Category Archives: Holy Spirit

Day 4 of Novena to the Holy Spirit for Alcoholism and Recovery

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Today we pray for knowledge.

As before, we start with the prayer:

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and rekindle in them the fire of Your love. Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created and you shall renew the face of the Earth.

Knowledge of what? Knowledge of God’s will and knowledge of ourselves. The better we know ourselves the better we can discern God’s will for us.

One way to know ourselves is to sit still and listen. We listen to what’s going on inside of us. We pray and meditate and listen while we do that. Most of the time we can hardly hear ourselves above the cacophony of the world about us, and the world prefers it that way. Many people are uncomfortable with being alone, as if being alone is bad or scary and being contemplative and introspective is difficult and frightening. Most may not come out and admit it, but how many people are comfortable with being alone by themselves?

The world prefers our attention to its noise than to our inner life because it serves to distract us from knowledge. We do not know ourselves and therefore never get the connection between our life and the supernatural. We fail to think of God much, if at all.

When we focus on getting to know ourselves in this perspective, we see our shortcomings and work to remove them. We develop our spiritual lives and seek to grow closer to the only real Higher Power, God. We pray and meditate and seek His will above all things.

Oh, Holy Spirit, I long to do God’s will. Give me knowledge of that will and guide me along its path so that I may please Him and help build up His Kingdom on Earth. I ask this in the name of Jesus, the Lord.

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!!)

Day 3 of Novena to the Holy Spirit for Alcoholism and Recovery

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On this third day of the novena, we pray for the gift of understanding.

As usual we say the beginning prayer (actually an old, common prayer for the Holy Spirit):

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and rekindle in them the fire of Your love. Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created and you shall renew the face of the Earth.

As alcoholics we were seriously misunderstood. That’s one reason why we drank, to escape from those around us who didn’t understand us and to escape into a fantasy world where everything made sense. And we mattered.

Let us not in our sobriety do unto others what had been done unto us. We perhaps deserved being misunderstood. Perhaps we expected others to just get us and just allow us into their lives. We wanted to be accepted for ourselves on our own terms and that was that. When we didn’t fit in to other people’s expectations (or we refused to) we ran off and drank.

We pray today for the gift of understanding. We do not know what is going on in someone else’s head or heart. We do not know what is going on in their life. We shall not judge from outward appearances what could just be a snapshot of a momentary period in their life.

We let it go, or perhaps don’t pick it up.

Oh, Holy Spirit, enable us to see others as the Father sees them. That all whom we meet are children of the Father like us, and just like us are broken and wounded though perhaps in ways we may not understand. We ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord.

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!!)

Day 2 of Novena to the Holy Spirit for Addictions and Recovery

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On this second day of this novena, we pray for the gift of wisdom.

Beginning Prayer:

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and rekindle in them the fire of Your love. Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created and you shall renew the face of the Earth.

The last petition of the Serenity Prayer is for wisdom to know the difference between the things we can change and those we cannot. Sometimes we alcoholics have a muddled way of looking at things; are too influenced by internal conflicts and interior change, and as a result have a warped perspective on what we can and cannot do. We need external guidance and help.

Beg of the Holy Spirit today for the gift of wisdom. The gift to discern between right and wrong action, and to always seek God’s will above all. True peace and security always lies in doing this, despite it not always being apparent at first. This is what most discover, and this is what separates those who sincerely are seeking genuine spiritual growth from those seeking the easier, “safer” path. The lowest common denominator is always the easier way and less demanding.

Wisdom helps you detach from the false attractions of the world and enables you to see its empty promises for what they are. Wisdom is a sustenance unlike anything that the world can give.

Oh, Holy Spirit, give me the gift of Wisdom so that I can truly follow the path that God has set out for me. We ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord.

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!!)

Day 1 of Novena to the Holy Spirit for Addictions and Recovery

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Beginning Prayer:

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and rekindle in them the fire of Your love. Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created and you shall renew the face of the Earth.

Ask the Holy Spirit for healing during this Novena. Regardless of how long you have been sober, most of us are all still one or more drinks away from returning to our previous status as practicing alcoholics. Even if you are still in the death grip of alcohol, there is still time. When there is still life, there is still hope. God allows u-turns!

Why might there still be the threat of drinking? Perhaps we still are at odds with how to handle sobriety. Reality is still difficult to cope with on its terms. All of us, sober or not, need the Advocate, the Holy Spirit to guide us on our way. He is the real “Higher Power,” the only One through whom God the Father guides and protects His own.

We have nine days of prayer and meditation before Pentecost Sunday. Spend the time wisely. Daily petition the Holy Spirit to help you. Reciting the prayer beginning each day’s novena is good, as well as adding your own humble requests.

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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!!)

Novena to the Holy Spirit for Addictions and Recovery

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On May 11, the Church celebrates Pentecost, the time the Church was officially ‘born’ when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and Mary. It is also the birth of the Catholic devotion known as a “Novena”, or nine days of prayer. When Jesus ascended into Heaven He promised them a new Advocate would lead and guide them. This Advocate is the Third Person of the Trinity, or the Holy Spirit. During the time after Jesus’ Ascension, the Apostles and Mary spent 9 days in prayer.

The Novena begins today, and will continue once a day ending a week from tomorrow.

What I will do is today write a general prayer for the Novena, and then each day come up with a prayer for each of the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit (Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, Counsel, Fortitude, Piety and Fear of the Lord). Since that would only give me 8, I decided to add a final request for the gift of sobriety. Although not one of the gifts, it would make a fitting conclusion for this Novena.

Also, in case this blogpost looks any different from previous ones, I am using a new blog editor, called “ScribeFire”. It is an add-on or extension for my Firefox browser. I no longer have to actually login to the Blogger site to post to SoberCatholic or the Four Last Things. Neat!

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!!)

Pentecost Novena

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After His Resurrection, Jesus remained with His disciples for 40 days. He Ascended into Heaven to return to the Father, and promised that He would send the Advocate (The Holy Spirit, a/k/a The Third Person of the Holy Trinity to guide us.) Pentecost was ten days after His Ascension, and after their day’s journey return to Jerusalem, the disciples gathered to pray for nine days.

Acts 1:12-14

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. When they entered the city they went to the upper room where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.
All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

Thus begins the Catholic tradition of praying a novena. It is a prayer of nine day’s duration. Not 24 hours a day for nine days, although the above Scriptural passage seems to imply that they prayed that intensely. Nowadays, it is a prayer of varying duration, said once a day for nine days.

The novena is usually prayed to a saint or angel, and only in request for their intercessory powers for a particular intention. It may be more accurate and correct to say “pray though a saint” instead of “pray to a saint”, as the latter implies idolatry. When a Catholic ‘prays to a saint”, they are only asking for the saint’s powers of intercession with God. A saint has no power whatsoever to grant any request, only God can at the behest of the saint. This is quite like when Protestants and Evangelical Christians engage in prayer circles (or whatever it’s called when they contact people to pray for someone’s health or something). Only a Catholic is asking someone in Heaven to intercede for them.

In commemoration, or better yet, in emulation, of the original novena, I recommend that you start a novena. You can find an excellent one here at Presentation Ministries. They are an apostolate in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, that publishes a daily devotional (meditations) called “One Bread, One Body”, (also known as “OBOB”). If you scroll to the top of Sober Catholic and look at the “Daily Mass Reading” section, click on the little link that says “Reflections”. That will take you to their website and that day’s meditation. There is also immediately below a link to the OBOB part of their site. Matters not which one you use.

Pray a novena to the Holy Spirit. What better “Higher Power” can one 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!!)

The Advocate

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Tomorrow (or Sunday, depending on where you live) is the Solemnity of the Ascension. This is the Christian teaching that Jesus bodily ascended into Heaven 40 days after He died. (How He accomplished this is unknown, and is irrelevant. God is not subject to the physical laws He created.)

What is important about this is in doing so He opened Heaven to all who believe in Him, a Heaven that had been closed since the Fall of Adam and Eve. Heaven was barred to us due to our First Parent’s arrogant decision that they could be just like God and decide what is right and what is wrong for themselves. Jesus paid our price for their sin. And now Heaven is open again.

He had said that this was necessary for another reason. Without His leaving, the Advocate would not be able to come. Who, or what, is the Advocate? It is the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. It is the source and guide for each of us, the ‘inner promptings’ that we sometimes receive that encourages us to do a certain thing. Our conscience is guided by it.

Our alcoholism made it impossible for us to pay attention to what the Holy Spirit tells us. Distractions from the world around us and from our own inner turmoil prevent us from hearing the ‘still, small voice’ that is the will of God caring for us.

Prayer and a disciplined life (living moderately and responsibly) helps us to keep in tune with the Holy Spirit’s promptings.

But the Ascension, important as it was for the Holy Spirit to descend upon the Earth (10 days later on the Solemnity of Pentecost), how does it relate to our sobriety?

Jesus had completed the task for which He incarnated Himself. He came down to Earth to die. He had done this, along with leaving behind a body of teachings to live by. He also established a Church to safeguard and defend those teachings until He returns. The Holy Spirit’s chief task is to prevent that Church from teaching error in matters of doctrine and dogma. It doesn’t prevent that Church or its members from behaving sinfully, after all, the Church is composed of sinners. But we have the guarantee that where the Church speaks on Faith and Morals in line with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit protects the Church’s voice, namely, the Pope. We have an assured guide when we are confused, or when our moral compass is not pointing True North.

If we are sober then we have completed a task. We have stopped drinking. Our alcoholic self has essentially died, and a new person is born. That person is now open to clearly an willingly receive the graces and guidance that the Holy Spirit offers, and we as Catholics can receive the Body and Blood of Christ in Holy Communion. Jesus died and lives in us in the sacramental nature of the Eucharist, and through this union we can better live out our Baptismal promises of rejecting Satan and sin. If we were Confirmed in the Faith as young adults we can grow more deeply in the Holy Spirit and spiritually develop in ways that those who adhere to a more secular way of living are puzzled and confused over. They need false and valueless stimuli as TV and and other worldly crutches to cope with the day.

Pray to Jesus, go to Mass and receive Holy Comunion, if you can. And start preparing for Pentecost, which comes in 10 day’s time.

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!!)