The Venerable Matt Talbot Resource Center exists to compile writings about the life, times, conversion, and recovery from alcoholism of Matt Talbot (1856-1925) of Dublin, Ireland. Disclaimer: The placing of information on this site from external linked sources does not necessarily imply agreement with that information. This center is independent of any other center, group, organization, website, or Facebook page. Comments are welcome at: ven.matt.talbot.resource.center@gmail.com
Addiction and Grace: Love and Spirituality in the
Healing of
Addictions practiced
medicine and psychiatry for twenty-five years before becoming a senior fellow in
contemplative theology and psychology at the Shalem Institute for Spiritual
Formation in Bethesda, Maryland.
Addiction and Grace offers an inspiring and
hope–filled vision for those who desire to explore the mystery of who and what
they really are. May examines the "processes of attachment" that lead to
addiction and describes the relationship between addiction and spiritual
awareness. He also details the various addictions from which we can suffer, not
only to substances like alcohol and drugs, but to work, sex, performance,
responsibility, and intimacy.
Drawing on his experience as a psychiatrist working with the
chemically dependent, May emphasizes that addiction represents an attempt to
assert complete control over our lives. Addiction and Grace is a compassionate
and wise treatment of a topic of major concern in these most addictive of times,
one that can provide a critical yet hopeful guide to a place of freedom based on
contemplative spirituality.”
NOTE: The cost of some canonisations is estimated to be as much as €500,000. The donation amount in the article will undoubtedly help finance Matt's cause.
From the moment Matt Talbot took the pledge
not to drink with a priest. Matt filled the void with God. The first three
months were very challenging but he persevered for the next forty one
years.
Every heart searches for meaning. Every soul longs for
happiness. We are born restless. We are born with a void inside, a missing
piece, which moves us to seek fulfillmen We are like a beautiful and complex
jigsaw puzzle with one missing piece. Without that last piece we remain
incomplete, so we tirelessly search for the piece that will complete the
picture.
We often attempt to place other appealing pieces which satisfy
temporarily but do not complete the puzzle correctly. These fleeting and
ultimately unsatisfying fillers may include materialism and vanity, drugs and
alcohol, hedonism and egotism to name a few. Though alluring and perhaps
temporarily successful in satisfying the inner restlessness, these vices rapidly
deepen the void within us.
No matter how many different pieces we use to fill that last
opening, there is only one, perfectly made piece that will fit flawlessly.
Saint Augustine accurately identified it when he wrote, “You have made us for
yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in
you.”
We are created by God with a natural need for Him to reach
personal fulfillment. We will remain restless, missing that last perfectly
fashioned puzzle piece, as long as we resist God. He has created us for Himself
and we need Him.
Some become so
restless they run away from God, yet it is in God that fulfillment is found.
Jesus urges us to turn to Him in our restlessness with His words, “come to me,
all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” He said to the
Samaritan woman at the well, “whoever drinks the water I shall give will never
thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up
to eternal life,” and she answered, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not
be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” In Christ alone our
thirst ends, our search concludes, and we move forward with purpose. \\
In God we find the fulfillment of every desire of our hearts.
It is in surrendering to Him that peace is found. It is in surrendering to Him
that He will place that perfectly fashioned piece into our hearts, completing
who we are. It is in Him that the restlessness of seeking dissolves into the
happiness and fulfillment of having found Him. May the new year allow us to
grow closer to Christ, enabling Him to place the perfectly fashioned puzzle
piece that will fill us with peace and joy.
Difficult circumstances seem to make the Eucharist all the more
powerful.
"...Earlier this year, I interviewed some
homeless and formerly homeless people for America magazine. Two of the Catholic
interviewees described the way their experience with homelessness drew them to
the Eucharist. Greg C said that when he was living in his car, he sought out
churches “that had 24-hour Adoration, so it wouldn’t be suspicious that I had my
car there… Going to Adoration felt like coming home, even though it’s not where
I slept.”
Eleanor (a pseudonym) noted that she became
Catholic in part because: “Having been so totally and utterly failed,
misunderstood and maligned by 99 per cent of the people I loved – Evangelical
Protestants and Catholics alike – I really just wanted Jesus. The Eucharist was
suddenly that much more necessary and beautiful.”
The Third Sunday of Advent’s readings
emphasise that God comes to the powerless and the suffering. He will overturn
the hierarchies of our world: “He has filled the hungry with good things, and
the rich he has sent away empty” (Luke 1:53).
I have only anecdotal evidence to suggest
that people on the margins of society often have an especial devotion to the
Eucharist. I do think there’s something about the experience of marginalisation
or powerlessness itself – an experience most of us have had in different
contexts – which makes the poignancy and majesty of Christ’s gift of Himself in
the Eucharist shine forth more brightly. Eleanor suggests that the Eucharist
helps us to know and love Jesus even when many of His followers abandon or harm
us.
One other theme my interviewees raised was
the fear of how others would see them – alongside the terrible fear of becoming
totally invisible. One man, John William Brandkamp, summarised what many of my
interviewees said in different words: “I desperately want to be seen, and I
desperately do not want to be seen.” In this situation Eucharistic Adoration
allows you to turn your gaze towards Christ and know that He sees you without
judging you. You don’t have to worry about what He’s thinking about you. You
don’t have to worry that He’ll discreetly edge away from you if you look rough
or miserable, if you are a more butch woman or a more feminine man.
There is a peace in the Eucharist which is
for you, an intimacy even when you feel friendless. He knows you when you are
keeping secrets for fear of how others will react to you; knows you, with a
knowledge which is only loving.
The Eucharist shows God Himself in a
shockingly powerless form. Not only does God overthrow the mighty and exalt the
humble – He Himself becomes about as humble as it’s possible to be. His Body is
as broken as our heart feels. He places Himself literally in our hands,
entrusting Himself to us even though we know we are not trustworthy. It is His
might which makes this possible. It is the infinite power of the Lord which
makes it possible for Him to become, like us, so weak.
And it is only through His power that we can
do as Paul says: “In all circumstances give thanks” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
Eucharist means “thanksgiving”, of course. In our hardest circumstances we are
given such a simple way to give thanks. There are times when words fail, when
prayers don’t come, when you have no idea how to live in gratitude for a life
which seems consumed by confusion, injustice or suffering. In those times the
silence of the Eucharist can be a great solace. Simply being present with Him is
enough.
There have been times when I couldn’t receive
Communion – sometimes for dumb reasons, like my schedule went all catawampus and
I didn’t fast; sometimes because I knew I carried grave sin I was unwilling even
to bring to Confession. It’s awful to feel helplessly shackled in
sin.
But I trust that when I went to Mass my
willingness simply to be in His presence, even if I couldn’t or wouldn’t receive
the deep intimacy He wanted to offer me, was a way of giving as much thanks as I
could.
In all circumstances our Thanksgiving awaits
us on the altar."
"...Venerable Matt Talbot provides an example of someone who used
asceticism to help him on his journey from addiction to wholeness. Born into a
large family, Talbot lived in poverty-stricken, post-famine Ireland. He began
work at age 12, and that's when a soul-consuming alcoholism took
root.
At the age of 28, Talbot, with the help of a confessor (and the
Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius!) began his journey of sobriety. His
abstinence was accompanied by a radical conversion. A laborer and a union man,
he joined the Secular Franciscan Order, gave up another addiction -- smoking --
and began to lead his ordinary life with extraordinary penance and
self-sacrifice.
Talbot is at the second rung of a four-step ladder to
canonization. A miracle attributed to his intercession could lead to him being
declared "Blessed." But in the meantime, thousands believe he has helped them in
their struggle with addiction.
All of us are attached to something that impedes spiritual
growth. During Lent, fasting from a behavior -- drinking, gossiping, addictive
screen time -- that interferes with our relationship with Jesus can lead to
conversion. An attribute of Talbot was that people described him, despite his
self-denial, as a very happy man..."
This informative video, published on Sep 16,
2017, features multiple speakers.
"Theme of documentary- The amount of families in Ireland and every other country in
the world who are afflicted by an addiction of one sort or another is very high,
and addiction more than anything else, destroys families. Many families have
lived tortured lives because what do you do when a member of your family gets
addicted to alcohol or drugs? The alcoholic or addict usually ends up going t o
any lengths to feed their addiction, to the detriment of the wider family.
Where
do people in such an awful scenario go for help? What do they do? When many of
them hear about the inspirational story of Matt Talbot and how he overcame his
chronic alcoholism, they’re inspired and encouraged to try and overcome their
addiction and begin the difficult journey from darkness to light. Matt Talbot is
nowadays the number one patron for countless people all over the world who are
suffering from addiction and are struggling to find recovery.
This 50-minute radio documentary investigates: (a)[ Matt
Talbot’s inspirational life-example and why his story resonates so strongly with
our modern world; and (b). the huge interest nowadays in Matt Talbot in Ireland
and abroad. More than anything else, this documentary aims to highlight Matt
Talbot’s story of redemption and hope, and in so doing perhaps inspire any
listener who’s suffering from addiction, or knows someone suffering from
addiction, to follow his example of walking the difficult (but worthwhile) path
from addiction to recovery. *
This 50-minute radio documentary is to be
downloaded for non-profit purposes only, in adherence with the universal truth-
“What you do for yourself dies with you, what you do for others remains. It is
immortal.”
Writing on the British Jesuits’ site Thinking Faith,
Hedwig Lewis, SJ, gives more
background on the devotion to Mary the Untier (or Undoer) of Knots,
which Pope Francis has promoted for years. You can also visit a
website about the devotion. The
devotion is especially appropriate for “problems and struggles we face for which
we do not see any solution:”
Knots of
discord in our family, lack of understanding between parents and children,
disrespect, violence, the knots of deep hurts between husband and wife, the
absence of peace and joy at home. They are also the knots of anguish and despair
of separated couples, the dissolution of the family, the knots of a drug addict
son or daughter, sick or separated from home or God, knots of alcoholism, the
practice of abortion, depression, unemployment, fear, solitude. .
.
- See more at:
http://www.ignatianspirituality.com/16382/mary-unties-knots/#sthas
As readers of biographical articles and books
about Venerable Matt Talbot are quite aware, Matt developed a deep devotion to
the Blessed Mother from the time of signing the pledge to give up alcohol
through his remaining forty-one years of life.
