Novena to St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe

Posted on August 5, 2018 by paulcoholic

Today begins a novena to St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe, one of my favorite saints for a myriad of reasons. One of them, and not the primary one, even, is his patronage of addicts.

The following are links to a novena to him I wrote near the time when I began this blog:

The Novena to St. Maximilian Kolbe for Alcoholics and Addicts:

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!!)

Sacred Heart Novena

Posted on May 30, 2018 by paulcoholic

Just a heads up reminder that the Feast of the Sacred Heart is coming up on June 8th, which means that the Sacred Heart Novena has begun. (Either today or tomorrow. As I’ve said before, I can never figure out when a novena begins. I ‘swear’some begin 10 days prior to the date, other 9.) Anyway, the website Pray More Novenas has a great one for you to use. Just click on that link, it’ll take you right to it (they say it begins today.).

Everything I’ve blogged about before, on the Sacred Heart: Sacred Heart Posts Archive

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!!)

Divine Mercy Novena begins on Good Friday

Posted on March 26, 2018 by paulcoholic

Just giving all my readers a heads up that the Divine Mercy Novena begins on Good Friday.

Information on how to pray it is in the link in the first sentence.

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Novena to St. Maximilian Kolbe begins (with updated links to the original)!

Posted on August 6, 2017 by paulcoholic

During Sober Catholic’s inaugural year in 2007, I decided to introduce readers to St. Maximilian Kolbe. He is a patron saint of addicts. Last year, on the 75th anniversary of his martyrdom I wrote this on my other blog In Exile :

“St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe was executed in the Nazi German concentration camp at Auschwitz seventy-five years ago today for being a Catholic priest.

He was a Conventual Franciscan friar and Guardian (leader, administrator) of Niepokalanow, then the world’s largest friary and a major Catholic media center. It is located some distance west of Warsaw, Poland.

He was canonized a saint by the Church in October 1982.

In late July 1941 a prisoner escaped and as was Nazi policy, ten men from that cell block were randomly selected to be sentenced to a starvation bunker until the escapee was found (dead or alive.) In reality, the ten condemned wouldn’t be released at all, regardless of the escapee’s status.

Death by starvation and dehydration is a very slow and very painful way to die. The ten were stripped naked and placed in a cell that measured three meters by three meters (that about 9 feet on a side.)

One of the ten was a Polish Army sergeant by the name of Franciszek Gajowniczek, who, upon being selected, wailed that he was a husband and father and bemoaned the fate of his family. Upon hearing this, Fr. Kolbe stepped out of line, went forward to the commander and offered to take the sergeant’s place.

The Nazi officer was duly astounded. Perhaps taken aback and confused by this act of selfless sacrifice, he accepted Kolbe’s offer and the Gajowniczek was excused. He survived the war.

Over the course of the next few weeks, the ten died, one-by-one. Every day an attendant would go into the cell to retrieve the dead.

Prison guards and camp survivors reported that while there would typically be sounds or rage and anger, of wailing and crying and begging, during the two weeks that Fr. Kolbe was imprisoned in the cell with the others, the sounds were quite different. Hymns were sung. Rosaries said. It was as if Fr. Kolbe had turned the bunker into a chapel. On August 14th, seeing that he was still alive, the Nazis got impatient that he wasn’t dying fast enough and had him injected with carbolic acid.

When he volunteered to take the sergeant’s place, the Nazi asked Fr. Kolbe who he was. His answer?

“I am a Catholic priest.”

This was his identity, it was who he was. He died for being a priest; he died being a priest, ministering to his fellow condemned.

(Image via MI Canada)

Being a priest was enough to have him targeted by the Nazis; however there was more to him than that. For nearly twenty years he published “Knight of the Immaculata,” a monthly magazine dedicated to being the voice of the Militia of the Immaculata movement he founded in 1917 (more on that, later.) This publishing venture, begun in 1922, gradually expanded over the 1920s and ‘30s to include other periodicals and a daily newspaper. Circulation was amongst the largest in pre-WW2 Poland (and significant amongst global circulations, too.) Fr. Kolbe had already launched a shortwave radio station, although it was limited at first to just being on the Amateur bands. He also had plans for a TV station. Expansion of the radio station to non-amateur broadcasting and the TV enterprise were halted by the Nazi and Soviet invasion of September 1939. Fr. Kolbe also had plans for a motion picture studio.

He was “New Evangelization” before anyone else thought of it. If you wish to get the gist of what he did and also what he planned, what Mother Angelica did in Alabama 50 years later is essentially that…”

Sober Catholic has links about him in the sidebar, as here is an Archive of Sober Catholic posts referring to St. Maximilian. Take your time to peruse them, some briefly refer to him, others give pretty good detail about him.

I bring this up as it is also time for the annual Novena to St. Maximilian Kolbe. Technically, it should have begun yesterday so that it would end on the day prior to his feast day of August 14th, but I forgot to post about it. But, beginning it today like I did so that it’ll end on his feast day is all right (in my opinion.) You can say novenas to anyone at any time of the year. It is recommended that they’re said during the “proper time” as you’re adding your intentions to the clouds of prayers rising up to Heaven like incense. But maybe doing you own thing has a better chance of getting the saint’s attention 😉

In 2007 I wrote my own Novena. Here are the links to all nine days (To my horror I discovered that the links were “broken,” directing people to a prior, now defunct version of Sober Catholic. They are now corrected.)

The Novena to St. Maximilian Kolbe for Alcoholics and Addicts:

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Novena to St. Joseph reminder

Posted on March 9, 2016 by paulcoholic

Just a reminder: A feast Day for St. Joseph is coming up on March 19th, meaning a novena through him should start on March 10th or 11th.

EWTN has two nice novenas. See: Novena to St. Joseph and a shorter St. Joseph Novena

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!!)

Fifty-four Day Rosary Novena

Posted on August 15, 2015 by paulcoholic

There is a rather dedicated but powerful novena to Our Lady called the “54 Day Rosary Novena.” There are variations on it with regard to preparatory prayers, but I typically keep it simple and just state the intentions I’m praying for followed by the saying the Rosary.

For the 54 Day Novena, you say 3 nine day Rosary novenas in a row in petition for something (this takes 27 days), folowed by 3 nine day Rosary novenas in a row in thanksgiving for the answer (this takes another 27 days, totalling the 54), regardless of whether or not the petition was granted. It may be granted during the 54 days, or maybe afterwards.

I bring this up because a particularly important time to do this is available. Today is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven, if you begin the 54 day novena today, it will end on the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary on October 7th. There’s got to be some amazing spiritual signifiance for these Marian days to have been placed 54 days apart!

So, begin one today, the first petition novena will end on August 23rd, start the second petition novena on August 24th, and so on.

Pray for anything. Petitions for yourself and your struggles with addiction, petitions for the world and society about you. Whatever, just break out your beads!

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!!)

St. Monica Novena

Posted on August 17, 2014 by paulcoholic

Mike, over at What Does Mike Think?, reminded me that tomorrow, August 18th, is the start of a Novena to St. Monica. She was the mother of St. Augustine. St. Monica is the Patron Saint of “Alcoholics, Married women, Mothers, Wives and Difficult Marriages.”

My friend Number 9, over at Catholic Alcoholic, reports on why she is considered a patron saint of alcoholics:

“Augustine gives only one incident from her youth, obviously relayed to him by Monica herself, of how she was in danger of becoming a wine bibber, but was corrected when her secret sips in the wine cellar were discovered and a maid, in a moment of anger, called her a “drunkard.” This stinging rebuke prompted her to change her behavior and develop perseverance. Perhaps this is why recovering alcoholics are among the many groups who intercede to Saint Monica.”

via Saint Monica: Another Patron Saint for Alcoholics.

I’m thinking that she could also be a patron of those who suffer from someone else’s alcoholism or addiction. How many people have “difficult marriages” due to addiction? She also is most famous for praying for the conversion of her son, St. Augustine, daily for 18 years. How many parents are estranged from their children over alcoholism and addictions? How many children are lost to the seductions of worldly pleasures, as Augustine had been? You get the idea.

St. Monica is most assuredly someone every alcoholic and addict should become acquainted with.

The novena is here: St. Monica Novena.

The site which has the novena is Pray More Novenas, a “Novena Prayer Reminder.” Sign up with an email address for notifications about upcoming novenas and you can participate in them all year round!

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!!)

St. Maximilian Kolbe Novena for Alcoholics and Addicts begins again

Posted on August 5, 2014 by paulcoholic

It is early August and that means that it is trime for the annual novena through St. Maximilian Kolbe for alcoholics and addicts.

It starts August 6th and ends on his Feast day, August 14th. Although some sources begin it today, the 5th.

Here are links to two prior blog posts on the Novena, the first one contains links to all nine days of the novena that I wrote in 2007, the second one is a much shorter one.

St. Maximilian Kolbe Novena for Alcoholics and Addicts (links to all nine days).

St. Maximilian Kolbe Novena for Alcoholics and Addicts (a shorter one).

For the complete archive of Kolbe posts: St. Maximilian Kolbe Archives at Sober Catholic.

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!!)

Venerable Alfred Pampalon, a Patron of Alcoholics and Drug Addicts

Posted on May 18, 2014 by paulcoholic

Last Sunday when my wife and I were in Eucharistic Adoration she found some literature about a Venerable I had never heard of, one Alfred Pampalon. The little novena pamphlet and informational brochure labelled him as a “Patron of Alcoholics and Drug Addicts.”

There was nothing whatsoever in the literature to indicate as to why he might be considered a patron of us alcoholics and addicts save for some anonymous testimonials regarding miraculous cure of addictions.

There is nothing wrong with this, you can pray for the intercession of anyone that you think might be in Heaven, and for any reason. But I like to think that if someone is going to be the patron saint of something, then their life on Earth should be connected to it in some manner. Therefore, in my opinion, the Venerable Matt Talbot is still our guy. Matt was an alcoholic, and lived a Catholic spirituality that foreshadowed the Twelve Steps decades before they were ever conceived. St. Maximilian Kolbe is often considered to be a patron of addicts, and I agree; although he was not an addict or an alcoholic, he was executed at Auschwitz by a lethal injection. (St. Maximilian is a patron of mine, I am a member of his “Militia of the Immaculata,” links for him and the MI are in a linkroll on the left sidebar. I have also blogged before on him, just visit “St. Maximilian Kolbe” in the Post Category drop down menu over on the right.)

By no means am I disregarding the Venerable Alfred Pampalon; we alcoholics and addicts can use every means at our disposal to help us keep clean and sober. If the anonymous testimonials are true, then he is indeed a powerful intercessor for us.

The following link is to a website that contains information similar to what I read in the pamphlets, including a Novena and an intercessory prayer (it will be added to links in the sidebar):

Venerable Alfred Pampalon.

By every indication, the Venerable Alfred Pampalon is a person worthy of further study and emulation. His life was saintly, pious and holy, and we can certainly use more examples like him. So, please visit the link above, as well as do a search of your own for more information.

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 simple and quite possibly powerful Novena to Mary

Posted on April 6, 2014 by paulcoholic

I was thinking of a Novena to say to the Blessed Virgin Mary one day a week ago, and it occurred to me to cleverly combine two ancient and classic prayers. Quite possibly this has happened before, but I do not know of it.

I use as the basic prayer the “Memorare” (first paragraph below, and use as the petition (or intention, whichever term you’d rather use) the “Hail Mary.”

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection,
Implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee,
O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come,
before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful.
O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions,
but in thy mercy hear and answer me.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit
of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now,
and at the hour of death.

Amen.

The Memorare requests her intercession, the Hail Mary is the petition (“pray for us sinners”). I sneak in another small petition immediately after “hour of death.”

Not sure if this is odd, but I’ve been saying it for 8 days already, and feel that the petition has been heard.

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!!)

Sober Catholic

Catholicism, Recovery, Sobriety, Conversion, Prayer, Fasting, Repentance, Penance

Category Archives: Novenas

Novena to St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe

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Sacred Heart Novena

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Divine Mercy Novena begins on Good Friday

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Novena to St. Maximilian Kolbe begins (with updated links to the original)!

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Novena to St. Joseph reminder

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Fifty-four Day Rosary Novena

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St. Monica Novena

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St. Maximilian Kolbe Novena for Alcoholics and Addicts begins again

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Venerable Alfred Pampalon, a Patron of Alcoholics and Drug Addicts

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A simple and quite possibly powerful Novena to Mary

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