. (We generally heal in the reverse order when we stop drinking.)

Focus for a while on the quotes from the CCC. Allow the notion of the body/soul unity to move you away from the mundane.

We are created in the image and likeness of God, and are on a journey back to our Creator.

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!!)

Living in the Spirit: a Meditation on Pentecost

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Alcohol poisons the spirit. A person begins to see alcohol as a conduit of the spirit, and jokes abound as to the wisdom discovered at the bottom of a bottle of tequila. Great insights into the mystique of human existence and divine wonders are often discerned, sensible sounding while under the influence, ridiculously absurd after a sobering up.

Although the physical debilitation of alcoholism is the last aspect of the illness, alcoholism itself can be considered to be primarily a disease of the flesh. The flesh (in Christian terms the “spirit of the World”) desires alcohol because it provides the satisfaction lacking from any other source . One has a “hole in the soul” that seems to be best filled by drinking. The flesh assumes the role of the spirit, and the painful descent further into the illness of alcoholism gets deeper.

The Solemnity of Pentecost is this weekend (26/27 May 2007) and the gifts of the Holy Spirit are available to all who seek them. Pray during Mass this weekend for the strength, the power and the courage of the Holy Spirit to bolster you against temptations of the flesh. Be they a desire to drink, or for inappropriate sexual behavior, or something else sinful, try to rely and lean upon the Holy Spirit in your times of struggle.

St. Paul writes of this in his letter to the Galatians:

Galatians 5:16:

…live by the Spirit and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh.

Living in the Spirit marks you as different. Not necessarily by any means discernible to others, but nevertheless your desires and motivations are different from those who live according to the World’s morality. You are not guided by a need to satisfy the craving for the pleasures of alcohol (or other cravings). You are liberated from the limitations of fleshly desires and the lies that abound concerning the wonders of those ways. Those lies only serve to destroy you. Lies about the fun of alcohol or the pleasures of porn and illicit sex. They all debase the human condition and mar the dignity of the human being. Shun those lies and turn to the Holy Spirit.

We humans are dignified creatures, made in the image and likeness of our Creator. We deserve better than behavior and thinking that impugns that dignity.

From EWTN:

Come, Holy Spirit

(In English)

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love.

V. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created.
R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray. O God, Who didst instruct the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise, and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

(In Latin)

Veni, Sancte Spiritus, reple tuorum corda fidelium: et tui amoris in eis ignem accende.

V. Emitte Spiritum tuum, et creabuntur.
R. Et renovabis faciem terrae.

Oremus. Deus, qui corda fidelium Sancti Spiritus illustratione docuisti: da nobis in eodem Spiritu recta sapere; et de eius semper consolatione gaudere. Per Christum Dominum nostrum.

Amen.

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!!)

Lighting the darkness

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The recent posts of mine in the “Daily Wisdom Dose” project reminded me of a couple of verses from Psalms that have helped me innumerable times:

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.

The progression of the psalmist’s prayer is gradual and beautiful, making it relatively easy to memorize.

The lighting of my lamp, coming from God, brightens the darkness about me. Perhaps growing in wisdom and understanding is making you see things more clearly, either Divine Truths or just the world as it is?

With the resulting awareness, backed by God, you can now have the strength to undertake any venture. Fear is overcome, it is scattered by illumination. “Leap a wall”: any obstacle, whether it’s a serious difficulty or just interior demons haunting you, telling you that you will fail, can be surmounted.

Take the time to memorize this verse, ponder its meaning and say it to yourself the next time you are pining away for a drink, or facing something that caused you to drink in the past.

The obstacle is diminished.

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!!)

Fear of the Lord

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Today’s Daily Wisdom Dose:

This is the introduction to the Book of Proverbs (Chapter 1:1-6):

The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel:

That men may appreciate wisdom and discipline, may understand words of intelligence;
May receive training in wise conduct, in what is right, just and honest;
That resourcefulness may be imparted to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man by hearing them will advance in learning, an intelligent man will gain sound guidance,
That he may comprehend proverb and parable, the words of the wise and their riddles.

Now, for the actual dose (Proverbs 1:7):

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; wisdom and instruction fools despise.

“Fear” doesn’t mean cowering in terror, it means the proper reverential respect due to God, recognizing His supreme sovereignty over the Universe and your life. Starting out from this necessary act of humility, you are now open to receiving God’s wisdom and inspirations. Your human self and its attachment to things of the world, no longer get in the way. Excess attachment to the self and satisfying its worldly desires blocks off the streams of God’s grace. It is through His grace that we grow spiritually and are better able to accept the commitments and obligations of Christianity. And subsequently, we are able to grow stronger in our sobriety as we cast off (or better cope with) our human weaknesses. We see them in light of God’s plan for us, and we adjust and adapt to our circumstances. We are stronger, and fear less as we know we are continuing to walk with God.

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!!)

Be sober and vigilant

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There was a recent reading in the Liturgy of the Hours (a daily prayerbook used along with the liturgical season, there’s a big link above the posting area that takes you to Universalis, where they explain the LOTH) that I like.

1 Peter 5:8-9 Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for (someone) to devour. Resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing that your fellow believers throughout the world undergo the same sufferings.

The “sober” doesn’t refer to “not drinking” or a “state of sobriety”, it means to be clear and emotionally level-headed, the better to be vigilant about what is going on about you. But nevertheless, I cannot read the word “sober” without thinking of “not drinking” and how to keep to it. “Avocational hazard”, I suppose.

Anyway, there follows a warning that the devil is also vigilant, constantly on the prowl looking for victims to devour. All Satan needs is a weakness, a lack-of-resolve in your Faith that he can use to exploit.

I’ve written before about how easy that can happen. One needn’t relapse when the alcohol goes down your throat. The relapse happens before the actual event. Once the thought process starts that accepts the safety of drinking, that thought needs to be rooted out and tossed on the spiritual compost heap to wither and decay. Otherwise a type of parallel thinking occurs in which the thought of a drink lurks and waits until a vulnerability opens up. This may be the “cunning, baffling and powerful” refrain heard so often in AA meetings about drinking again sneaks up on people. This is mentioned in AA’s basic text: Alcoholics Anonymous in the chapter entitled “More About Alcoholism” (page 37) “But there is always the curious mental phenomenon that parallel with our sound reasoning there inevitably ran some insanely trivial excuse for taking the first drink. Our sound reasoning failed to hold us in check. The insane idea won out.” In the last paragraph in that same chapter: (page 43)“The alcoholic at certain times has no effective mental defense against the first drink. Except in a few rare cases, neither he nor any other human being can provide such a defense.” It concludes with the declaration that such defense must come from a “Higher Power”, and from the perspective of this blog, that HP is God.

God can provide the effective mental defense against drinking, if you turn your reliance on alcohol to solve things over to Him. Make your Faith your automatic reaction for when things go bad. Jesus is there for you, if you’re Catholic He’s accessible directly through the Eucharist, either in receiving Holy Communion or in Adoration. You can also go to confession and receive powerful graces from that sacrament. Being steadfast in your faith offers a strong resistance to the temptations of the Devil.

And Satan exists. It is said that Satan’s greatest victory these past few centuries is the growing conviction that he’s a medieval Catholic fairy tale, and therefore doesn’t exist. For if he doesn’t exist, why do you need any defense against him? He exists, and the Faith is your only weapon.

Be steadfast.

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!!)

Solemnity of the Annunciation, Part 2 (On Humility)

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In the previous post I started out by discussing the Annunciation, and the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary that relates to it. Now, I’ll conclude with a bit on what actually was announced.

An angel appeared to Mary and told her that she was to bear a child and that He will be the Messiah, the Son of God. OK, now here we get into the whole thing about humility.

We are basically saying that God, the creator of the Universe, from the largest galactic super cluster and all the trillions of stars, down to the smallest subatomic particle, and everything in between, was going to be born into humanity. As a baby.

Think about that.

Why? Not about the thinking part, but why as a baby?

Because God wanted to teach us about humility. He became born into humanity so that He can eventually die for us, thus paying the price for our Original Sin. The only other way for its price to be paid would be our extinction as a species. The Original Sin was the Fall of Adam and Eve as told in Genesis, Chapter 3. What exactly happened is unknown, it probably wasn’t literally Satan posing as a talking snake conning some naked lady into the idea that if she and her husband ate an apple then they would be like God and possess His wisdom. But something occurred that convinced our Original Parents that they could find fulfillment outside of God’s will. That they could be like God and determine for themselves what is right and what is wrong. That is Pride, the opposite of humility. And such an evil thing was this expession of pride that we almost died as a species.

For God to teach us this lesson on humility, along with redeeming us for our sin of pride, He bacame a little baby.

He could have come down from Heaven as a mighty force laying waste to enemies of His will, but that would serve no teaching purpose. Humility is learned.

You learn humility by being humbled. By accepting little humiliations and getting stronger as a result.

By these ways we learn that humility is accepting reality for what it is, adjusting your life to that reality, and being content with the result.

We can accept all that more easily by thinking about the result of the Annunciation (the birth of Jesus nine months later). If the God of the Universe can incarnate (become flesh, as opposed to remaining a Spirit) Himself as a baby, and suffer all sorts of indignities as a part of His human-ness, then who are we to complain about the ordinaries of daily living? Of course, He was God, and knew it, and therefore probably had superior coping mechanisms, but He was fully human, and still suffered the ordinaries of being human. Exactly how this is so is a puzzle not comprehended by 20 centuries of Christians, but it was so.

Meditate on this next time you have a lousy day. Like I said at the end of Part 1, stuff like this keeps you sober. It also brings you closer to God.

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!!)

Symbolism and Spirituality of Cleaning

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There is an inherent symbolic and spiritual aspect of cleaning.

Think about it.

Whether it’s dishes or laundry, you have a stack or pile of stuff that’s dirty. You submit them to a cleansing process and afterwards they are clean, free of anything and everything that soiled or dirtied them before.

Sort of like our souls before and after sacramental Confession. The graces of God that flow to us through the priest cleanse our souls, and make us as new as the day of our baptism.

There is also a therapeutic side to cleaning. You can mentally force a symbolism onto things laying about in a messy residence, weeds in a garden, or the pile of dirty clothes and stack of dishes. Each item that needs to be removed or cleaned off can represent a resentment, an envy or anger, or something bad that disconnects us from God and others. Imagine the resentment going away as things get more organized. As you forgive.

Thinking of cleaning in this manner is somewhat better than regarding it as a chore or drudgery.

Anyone that knows me is aware of a connection between my state of life and how well the apartment looks.

I’ve been doing a lot of cleaning and organizing lately.

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!!)

A whole lot of forgiving going on

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In the Gospel from today’s Mass, Peter poses a question:

Matthew 18:21-22

Then Peter approaching asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.”

Jesus then goes on with the parable of the servant who was to be sold along with wife and family and possessions to pay off a debt, then begged and received forgiveness. In turn, this same servant failed to show the same leniency in forgiving a debt that he was owed. He paid for his lack of forgiveness. (Read the full Gospel reading at Matthew 18:21-35.)

What does this mean for us sober alcoholics? Quite simple, as we have made amendments to God and to others for our past wrongdoings and have sought and perhaps received forgiveness, so must we show forgiveness to others for their transgressions against us.

In cruder terms, we screw-ups generally recognize such behavior in others and should be more forgiving of it. We’ve been there, we’ve done that. How can we, of all people, sit in judgment of others?

As Christians, we can judge another’s behavior to a degree, but we cannot judge the person. In judging another’s actions, we must be charitable and understanding of that person’s dignity as a child of God. We do not tolerate and condone sinful behavior, we just retain awareness that we also were gravely sinful, and caution others in a loving manner of what we see as a wrong.

We sinned. We’ve asked forgiveness. We’ve received it. Others sin against us, and whether they ask for it or not, we forgive them. This cuts the bond that the trangression holds over us. As the servant in the parable failed to forgive the debt owed to him, and as a result was sent to prison to be tortured for his treatment of the other servant, so too, will our lack of forgiveness be like a prison of torture for us, as long as we hold onto the resentment over the action.

It goes deeper. In the Lord’s Prayer, also known as the “Our Father”, which is said at the end of many AA meetings in North America, there are the words: “…forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

In other words, there is more to forgiveness than merely releasing resentment against another. The degree to which we forgive other people is the degree to which we will be forgiven by God. No matter how much we beg forgiveness for ourselves, if we lack forgiveness for others, it will be lacking towards us from God.

It is only fair. We want something for ourselves, we should aid others in receiving it.

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 Daily Bread

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Time for another VERT prompt. Owen this time asks his bloggers to write about a book we are reading now, or, a book that helped us come home. For me, that would be My Daily Bread by Anthony J. Paone, SJ; Confraternity of the Precious Blood; Brooklyn, NY; 1954. Still in print, and I’ve seen it in the devotional racks of Catholic bookshops, where prayer books and missals are kept. Major Catholic mail-order catalogs offer it.

It’s a small book, it can be read in one sitting, but I think that it is best if you use it as a daily meditation and read one chapter a day. This would give you time to savor, meditate on, and incorporate each chapter into your spiritual development.

It is divided into 3 parts. “Book One” is “The Way of Purification”, and is subdivided into “Conversion”, “After Conversion” and “Temptation”.

Book Two is “The Way of Imitation”, and is subdivided into “Following Jesus in Daily Life”, “Virtues Leading Directly to God”, “Man’s Relationship with Neighbor and Himself”, and “The Spiritual Combat”

Book Three is “The Way of Union”, and is subdivided into “Union Through the Holy Eucharist” and “Union Throughout the Day.”

The above gives you a very good idea as to the intensity, the scope and breadth of the book. It is intimate. Not as in small, but it takes you deep inside yourself and assists you in starting or continuing your conversion process. If you’ve been Catholic for a long while, it will help you to develop your Catholicism far more seriously, and far more deeply spiritual than it was before.

You will learn about the importance of the interior spiritual life, the need to become closer to God and to be obedient to the authentic teachings and legitimate authority of the Catholic Church, and how this is liberating, and not confining.

The book is basically a boot camp on getting your soul in order. It explains how adopting the proper perspective towards God, the Bible and His Church frees you from the narrow, limiting human way of thinking, which follows the passing fancies of the World. This helps you to understand God, the Bible and the Church better. Too many people approach them from a human point of view, this book helps you to adopt a God-centric perspective (as best as any human can do that).

My Daily Bread was key in my thinking that the Catholic Faith can and should take primacy in maintaining ones’ sobriety. The universality of the Church and Her teachings, along with her primary task of safeguarding the Gospel and Apostolic Truths, are driven home. Much of the Gospel is about healing, and peaceful, proper, holy living. No better textbook.

It was the first step that led me years later to start Sober Catholic.

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!!)