“Buy the Book: Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics” book review on Catholic Alcoholic

Number 9 over at Catholic Alcoholic has reviewed The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics, and she likes it!

You can read her review over here:

Buy the Book: Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics

(Via Catholic Alcoholic.)

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)

Divine Mercy Novena for One’s Country

Most Catholics who are familiar with The Divine Mercy Message also know of the popular The Divine Mercy Novena for Divine Mercy Sunday. But Paragraphs 32 and 33 of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska’s Diary, “Divine Mercy in My Soul,” there is also another Novena that is mentioned. It is a Novena for one’s Country.

32 Another time I heard these words, Go to the Superior and ask her to allow you to
make a daily hour of adoration for nine days. During this adoration try to unite
yourself in prayer with My Mother. Pray with all your heart in union with Mary, and
try also during this time to make the Way of the Cross. I received the permission,
though not for a full hour, but only for whatever time was left me after I had carried out my
duties.

33 I was to make this novena for the intention of my Motherland. On the seventh day of the
novena I saw, between heaven and earth, the Mother of God, clothed in a bright robe. She
was praying with Her hands folded on Her bosom, Her eyes fixed on Heaven. From Her
Heart issued forth fiery rays, some of which were turned toward Heaven while the others
were covering our country.

So, if we are to take the instructions in the Novena, we are to go to Eucharistic Adoration and make a Holy Hour for nine consecutive days, and during the Holy Hour I would suggest that praying the Rosary might be the most efficacious way of praying “with all your heart in union with Mary,” followed by saying the Stations of the Cross. I don’t think that most Adoration Chapels have the Stations in them, but a Stations of the Cross prayerbook should suffice. If all you have is time for the Rosary and the Stations, that might be fine. šŸ˜‰ And do not forget to offer up your Country’s intentions. This may be good for the time prior to a national election or holiday (either a national secular holiday, or the feast day or your country’s patron saint).

For more information on St. Faustina, click here:

The Divine Mercy Message from the Marians of the Immaculate Conception

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)

Nurturing Vocations

In paragraph 7 of “Divine Mercy in My Soul,” by St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, she writes:

“From the age of seven, I experienced the definite call of God, the grace of a vocation to the
religious life. It was in the seventh year of my life that, for the first time, I heard Godā€™s
voice in my soul; that is, an invitation to a more perfect life. But I was not always obedient
to the call of grace. I came across no one who would have explained these things to me.”

She heard God’s call to the religious life, but wan’t obedient to the Call at first. A part of it was that no one explained it to her; she found no one who was able to speak to her about her experience.

I wonder how many more priests, religious sisters and brothers we might have if more people were willing to discuss such matters and nurture the Call that some receive. Granted, the Call itself should be sufficient, but in competition with the cacophony of the World, that still, small voice of the Lord can be lost.

For more information on St. Faustina, click here:

The Divine Mercy Message from the Marians of the Immaculate Conception

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)

Blogging and writing

I have been blogging since January 5, 2007. Not here, but at Sober Catholic and later also at The Four Last Things.

I have always aspired to blogging daily.Ā It has never happened longer than 6 weeks (Lent, I forget what year.) I am consistent, inasmuch as over ‘x’ weeks I’ll blog ‘y’ times, but quite often that consistency fluctuates somewhat. That may sound contradictory, “consistency fluctuates somewhat,” but I mean that I have never given it up and never for months on end to the point that you might think I stopped.

I come up with various schemes. Lent worked for one year, but that got tiring and I was grateful for Lent finally being over. I had chosen Lent as that is of importance at Sober Catholic, what with penance and conversion being main themes. I also concocted the idea of something called the “Wisdom Dose,” in which I’d blog every day on one of the passages in the Bible’s Books of Wisdom. That got intimidating and I stopped.

And I do beat myself up over it, I go through periods when I haven’t blogged, and I feel as if I am a poser, a dabbler, a dilettante, and a fraud. I’d write a few posts and feel cured and move on and re-establish a consistency, and then slack off again. {{{sigh}}}

And so forget it. I’ll blog when I can, not worry about it, and accept the fact that I will probably never be a really high-powered prolific blogger. That may change, as I will never give up the aspiration to being a daily blogger, but I’ll just accept what I do, when I do it, and not worry. What happens, happens.

All righty, then!

My newest scheme is to pick 3PM for a time to blog daily. Why 3PM? Because that is the “Hour of Divine Mercy” Jesus died on the Cross at 3PM and that is a time of importance for some Catholics. As best as my schedule permits, I will say The Chaplet of Divine Mercy at 3PM, and then do a blog post. I may only get a draft in and not published, but that’s OK. God in His infinite mercy decided to pluck me from the wastes of alcoholism, and so perhaps during the Hour of Mercy I can get and maintain the inspiration to blog.

Yeah! šŸ™‚

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)

About that novel

About that Novel I said I was writing.

I haven’t given up. But, as is perhaps common to all writers, I hit a snag. Although I was groovin’ along rather nicely, my main character had to get deep inside himself and dwell on the parents he never met and the reasons why he never met them, and how he felt about all that. Which meant that I had to do all that. And so I pondered.

After a while, this lead me to review the whole project and I decided that the novel was bland. I know that Ernest Hemingway said something to the effect that “The first draft of everything is crap,” (I paraphrase, he used a different word than “crap,” but this is a family blog šŸ˜‰ ) I’m thinking that even if it was crap, it can still be interesting. This wasn’t.

And so I am shelving this particular venture. Not giving up on it at all, just this expression of it.

The novel was basically an autobiography. Not mine, obviously, but the main character’s. I had thought that writing it in character as an autobiography might be the most expedient way to jam out a novel. A life tells a story, and so I created an interesting life, and he was going to sit down and write it.

I had written a lot of backstory, the main character’s bio and character sketch, a history for the whole reality I created (world-building is fun), and little histories for various planets.

As I’m looking over this creation, I feel that perhaps individual episodes in this guy’s life could make for better standalone stories (short works and novels) as well as other elements in the project’s backstory not involving this guy.

And so we’ll see. I also was kinda drawn to look over an earlier project, which I had also written some backstory on (although not as much) and that looks interesting. I may switch to that, but I have to do some thinking as I have to commit to one of them, or else nothing is ever gonna get done!

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)

A Writer’s Prayer Upon Finishing a Work

I was randomly perusing the Old Testament today and chanced upon this passage from the Second Book of Maccabees:

2 Maccabees 15: 37-39: “Since Nicanorā€™s doings ended in this way, with the city remaining in the possession of the Hebrews from that time on, I will bring my story to an end here too. If it is well written and to the point, that is what I wanted; if it is poorly done and mediocre, that is the best I could do. Just as it is unpleasant to drink wine by itself or just water, whereas wine mixed with water makes a delightful and pleasing drink, so a skillfully composed story delights the ears of those who read the work. Let this, then, be the end. “

(Via USCCB.)

I thought that it would make a good prayer for any writer to say upon finishing a work. You can replace “Nicanorā€™s doings ended in this way, with the city remaining in the possession of the Hebrews from that time on,” with something relevant to your novel or short story, but you get the idea.

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)

Book Review: Recovery Rosary for Alcoholics and Addicts on Catholic Alcoholic

Just a heads up to readers that there is a book review of The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts over at Catholic Alcoholic.

Go here: Book Review: Recovery Rosary for Alcoholics and Addicts

Thanks, Number 9!

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)

Faith, Justice and Matthew 25

Since the year began I’ve taken a greater, more focused interest in Matthew 25: 31-46, the Gospel account known as the “Last Judgment.” In it, Jesus tells people what will happen at The End when He returns to judge all nations. From it, The Catholic Church derives the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy.

They are:

Corporal Works of Mercy

Feed the hungry

Give drink to the thirsty

Shelter the Homeless

Clothe the naked

Visit the Sick

Visit the imprisoned

Bury the dead

Spiritual Works of Mercy

Correct the sinner

Instruct the ignorant

Counsel the doubting

Comfort the sorrowful

Be patient with those in error

Forgive offenses

Pray for the living and the dead

I’ve also taken to reading as a part of my early morning devotionals two books that are a collection of writings from Blessed Theresa of Calcutta (“Mother Theresa”). Naturally, they are frequently about the poor and marginalized, and our responsibilities towards them. I am also slowly making my way through a book on the spiritual and intellectual underpinnings of the Catholic Worker Movement. The Beatitudes and Matthew 25 were their modus operandi.

On Sober Catholic I’ve been writing about these Works of Mercy (partly in connection with helping my wife, Rose, sell products emblazoned with them. A portion of the proceeds goes to life-affirming charities).

I’m volunteering at a thrift store and food pantry.

Rose and I, along with a sister of hers, are also considering the idea of opening a thrift store, somewhere. Not a short-term goal, but hopefully sometime this year.

I’ve also been spending quite a bit of time on Facebook “Liking” Pages and joining Groups that reflect the values associated with Matthew 25. Not many are Catholic or Christian, but that’s besides the point. Pages related to organic gardening, small-scale farming, homesteading, frugal living, simplicity (not immediately obvious how these are related to Matthew 25, but in a direct or indirect sense, they are.) I’ve been doing the same on Google+, but as of now, there’s fewer such resources.

Not sure where this is all going, but stuff seems to be coming together in an expression of the Catholic Faith that is faithful to the orthodox teaching of the Church and Her Authority, as well as a combination of Her moral teachings (stereotypically described as “conservative”) and Her social teachings (stereotypically described as “liberal”). The usual things I’ve been interested in such as the pro-life movement; but also “strange” things like “Distributism,” “subsidiarity,” and “solidarity.”

I may be writing about them from time to time.

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)

A Novel, by Paul Sofranko

I have gotten a head start on a New Year’s resolution. As I do not usually bother with such things as they are often broken within days, this one was easy as I have not much of a commitment to keeping it. Since I recovered from alcoholism over 10 years ago, I’ve adopted the “One Day at a Time” philosophy of Twelve Step movements. So this “New Year’s Resolution” is just something to be renewed daily.

I can easily keep that commitment! (No pressure to keep it for the year, “just for today.”)

What is this commitment? To write a novel! And so begins one this blog’s main purposes: to be a writer’s blog.

Over the past year, I have spent some time plotting and planning a science fiction novel. Later I’ll get around to sharing the idea. I have never been too comfortable with doing that.

I have spent much of 2012 writing up character sketches, outlines, and other backstory kind of things to serve as a guide to writing the actual novel.

And so these past few days I’ve started writing it. I have a modest pace, at least 500 words a day. I’ll be happy with 1,000+. So far, I’ve hit the minimum goals,and come close to the 1000 words once. Hey, it’s a beginning.

My target? About 100,000 words. At about 250-300 words a page,which varies depending upon the amount of dialogue and narration, that should put me in the ballpark of a 350-400 word novel. Good approximation.

This particular novel will be one of an open ended series. In other words, there should be more that just this one novel in the world that I am building. In working out the histories of this world, I have even identified certain events which may serve as short stories. Kewl!

I have committed to spending 1-2 hours minimum to the writing of this. I have kept this, although it has only been a few days.

So, that’s that for now.

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)

November Writing (Nanowrimo)

This is November, and among those who aspire or perspire to be writers, that means one thing: Nanowrimo. Nanowrimo is ā€œNAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth.ā€ It is an exercise in writing insanity dating back to the late 1990s in which participants attempt to write a 50,000 word novel during Novemberā€™s 30 days. Obviously this novel would be a very rough draft, only the ignorant or seriously delusional would think the completed project would be anything other than garbage.

 

I tried it in 2006 and failed miserably. I think I started something, made it to 1,500 words, didnā€™t like that switched to something else, made it to 1,700 words, and finally decided that there was no chance Iā€™d succeed.

 

I had planned on doing it this year, even signed up at the site: My Nanowrimo profile. But in the end I decided to bow out before beginningā€¦

 

ā€¦and then I was driving home today from an impromptu Holy Hour at my parish. I was mulling over my backlog of blog posts and decided that a variant of Nanwrimo can assist me in clearing it out. And so I will attempt to utilize the spirit of Nanowrimo and if not write 50,000 words across my 3 blogs, at least get to somewhere in the 5 figure range.

 

It may not be completely impossible. This is November, the ā€œMonth of the Dead,ā€ and one of my blogs, The Four Last Things is typically due for some major work during it.

 

Add that I can use this blog for daily musing and filler, and my first blog Sober Catholic is where the bulk of the backlog is, and I can get to somewhere in the 5 figure range!

 

I can also work on the novel I had planned on using for Nanowrimo, albeit in a more traditional method (100’s of words, maybe daily.)

OK, so thatā€™s it. Iā€™m gonna try it. On to the Nanowrimo site and update my profile and join the rebel group. (Nanowrimo rebels are, from what I can see, a bunch of Nanowrimoā€™s who break the simple rules of the organization (which are basically that you have to write and original novel, and that you cannot begin the prose work on it until midnight of November 1st. You can do research, write backstories, character sketches and outline, but no actual novel writing until the stroke of November begins.)

 

So now I will run off to the Nanowrimo site and update my profile and join the rebels!! (I will be an honest rebel, though. I will only claim ā€œParticipantā€ status should I actually blog 50,000 words, or come reasonably close to blogging daily and get that 5-figure word count. I’ll also admit that I didnā€™t actually write any novel.)

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)