Category Archives: St. Dismas

St. Dismas and the Month of the Dead

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November is coming up, and I was hoping there might be some information online connecting St. Dismas, the “Good Thief” with devotions for the dead. Alas, I couldn’t find any. I even asked ChatGPT, which came up with:

St. Dismas is primarily invoked for mercy and repentance due to his final act of faith on the cross, which aligns with the Church’s teachings on divine mercy extended to souls in Purgatory. His story reflects the hope for salvation even at the moment of death, mirroring the charitable act of praying for those undergoing purification.

St.Dismas probably skipped Purgatory, given that he was ther ecipient of the first ever plenary indulgence. You could argue that he might have been in Purgatory for a brief period, but after all this time, it is of no matter since he’s on the Church’s list of saints.

This post serves as a reminder that November is soon upon us, with its rich treasure of indulgences for practices and devotions for the dead; as well as that St. Dismas is a great intercessor for those who are at the moment of death, and who might be despairing of salvation. We are reminded in one Gospel account that both thieves mocked Jesu, and in another, Dismas appealed to Jesus for salvation. How can this be? Dismas experienced a deathbed conversion; quite possibly through the intervention of the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the Ven. Maria.de Jesus of Agreda, while at the Foot of the Cross, the Blessed Mother interceded for Dismas. A pious legend has it that Dismas was practicing his thieving livlihood decades earlier in the Egyptian desert, and came upin the Holy Family while they were fleeing Herod. He had a change of heart about robbing them, and whereupon the Infant Jesus predicted that they would be crucified together in Jerusalem, and that Dismas would accompany Him to 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!!)

Devotion to St. Dismas

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A little while ago I wrote about St. Dismas, the “Good Thief.”  This is another post on him, as part of my promise to him to help spread his devotion. 

So I took a look around the Internet and found this bit of history of him, along with a “Good Thief Prayer.”

There is even more information on St. Dismas over at Pray More Novenas: Novena to St. Dismas. 

While looking up stuff, I found that I had written about him way back in the early days of this blog. Take a look at “Remember Me…”

As I find more stuff on the Good Thief, I’ll post more; if he interests you, bookmark the St. Dismas Post Archives.

Why should I write about him? Like I said in the post linked to in the first sentence:

I think St. Dismas would be a great saint for us alcoholics and addicts to know. He left behind no writings and nothing for certain is known about him apart from the Gospel accounts. But, he was a ‘last minute,’ ‘deathbed’ conversion. And he led a life of sin, some say he was a robber, others a revolutionary. These do not contradict each other; revolutionaries often commit crimes to serve the rebel cause. But the point I am trying to make is that at the very end, when he was facing eternity, he grasped salvation from the lips of the Saviour. There is hope for everyone. Maybe pray to St. Dismas for the conversion of another whom you feel may have too ‘hard a heart’ to convert? Many prisoners in jail are alcoholics and addicts. Conversion is difficult in that environment; perhaps St. Dismas can do what others cannot. 

His feast day is March 25, the traditional date for the Crucifixion. 

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!!)

Prayer to St. Dismas

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I found in a little used prayer book a prayer card to St. Dismas, known these past 2,000 years as ‘The Good Thief,” one of two men crucified along with Jesus, but this one somehow discerned Who Jesus was, repented of his sins and asked forgiveness. Whereupon Jesus promised that he would be in Paradise with Him that day.

The prayer reads as follows:

O good St. Dismas, who are in Heaven enjoying the beatific vision of God because of a contrite and humble heart and a kind and forgiving crucified Saviour whose parched lips uttered the assuring words of salvation on Calvary’s Cross, “Verily I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise,” plead my cause before the court of Heaven and present my spiritual and temporal requests to Our Blessed Lord, with the help of Our Sorrowful Mother and good St. Joseph.

(Here state your request.)

In return for these kind favors, O good St. Dismas, I promise to amend my own life, do penance, and to help spread your blessed devotion far and near, so that at the end of life’s journey I may thank you, personally, in Heaven. Amen.

I think St. Dismas would be a great saint for us alcoholics and addicts to know. He left behind no writings and nothing for certain is known about him apart from the Gospel accounts. But, he was a ‘last minute,’ ‘deathbed’ conversion. And he led a life of sin, some say he was a robber, others a revolutionary. These do not contradict each other; revolutionaries often commit crimes to serve the rebel cause. But the point I am trying to make is that at the very end, when he was facing eternity, he grasped salvation from the lips of the Saviour. There is hope for everyone. Maybe pray to St. Dismas for the conversion of another whom you feel may have too ‘hard a heart’ to convert? Many prisoners in jail are alcoholics and addicts. Conversion is difficult in that environment; perhaps St. Dismas can do what others cannot. 

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!!)

"Remember me…"

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Luke 23:42-43

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

The person asking Jesus to remember him in Luke’s Passion Narrative from Palm Sunday is the so-called “Good Thief”, the criminal hanging on the cross next to Jesus, and being crucified for some crime he did commit. He believed in Jesus (how he arrived at his faith is never explained, but immaterial) and asked that Jesus remember him in the afterlife. Legend holds that his name was Dismas.

The word Luke used in his Gospel “anamnesis” for “memory” does not merely mean to recall something. It means to remember it so intimately that it becomes present to you, rergardless of the passage of time. Dismas was aking Jesus not to remember him fondly, after all, both were dying. He was asking Him to be saved, to bring him, Dismas the Thief, into Jesus’ heavenly kingdom.

The Church usually uses Dismas as an example of the mercy of God, and how it triumphs over the judgment of God. This relates to the recovering alcoholic is a great way. Dismas was a thief, and apparently lived his whole life as a thief. Yet despite that, he still asked Jesus to save him and Jesus did. Right there on the Cross, Jesus told Dismas that essentially he was going to Heaven after he died. Jesus granted a plenary indulgence to someone right then and there.

While you shouldn’t wait until you’re dying to convert or revert to the Faith, or to ask Jesus to save you (why gamble on eternity?) it does serve as a useful reminder that no matter how bad you have been in your alcoholism or addiction, you ask Jesus with faith for forgiveness and redemption, and He will give it to you. As a Catholic, you can get this in sacramental confession. No matter how bad your sins are, no matter how long you committed them, no matter how long its been since your last confession, they’ll be wiped clean off your soul and you will be new again. There is no sin so great that He cannot forgive. In fact, believing that your sins are so great that He cannot forgive them is a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Your evil (or cumulative sinful acts) cannot be greater than God’s mercy.

Ask Jesus to “Remember you.” And then proceed to live out your new life. Go to confession.

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!!)