Feast of Matt Talbot

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June 19th also happens to be the feast day of Matt Talbot, the Irish hard laborer and ex-drunkard who if he ever gets around to interceding miraculously, will get beatified and then canonized, and become a patron saint of alcoholics and addicts.

If you are a reader of this blog, then you probably know of him; how he was a drunk, begging and borrowing money to support his pub crawling, lending money when he had it to support others’ drinking habits, and how on that awful day, when he had no money and worse, no beer, turned out he had no “real” friends either, since no one wanted to spot him any further cash, discovered he had no access to the drink and decided to “take the pledge,” total abstinence from the drink.

It worked, and Matt led a life of humble piety, going to daily Mass, reciting the Rosary every day, and reading many spiritual books, including “Total Consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary,” by St. Louis De Montfort.

Matt’s basic plan was to transfer his “love for the drink” onto the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He took to heart the admonition to “seek ye first the kingdom,” and made a throne for the Sacred Heart in his own soul. “Where your heart is, there shall your treasure be,” and the treasure of Matt’s heart was Jesus’ Sacred Heart and His Most Immaculate Mother, Mary.

It is said that Matt’s piety, devotion and sacramental life lead him to live out the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous decades before they were ever conceived. In essence, he discovered them independently of Bill Wilson (AA’s Founder.) This should silence all Catholic critics of AA and the Steps who claim it fosters indifferentism. It does, if one’s Faith is weak, but if you simultaneously reach out and explore the spiritual riches of your Catholic Faith while also working the Steps, you should become a stronger Catholic. A good Catholic faith and prayer life, rooted in the Sacraments, the Beatitudes and the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy “just happens” to parallel the Twelve Steps.

I’ve written about him before, see Matt Talbot Post Archives and there are also links on him in the sidebar.

EDIT: The one thing I do not know is why his feast day is June 19th rather than June 7th, the day he died. Typically, someone’s feast day is their date of “entry into Heaven,” i.e, if they get beatified or canonized, their death day. If anyone knows…

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!!)

Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

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Today is the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is an old and extremely popular devotion; although it has faded somewhat during the 20th century, it appears to me to be reviving. Some have said that the Divine Mercy Devotion is a ’reboot’ of the Sacred Heart Devotion; a close comparison reveals much similarities and

It is concerned with the intense and overwhelming love that Jesus Christ has for humanity, so much so that He gave Himself up for us as a propitiatory sacrifice for our sins and remains with us today in the Real Presence of the Blessed Sacrament. A component of the devotion is our love for Him in return, a love that has reparative aspects as we love and offer sacrifices to Him on behalf of this that do not love Him (or know of His love.) More-so, the reparative elements are in light of blasphemies, sacrileges and other sins of hate against Our Lord. We love Him in return for His love for us, and our love makes up for the lack of love others have for Him, often manifesting in acts of hate.

The devotion began in the 17th Century when Our Lord appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, an Augustinian nun renowned for her piety and incredible humility. He grieved over the growing coldness of human hearts toward Him and in His love and Divine Mercy. Much of this coldness arose as a result of the heresy of Jansenism, which essentially teaches that God is harsh and judgmental, and few are saved since humanity is so depraved and evil due to sin. For some reason Jansenism became very popular in Europe, particularly in France. I think Calvinism was happier.

I looked up Jansenism in the Catholic Encyclopedia; apparently Jansenism arose from a text written by Archbishop Cornelius Jansen of Ypres, Belgium, that wasn’t published until some time after his death. He, himself, appears to have died in the graces of the Church and allegedly wrote a testament submitted his work to the judgment of the Church. His executor unsuccessfully tried to suppress the work, he failed and copies of it were published and distributed widely, attracting devotees. You can read all of that here and decide for yourself: Jansenius and Jansenism

I have links in the sidebar regarding the Sacred Heart Devotion; I’ve also written about it here: Sacred Heart Post Archives. Last year’s post on the Sacred Heart Solemnity was really great! 🙂

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!!)

Back to Mass!

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This next Sunday I get to go to Mass again! With the recent alleviation of COVID-19 cases, restrictions on public gatherings have lessened and the local Bishop has lifted most objections on Mass attendance. Social distancing must be maintained, a cap of total number of attendees is still in place and the Mass obligation is still lifted. Those who are sick or who still feel uncertain about their safety can still remain home and watch streamed Masses.

Not me. Technically I can use “feeling uncertain about safety” as an excuse as I am susceptible to COVID-19. But my Mass is a lightly attended TLM in the best of times so I’m saddlin’ up and goin’ in.

It is the External Solemnity of Corpus Christi. (“External” as in the Solemnity is actually today, the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, but where it isn’t observed as such it is transferred to the following Sunday.)

Whatever. I’m going to Mass! I’m going to Mass!! I’m going to Mass!!! I’m going to Mass!!!!

It’s been three months…. No Eucharist….  Palm Sunday missed…. Easter Sunday missed….Divine Mercy Sunday missed… Ascension… Pentecost… Trinity Sunday. We’ve taken hits.

Now that we know what we’ve been missing, perhaps we can appreciate it more and become more faithful, observant, and orthodox Catholics.

 

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!!)

If you can read this, then I am still blogging!

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The domain name registration for our blogs (this one, another I barely use, and my wife’s site) became due a week ago and without hesitation we paid for another year. I really should blog more. I know I’ve said that in the past about 89,621 times, and have apologized 64,229 times for not doing so, and have announced schemes plans 95,628 times for “blogging more.” I short, I do like it, and perhaps I should be just content with sticking it out and blogging the handful of times a month I do and let that be that.

It’s not as if there’s nothing to blog about, with plenty of “prompts” to do just that, such as the Liturgical Year, including devotional times, saint’s feast days and such (which I have made ample use of in years past.) There’s the apocalyptic times in which we live  replete with possible societal collapse, and how to pray and cope with all that; the very possibility that we could be on the receiving end of a Divine Chastisement! Lots of stuff! There is even tech to assist with that, such as calendars and notifications, reminders, blogging, writing and notetaking software!

Tools everywhere. Sigh.

The purpose of this post? None, whatsoever. Just checking in, I suppose. Later!

 

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!!)

Willing to be ridiculous to obtain the miraculous.

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I tried posting this on LinkedIn either as a stand alone post or a profile description, but it exceeds the maximum length for either. Then I remembered that I have two blogs and so I decided to make use of them for this personal matter. The post title is an allusion to a famous quote of Mother Angelica, the Foundress of EWTN. She said, “Unless you are willing to do the ridiculous, God will not do the miraculous. When you have God, you don’t have to know everything about it; you just do it.” This kind of post sounds ridiculous, and proper people with proper concerns about proper appearances probably wouldn’t bother, but I am looking for the miraculous, and so be it. (However, I know quite a bunch about what I’m looking for, so there’s that…)

In this time of pandemic, with the relevant health concerns, (or scares, depending upon your POV) I am considering a career change. I hinted at my day job on a prior LinkedIn profile description (now edited out in favor of the current transitional one) but I would now like something different. What have I done for a living? Nice that you should ask: I am currently laid-off (due to the pandemic) from a thrift store chain where I received used goods at an outdoor remote donation center. What was a temporary job “until something better came along” has endured for over six years now. So, loyalty and perseverance are expressed character traits! I found that I actually enjoyed the work, hard as it was at times given the need to work in all types of weather and dealing with all types of individuals. I found the diversity of people and their offerings interesting, especially when they talked and told stories about themselves or their goods. I’d often wonder about the history of unusual or odd donations. Also, during periods in between receiving and sorting/stocking duties I found plenty of time to read and think, which assisted my enduring for 6 years. I even got a great idea for a novel which I have been puttering with.

My company is considering reopening next week (June 1st) in an upcoming “Phase.” Although I do welcome the opportunity to return, I have also enjoyed staying safe at home these past few months. I have health concerns which render me susceptible to COVID-19, although my health care professionals think I’ll survive. But given the impermanence of unemployment insurance, generous though it is, work is a need for personal dignity, economic sustainability and independence. I find myself wanting something that can make better use of my past professional, academic and general life-skills. And thus I am pursuing a career-change. I am seeking a remote (telework, “work-at-home”) position in what might variously be called “content creation,” or “copywriting” or “copyediting,” in other words, you have a site or product that needs words, well, I got loads of ’em and I know how to use them, too! Another position that I would be interested in is chat-based customer service. After completing training on your company’s products and services and assimilating appropriate knowledge, I can serve customers who have issues and problems in a chat interface. (I prefer the written word to the spoken.) I use a Mac, hopefully this is not an impediment to any proprietary software.

If you’re interested, or have job leads, or even advice and prayers, please email me at the addresses found here: MY CONTACT INFO. You can also reach me through LinkedIn; my profile is Paul Sofranko on LinkedIn. There is also this “About Me” page on my other blog. I am diligent, loyal, and possess a great work ethic. Salary is negotiable, I’d prefer flexible hours, or if fixed hours, then afternoons through evenings (i.e. “second shift.”) I am looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you for considering me, I do appreciate any interest.

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!!)

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Rogation Days May 2020

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This post is taken from an earlier one and has been edited.

There is a ancient pious Catholic practice known as the “Rogation Days.” They take place annually on the Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist on April 25th, and on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday preceding Ascension Thursday. I missed the April 25th observance this year (and I pretty much forget it every year. You’d think I’d remember given that my Confirmation name is “Mark.”).

It is normally done in a church, but is rare nowadays as it was dropped from the Liturgical calendar in 1970; it is now only practiced in those parishes that celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Mass an its accompanying calendar (and even then, I’m not sure how common it is…)

From the “Catholic Rural Life Prayer Book,”

“The word “rogation” comes from the Latin word “rogare” meaning “to ask.”
The three Rogation Days are over 1,500 years old. They began in the fifth
century at Vienne, France, when, in the year 470, there had been crop
failures–due to earthquakes and bad weather–with resulting great food
scarcity and destitution. St. Mamertus, bishop of Vienne, ordered a triduum
of prayer and penance on the three days preceding the Ascension. The clergy
and the people made penitential processions calling upon God to help and
asking the intercession of His saints.

…

The purpose of the Rogation Days’ service is to implore the mercy of God
that He may keep us from all evils of soul and body, and give to the plants
of the field an increase. In the spring, when the fields are becoming green
and there is promise of a good harvest–but also the possibility of
destruction through frost, hail, or rainstorms–the prayers and processions
are a reminder to feeble man to turn with humility and confidence to the
Giver of all good. For, it is not the earth alone which brings forth fruit,
and not alone the busy hand of man on which the increase depends; but it is
God who gives the increase.”

The words I emboldened give you an idea as to why I’m making it known to you. Although as a pious practice it traditionally is a fixture in rural communities, I think it can be applied for people in addiction recovery. It’s a stretch, but “to implore the mercy of God that He may keep us from all evils of soul and body” is a worthwhile use of this devotion for us alcoholics. The parts referring to “growing things” is… well, I frequently suggest that readers “go outside to get outside” of yourself. Outdoors is where you can meet and get to know God through the study and observance of His works. (The best place is, of course inside a church, at Mass or in front of the Blessed Sacrament) but being amongst His creation is good, too. The weather for my part of the country is pretty good this week, I may actually get to finishing preparing and my own herb and vegetable garden. Herb seeds should be planted, but the veggies may have to wait until next week.

I am not sure exactly how the Rogation Days can be practiced at home if they aren’t observed in a parish near you; I do have a copy of the “Rural Life Prayer Book” and am going to just prayerfully read the section on the Rogation Days and go from there, adapting as best I can. You can obtain a print copy for yourself here: Catholic Rural Life Store. (As of this writing, the site reports it is out of stock but you can add your name to the mailing list to be notified as to when it becomes available.

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. Faustina has been added to the Liturgical Calendar!

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In an announcement carried here: (CNA,) “Pope Francis has decreed that St. Faustina Kowalska’s feast day be added to the Roman Calendar as an optional memorial to be celebrated by all on October 5.

The Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship issued the decree May 18, the 100th anniversary of the birth of St. John Paul II, who canonized St. Faustina on April 13, 2000, making her the first saint of the new millennium.

The decree said that Pope Francis had taken the step in response to petitions from pastors, religious men and women and associations of the faithful, and “having considered the influence exercised by the spirituality of St. Faustina in different parts of the world.”

Courtesy: CNA.

This is interesting. I had once thought it odd that she didn’t have a date on the Universal Calendar, but then considered that she was the “Apostle of Divine Mercy” and as such she was more about spreading devotion to the Divine Mercy Message rather than attracting much attention to herself. But I suppose that if this does attract greater knowledge of Divine Mercy beyond the time around Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday, then so be it.

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 YouTube Channel (UPDATE)

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Just a quick post to let you know that I’ve just spent the last hour or so managing this blog’s YouTube Channel. All that is on there are subscriptions and playlists; I have no original videos uploaded. The main thing I did was to delete all playlists and subscriptions relating to the Camino de Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage as well as after all these years make my subscriptions “public.” All this time I thought people could see what I subscribed to; but alas, apparently not. Oh, well. No one told me after prior posts on the channel which included references to the subscriptions. There’s a bunch of subscriptions to various addiction recovery resources including porn. The Camino videos and subscriptions were due to my obsession with the film The Way by Emilio Estevez and Martin Sheen. I thought that the pilgrimage was a nice metaphor for recovery; however as I viewed the channel Camino videos seemed to dominate the appearance and so I thought a change was in order, even though it might not have mattered given my ignorance regarding privacy settings.

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!!)

Divine Mercy Sunday in a Time of Pandemic

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Today is Divine Mercy Sunday. I’ve written about it numerous times before; the following posts are among the more important ones: Divine Mercy Sunday and Divine Mercy Sunday: A great day for those who’ve really messed things up.  The Search Box on the blog will turn up more articles.

However, considering that you might be amongst the several billion humans on Earth who cannot go to sacramental Confession and receive the Eucharist and thus fulfill the requirements needed for the Plenary Indulgence, this handy article from the National Catholic register  says how you can still get it: You Can Still Get the Divine Mercy Indulgence, If You Do This…

Peace be with you, and may the mercy of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ lift you up from your sins…

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 sudden inspiration regarding forgiveness

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While praying this morning a sudden thought occurred to me regarding the concept of forgiveness. I do not recall by now where I was in my Morning Prayers and what triggered the thought. It doesn’t matter, really.

I have struggled with forgiveness quite a lot over the years; what it means, do you ‘feel anything,’ does it ‘take’ or do you have to forgive the aggressors or antagonists again and again if the feelings and resentments still oppress you.

My struggles with forgiveness stem primarily from the treatment that I was subjected to by my blood family, mostly siblings, in the aftermath of my Mom’s death in 2005. I won’t go into details about what they did, but it all made me consider suicide. I actually drove about my home county looking for a cliff or ravine I could drive off. I don’t recall why I settled upon that method of demise, but I was spared by a phone call from my pastor which alleviated some core issues.

So, back to the topic of forgiveness. Simply, what is it and what does it mean? Simply put, in my inspiration this morning, it means that…

…you no longer desire for those who have trespassed against you to be punished for their crimes. 

That’s it. No vengeance against them, no reconciliation with them, no alleviation or elimination of your feelings or resentments, no psychological process to cut off your emotional connection to the events that caused you suffering (nice, if you can do that and it works, but not necessary) no desiring their eternal damnation or even considerable time in Purgatory. You simply do not want them to suffer punishment for their actions against you.

That’s all. They wronged you, they hurt you even to the point of despair and possible suicide, and whatever else… it is no matter. Despite what they did, you just do not desire them to suffer for their crimes. At all.

Perhaps they’ll be punished for it someday. But you won’t be the agent of it, for be assured that God knows what they did and unless they repent and have remorse for their actions they will suffer for it.

Romans 12:19 “Do not defend yourselves, dearest ones. Instead, step aside from wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is mine. I shall give retribution, says the Lord.””

Luke 11:4 “And forgive us our sins, since we also forgive all who are indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”

Courtesy: Sacred Bible: Catholic Public Domain Version

We see from those two Scripture passages that vengeance is reserved to the Lord alone and that our sins are forgiven if we forgive those who have sinned against us. Want forgiveness? Be forgiving. Leave it up to God what to do about those who have harmed you.

As a concluding note: Perhaps they can even let you know in some way that they’re sorry, and would like to make amends. That would be nice. An email, message through Facebook, an actual snail mail letter. Whatever. Some satisfaction, assuming they’re humble and compassionate enough to reach out to you. “I’m sorry, Paul, for hurting you so much. I’m sorry I made your grief worse; that what we did to you was like rubbing salt in a fresh wound. I’m sorry for driving you to consider suicide. I’m sorry for not coming to your aid against the one who was primarily responsible for your pain and despair. I’m sorry for not being there. I’m sorry you were so alone and abandoned…” Yeah, that would be nice. Don’t hang too many hopes on it happening, it may be best to just let it go.

I looked up “Forgiveness” in the search engine for this blog, found many posts but these seemed most interesting for today:

Reconciliation and Forgiveness

Forgiveness and the Adversary

Or there’s the post archive (warning, there IS A LOT): Forgiveness post archives 

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!!)