Category Archives: Novenas

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

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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

Posted on by
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.

Powered by ScribeFire.

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

Posted on by
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!!)

Novena through St. Maximilian Kolbe – Day 9

Posted on by

Today is the ninth and final day of the Novena. (Novena means 9). As with the previous 8 days, go here , and pray for someone (or yourself) who is still struggling with alcohol or addiction.

Then meditate on this:

That person.

Whether a loved one or yourself. Get quiet, listen to that quiet, and try and hear what God is telling you.

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 Through St. Maximilian Kolbe – Day 8

Posted on by

Almost there! Day 8 of our novena through St. Maximilian Kolbe for anyone, or yourself, still struggling with addiction to drugs or alcohol. Like on previous days, go here and then read this, and ponder:

James 2:13;

For the judgment is merciless to one who has not shown mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

Remember this. “Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

God’s mercy triumphs over God’s judgment. For all your faults and failings and struggles, if you are sincere in your effort to stop drinking and drugging, God will look upon you with mercy instead with harsh judgment.

Remember this when others are harsh with you and treat you like filth. They may be judging you, but they have no business doing so. They may withhold their trust and keep you at bay for a while if you’ve hurt them with your drinking and drugging. And that is a Cross you have to bear.

He will help you bear it, He who is Mercy.

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 Through St. Maximilian Kolbe – Day 7

Posted on by

Today is Day 7 of our Novena through St. Maximilian Kolbe. Like before, go here , and read the prayer for yourself or for someone you know who is suffering from alcohol or drug addiction. And then ponder this:

Hebrews 11:1

Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.

What is hoped for, from the perspective of an alcoholic or addict? Eternal salvation in paradise? No, just to stop drinking and/or drugging. Most people still struggling with their alcoholism or addiction are pretty much convinced they’re damned.

This is not true, as hellish life may be.

What is evidence of things not seen, again, from the perspective of an alcoholic or addict? The existence of God and the Divine, heavenly supernatural? Probably not, as God seems distant and aloof, and the supernatural can seemingly be discerned in tequila. “Things not seen” can be…

…other alcoholics and addicts that have quit. Sobered up or become clean.

They can’t be seen by the person still trapped, or at least not seen very clearly. Perhaps dismissed as unreal.

Therefore the simple faith of a person trapped in addiction, be it alcohol or drugs, is the desperate faith of someone who is at the end of their rope, with no other options.

There is nothing to go on except the faith kindled somehow by the working of the Holy Spirit, that there is a better way. Whether it is the working of the Spirit within them, or externally in someone else who reaches out to help.

They have nothing else to cling to and so they respond, clinging however tenuously.

They have the faith that what they hope for, sobriety, can be reached. They cannot perceive it from the depths of their despair and pain, but somehow sense it.

Kindle that faith. There is a solution. Life is that solution. Grab for 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!!)

Novena Through St. Maximilian Kolbe – Day 6

Posted on by

Today we pray the 6th day in our novena through St. Maximilian Kolbe for someone trapped in addiction to alcohol or drugs, or anything else. You may be saying this prayer for yourself. As usual, go here , and read the novena prayer and then ponder this:

Philippians 2:6-11;

Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied “himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

This, is humility. Jesus, although He knew He was God, did not allow that to prevent Himself from becoming human like us, His brothers and sisters.

He became essentially a slave, a member of a conquered nation in a backwater part of the Roman Empire and whose life ended as an executed criminal. Humility defined Him, from His Incarnation as a baby, rather than a triumphant warrior-Messiah conquering Israel’s enemies; to His horrible death.

Humility is what He taught us. The humble way is most often the most enduring and most remembered. People remember Catholic saints who died centuries ago who accomplished little of value in the eyes of the world, but their saintly deeds transformed peoples and societies and the Church. You remember St. Francis from the 13th Century, but name one great secular person from that period. Unless you’re an historian, you’d be hard-pressed. (I think Genghis Khan hailed from that era. Not a good role model.)

This is the way of recovery. This is how you stop drinking or drugging. You become humble and ask for assistance or become humble and give it.

You don’t cling to that which is prideful, to be full of yourself, “Oh, look at me.” Yes, so?

What has God called you to be in this life? We only have one life, and each of us has a purpose for which God called us into being.

Jeremiah 1:5;

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.

You may not be a prophet to the nations, but maybe your life can have meaning to a few people. It is of great value, although it may not seem that way for now.

“Rise up, let us be on our way”, (from a title of a book by Pope John Paul II, the Great). So, arise. Stop drinking and/or drugging. You are worthy, you are precious. You weren’t created by God to remain an addict.

Arise.

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 through St. Maximilian Kolbe – Day 5

Posted on by

OK, we begin the fifth day of our novena through St. Maximilian Kolbe. Like the first few days, kindly go here and read the prayer for a loved one and then consider the following:

Today would have been my sister’s 61st birthday. I know, yesterday would have been my Dad’s 95th. These days were once a family holiday.

Anyway, in thinking about my sister (a non-alcoholic, like I said yesterday, I am the only drunk -or ex-drunk- in the family) I started thinking about the ties that bind us to each other. Whether the person you are praying the novena for is your brother or sister, or just one in spirit, or maybe you are praying this novena for yourself, in essence we are all in this together. We are all celebrating our Catholic Faith (or trying to) and maintaining our sobriety through it. We needn’t go it alone. There is usually someone out there willing to help, sometimes you are the person that is the helper. It is a tough row to hoe if attempted alone. Seek out others. Connect and reach out. It doesn’t matter if you don’t need the help, someone may be needing you. Do not reject them.

Being alone is horrible. The sense of isolation that makes you feel as if you are by yourself in a crowd and you are unable to connect to others is damning. This is the kind that causes you to feel that you are the worst drinker and drunk in the world and that you’ve got it worse than anyone else, before you or since. If you’re sober now, you’ve felt this way. If you’re still struggling, you feel this way. In AA it’s called “terminal uniqueness”. Terminal in that if the isolation doesn’t end, a life may. Don’t forget others out there, still suffering. Try and discern the best way you can help, even if it’s only one. If you need the help, don’t hesitate to ask someone. Pray to God for the strength and courage to humble yourself and get assistance.

Survive. Choose life, your own or another’s.

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!!)