Our Lady of Lourdes Novena Begins Today

EMERGENCY NOVENA REMINDER! I ALMOST FORGOT! I was reminded by a post in a Facebook Group I admin that the Novena to our lady of Lourdes begins today. If you’re somewhere and didn’t realize this until the 3rd of February, that’s OK; the novena will just end on the 11th of February.

Here are some good sites with novenas for you to pick from if you don’t have one in a prayerbook of your own:

Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes | EWTN

Our Lady of Lourdes NOVENA PRAYERS – Pray More Novenas – Novena Prayers & Catholic Devotion

Most Powerful Our Lady of Lourdes Novena and Prayer Catholicnovenaprayer.com

Prayers & Novenas | Lourdes

The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes is important to me for a number of reasons. Among them, it is a key day for those devoted to Our Lady as the Immaculate Conception. For it was at Lourdes in 1858 that the Virgin confirmed Pope Pius IX’s infallible declaration in 1854 that Our Lady was conceived without original sin. Also, Lourdes is about healing. I’ve been sickly most of my life, especially as a youngster and then with alcoholism in my 30s. And now I am beset with afflictions of joints and muscle and all sorts of things. And lastly, it was St. Maximilian Kolbe’s favorite Marian apparition. He was dedicated and focused on Mary’s self-declaration as “I am the Immaculate Conception.”

And if you’re reading this and are a Sober Catholic, then it must be an important feast for you, too! Our healing and recovery from addictions is never really over. Place yourself within Mary’s mantle.

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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!!)

Through Nothing to the Infinite: How an Atheist Lead me to God

An atheist leads me towards belief in God during a tumultuous time in my life through his use of vivid storytelling within a deeply imaginative universe.

It begs the question of, “How can a non-believer help someone to believe?” 

Saints and spiritual writers often say that God can bring good out of evil. Evil is not just found in such actions as abortion, genocide, or slavery, but when any personal will opposes the Divine, however minor the act is. Atheism is that kind, ranging from mere unthinking disbelief to the more militant. God wills us to know and love him; atheists reject that will. I am not sure where in that range J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of the 1990s sci-fi TV show, “Babylon 5,” falls. He had a Catholic background but strayed from belief somewhere along the way. One episode of his “Babylon 5” drilled me to the floor with its consideration of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. “Passing Through Gethsemane” (S3E4) made me look at Christ’s Agony in the Garden from a perspective that treated it not as some pious event memorialized in the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary, but a reality to enter into so as to ponder how your actions might manifest themselves.

Straczynski is an atheist, yet he treated religious belief with a respect at variance with today’s atheists. He regarded religion as being part of the human condition serving as an excellent vehicle to explore it.

In “Passing Through Gethsemane,” a guest character, Brother Edward, (played by Brad Dourif,) is a monk dwelling on Babylon 5 with other members of his order. He has a past, which I won’t reveal for fear of spoiling the show. (Although the episode aired in 1995, streaming services enable new fans to discover the series regularly. If you already know Babylon 5, then you know about this episode.) In it, he is asked by Ambassador Delenn (played by Mira Furlan,) “What is the defining moment of your belief….the emotional core…?” Edward replies with the background on Gethsemane, and specifically that Jesus knew what was going to happen to him. In a moment of weakness, he prayed for the cup to pass from him, so he would be spared the pain of what was to come, including death. But of course, he wouldn’t be spared and he’d be arrested. Edward continues with an emphasis that Jesus didn’t have to be there when the soldiers arrived to arrest him, that he could have left and postponed the inevitable for a few hours or even days. But Jesus knew what would happen and stayed anyway. Brother Edward concludes that he honestly doesn’t know if he would have had the courage to stay.

BroEdward01

Brother Edward.

Courtesy: Babylon Project Fandom Wiki

When I first saw that episode, that latter part blew my mind. “Seriously,” I thought, “does anyone actually look at a Biblical event and personally connect it to their life? As in, what they might do if they were there and then build their faith life from that? Everyone thinks that if they were back in Jesus’ days they’d of course follow him unhesitatingly and would never be in the crowd screaming ‘Crucify him! Crucify him!’ But, to seriously meditate upon a specific event, dwell on it, and make it the ‘defining moment’ and the ‘emotional core’ of their faith life?”

Perhaps a digression into what my ‘emotional core’ was like at the time. I was ‘raised Catholic’ but left the Faith nearly ten years earlier. My prayers about some complicated desperate situations weren’t answered. I also coincidentally fell prey to some atheistic and libertarian science fiction novels that convinced me organized religion was a sham and a means of exercising mass control over the populace. So I left, and life immediately got better. So much for religion. (But I never became an atheist. I did flirt with libertarianism, though.) Flash forward to how I was when “Passing Through Gethsemane” aired and you’ll read a different story. Life had gotten progressively worse. I had relocated from across the country to escape some more complicated desperate situations (these had the habit of following me) and my ‘emotional core’ meant that drinking was defining my moments. Capt. Morgan and Jose Cuervo were my saviors; here I am being mind-struck by some monk wondering if he would have had the courage to stay in Gethsemane and await the soldiers to take him to his execution. Me, who defined courage by how skillfully I can smuggle bottles into the house.

You’re probably thinking that this TV episode changed my life right then and I found a priest, went to confession, and resumed participating in the life of the Church. No. Reversion was still a few years off. But seeds were planted that started growing, eventually bearing fruit later on.

The crux of this is that faith powers a spiritual life. What I learned from that episode, ironically written by an atheist, is that for faith to have meaning it has to grip you by the scruff of your neck, shake you up and down, and demand that it be lived and taken seriously. The kind of faith that inspires people to willingly sacrifice their lives, not the faux faith that attends Mass whenever they feel like it, or sets it aside when it proves inconvenient to their political or business choices. The latter kind is mental pablum designed to make you excuse your sins and feel good about yourself.

That was in marked contrast to the faith that I had. In the years before I left the Church, my Catholicism was broad but not deep. It couldn’t have done what Brother Edward did; intimately apply some event to my own life to create an emotional core that defined it. 

A faith that defines your emotional core such as what drove Brother Edward to contemplate his place in Gethsemane fosters the willingness to firmly plant your feet and say, “This is what I am about, regardless of the passing fancies of society or what the neighbor’s think. This is me, my self-defined ‘I AM.’” It confronts the crucial significance of belief and its consequences. This is the willingness to face down death; literal death or just those things which challenge you or can kill your soul. But perhaps more importantly, that drawing from this power and courage means you have the willingness to be a transformative force in the society around you in a manner best suited to your unique talents. 

That may have been what Brother Edward was wondering. Not only the literal, “If I was in Gethsemane, would I have…,” but in drawing from that would he have had the courage to face everything challenging him, both personal and external.

These are challenges everyone faces, and an atheist started me on the way.

NOTE: This post was intended for publication ‘professionally,’ as in for pay, but it kept getting rejected. I just posted it to my other blog, renamed Paul Sofranko Space. I thought that since it concerns conversion and spiritual growth, it should go here, too.

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 Surrender Novena

On Wednesday Morning I was rummaging through a box containing incense packets and I found a prayer card for something called the The Surrender Novena: Let Jesus Take Care of Everything.

It is a Sacred Heart Devotion and hence qualifies for Sacred Heart Friday. Why is is a Sacred Heart Devotion? Because of this image that is on the cover of the novena:

The Surrender Novena grande

The link in the first sentence takes you to an article where you can read all about it and say the prayers. It’s quite easy and given the source, Servant of God, Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo, the confessor of St. Padre Pio, no less) it is powerful and is a must to be added to your spiritual toolkit. Here is the novena in full (read the article anyway; oh, and don’t forget to say the prayer to Mary everyday which is listed at the end):

The Surrender Novena

Day 1

Why do you confuse yourselves by worrying? Leave the care of your affairs to me and everything will be peaceful. I say to you in truth that every act of true, blind, complete surrender to me produces the effect that you desire and resolves all difficult situations.

O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (say 10 times)

Day 2

Surrender to me does not mean to fret, to be upset, or to lose hope, nor does it mean offering to me a worried prayer asking me to follow you and change your worry into prayer. It is against this surrender, deeply against it, to worry, to be nervous and to desire to think about the consequences of anything.

It is like the confusion that children feel when they ask their mother to see to their needs, and then try to take care of those needs for themselves so that their childlike efforts get in their mother’s way. Surrender means to placidly close the eyes of the soul, to turn away from thoughts of tribulation and to put yourself in my care, so that only I act, saying, “You take care of it.”

O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (say 10 times)

Day 3

How many things I do when the soul, in so much spiritual and material need, turns to me, looks at me and says to me, “You take care of it,” then closes its eyes and rests. In pain you pray for me to act, but that I act in the way you want. You do not turn to me, instead, you want me to adapt to your ideas. You are not sick people who ask the doctor to cure you, but rather sick people who tell the doctor how to. So do not act this way, but pray as I taught you in the Our Father: “Hallowed be thy Name,” that is, be glorified in my need. “Thy kingdom come,” that is, let all that is in us and in the world be in accord with your kingdom. “Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven,” that is, in our need, decide as you see fit for our temporal and eternal life. If you say to me truly: “Thy will be done,” which is the same as saying: “You take care of it,” I will intervene with all my omnipotence, and I will resolve the most difficult situations.

O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (say 10 times)

Day 4

You see evil growing instead of weakening? Do not worry. Close your eyes and say to me with faith: “Thy will be done, You take care of it.” I say to you that I will take care of it, and that I will intervene as does a doctor and I will accomplish miracles when they are needed. Do you see that the sick person is getting worse? Do not be upset, but close your eyes and say, “You take care of it.” I say to you that I will take care of it, and that there is no medicine more powerful than my loving intervention. By my love, I promise this to you.

O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (say 10 times)

Day 5

And when I must lead you on a path different from the one you see, I will prepare you; I will carry you in my arms; I will let you find yourself, like children who have fallen asleep in their mother’s arms, on the other bank of the river. What troubles you and hurts you immensely are your reason, your thoughts and worry, and your desire at all costs to deal with what afflicts you.

O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (say 10 times)

Day 6

You are sleepless; you want to judge everything, direct everything and see to everything and you surrender to human strength, or worse—to men themselves, trusting in their intervention—this is what hinders my words and my views. Oh, how much I wish from you this surrender, to help you; and how I suffer when I see you so agitated! Satan tries to do exactly this: to agitate you and to remove you from my protection and to throw you into the jaws of human initiative. So, trust only in me, rest in me, surrender to me in everything.

O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (say 10 times)

Day 7

I perform miracles in proportion to your full surrender to me and to your not thinking of yourselves. I sow treasure troves of graces when you are in the deepest poverty. No person of reason, no thinker, has ever performed miracles, not even among the saints. He does divine works whosoever surrenders to God. So don’t think about it any more, because your mind is acute and for you it is very hard to see evil and to trust in me and to not think of yourself. Do this for all your needs, do this, all of you, and you will see great continual silent miracles. I will take care of things, I promise this to you.

O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (say 10 times)

Day 8

Close your eyes and let yourself be carried away on the flowing current of my grace; close your eyes and do not think of the present, turning your thoughts away from the future just as you would from temptation. Repose in me, believing in my goodness, and I promise you by my love that if you say, “You take care of it,” I will take care of it all; I will console you, liberate you and guide you.

O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (say 10 times)

Day 9

Pray always in readiness to surrender, and you will receive from it great peace and great rewards, even when I confer on you the grace of immolation, of repentance, and of love. Then what does suffering matter? It seems impossible to you? Close your eyes and say with all your soul, “Jesus, you take care of it.” Do not be afraid, I will take care of things and you will bless my name by humbling yourself. A thousand prayers cannot equal one single act of surrender, remember this well. There is no novena more effective than this.

O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (say 10 times)

Mother, I am yours now and forever.

Through you and with you

I always want to belong

completely to Jesus.

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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 ‘Manual’ on the Sacred Heart Devotion

A long time ago during my reversion to the Catholic Faith I started seeking out books on the Sacred Heart Devotion since I had known little about it and my knowledge was superficial. In a bookstore in Utica or Syracuse, NY I chanced upon this book, which is billed as the original manual on the Devotion and the origin of much of what it involves.

“It is an excellent book, a classic on the Devotion and it far exceeds any other book I know of on the history, practice, means and reasons to do it. Numerous prayers and meditations are in it, including some written by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (the mystic who recieved the Devotion from Our Lord Himself.) It in you’ll find everything you need to know to practice the Devotion. It’s a wonderful book to take to Eucharistic Adoration. This should be on every sober Catholic’s bookshelf. All of the Promises that Our Lord made to St. Margaret Mary to those who practice the Devotion are included, and detailed. And there are more than the Twelve usually listed in prayer books.” – Source: Sacred Heart Solemnity

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The book is available through TAN Books.

There are other books on the Sacred Heart, these will be reviewed over the year.

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 Efficacious Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and how I use it

This has been edited; notes on that are at the bottom. Amongst the many devotees of St. Padre Pio, the “Efficacious Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus” is a very popular prayer. Adherents are invited to recite it daily; during Pio’s life, it was to unite their prayers to him. Now that he’s in Heaven it is STILL to unite our prayers to him. We are not separated from the Church Triumphant. Those of us in the Church Militant are united with them in prayer. They are the ‘Great Cloud of Witnesses’ of whom St. Paul wrote about. 

This novena prayer was recited every day by Padre Pio for all those who asked for prayers.

The faithful are invited to recite it daily, so as to be spiritually united with the prayer of Padre Pio.

I say this prayer every day. I’ve known about it for years, but only developed the daily habit as a result on a monthly St. Padre Pio Healing Mass I used to attend. 

The prayer itself is in bold typeface, intentions in italics and my comments in regular typeface. These are typically my intentions and why I picked them. I am posting it on this Sacred Heart Friday so as to introduce it to you and perhaps how I pray it might help you in figuring out the intentions. For some reason during the early years of my saying this I struggled with what intentions to pray for. I ‘solved’ that by studying the actual words of the prayer and getting inspiration from them. 

I. O my Jesus, you have said: “Truly I say to you, ask and it will be given you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you.” Behold I knock, I seek and ask for the grace of [insert your intention.]  

Our Father…Hail Mary…Glory be to the Father…Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.

My intentions are typically for “the grace of salvation for myself, my family, friends, loved ones, other people I have known or would like to have known, and people I will know.” My reasons are that since the prayer is about ‘knocking’ and ‘it will be open to you,’ I pray for salvation. I will be knocking on Heaven’s door someday and I want that opened to let me in! It is the one intention that God always answers. He wants us home with Him. If we want salvation, we will get it. It isn’t just ‘given,’ like we can go off and do whatever we want and then we’ll be saved. No, we get the ‘grace of salvation,’ those free helps from God, be they inspirations, or signal graces, or encouragements and consolations or some such indications as to His Will in our lives. We have to cooperate. On our deathbed these graces will hopefully overwhelm us as we battle Satan’s last attempts to snatch us from Heaven’s grasp. Which leads us to…

II. O my Jesus, you have said: “Truly I say to you, if you ask any thing of the Father in my name, He will give it to you.” Behold, in your name, I ask the Father for the grace of [insert your intention.] 

Our Father…Hail Mary…Glory be to the Father…Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.

I ask for “the grace of final perseverance, for myself, my family, friends, loved ones, other people I have known or would like to have known, and people I will know.’’ Satan knows his last chance to get you is when you’re at your final hour. He spares no effort. It doesn’t really matter if you’re someone famous and important or just a nobody. Every soul that he can keep from Heaven’s glory is a victory for him. My reasons for this intention is that since it invokes calling on ‘the Name’ of Jesus, you are calling upon the authority of Jesus to keep the demons from harassing you at death. Whenever we pray ‘in Jesus’ Name,’ we are submitting the prayer to the authority of Jesus. If it is His will, it will happen. If it isn’t, then it won’t.

III. O my Jesus, you have said: “Truly I say to you, heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away.” Encouraged by your infallible words I now ask for the grace of [insert your intention.] 

Our Father…Hail Mary…Glory be to the Father…Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.

In this part I pray for ‘the grace to die in the arms of Holy Mother Church, with the Sacraments.’ I desire the Anointing of the Sick (‘Last Rites’) and Viaticum. To be able to confess my sins to a priest and receive Holy Communion (‘Bread for the Journey.’) Since the invocation is about ‘words’ and words re used in administering the sacraments, that was my clue for this one. 

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, for whom it is impossible not to have compassion on the afflicted, have pity on us miserable sinners and grant us the grace which we ask of you, through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, your tender mother and ours.

Say the Hail, Holy Queen and add: St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus, pray for us.

 So that’s it. That’s the Efficacious Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus by St. Padre Pio and how I say it. You can use my intentions once in a while or  just offer up your own. I just ‘had to get this out there’ and explain how I use it. 

EDITED: I have edited this on July 29, 2024 to update the intentions. I made some additional wording for the first two: “for myself, my family, friends, loved ones, other people I have known or would like to have known, and people I will know.” Instead of just myself, I include all of these others. The “family, friends, loved ones” are obvious. But I chose to include “other people I have known,” which takes in just very casual relationships from whatever situations we found ourselves in (work, apartment building, public commutes) as well as enemies. The “would like to have known” refers to people that I briefly came into contact with, but for a variety of reasons, any potential relationship was interrupted. Many of these individuals still inhabit a portion of my mind, however briefly we crossed paths. The “people I will know” is also obvious, but there’s a chance I may still be around for another few years or even decades, and there are still people ahead of me on life’s path. There’s no reason why I should wait until we meet before I begin to pray for 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!!)

Sober Catholic Books UPDATE!

Recently my wife got me an early birthday present, Publisher Rocket by Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur. It’s a book marketing and research tool that comes highly recommended by pages and pages of Google and DuckDuckGo search results. I’ve only had it a couple of days and I am thinking I should have gotten it years ago. It helps you find a lot of things to aid your self-published books gain traction on Amazon along with a whole bunch of other useful tools for self-publishing. The Kindlepreneur site itself is a goldmine of things every self-publisher needs to know.

I have just used it to discover over a dozen categories in which to place my two books (see the signature that is at the bottom of every post for links to them.) I ust submitted a request to have Amazon place them in those categories. Right now just for the ebooks, I’ll try and add the paperback versions later today. 

That all being said, I’ve been inspired to dust off several of my Sober Catholic Books-in-progress. Although the Stations and Rosary books came out a decade ago, I’ve never given up on the idea of writing more. Things got in the way, including some nasty character defects (complacency and laziness) but I would occasionally piddle with a few ideas. 

Well, I have started work on two, maybe three books. One is on the Ten Commandments and the other is on the Litany of the Sacred Heart. The possible third is a prayer book. Not sure about that one. I have no idea when they will be finished, but I am enthused about self-publishing again. If something were to happen to me and SoberCatholic.com goes offline, then the books should be around as long as Amazon and the other publishers are online. So there’s that motivation. 

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!!)

On the basics of the Sacred Heart Devotion

This first “Sacred Heart Friday” post here on Sober Catholic is just a basic introduction. I can assume that if you’re Catholic and especially a sober one, then you pretty much know a lot about the Sacred Heart Devotion. Nevertheless, many people who read this are along different parts of the Road to Happy Destiny and as such may only have heard a little on it. (As a disclaimer: many of the following paragraphs are cobbled from earlier Sober Catholic posts on the topic.)

The Sacred Heart is an old Catholic devotion dating back centuries. 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. It focuses on the human nature of Jesus (the heart long being considered the center or source of human emotion.) As Jesus had become human to redeem us for our sins, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus concerns the Divine Love of God for us, and our response to that is our reparation for our sins. We sin, we repent and we make reparation. The Sacred Heart Devotion is central to the Matt Talbot Way of Sobriety. Matt taught that the key to sobriety is transferring your love for the drink onto Jesus. We ‘gift’ Jesus our addiction; He takes it from us and if we relapse, we are taking back the gift.

The Sacred Heart is Jesus’ intense, sacrificial love for us, and our response to that love by loving Him in return with a love that sets our own hearts and souls aflame; including loving Him on behalf of those who don’t.

Jesus’ love for us is so intense that it supplies what is lacking in our prayers and desires. It ‘fixes our past,’ not by a manner of temporal engineering and changing that past, but by burying our sinful past in His Heart (“Let go, and let God.”) we can find redemption in a tangible manner. The Sacred Heart Devotion, when combined with reception of the Eucharist and visits to the Blessed Sacrament make Jesus feel less like an abstraction and more of a real live entity. No wonder that the Sacred Heart Devotion has been popular amongst those who are more ‘traditional’ and who practice true holy piety (that sense of affectionate respect and love for God and His Church.)

Central to the devotion is the Nine First Fridays. When Our Lord appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque He had made special promises to those who would assist at Mass and receive Holy Communion for nine consecutive first Fridays of the month. This devotion is based upon one of the twelve promises made by Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary: “I promise thee, in the excess of the mercy of My Heart, that Its all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Communion on the First Friday of every month, for nine consecutive months, the grace of final penitence, and that they shall not die under My displeasure, nor without receiving the Sacraments, and My Heart shall be their secure refuge at that last hour.”

The website, “America Needs Fatima” has a great downloadable PDF flyer to print out: Nine First Fridays. Another site, Most Sacred Heart, has additional material on Adoration, Thanksgiving, Reparation, and Petition; four key elements of 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!!)

Introducing Sacred Heart Fridays

I know I’ll probably screw it up but I intend to write one (and maybe more) posts every Friday in honor of the Sacred Heart. 

I have been thinking about doing this for quite a few years and for a variety of reasons that will not be revealed, feel that 2023 is the year it’ll finally get done.

This project is long overdue. The Sacred Heart devotion is one of the oldest Catholic devotions and is second to that of the Rosary. The Sacred Heart devotion is also near and dear to Sober Catholics (or it should be!)

The posts will be inspired by classic Catholic devotionals on the Sacred Heart, some from my own interior life; some will be just book reviews (so as to introduce to you many classic and contemporary Sacred Heart spiritual readings.)

By the end of 2023, if I live to see its end, the 52+ posts will hopefully bestow upon you a greater devotion to the Sacred Heart than you already have.

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!!)

16th Bloggaversary of Sober Catholic: How I stayed sober for almost 21 years

Today marks the 16th Bloggaversary of Sober Catholic. In honor of that, I’ve edited and cleaned up a messy note I wrote who-knows-when on “The Sober Catholic Way.” It is a summary of everything I’ve been doing since I became sober on May 22, 2002. Some I do better than others. 

This was originally a long, 2,000ish word post. There was the summary you see in the next paragraph followed by a longer version that fleshed out the details. But then I decided this morning during a feeling-sorry-for-myself pity party that the longer version is itself a summary of an even much longer version that’s been lurking in my head for 15 or so years. That being a book on the topic of “The Sober Catholic Way of Sobriety.” Or something like that. I shall begin working on that right away. I do not know when it will be finished.

The summary of the ‘Sober Catholic Method’ or ‘Way’ or ‘whatver’ is:

Wow, that’s a long list, Paulcoholic? Isn’t a Twelve-Step program simpler? Yeah, maybe. But doing the above has kept this sick puppy sober for over 20 years and I knew that AA couldn’t. Some people demand happiness in this life and they find it often by avoiding suffering all costs and more and more turn to things which can only be called ‘addictions.’ Whether it is the typical alcohol or drugs, or an inordinate attraction to the self, or to the Internet and social media, or  to fandoms (pop culture things like TV franchises, movies, comics or other entertainment stuff.) Someone may not be an alcoholic or a drug addict, but I betcha they’re ‘addicted’ to something. You need a lot of tools to crowd all that stuff out or at least keeping them in their proper perspective is an attribute of the Sober Catholic Method. Or Way. Or whatever… 😉 So this all could be a wholistic approach to dealing with life in general and addictions in particular.

There are probably books or devotions that should be on there, but this my list. Yours may be slightly different. Anyone who takes a look at the list will arrive at the conclusion that it is simply a decent Catholic lifestyle. We are all supposed to go to Mass, Confession, and live the Gospel life which is learned by studying the Bible, Catechism, lives of the Saints and their teachings along with a few particular devotions to assist us on our way – to help us ‘stay on the beam.’ So be it. What makes it a ‘Sober Catholic Way?’ Life hasn’t been perfect for me nor am I a serene, happy saint-to-be. Life sucks at times, and I am often cranky and melancholic. But God never promises happiness and peace in this life. Only in the life to come. This should help me get there.

If you’ve appreciated this blog as well as this post, you can PayPalMe a non-tax deductible donation (my real name is Paul Sofranko, like the destination link says.) I will greatly appreciate every donation. (I do have plans for the money; plans to buy software which will help out in the production and marketing of self-published books. I figure that if I can raise sufficient funds through the kindness of strangers, then I’ll feel responsible and actually start working on the planned books. More on that later. )

 Or, you can just buy a lot of my books I’ve already done:

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. Stephen and St. Paul: united in Heaven

I’ve always loved this passage from the Second Reading of the Divine Office for the Feast of St. Stephen, Protomartyr:

From a sermon by Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe, bishop:

Now at last, Paul rejoices with Stephen, with Stephen he delights in the glory of Christ, with Stephen he exalts, with Stephen he reigns. Stephen went first, slain by the stones thrown by Paul, but Paul followed after, helped by the prayer of Stephen. This, surely, is the true life, my brothers, a life in which Paul feels no shame because of Stephen’s death, and Stephen delights in Paul’s companionship, for love fills them both with joy. It was Stephen’s love that prevailed over the cruelty of the mob, and it was Paul’s love that covered the multitude of his sins; it was love that won for both of them the kingdom of heaven.

It is probably my second favorite reading, right behind the one from Holy Saturday (‘Something strange is happening – there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep.”)

I particularly enjoy the one from today’s Office because it convincingly states one aspect of Heaven: enemies forget their animosity or hostility and are united in fraternal love. Now, St. Stephen didn’t hate St. Paul while the two were living; there’s no record they ever actually met. Even if they did, Paul (then named Saul) was just one of the good number of Pharisees who opposed and tried to silence Stephen. But the lesson is there: Paul hated Stephen and this contributed to Stephen’s death. But now they are joined in Heaven. What caused their differences on Earth now unites them in Heaven.

Something that provides a great comfort for all of us down here. Given our past alcoholic and addictive behavior, we have compiled quite a list of people who hold us in less than high regard. It is comforting to know that if we all make it to Heaven, all of that Earthy stuff is gone. Our actions are understood and forgiven, and nothing is left but love. 

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!!)