In the Land of My Exile I Praise Him…

by Paul Sofranko Posted on May 5, 2013

I’ve renamed this blog. Why? because I thought it was a little conceited to name it after myself, even though it is mine and is intended to be “my home on the web,” for general “woolgathering, sharing and writing.”

The new name is from the Old Testament Book of Tobit, Chapter 16, part of verse 6:

Tobit 13:6

“When you turn back to him with all your heart, to do what is right before him, Then he will turn back to you, and no longer hide his face from you. So now consider what he has done for you, and praise him with full voice. Bless the Lord of righteousness, and exalt the King of the ages. In the land of my exile I praise him, and show his power and majesty to a sinful nation. “Turn back, you sinners! do the right before him: perhaps he may look with favor upon you and show you mercy.”

(Via USCCB.)

As a faithful Catholic who reads the Bible, I fully understand that life on Earth is a life in exile. Our true home is Heaven, and that land is where we trudge towards on our daily journey.

As a writer and blogger, I seek to employ my talents, whatever they are, to Praise the Lord. He gave me what talents I possess, and therefore I hope to use them to glorify Him.

Hence the name of this blog.

***

Know someone, perhaps yourself, who might like Catholic devotionals for alcoholics? Please take a look at my books! (Thank you!!)

"The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" and

"The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics"

Get inspiration delivered to your mailbox! Click here for details: Lighthouse Catholic Media

Paul can be found online in many places, his Google+ profile lists them all!
Posted in About this Blog, Catholic Writing, Me, Personal, Writing | Leave a comment

Me, on the radio!

by Paul Sofranko Posted on May 2, 2013

I was on the “‘On Call”’ with Wendy Wiese” radio show yesterday. It went well. Wendy Wiese is an excellent host and made me feel at ease. There was a 10 minute interview with me followed by my fielding calls from the listeners. “Faith and Sobriety” was the topic, which was why I was called to participate.

This link is the archives of previous shows, including mine. Just follow the instructions on the page to download the show. Or, just use this link to listen (it starts playing right away, so be sure to have headphones or else be alone: Paul Sofranko appearance for May 1, 2013.

There’s a chance I may reappear, if so, information will be posted here.

It is really strange hearing yourself on the radio, I wanted to shout once or twice, “What the heck do YOU know, buddy?” until I realized I was only yelling at myself.

***

Know someone, perhaps yourself, who might like Catholic devotionals for alcoholics? Please take a look at my books! (Thank you!!)

"The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" and

"The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics"

Get inspiration delivered to your mailbox! Click here for details: Lighthouse Catholic Media

Paul can be found online in many places, his Google+ profile lists them all!
Posted in Books, Interviews, Me | Leave a comment

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

by Paul Sofranko Posted on March 27, 2013

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.)

***

Know someone, perhaps yourself, who might like Catholic devotionals for alcoholics? Please take a look at my books! (Thank you!!)

"The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" and

"The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics"

Get inspiration delivered to your mailbox! Click here for details: Lighthouse Catholic Media

Paul can be found online in many places, his Google+ profile lists them all!
Posted in Book Reviews, Books | Comments Off

Divine Mercy Novena for One’s Country

by Paul Sofranko Posted on March 25, 2013

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. ;-) 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

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Know someone, perhaps yourself, who might like Catholic devotionals for alcoholics? Please take a look at my books! (Thank you!!)

"The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" and

"The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics"

Get inspiration delivered to your mailbox! Click here for details: Lighthouse Catholic Media

Paul can be found online in many places, his Google+ profile lists them all!
Posted in Divine Mercy, Mary, Prayer | Comments Off

Nurturing Vocations

by Paul Sofranko Posted on March 24, 2013

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 God’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

***

Know someone, perhaps yourself, who might like Catholic devotionals for alcoholics? Please take a look at my books! (Thank you!!)

"The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" and

"The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics"

Get inspiration delivered to your mailbox! Click here for details: Lighthouse Catholic Media

Paul can be found online in many places, his Google+ profile lists them all!
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Blogging and writing

by Paul Sofranko Posted on March 15, 2013

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. 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! :-)

***

Know someone, perhaps yourself, who might like Catholic devotionals for alcoholics? Please take a look at my books! (Thank you!!)

"The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" and

"The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics"

Get inspiration delivered to your mailbox! Click here for details: Lighthouse Catholic Media

Paul can be found online in many places, his Google+ profile lists them all!
Posted in Blogging, Writing | Comments Off

About that novel

by Paul Sofranko Posted on March 15, 2013

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 ;-) ) 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!

***

Know someone, perhaps yourself, who might like Catholic devotionals for alcoholics? Please take a look at my books! (Thank you!!)

"The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" and

"The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics"

Get inspiration delivered to your mailbox! Click here for details: Lighthouse Catholic Media

Paul can be found online in many places, his Google+ profile lists them all!
Posted in Novel, Writing | Comments Off

A Writer’s Prayer Upon Finishing a Work

by Paul Sofranko Posted on February 21, 2013

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 Nicanor’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 “Nicanor’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.

***

Know someone, perhaps yourself, who might like Catholic devotionals for alcoholics? Please take a look at my books! (Thank you!!)

"The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" and

"The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics"

Get inspiration delivered to your mailbox! Click here for details: Lighthouse Catholic Media

Paul can be found online in many places, his Google+ profile lists them all!
Posted in Catholic Writing, Prayer, Writing | 3 Comments

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

by Paul Sofranko Posted on February 16, 2013

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!

***

Know someone, perhaps yourself, who might like Catholic devotionals for alcoholics? Please take a look at my books! (Thank you!!)

"The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" and

"The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics"

Get inspiration delivered to your mailbox! Click here for details: Lighthouse Catholic Media

Paul can be found online in many places, his Google+ profile lists them all!
Posted in Book Reviews, Books | Comments Off

Love is like a compost pile

by Paul Sofranko Posted on February 14, 2013

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I am posting the following essay that I had originally written several years ago in the forums on CatholicMatch that was in response to a general question about whether it is better to “Wait and see” or “Move fast” in a relationship.

“Love is like a compost pile for your garden. You have your single guy looking for a single gal. They both come with their respective life experiences, successes and failures. All this stuff gets added to the composting pile of their developing relationship.

Now, if the contributions are added patiently, in the correct amount and mixed together in the proper manner, then the compost pile grows and builds and heats up slowly, gradually turning the mutual contributions of the guy and gal into a wonderful blend of matter that happy little kidlets can grow in.

But, if the contributions to the compost pile are not added properly, but unevenly (too much of the guy and not enough of the gal, or vice versa) then the compost pile still grows and blends the material, but due to the ill-matched composition, the pile becomes a burning mass of refuse that no one wants to go near. If this compost pile is used for a garden, then happy little kidlets will not grow, just a mess of icky stuff that reflects the imbalance of the compost pile makers.

So, “Wait and see” is better. Best find someone not impatient, but is willing to slowly and gradually mix her stuff in with my stuff and nurture the slowly heating compost.”

***

Know someone, perhaps yourself, who might like Catholic devotionals for alcoholics? Please take a look at my books! (Thank you!!)

"The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" and

"The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics"

Get inspiration delivered to your mailbox! Click here for details: Lighthouse Catholic Media

Paul can be found online in many places, his Google+ profile lists them all!
Posted in Catholic Writing, Personal | 6 Comments