Novena to Matt Talbot for Alcoholics

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Today we shall begin a Novena for Matt Talbot’s intercession. A novena is a series of prayers said over 9 days and is rooted in Sacred Scripture in the 9 days that the Apostles and Mary prayed between the time Jesus’ Ascension into Heaven and the Holy Spirit’s descent on Pentecost).

We Catholics pray to (or through) saints and others believed to be in Heaven solely for their power to intercede for us. Saints have no other power than intercession. If a prayer is granted, it is because God willed it and granted it. The saint only interceded for us. Kind of like if you asked me to pray for you because of something going on in your life.

Why a novena to Matt Talbot? Well, although not a saint (YET), he had been declared a “Venerable” by the Church in 1975. That is the first step towards canonization. Matt, when canonized, will probably be declared the Patron Saint of Alcoholics. In the sidebar of this blog there are a list of links in the “Catholic Resources for Alcoholics”, among them are several on him. One of the best places to get to know him is at the Venerable Matt Talbot Resource Center .

Anyway, Matt Talbot died on June 7, 1925. As today is May 30, today we begin the novena which would then end on the anniversary of his death. This is traditional for novenas, although you can say a novena at anytime of the year. One traditionally starts a novena 9 days prior to the feast day as your prayers are joined by everybody else that is also saying the novena.

The next post begins the novena.

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 Sacred Heart of Jesus

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Today is the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is usually in June, but due to the scheduling of Lent/Easter it is earlier this year.

This feast is an old Catholic devotion, having been around since the Middle Ages. Proponents state that it is based on the Gospel account of St. John the Evangelist laying his head on Jesus’ chest at the Last Supper. The Devotion started during an apparition of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Information on this can be found here and additional prayers and such also here .

Devotion to the Sacred Heart also has roots in early AA history. Last year I wrote about the Feast and its influence on AA tradition. That post also contains the Litany to the Sacred Heart, and a careful study of that Litany reveals how useful the devotion can be to individuals in recovery.

The following two prayers also reveal the relevance to people in recovery this Catholic devotion:

THE BLESSING OF THE SACRED HEART

May the grace and blessing of the Sacred Heart be with you, the peace of the Sacred Heart encompass you! May the merits of the Sacred Heart plead for you, the love of the Sacred Heart inflame you! May the sorrows of the Sacred Heart console you, the zeal of the Sacred Heart animate you, the virtues of the Sacred Heart shine forth in your every word and work! And may the joys of the Beatific Vision be your eternal recompense!

PRAYER TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

O most holy Heart of Jesus, fountain of every blessing, I adore Thee, I love Thee and with a lively sorrow for my sins, I offer Thee this poor heart of mine. Make me humble, patient, pure and wholly obedient to Thy will. Grant, good Jesus, that I may live in Thee and for Thee. Protect me in the midst of danger; comfort me in my afflictions; give me health of body, assistance in my temporal needs, Thy blessing on all that I do, and the grace of a holy death. Within Thy Heart I place my every care. In every need let me come to Thee with humble trust saying, “Heart of Jesus, help me.”

The heart is the human symbol of love. Jesus’ Sacred Heart is the ultimate symbol of love, the love He has for us and the mercy that is available to us if we avail ourselves of it. One image of the Sacred Heart that I enjoy is the immersion of ourselves in His Precious Blood, shed for us because of our sins. What better image for us alcoholics to meditate upon when we are troubled by our addictive past.

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!!)

Encourage each other daily

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From the Letter to the Hebrews:

Hebrews 3:13;

Encourage yourselves daily while it is still “today,” so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin.

We do not live in isolation. We Christians of any denomination are supposed to be a community of believers, praying and worshipping together. Although there is ample acceptable room within Christianity for isolated practice of the Faith (i.e. hermits), Christians are a community.

Therefore we must encourage and support one another not just in the practice of the Faith but in our daily struggles as well. This is a great antidote to a sense of isolation, that no one understands what any one of us is going through or that our struggles are worse than anybody else’s. This is called “terminal uniqueness” in 12 Step circles.

See if there are parish other faith based organizations that you can join to help you out. Either actual support groups or general parish groups organized for whatever purpose or even a volunteering thing. “Go outside to get outside” is a 12-step slogan. To get outside yourself and connect with others you have to reach out beyond yourself.

Easier said than done sometimes. So think about it and warm up to the idea.

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!!)

Finding Jesus

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Penitent Jeff over at Conversion For Life as a nice reflection on the Fifth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary, “The Finding of Jesus in the Temple” here .

As Catholic Christians we do believe that Jesus is truly present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Eucharist. Therefore He is there at Mass and in our Tabernacles or Adoration chapels. But we needn’t rely on going to those places when we need Him. He is wherever we are. He is within us as we possess the Holy Spirit due to our sacraments (wherever one member of the Trinity is present, the other two are also there).

Prayer, meditation and contemplation can help us find Jesus in our lives, either in our spiritual interior or in the lives of other people.

Next time you are lost, He can find you. Jesus isn’t far.

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!!)

Trudging Paulcoholic's Road

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I’ve added a new blog to my repertoire, a new endeavor by myself to explore a more personal path of my sober journey. While Sober Catholic is about how to use the Catholic Faith and spirituality to maintain you sobriety, Trudging Paulcoholic’s Road will be of a more personal nature. Based on the focus and development of Sober Catholic, I was uncomfortable with exploring how my conversion and sobriety affected me. The blog was about Catholicism, not me. “Trudging Paulcoholic’s Road” will be the other way around, it will be about my relationship with the Faith and how I use it in reacting to things in a sober way.

The first post is up.

I hope you enjoy it. It shouldn’t affect my writing for this blog.

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!!)

Sober anniversary

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At about this time six years ago (May 22, 2002, not sure exactly the hour) I had my last drink.

It was vodka, cheap and seemingly necessary. I had relapsed a week or two before after only 3 1/2 months of sobriety, and had embarrassed myself at an AA meeting the day before. At most AA meetings someone reads a selection from the “How It Works” chapter of AA’s basic text “Alcoholic Anonymous”. I slurred my words and it was quite clear I was under the influence. That day’s topic was me and relapsing.

The next day I went back to that AA meeting and it was a newcomer’s meeting. I felt like a hypocrite telling 2 new people how the 12 Steps helped me so I walked out and stopped off at a liquor store before going home. I finished the bottle that night.

What followed were 88 hours of insomnia and hallucinations. I wrote about it last year in a post here . The changes in my life since that post have been astonishing. I met a lady, moved to be near her, married her and found a rewarding job.

I guess “hope” is the operative word here. There is hope if you stick it out.

No matter how good or how bad, drinking is never an option.

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 Couple of Nice Blogs to Read

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There are two blogs that I think readers of Sober Catholic will enjoy reading, as they write about personal conversion and spiritual growth.

Conversion for Life has been on my links list for a while, while A Path of Penitence I just discovered yesterday on Conversion for Life’s own links list.

I highly recommend these, as they provide additional inspiration or perspective on growing closer to God by way of Catholicism.

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!!)

Day 9 of the Novena to the Holy Spirit for Alcoholism and Recovery

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All 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit have been prayed for: Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, Counsel, Fortitude, Piety, and Fear of the Lord.

To round out the last day of the Pentecost novena for alcoholism I decided to petition for sobriety. It isn’t a gift of the Holy Spirit, but if you live according to the Spirit, it is a natural result.

Like in the previous days, we start with the prayer:

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and rekindle in them the fire of Your love. Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created and you shall renew the face of the Earth.

Sobriety means much more than not drinking. Just like “peace” doesn’t mean “no war”. Sobriety means clear-headedness, a cool and balanced view of things. Faith going hand-in-hand with reason.

It is an emotional balance. As alcoholics we had a warped emotional interpretation of events and situations and our response was therefore as warped and imbalanced as our perceptions. Sobriety means that we have taught ourselves how to handle these situations. We retrained ourselves how to properly respond to stuff. A goodly dose of sincere humility, that there is a God and we’re not Him mixed with an ability to choose those things that we can change from those we can’t, and we have the beginnings of sobriety.

We maintain this sobriety through prayer, religious devotion, and spiritual growth; a balanced and respectful attitude towards people and things; and service to others. Twelve Step or alternative recovery programs may supplement these.

From 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.

Resist the alluring call of the drink, know that others are going through the same sufferings as you, regardless of the length of sobriety.

Oh, Holy Spirit, grant me sobriety. I ask you this in the name of Jesus, the Lord.

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

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A Scriptural reading from the Liturgy of the Hours has excellent guidance on how to live according to the Holy Spirit. It identifies those attitudes and behaviors in accord with life in the Spirit and those opposed to living in the Spirit. The fuller version from Paul’s Letter to the Galatians is here:

Galatians 5:16-26

I say, then: live by the Spirit and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh.
For the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you may not do what you want.
But if you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Now the works of the flesh are obvious: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like.
I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Now those who belong to Christ (Jesus) have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit.
Let us not be conceited, provoking one another, envious of one another.

Take a look at the “works of the flesh”. Aside from a direct reference to “drinking bouts”, do any of those sound familiar?

Now take a look at the “fruit of the Spirit”. Most, if not all of those are usually identified with clean and sober living. People who are long-time 12-Step members usually show these traits and are sought after by new members because they have what others want. Genuine Christians of whatever stripe definitely possess these character traits.

Pretty simple and straightforward, and there all written out by a writer inspired by God.

Now, go out there and do not be conceited, provocative and envious of anyone!

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!!)

Day 8 of the Novena to the Holy Spirit for Alcoholism and Addiction

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Today for this novena we petition for Fear of the Lord.

As before, we start with the prayer:

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and rekindle in them the fire of Your love. Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created and you shall renew the face of the Earth.

Fear is the misunderstood part of this gift. Fear is misunderstood to imply that God is a harsh, brutal unforgiving taskmaster that we should cower and cringe before in mortal terror.

Fear is perhaps better understood as meaning respect. We must respect the Lord our God who created us and sustains us throughout our lives and who decides when that life is over.

After receiving all of the other gifts of the Holy Spirit, we can understand that receiving fear of the Lord as not to be something, well, feared. A healthy, deep and loving respect for God is a natural result of the spiritual development and growth that devotion to the Holy Spirit brings.

Many alcoholics upon recovering reject organized religion as it is felt to be a sign of an unrelenting and unforgiving God. This is based on their past alcoholic relationship with the Church. The interesting thing is that in their recovery, at least according to the 12 Steps, they are to make amends to all they have hurt, to “clean up their side of the street” and to be open to healing all parts of their lives. But they (in my experience) leave out the Church. They harbor and nurture a lingering resentment towards the Church. To me this is a land mine waiting to explode. Regardless of one’s opinion on organized religion, to not heal all of your past alcoholic relationships is an incomplete recovery. This view of organized religion may ultimately poison a relationship with God.

To say that “I believe in God, but not religion”, is like saying “I believe in air, but not in breathing”.

Pray for a healthy, loving respect for God. It will affect all your relationships.

Oh, Holy Spirit, give me a deep and respectful fear of the Lord, our God ,who gave me life and sustains me though all my sufferings. I ask this in the name of Jesus, the Lord.

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!!)