Young man, I tell you, arise

The Gospel Reading for today’s Mass (Wednesday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time) has been special for me these past few years.

Luke 7:11-17: “Jesus journeyed to a city called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd accompanied him.

As he drew near to the gate of the city, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.

A large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her and said to her,‘Do not weep.’

He stepped forward and touched the coffin; at this the bearers halted, and he said, ‘Young man, I tell you, arise!’

The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.

Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, exclaiming, ‘A great prophet has arisen in our midst,’ and ‘God has visited his people.’

This report about him spread through the whole of Judea and in all the surrounding region. “

(Via USCCB.)

I was not the only son of my mother, but I was her youngest and I had lived with her for her last 10 years on Earth. For her last 18 months I was her caregiver of sorts.

I discovered sobriety just in time to be useful to her in her final years. The thought of my still being addicted to the bottle at any time during her last couple of years scares me to this day, I am very grateful to God that He pulled me away from the bottle in plenty of time for Mom to see me sober and responsible enough to care for her. This is why I have a special connection to this Gospel passage. I was dead, but with God’s graces through AA and then the Catholic Church I arose from the death of alcoholism and I became sober and a strong Catholic.

Today I was reflecting on her death and the hellish period that followed for me. I remember walking around the streets of my hometown on the day she died muttering and mumbling to myself about how alone I was. This was in between tears. I was convinced that I was alone and that I would forever be alone. I do not believe that I had ever felt this way, this mind-numbing, marrow-curdling feelings of aloneness and abandonment.

I wanted to die. I wasn’t suicidal, but I had prayed to God that He would take me as I was convinced that my mission on Earth was over. I was born late in Mom’s life (just after her 47th birthday) and things seemed geared for me to be useful to Mom at various points in her life, especially after Dad died in 1995 and as I stated above, just before her own death in 2005. I hadn’t amounted to much of anything through 2005, at least by most people’s standards.

I am glad that God didn’t agree with me. I am glad because I have discovered relative security and deep love in my life. My faith in God’s Divine Providence and reliance on His Catholic Church pulled me through and gave me a new meaning in a life that I wouldn’t have scripted, but am happy with nonetheless. I am still puzzled by many things, but life isn’t really a problem to be solved, but a mystery to unravel.

I had arisen, like the young man of Nain.

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!!)

Like fire burning in my heart

The First Reading for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time is particularly relevant for anyone who does God’s will, but resisted it at first:

Jeremiah 20:7-9: “You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped;
you were too strong for me, and you triumphed.
All the day I am an object of laughter;
everyone mocks me.

Whenever I speak, I must cry out,
violence and outrage is my message;
the word of the LORD has brought me
derision and reproach all the day.

I say to myself, I will not mention him,
I will speak in his name no more.
But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart,
imprisoned in my bones;
I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it.”

(Via USCCB.)

Resist doing the Lord’s will and He will use a way to get you to do it. It may come with time, but if you are destined to fulfill whatever mission God placed you on Earth for, then so help Him, you will end up doing that.

He is too strong for you, you cannot outwit Him, He will triumph in time.

Resist, and it becomes like fire burning in my heart,
imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it

And if that is not enough, you may suffer the pain of subsequently doing His will. The world dislikes that, it call you all sorts of things, does whatever it feels is necessary to stop you.

For inspiration, a musical interlude:

Jeremiah

(Via Happy 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!!)

Look upon the Cross

Crucifix.jpg

A very nice lady walked up to my wife and I after Mass and told a story about her grandmother. The story itself isn’t important, except that she related something that her grandmother told her about going through trying times.

“See that man upon the Cross? Look at Him and THEN tell me your troubles.”

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!!)

An effective prayer against the usual mental maladies that plague us

There is a prayer at the end of the Divine Mercy Chaplet that I say quite often when I am experiencing fear, anxiety, stress, resentment (and so on):

Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your Mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is love and Mercy itself.

It is from paragraph 950 in the diary of St. Faustina, entitled Divine Mercy in My Soul (advance notice, music will play after site loads, so quiet your speakers if you’re in a public place).

It has been a very effective prayer when I experience doubts and any of the above named mental issues.

NOTE: The online Diary does not number the paragraphs, but you can click on the link for Notebook 2, page 2, and scroll towards the end. Or go to any Catholic bookstore or the online Divine Mercy shrine gift shop and purchase a copy (I get no commission, despite the plug. I just enjoy using my new blog editor, Mars Edit. It makes writing for blogs easy, especially for inserting links 🙂 Just wait until I figure out all the media uploading tools!)

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!!)

Crown of Thorns. Crown of Glory

If you are an alcoholic or an addict, chances are you might be familiar with anxiety and depression. There is a new blog that deals with those issues from a Catholic perspective. It is written by Rosario and is at

Crown of Thorns.Crown of Glory: “CATHOLIC HOPE FOR THOSE WITH DEPRESSION AND OTHER ANXIETY DISORDERS.”

(Via Adrienne.)

Add it to your arsenal.

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 many ways of God's healing gifts

The following is a link to an article on being open to the varied and diverse ways that God can heal you. Please read and consider how or if it can be relevant to your life.

Spirit Daily – Daily spiritual news from around the world: “GOD IS A GOD OF SURPRISE AND HAS SUCH IN STORE FOR YOU IF YOU HEAL INSIDE AND LOVE”

(Via Spirit Daily.)

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!!)

Feast of the Transfiguration

Today marks the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. I had written about it earlier, as a part of the meditation on the Fourth Luminous Mystery of the Rosary .

Today also marks the beginning of what you may call an “unofficial” Lent. Lent is a period of penance and mortification lasting 40 days, culminating in the Crucifixion of Jesus. The Transfiguration of Jesus occurred just prior to His departure for Jerusalem where it all took place.Why would today mark the beginning of an unofficial Lent? Because 40 days from now marks the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. This is every year, so it must have been the Church’s intent to give us another focused opportunity for spiritual growth and development. Maybe you can make up for this year’s Lent if you didn’t meet whatever goals you set. Call it a “do-over”, or a “redo”.

I had planned on posting daily with meditations from the seasonal Lenten Mass readings. That isn’t going to happen. I missed them earlier this year due to the happy distractions of preparing for marriage and starting a new job. I may still post from those, but definitely not daily. I do not think that I can maintain a steady posting routine for 40 straight days, but like I’ve said before, daily posting is something I intend to do eventually. But it ain’t gonna happen now!

Have a happy Transfiguration feast. The rosary meditation for this event in Jesus’ life is on “spiritual courage”. Maybe that is why it marks another Lent.

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!!)

St. Benedict's Ladder of Humility: Step 6

The Sixth Step on the Ladder of Humility is that a person be content with the lowest and most menial treatment, and regards themselves as a poor and worthless worker in whatever task given.

This seemingly goes contrary to modern psychobabble regarding self-esteem and empowerment and such. So getting away from the apparent harshness and “anti-feel good” nature of this Step, what value can we gain from this?
We all, hopefully, think that we are good at what we do. Sometimes however this belief gets ahold of us and we become arrogant. We feel that we are “God’s gift” to whatever it is that we do. If we regard ourselves as “poor and worthless” then we retain a level of humility when it’s balanced with a reasonable assessment of ourselves.

With much of Catholicism, there is a balance between two things. Faith and reason for example. We need both to be good Catholics. Faith without Reason runs the risk of neurosis and superstition. Reason without Faith devalues the supernatural, or explains it away. Another is a balance between the moral and the social teachings of the Church. Using the secular definitions, too much of an emphasis on the moral teachings runs the risk of becoming too politically right-wing, whereas too much emphasis on the social teachings runs the opposite risk of becoming too politically left-wing. There needs to be a balance between two perspectives.

Another risk is the difference between true and false humility. With true humility you accept that you are good at what you do, but recognize that you are still a flawed, imperfect human being, and a sinner. Your skills do not make you better than other people, you just recognize that God gave you these skills and you are honoring Him by using them to the best of your ability. You readily acknowledge your faults and mistakes.

Being content with the lowest and menial treatment is “merely” going back to the notion of accepting whatever suffering that comes along as being necessary for your salvation, as acceptance of suffering is key to being Christian. It is an antidote to pride, another form of false humility. True humility deflects attention from ourselves, or at least we are uncomfortable with the attention; false humility attracts attention and enjoys the attention our work brings us.

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!!)

St. Benedict's Ladder of Humility: Step 4

Yesterday I mentioned that the Third Step on St. Benedict’s Ladder of Humility is about obedience and that the next step tells you how to deal with it as “obedience” is alien to today’s worldly people bent on personal self-determination.

OK, the Fourth Step is that if this obedience is difficult, unfavorable, or even unjust, one must embrace suffering, and endure it without weakening or seeking escape from it.

Granted, this might not be seen as an acceptable or particularly easy method to deal with the difficulties of “obedience” to legitimate authority. Sort of seems like those drugs advertised on television with a list of side-effects that seem worse than the malady the drug is supposed to cure.

But remember, we are Catholic and as Christians we are supposed to imitate Christ. And as I have said numerous times here, acceptance of suffering is essential to being Christian. That is something lost to many modern-day Christians as they seem to not differ too much from worldly types who seek to avoid suffering at all costs.

Christ suffered and died for our sins. We can imitate Him by accepting whatever suffering that comes into our lives as something permitted by God for our salvation. By enduring suffering we can offer it up in reparation for our sins and also for the sins of others. We can also offer it as an example to others of the contrary path that we Christians take in the world, a path that is essentially counter-cultural in fundamental ways that secular counter-culture isn’t.

Lest anyone think that this is merely a Christian thing, something similar is mentioned in a basic text of Alcoholics Anonymous. In the text, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., New York, 1981) states on page 90:

Few people have been victimized by resentments than have we alcoholics. It mattered little whether our resentments were justified or not. A burst of temper could spoil a day, and a well-nursed grudge could make us miserably ineffective. Nor were we ever skillful in separating justified from unjustified anger. As we saw it, our wrath was always justified. Anger, that occasional luxury of more balanced people, could keep us on an emotional jag indefinitely. These emotional “dry benders” often led straight to the bottle. Other kinds of disturbances – jealousy, envy, self-pity, or hurt pride, often did the same thing.

There is a Gospel passage:

Matt 10:22;

You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved.

And so we endure. We say the Serenity Prayer to help us “deal with it”, too, for those times when we might be compelled to do more. But whatever the case, we must never resort to the false humility of justifying a course of action because of any apparent “injustice” when it is really just a personal affront to our own pride and self-will. Too many angry people seek to redress “injustices”, when merely they are seeking to justify their own self-indulgences.

The difference between false humility and true humility is the difference between who is aggrieved, you or 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!!)

Keeping the faith, finishing the race

It is the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, and the Second Reading from the Mass for today is from Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy:

2 Tim 4:6-8,17-18;

I, Paul, am already being poured out like a libation,

and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have competed well; I have finished the race;
I have kept the faith.
From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me,
which the Lord, the just judge,
will award to me on that day, and not only to me,
but to all who have longed for his appearance.

The Lord stood by me and gave me strength,
so that through me the proclamation might be completed
and all the Gentiles might hear it.
And I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.
The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat
and will bring me safe to his heavenly Kingdom.
To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Despite all the trials, troubles and tribulations that Paul went through, he never took his eyes off the prize: persevering in the faith that is the pursuit of Jesus Christ and finishing that pursuit having done the job he was born to do, and did well.

Paul was tenacious in his zeal for Jesus, and that paid off: in preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles today 1/3 of this planet is now Christian. Perhaps not very good ones, but that’s for God to judge.

How zealous and dedicated are we? (I’m asking this of myself, too.) Will we let the opinions and attitudes and behaviors of other people affect how we live our Christian vocation? Or do we set it aside when it gets inconvenient and difficult?

Paul’s perseverance was aided by God. The Lord helped him through his pain and suffering so as to enable Paul to accomplish his mission. Just as the Lord will assist us when we seek to do His will in all things, Paul got it done despite everything only because God helped him.

Paul’s comment about keeping the faith and finishing the race reminded me of statements in AA meetings when some member dies, it is usually remarked that “so-and-so died sober,” as if that is all that mattered. Most often it does as drunk we can hardly accomplish anything.

But as I’ve written before, “Not drinking” is only the start. “Not drinking” is not the goal in itself, it is the basis by which we move out into the world and transform it by our sobriety and Catholic Christianity.

We clean and sober Catholics, as well as anyone else no longer practicing their addiction, have been given a new lease on life. We are in our second lives, so to speak. The first one was wasted by our alcoholism and addictions. Our new start, regardless of how long we’ve been clean and sober, is a second chance at doing whatever we were placed on the Earth to do. Even if that mission was based on our prior addiction (as in we were made addicts for a reason) we must make the most of it. We find that out through prayer and meditation (Step 11 for people in a 12 Step movement).

Go to Mass or read the Mass readings prayerfully today. Peter and Paul started a conquest of the world that is still going on now. Join them.

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!!)