Ash Wednesday 2020

Today begins the spiritual discipline amongst Christians known as Lent. It is the liturgical season in which we increase and strengthen our desire to grow closer to Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ by prayer, fasting, and penance. It leads to Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection.

This season and November are the two biggest seasons here at Sober Catholic; both times remind us of our ultimate end and both times serve as opportunities to become more like Christ.

I urge you to take up your Catholic Bible and study the Gospels, especially the Passion narratives. The Letters of St. Paul are especially fruitful, too. But delve into the Gospels for in them you will find treasures beyond imagining. You will never exhaust

For daily meditations suggest praying the Daily Mass Readings, found online anywhere.

In the past I often blogged daily during Lent; I won’t this year but I do hope to blog more often than is typical.

Have a blessed and fruitful Lent, everyone.

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!!)

Why I prefer the Latin Mass

The weather this weekend where I live is abominable and to make sure I made my Sunday Mass obligation I attended a Vigil Mass in the Ordinary Rite (the Mass that is the most common and is everywhere. The Mass in the local language). The weather proved difficult on Sunday and thus I stayed home, missing my Mass in the Extraordinary Form (The Traditional Latin Mass.) I watched it online, streaming from St. Mary’s of Pine Bluff, WI.

I missed going in person. The “New Mass” doesn’t do it for me. I’ve long thought about why. I won’t go into the transcendence or the beauty or history or any of that. That’s better written elsewhere on blogs devoted to liturgy. My reasons for preferring it are all those mystical, wondrous reasons plus a few more ordinary ones.

Mainly, it’s more reflective of how I pray in the home. I do have a fairly hefty prayer life. By no means is this intended to be boastful, but my morning prayers take 60-90 minutes. Not so long in the evening, maybe 15 or so. I recite the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary (a pre-Vatican II version, dating from the early 20th Century) as well as the Liturgy of the Hours. Add to those a few prayers from the Militia of the Immaculata Prayer Book and Mother Angelica’s Prayer Book as well as some other odds and ends.

These all steep me into some pretty deep prayers and meditations. When I attend and pray the Latin Mass, I am connected to that. When I say my morning prayers, I am reminded of the Latin Mass. The two reinforce each other, which is as I think it should be.

The “New Mass” seems too trite and watered-down. I have witnessed exceptions to this. These exceptions all involved priests and altar servers who obviously understood that Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is Truly Present in the sanctuary; Really Present – Body, Blood Soul and Divinity in the Eucharist and they comported themselves in a manner acknowledging this reality. For too many other times it seems as if the priest and servers and other laity in the sanctuary just think the Eucharist is a symbol. Or perhaps they thinks He’s the hippy Jesus that “understands and accepts” everything and is cool with things. They do not appear to behave in a manner consistent with the belief that the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Who is the Just Judge (and King of Mercy) is there. With them. Watching.

Also, when I’m at the Latin Mass, I feel that there is something mysterious going on. Some supernatural religious ritual enshrouded in mystery and antiquity is happening, I don’t fully grasp what is going on, but that’s all right. I don’t think I should because this is something greater than me. And we need mystery in our lives.

Kind of sad when you think your personal prayer life is more substantive and reverential than the common Mass.

Anyway, not that anyone’s asked, but that is why I prefer the Latin Mass.

See also: Spiritual Progression, Latin style and This Side of ParadiseI 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!!)

Christmas 2019 in this Dark Age

Merry Christmas to all my Sober Catholic readers; I hope your Advent season bore much spiritual fruit in your lives as you prepared for this day, the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

If any of you paid attention to the Mass readings during Advent or even to the Office of Readings in the Liturgy of the Hours you are aware that Advent wasn’t just about preparing for the commemoration of His First Coming as an infant; no, the readings were also about the need for us to prepare for His Second Coming as a Just Judge, bringing history to an end and taking the righteous home to eternal life with the Father and casting into Hell the unjust, the oppressors, persecutors, the selfish and the exploiters. The damned.

Based upon all this, and combining that all with the variety of spiritual reading I’ve done in recent memory, it appears to me that the World is in almost as dark a place now as it was in the times immediately preceding Our Lord’s birth. Barbaric times of slavery and oppression, infanticide, wars and the commoditization of human beings, these times are little different. Oh, we seem more sophisticated nowadays and are more conscious of our troubles, but factor in abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, human trafficking (modern slavery) endless war, economic and political corruption, the degradation and dehumanization of human life… these times aren’t that much different.

Seems like we need a Saviour, again.

Of course, He is here, still among us in the Eucharist and the Mass; in some places He us available 24/7 in Eucharistic Adoration chapels. Otherwise, through prayer and meditation you can establish and maintain your conscious contact with God and keep that channel of life sustaining grace flowing into your soul.

He doesn’t need to Come again now to save the World from itself; He is here in His Church and Her sacraments and prayer life. We can partake of these and be Christ -bearers to others lost in the World. Many are starving for objective Truth and they know not where it is or even that it exists.

You can be a Christ-bearer in this Dark Age and bring His light to those blinded by the World. You need not become street preachers or add your voice to the blogosphere; you can merely be Christian. By doing things with great love, fulfilling the duties of your state of life, by trying to see the brokenness and woundedness of others about you. Not easy when we are often absorbed by our own pain. But we try.

How long this Dark Age will continue is unknown. There are Catholic prophecies that state that light of Christ may appear to vanish before the Second Coming; that His Church may suffer many tribulations and persecutions and will be all but destroyed. There are also Scriptural signs about what must happen before He returns. Nevertheless we must be like the servant in the parable who does his duty not knowing when his master will return. We do what is in front of us, care for each other and prepare… for we know not when He will Return, either and the end of time or for us personally. Our lives must be like a continual Advent and Christmas season; ever watchful in preparation for His Coming, and being Christ-bearers to others.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!!)

Turn the Page

Today is the end of the Church year. Sunset marks the Vigil of the First Sunday of Advent; that liturgical season when we prepare for the Coming of Christ. We remember His first Coming, the time of His Incarnation as a humble, innocent little babe, dependent on human parents and raised like any other child (with probable exceptions in His case, given His divinity and the sinlessness of His Holy Mother.)

We use the preparation of His first Coming to remind us that He will come again. (This is quite plain to anyone who prayed the Liturgy if the Hours these past few weeks.)

This post has the title “Turn the Page,” a common thought when the calendar turns to a new year, whether it be the liturgical one or secular.

It us a reminder that life progresses. What is around “today” may not be so “tomorrow.” Life changes, we change and adapt to it as a matter of course. We should always be mindful of this and our ultimate end.

As alcoholics and addicts there us much about our past we wish had never happened. Knowing that we cannot go back in time to correct it, we use the experiences to plot our course into the future. If we have been hurt, we try to not grow callouses on our souls and become hardened to others. This is often difficult as we fear being hurt again by others. Nevertheless, we keep before us our sins and weaknesses and remember that others aee suffeting too.

We trudge each day down rhe road to our destiny. Some days are better than others. We fall, er pick ourselves up. Relying on God’s graces, we continue on. We keep turning the pages of our calendars, each day new, each day a new chance.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!!)

Cemetery Devotion for November

This is an annual post on a fruitful pious devotion for November:

Catholic Culture has an excellent article regarding a very beneficial pious activity that can aid in your own spiritual progression. It also is a good reminder of where we’ll end up someday. (A grave. Morbid, true, but you wouldn’t be here unless you’re more aware than most people that you will die someday.)

Praying for the Dead and Gaining Indulgences During November is something I will blog about here annually. It is about the act of visiting a cemetery during the first 8 days of November.

To summarize from the “Catholic Culture” site:Indulgenced Acts for the Poor Souls: A partial indulgence can be obtained by devoutly visiting a cemetery and praying for the departed, even if the prayer is only mental. One can gain a plenary indulgence visiting a cemetery each day between November 1 and November 8. These indulgences are applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory.

A plenary indulgence, again applicable only the Souls in Purgatory, is also granted when the faithful piously visit a church or a public oratory on November 2. In visiting the church or oratory, it is required, that one Our Father and the Creed be recited.

A partial indulgence, applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory, can be obtained when the Eternal Rest  is prayed. This is a good prayer to recite especially during the month of November:

 ‘Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.'”

The article explains the differences between plenary and partial indulgences.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!!)

Manifesto of Faith

A few days ago on Facebook a good friend posted something about a “Manifesto of Faith” in reply to something I had posted. It sounded interesting and so I looked it up. To quote from the website:

“The “Manifesto of Faith” was published by Gerhard Cardinal Müller in February 2019. Cardinal Müller was the Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith from 2011-2017. He issued the document in response to requests from clerics and lay people who asked him to provide guidance for the Church in this time of confusion. The original document is provided below in 6 different languages. We encourage people to read and reflect upon Cardinal Müller’s words, especially his references to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.”

I watched the video, it’s about 22 minutes long. It’s published on Vimeo and YouTube; I’ve also embedded it in the sidebar as well as at the bottom of this post so you can watch it from here. Or you could also watch it on the film’s website: Manifesto of Faith, and read more about it there as well as learn how you can help. It is excellent and quite a warning shot to those on the other side in the Spiritual Warfare that is escalating.

“Manifesto of Faith.” Clear truth in these times when everything seems malleable and relative.

When I shared the video on my Facebook profile, I suggested the following to cope with these times:

  • Read the Catechism. The 1997 one by Pope St. John Paul II; the 16th Century one by the Council of Trent. Either. Both!
  • Read a ***Catholic Bible***. Douay-Rheims, Jerusalem, Knox, Revised Standard Version-Catholic Edition (and the RSV-Second Catholic Edition) are wonderful and solid.
  • Watch EWTN.
  • STAY CLOSE TO THE SACRAMENTS! Receive Holy Communion often, Confession *at least monthly*.
  • Read the Lives of the Saints.
  • GO TO MASS! Find a TLM (Traditional Latin Mass; reconnect with the Mass of the Ages, the one all Catholics for centuries worshipped in. Your favorite saints either worshipped in this or said it (if priests). Otherwise, try and find a New Mass that is offered with due reverence and solemnity. Is it obvious there is something sacred going on? Are they acting as if they are aware the Jesus is Truly Present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity? Or are they acting like the Eucharist is just a symbol? The difference is obvious. People would be acting much differently at Mass if they actually believed that Jesus, King of Kings and Lord of Lords was there.
  • Don’t trust the news media. ANY of it. They all lie. Every single outlet. The sooner you realize that, the better.
  • Politicians are not saviors and messiahs.

The film:

https://player.vimeo.com/api/player.jsI 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 Little Way, the Incarnation and the Passion

Today is the feast day of St. Therese of Lisieux according to the liturgical calendar of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. The “Traditional Latin Mass” calendar, in other words. I mentioned in the “Little Flower and the Story of Her Soul,” that today I’d write something on her Little Way.

Commonly understood, her Little Way is the application of the Gospel to everyday situations. You do everything with love and humility. You seek and find God in the ordinary. The keys to understanding are “love” and “humility.”

Jesus did not seek greatness. He was a poor, itinerant preacher who associated with the dregs of society: hookers, drunks, lepers, the poor, the outcast and government officials. To quote St. Paul in his Letter to the Phillipians 2:6:

“For this understanding in you was also in Christ Jesus: who, though he was in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be seized. Instead, he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and accepting the state of a man. He humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, even the death of the Cross.

And that is a key part of understanding how the Little Way is the Applied Gospel.

Jesus did not exalt His divinity; He never used it as an excuse to avoid “being little,” for He always humbled Himself in service to His people.

And this was from the beginning of His Earthly life; for He descended to Earth not as a fully grown human male or as a mighty warrior-king or firebrand prophet. No, God became Little, a humble, innocent baby, subject to and dependent upon His human parents.

God defined and established the Little Way by the very act of His Incarnation; nearly 1,900 years later He raised up St. Therese to bring that fact to life in modern times in a new way, applicable by all.

I said above that the keys to understanding are “love” and “humility.” True love implies self-sacrifice. You give of yourself for the other without regard as to the cost to yourself. Humility (or Littleness) is accepting yourself as you are, in the role God planned for you.

God was Little; and as the John the Evangelist tells us, “For God is love.” (1 John 4:8)

God’s Littleness was expressed in His Incarnation; His Love in the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ Jesus.

Therefore, the Little Way replicates the Incarnation by means of our becoming “Little” like Jesus did when He entered Mary’s womb, and the act of doing “little things” such as our daily tasks and duties with great love requires us to sacrifice our self-will and self-love. This, in turn, replicates the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus.

The Little Way therefore combines in our daily lives the mission of Our Lord in His Incarnation and Passion.

So, we finite, limited creatures can be Christ-bearers to others by living out our daily existence in simple humility. Just in doing our little daily tasks with love and humility. Not ever thinking greatly of ourselves, no self-importance. Just by being Little.

From simplicity comes such great things. Who can tell what impact some”little” thing you do do might have on someone?

Scripture quotes courtesy: Sacred Bible: Catholic Public Domain VersionI 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!!)

Little Flower and the Story of Her Soul

Today is a feast day for St. Therese of Lisieux, the “Little Flower” and Doctor of the Church (due to her doctrine of “The Little Way.”) I say “a feast day” as today’s is from the Ordinary Form Calendar; on the Extraordinary Form Calendar it is October 3rd.

One of the more significant books I’ve read, and one that is I believe essential to any sober Catholic, is her autobiography entitled “The Story of a Soul.” I admit to having had great difficulty in first reading it; it took me three tries before I finally “got into it” and completed it. I’ve read it once more since. I highly recommend the ICS Publications edition of the book, especially the “Study Edition.” The Study sections opens wide the vistas of her teachings by placing things in the context of her life and times and how we can bring her “Little Way” into our contemporary lives. This book, along with St. Maria Faustina Kowalska’s autobiography “Divine Mercy in My Soul,” are mystical classics and every Catholic should read them, study them and apply their teachings. I’ve already raved about St. Faustina’s Diary before and how important it can be a to sober Catholic, “The Story of a Soul” should be right next to it on your bookshelf.

Some key points I gleaned from my reading of the Study Edition of St. Therese’s autobiography and her spirituality, based on the almost legible notes I scribbled in the back of it:

  • Her zeal in receiving the Eucharist. I don’t remember at all the day I received First Holy Communion, nor the time preparing for it. For St. Therese, it was one of the singularly important Events (yes, capital “E”) in her childhood. She understood and knew that she was receiving her Saviour, all Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Him. If you ever get to feeling blasé about receiving Our Lord in the Eucharist, study her writings on her Holy Communion.
  • Next to receiving the Eucharist was her devotion to adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. She found great solace in her solitude with Him.
  • Her zeal in studying the catechism. The catechism in her day was the Roman Catechism, or the Catechism of the Council of Trent. Perhaps she also had a children’s adaptation, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she read the primary catechism, at least after she entered the cloister. But her catechesis wasn’t just from a text such as a formal catechism; she also studied Sacred Scripture, especially the Letters of St. Paul (where she discovered her vocation). Books on the lives of the saints, especially her heroine, St. Joan of Arc, also formed her faith. The classic medieval book, “The Imitation of Christ” by Thomas a Kempis was important to her, so much so that she had it memorized. Stories are told in which her family would play a game; they would mention a Book, Chapter and Paragraph number to her, and Therese would correctly recite that selection. A pocket version of it was her constant companion.
  • The Church Triumphant. She found great solace also in communication through prayer with residents of her Heavenly Fatherland. Not just St. Joan of Arc and other saints she was attracted to, but also her mother, who died while Therese was a child, as well as her deceased siblings (her parents had several children who died in infancy.) She received signal graces from them all, signs her prayers were heard. Heaven was real to her, a destination that life on earth was just a means to get to. It was not some hopeful fantasy. (Although she was stricken with doubts about it near the end of her life.)
  • The book The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life, by Father Charles Arminjon. A series of conferences or seminars given by that priest in France in 1881, the subject matter inspired a transformation in St. Therese, it “plunged my soul into a state of joy not of this earth.” Shortly afterwards she began her attempts to enter the cloister of Carmel in Lisieux. The book is available today in English. It is in print. I’ve read it. You should, too.
  • Along with all of the above, the autobiography is priceless in terms of her teachings on the value of suffering, poverty and humility, all of which are wrapped up in her “Little Way.” (There are countless websites and books that explain her doctrine of the “Little Way,” I will be writing a post on it very soon after this. I intend to post it on her ‘other’ feast day of October 3rd.)

St. Therese of Lisieux is a saint for all of us. She is “little,” not impressed with the importance of secular things, she was yet another little person that God selected to shame the proud. Her “Little Way,” essentially being humble and doing ordinary things with great love and kindness, and finding God in such ordinary duties and things, is the antidote crucially needed for civilization in theses times of pride, identity and such insanity. But for Catholics who are seeking a way to holiness and a sure path to God and Heaven, the Little Way of St. Therese is the means to our ultimate destiny. By it we can all become great saints. It is also a way for us to cope with the situations afflicting the Church (any of them).

Make her your own. She loves everyone, even you, regardless of what you think of yourself. More importantly, regardless of what others think of you. She will lead you to God and help you become a saint. It is not an impossible task and she shows the way. Her Little Way is merely the Gospel of Jesus applied to everyday life. God is Love, Jesus came to do the Will of His Father, and the Little Way is how each of us can achieve that in our daily activities.

 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!!)

iPieta app

If you have an Apple or Android device (phone or tablet) I highly recommend that you get (if you haven’t already) the iPieta app. It is as comprehensive as one can imagine repository of all sorts of Catholic goodies, available right at your fingertips. I’ve had it for a while but yesterday when I opened it I noticed that there was new material to donwload into it, namely Dom Gueranger’s “The Liturgical Year.” This is an epic journey through the Catholic liturgical year, exploring the lives of the saints as well as the historical and doctrinal importance of the season or day. The series in book form runs in the teens of voilumes and costs many hundreds of US dollars; but it’s free in digital form in iPieta! “The Liturgical Year” was read every night in the Martin home by St. Louis Martin to his daughters, all of whom became religious sisters and one a saint (St. Therese of Lisieux.) Excerpts from “The Liturgical Year” make a part of the notes introducing each Sunday Mass as well as the liturgical season in the St. Andrew Daily Missal.

iPieta has Butler’s Lives of the Saints, the entire collection of Church Father’s writings, several catechisms, the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), Douay-Rheims Bible, prayers and devotions of all sorts, papal writings from the past 500 years… It is a compendium of pretty much everything a Catholic needs. Yesterday I dived into Gueranger’s entry for Sept 30 and thus learned much about St. Jerome; Butler’s Live of the Saint’s entry for the day had additional material. I learned more about St. Jerome in one hour than I ever learned prior…

This is an incredible and invaluable resource. Why it’s free is a mystery as it’s worth a lot of cash. I cannot recommend this enough!

 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!!)

WordPress app test post

This is a test. This is a test of a new (to me) posting system. For the next few lines this post will be written by yours truly using the WordPress smartphone app. It’s a handy little thing that I can use to post to this blog and my other one on In Exile. I’ve already used the desktop version for quite a while; it’s great, from one piece of software you can post and manage everything for multiple blogs. You are also able to follow many other blogs using the included “Reader.” Commenting on other people’s WordPress blogs is also possible.

WordPress can be almost like another social network.

This might mean that I can post more often; for many times I just don’t feel like firing up the laptop but the phone is always on. We’ll see!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!!)