Category Archives: Sacred Heart

Announcing a Miraculous 54 Day Rosary Novena for Alcoholism and Addiction Recovery (and other sins!)

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I know Ordinary Time has just begun since the Advent/Christmas season ended with yesterday’s celebration of the Baptism of the Lord. However, I’d like to give you a heads up about a Lenten observance you may be interested in.

Lent begins on March 5th this year. Last year I prayed two successful Miraculous 54 Day Rosary Novenas. So I got to thinking, “Lent is 40 days, Sundays are not counted towards those forty. But if you did add them, that would make it close to 50…which is almost 54 (NOTE: My train of thought sometimes takes a while to build up steam)  hmm, what if I were to count 54 days starting on Ash Wednesday; when would that end?” And so I broke out the 2025 calendar, and starting on March 5 with “1,” I continued until I got to “54” and do you know what day the number 54 fell on? 

DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY!!!!!

I don’t think that’s a coincidence. The very Sunday when the floodgates of God’s unfathomable ocean of Mercy open up and spill out over every sinner who in humility begs for forgiveness  is very day the completion of the Miraculous 54 day Rosary Novena ends! 

Think about that. Are you still trapped in the miseries of alcoholism and drug addiction? Or, do you know someone who is? This may be the perfect time for deliverance from that slavery. And it may not even be for alcoholics and drug addicts. Sex and porn addicts, take comfort! Your deliverance may be at hand! You will be beseeching the Blessed Virgin Mary, the very Mother of Purity, for her intercession to liberate you from lust! How can she not help you?

So, get the word out. Start preparing. Get in the spirit by ramping up your own Rosary devotion. (Need help? There’s this book: The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts) Start working on your examination of conscience. We’re supposed to do that every evening before bedtime (just a review of our day and where we might have offended God or not done His will; but we do a more detailed one just before going to confession. Here’s great guide to Confession, complete with an Examen.) If you are a Twelve Stepper, now’s a good time to do (or repeat) your 4th Step Inventory and find someone to do the 5th Step with.) Try doing the 10th Step throughout your day.

To sum it all up, this Lent of 2025 could be the season when you finally become free of your deepest, darkest character defects. I have loads of things wrong with me, and so I will definitely be doing it.

So, what are the basics of this novena, and is it truly miraculous?

The Miraculous 54-Day Rosary Novena originated in the late 19th century in Naples, Italy, when a young girl suffering from an illness thought to be incurable prayed to Our Lady for help. Mary appeared to her and promised her healing if she prayed three novenas. The girl did so, and was miraculously healed. In a later apparition, Mary specified that the full prayer should have 3 novenas in petition, and 3 novenas in thanksgiving.

How to pray the Novena:

The novena consists of five decades of the Rosary (one set of mysteries) each day for twenty-seven consecutive days in petition; then immediately five decades each day for an additional twenty-seven consecutive days in thanksgiving, regardless of whether or not the request has been granted yet. (This is where faith comes in; you’re thanking the Blessed Virgin and God for granting the request without first wating for it to be granted. That’s gratitude, too.) 

The first day of the novena always begins with the Joyful Mysteries (regardless of what day of the week the novena is started); the second day, the Sorrowful Mysteries are prayed; and the third day of the novena, the Glorious Mysteries are prayed. The fourth day of the novena starts all over with the Joyful, etc. and continues on in that sequence (Joyful-Sorrowful-Glorious) throughout the 54 days of the novena. The Luminous Mysteries aren’t included only because they did not exist when Our Lady taught this novena to the girl.

There are special additional prayers to begin and conclude it during all the days of petition and thanksgiving, as well as at the end of each decade. Please visit these sites for information on how to pray the Miraculous 54 Day Rosary Novena:

THE MIRACULOUS 54-DAY ROSARY NOVENA courtesy of Roman Catholic Man

How to Pray the 54 Day Rosary Novena courtesy of Hallow

FIFTY FOUR DAY NOVENA  (This is a downloadable pdf file; it also has more prayers than the previous two links. I said my two successful ones using the format given by Roman Catholic Man and Hallow.)

Is this novena truly miraculous? I believe so. I think you do have to follow the format provided by the instructions Inlinked to; I’ve said 54 day rosary novenas in tha past without the special petitions, and the results were not what I hoped for. Faith abides. If you are sincere, and if the petitions are in accordance with God’s will for you, then there should be some positive result. A full healing? Perhaps! Just increased strength and determination to recover? Possibly? Doors opened for you to be admitted to a treatment facility? Maybe! How the petitions are answered is up to God but they could very well include a complete remission of your urges to drink, drug, lust and whatnot.

It is said that the only prayers that God is guaranteed to answer positively are those for a soul’s salvation, since He desires that all be saved. (Even though not all are.) So perhaps connect your recovery to your salvation…. Anyway, Lent is just under two months away so we have time to plan and prepare.

Let this upcoming Divine Mercy Sunday be the best yet! May the ocean of mercy pour down upon you and completely wash away your sins and leave you renewed and refreshed and forgiven! 

Please read these posts on Divine Mercy Sunday:

Divine Mercy Sunday

Divine Mercy Sunday: A great day for those who’ve really messed things up

Sacred Heart and Divine Mercy Sunday

 

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I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

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

“The Sober Catholic Way” is available!

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I have a new book out: The Sober Catholic Way is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life and helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety. Drawn from nearly two decades of blogging at SoberCatholic, “The Sober Catholic Way” shows the importance of the sacraments, the Bible, the Catechism and other books. It continues on with the various ways one can “live” out Catholicism by nurturing devotions to the Sacred Heart, Blessed Virgin Mary, and other saints. All of these contribute to sobriety as well as one’s spiritual progression! 

Discover the importance of the Real Presence, the Rosary, the Stations of the Cross, St. Joseph, St. Therese (the “Little Flower”) and Matt Talbot. You’ll get ideas on how to apply the Beatitudes, the Divine Mercy Message, as well as learning about the Apparitions of Our Lady at Guadalupe, Lourdes and Fatima and how they can guide one’s life.00000 TSCWBookCover.jpg.It is currently available through Amazon on Amazon Kindle, as well as a paperback: click here to buy as a paperback. It is also available as a paperback through Barnes and Noble: Order The Sober Catholic Way as a B&N paperback! as well as an ebook for your Nook! It is also now available at numerous other ebook retailers like Apple Books and Smashwords.

 

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!!)

More on the “Sacred Heart Prayer Book” by “Brother James”

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This Sacred Heart Friday post is an update about something from earlier this year.

In “Mother Angelica and the Sacred Heart” I mentioned her using the ‘Sacred Heart Prayer Book.’

Something about the book intrigued me and I made some inquiries. I contacted SS Peter and Paul Parish parish in San Francisco where Brother James was when the book was published and asked if they knew anything about him or the book. The only thing they were able to tell me was that Br. James had left the Salesians quite some time ago. My contact (and I can’t tell from the name they are male or female, the first name sounds like a surname) has been with the parish since 2000 and had thought Brother James left around 1990. The person also told me that they get an inquiry about the book every 3-5 years! The contact suggested I try the Salesians provincial office for that region. And so I did! I got a reply within a few hours! Salesians are really on the ball in responding to inquiries right away! I’m impressed!  

Brother James’ real name is James Marolus, and I was told that he left the Salesians ‘a number of years ago.’ The Sacred Heart Prayer Book was self-published; which explains why the publisher’s name no longer comes up anywhere: if it had been a regular publisher there would have been a bigger ‘paper trail’ on the Internet. Anyway, after leaving the Salesians, Br. Marolus ‘found a benevolent Bishop’ who ordained him a priest. Father Marolis ended up in Florida, where he exercised his priestly ministry for a number of years. The Salesians person who wrote to me admitted not knowing much beyond that, except that Fr. Marolis became sick and died.

I ran his name through Google search, DuckDuckGo, and StartPage. Much of what I learned confirmed everything I was told. He is not listed on any obituary site that I ran his name through. If he is still alive, 

then he’d be 94 or 95. (This does not mean that the Salesian was incorrect about him being dead. He did admit to not knowing much and perhaps they assumed he’s dead?) And these ‘name lookup’ sites are notoriously incorrect: some of them list my sister as being alive despite her dying in 1988.

I have made further inquiries through people I know with contacts with the Salesians, but so far nothing’s turned up. If anything changes, I’ll update this post.

The book is no longer in print, and its availability online varies.  (You will have to do a search for “Sacred Heart Prayer Book Brother James” or variations on that to distinguish it from the thousands of books with similar titles.) 

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

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

The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary: the Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Part 13

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Today is December 8th, the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It’s also Friday, meaning it’s time for my weekly Sacred Heart Friday post! 

The fact that today’s feast falls on a Friday this time around helped me to come up with the post. I wrote this back in August or September, but realized it would be perfect for today and thus kept it in the local drafts folder.

It isn’t explicit or all that implicit in the Bible; you’d have to ponder certain events and extrapolate from them quite a ways to arrive at the following (which is why non-Catholic theologians never come up with anywhere near the things Catholic ones have, who are guided by the right use of human reason and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And, throw in a fair number of approved Marian Apparitions and private revelations….)

Many medieval and faithful contemporary theologians agree that God created Mary for the sole purpose of being the Mother of Jesus. She wasn’t just some random girl that God picked out to be the Mother of His Son. The idea is laughable. The single most important event in the history of humanity, the Incarnation, would not have a single element in it that was a ‘causal’ or ‘happenstance’ decision. Everything, and I mean, E V E R Y T H I N G that is a sequence in God’s decision-making process (to use our manner of speaking because God, being omniscient and omnipotent, doesn’t need to employ a ‘process’ to arrive at things, He gets it all instantaneously) is tremendously important. God’s Will is how the Universe is run. How He accomplishes things and how they are accomplished is important. And if He wanted His Divine Son to be born of a woman, then you’d better believe that that woman is not going to be just any ordinary female picked at random. Any act of God, no matter how seemingly trivial, is vitally important and contains lessons. The Mother of God would be created specifically to bear God’s Son and therefore accorded all the privileges, benefits, and advantages that such a woman deserves. 

The Church Fathers and theologians through the Medieval era developed the belief that God planned Mary’s creation from all eternity. When she was conceived she was gifted with being “full of grace,” that is, so full of the plenitude of God’s free gifts of supernatural help that she lacked Original Sin from the moment of her conception. As a result of this, she lacked the hindrances that arose from Original Sin. Before the Fall, Adam and Eve were perfect. They were genetically perfect, lived in harmony with God’s Will, and benefitted from that union, which probably included superior knowledge of things (except for the knowledge of Good and Evil, which was the carrot used by Satan to tempt them and wasn’t needed by them since they didn’t naturally do evil because they didn’t have to, given their relationship with God. Except for that one time when their Free Will was corrupted by Satan and all Hell broke loose.)

Mary, lacking Original Sin, was in the state Adam and Eve were in before the Fall. Therefore, she was in perfect harmony and union with God and from her conception grew in the love and knowledge of God. The Church Fathers and Medieval theologians also taught that she possessed full use of reason, which was likely true given her Immaculate state. (You have to ponder and meditate on what was lost by our First Parents through Original Sin. The implications of the Fall are glossed over because we’ve read Genesis 3 too often and it’s frequently not taken seriously because of the imagery of a snake tempting a woman with an apple. The profundity is missed.) 

OK, now to connect this with the topic of this post. Mary lived in perfect harmony with God while in the womb. She loved Him, and possessing the use of reason, knew Him. As we read in Scripture, sometimes something happened and Mary ‘pondered it in her heart.’ This was mentioned more than once so we can infer it was a natural part of her personality and behavior. She was the perfect contemplative. There’s no reason why this did not occur while she was in the womb. In her love and knowledge of God, she pondered Him in her heart. 

God, being a Trinity, and so where One member is the other Two also are, when Mary loved and pondered God the Father, she also was doing so for the Second Person of the Trinity, the Word that was yet to be made flesh and dwell within her. Whether she knew that the Word was to be born in her is open to conjecture. (‘No,’ in the approved private revelation of the Blessed Mother to the Venerable Mary of Agreda in the epic “Mystical City of God.”) However, through her participation (according to our way of speaking) in the hypostatic union, her heart also beat in union with the Word’s. (But the Word wasn’t made flesh yet, how can there be a heart? Easy. The Word still loved. St. Maximilian Kolbe focused often on the fact that the Holy Spirit is the intense love that the Father and the Son have for each other. It is so intense that it manifests from all eternity as the Third Person of the Trinity (my language may be a tad imprecise, but I’m just an armchair theologian. 😉 )

And so there you have it. Mary’s heart, by virtue of her Immaculate Conception, was linked to Jesus’ while he was still dwelling solely with the Father and the Spirit in Heaven. 

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 and Advent

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Advent begins on Sunday. It is the traditional time of preparation for both comings of Jesus: it’s a memorial of His first coming as a baby as well as an anticipation of His Second Coming in Triumph to judge all nations and history. This latter is obvious if you pray the Liturgy of the Hours and take a look at the Mass Readings. They’ve been quite apocalyptic in recent weeks and will continue to be so.

For this Sacred Heart Friday, I will try and connect the Sacred Heart Devotion to this time of preparation. 

What do we do in preparing for Jesus’ coming? (Either one.) We enter into a penitential mindset. I only learned this a few years ago, that Advent is a time of penance; perhaps not quite to the degree that Lent is but just as you prepare yourself to receive Him in Holy Communion by confessing mortal sins and serious venial ones, you have to rid yourself of character defects and other sinful habits. This all reminds us of why He came in the first place (to redeem us of our sins) and that when He Returns, it will be to bring to closure human history and the final separation of the Elect from the Damned.

The practice of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a perfect way to prepare for Advent. It adds a certain dimension otherwise lacking, I think. For in its practice, we are offering our actions as a means of reparation for those who are trapped in sin. These may scoff at God and Belief, or, if believers, they may be lukewarm or be those who feel they have plenty of time to get it right with God. 

Out acts of reparation according to the Sacred Heart Devotion may just be the catalyst to spur these people back on the path 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!!)

The Sacred Heart Devotion and the Works of Mercy

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I almost gave up on coming up with a topic for today’s Sacred Heart Friday post. Then I got a wee bit of inspiration and decided to look at Mass readings for this upcoming Sunday, which is the Solemnity of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. I got nothin’ from the First Reading, same for the Responsorial Psalm. St. Paul let me down with nothing in his Letter used for the Second Reading. (Just kidding, you ol’ namesake, you!)

But, the Gospel. Yumpinious Yumpiniorum! 

It is from Matthew 25:31-46

Jesus said to his disciples:

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory,

and all the angels with him,

he will sit upon his glorious throne,

and all the nations will be assembled before him. 

And he will separate them one from another,

as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 

He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 

Then the king will say to those on his right,

‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. 

Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 

For I was hungry and you gave me food,

I was thirsty and you gave me drink,

a stranger and you welcomed me,

naked and you clothed me,

ill and you cared for me,

in prison and you visited me.’

Then the righteous will answer him and say,

‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,

or thirsty and give you drink? 

When did we see you a stranger and welcome you,

or naked and clothe you? 

When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’

And the king will say to them in reply,

‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did

for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.’

Then he will say to those on his left,

‘Depart from me, you accursed,

into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

For I was hungry and you gave me no food,

I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,

a stranger and you gave me no welcome,

naked and you gave me no clothing,

ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’

Then they will answer and say,

‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty

or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison,

and not minister to your needs?’

He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you,

what you did not do for one of these least ones,

you did not do for me.’

And these will go off to eternal punishment,

but the righteous to eternal life.”

 

And all of that reminded me of the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy:

 

The Corporal Works of Mercy:

• To feed the hungry;

• To give drink to the thirsty;

• To clothe the naked;

• To shelter the homeless;

• To care for the sick;

• To ransom the captive/visit the imprisoned

• To bury the dead.

 

The Spiritual Works of Mercy:

• To instruct the ignorant;

• To counsel the doubtful;

• To admonish sinners;

• To bear wrongs patiently;

• To forgive offenses willingly;

• To comfort the afflicted;

• To pray for the living and the dead.

If you’ve been following along with all these Sacred Heart Friday posts, you must be acutely aware of the reparative aspect of the Sacred Heart Devotion: that we offer up sacrifices in reparation for the sins of others.

Well, we can attach the working out of the devotion to doing the Works of Mercy. Take a look over the list: there are quite a few (if not all) which, when combined with the Devotion, help in making reparation for others’ sins.

Perhaps when Jesus comes again, there will be fewer goats and more sheep.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

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

Novena to the Miraculous Medal

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For today’s Immaculate Heart Saturday post I will offer a reminder for the Miraculous Medal Novena, which begins today (for it to end on the day before, or it can begin onn Suday the 19th if you forgot; then it will end on the Feast of the Miraculous Medal, November 27th.)

Here is one: EWTN Miraculaous Medal Novena . This is the same as the popular ‘Perpetual Novena to the Miraculous Medal.’

 

Miraculous medal

 

The pierced Immaculate Heart appears next to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, thus manifesting their union. Devotion to Mary is ALWAYS bound up with devotion to Jesus.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

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

The Sacred Heart and the Miraculous Medal

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For this Sacred Heart Friday, I want to point out that the Sacred Heart image is on the reverse side of the Miraculous Medal. 

Medal copy 0

This may not be shocking, ground-breaking, or particularly profound, but you’d be surprised how many people aren’t aware of this. So, when you wear your Miraculous Medal, or hand them out to random people on the street, you’re connectingnto Jesus’ SSacred Heart and helping to spread the devotion!

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

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

The Sacred Heart and the Mystical Body of Christ

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For this Sacred Heart Friday, I’m writing a short piece on the Sacred Heart and the Mystical Body of Christ.

St. Paul wrote that all Christians as members of Christ, so that with Him, they form one Mystical Body. (1 Corinthians 12:12-31) When one suffers, all suffer. When one rejoices, all rejoice. The Sacred Heart burns with love for all the members of the Mystical Body. Our acts of reparation for the sins of others help heal it.

I read somewhere that all sin is public; you may think your sin is a private matter but in reality, it causes harm to the Mystical Body. This is why we have to go to Confession. Even though we confess in private to the priest, it is considered public. And this is why when we make reparation for the sins of others, as is the key part of devotion to the Sacred Heart, then the Mystical Body can be healed.

Lift one another in prayer. “Iron sharpens iron,” (Proverbs 27:17.) We strengthen each other. Return the love of the Sacred Heart through acts of reparation. 

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!!)

Tha Sacred Heart and the Holy Souls in Purgatory

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Since November is dedicated to the Holy Souls in Purgatory, I am commending this Sacred Heart Friday post to them. Since, as you must know by now, the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is partly about our making reparations for the sins of others, what better population to make reparations for than the Holy Souls in Purgatory? 

First of all, they will know about your efforts to aid them. It has been written many times in various books about them that their Guardian Angels inform them as to whom in Time is praying for them. Secondly, they will be grateful for your efforts and will return the favor when they are finally liberated and enter Heaven. Thirdly, in my opinion, combining the Sacred Heart devotion with a devotion to the Holy Souls renders the fruits of each more efficacious.

There is an old prayer from the Raccolta that goes like this:

Prayer to the Sacred Heart 

O MOST Sacred Heart of Jesus, pour down thy blessings abundantly upon thy Church, upon the Supreme Pontiff, and upon all the clergy; give perseverance to the just, convert sinners, enlighten unbelievers, bless our parents, friends, and benefactors, help the dying, free the souls in Purgatory, and extend over all hearts the sweet empire of thy love. Amen.

So, offer your prayers and sacrifices this month for the Holy Souls. The benefits of having grateful friends in high places can be very rewarding. 

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!!)