The Glories of Recovery

This author has written articles about Venerable Matt Talbot on his blog, http://www.sobercatholic.com that we have re-posted,  and we appreciate his wife, Rose Santuci-Sofranko, alerting us to the following article by Paul.

 
The Glories of Recovery 
By Paul Sofranko
09/10/2020
https://www.liguorian.org/the-glories-of-recovery/

Alcoholism may be one of humanity’s oldest addictions.
Wine and other intoxicating beverages—along with their potential to cause problems—have been with us since the development of agriculture.

In the Book of Genesis, Noah—a good farmer—planted a vineyard. And, after harvesting grapes, he promptly “drank some of the wine, became drunk, and lay naked inside his tent” (Genesis 9:21). There is no scriptural record of Noah’s wine drinking becoming problematic. Nevertheless, it’s safe to say that alcohol’s use has been accompanied by its abuse from the beginning of human civilization.

The Glorification of Alcohol and the Tragedy of Addiction

Alcohol abuse has been glorified in popular culture for a long time. Heavy drinking has been depicted as a sign of manhood, especially if you can “hold it.” Books, movies, and TV shows have always been flooded with tough-guy characters who drink a lot. And broken-down women who can or can’t hold their liquor. Drunkards are also common comedic characters. Skits by Red Skelton and Foster Brooks come to mind, as do the Arthur films.

Yet for millions, drinking is no laughing matter. For such people, boozing is tragic. Lives are lost, home life is ripped apart, jobs and careers vanish. The variety of horrors resulting from uncontrolled drinking is longer than all the fancy lists you can find of cocktails, wines, and beers.

Alcoholism can strike anyone. It ignores age, race, sex, gender, nationality, religion, or any other label we can place on people. Origins and causes remain speculative. Compelling evidence supports either “nature” or “nurture,” meaning genetic and hereditary sources or familial upbringing could be the origin, or some combination. My Liguorian article isn’t concerned with why addiction happens. But because I am sure you, our reader, either is an addict or knows someone who is, this article hopes to address the question, “Now what?” I think I can help.

The Essential Role of our Faith in Recovery

We are Catholics, and as such we follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We know he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Thus I can assure you there is a Way, using his Truth, to recover the Life he holds out for us.

According to the old Baltimore Catechism, we are put on this earth to love and serve God in this life so we can be happy with him forever in the next. God is our first beginning and our last end. Life is what happens in between. And because of Original Sin, we suffer from concupiscence, which disturbs that life. Our tendency toward sin has many degrees, from venial sins—which damage our relationship with God and others—to mortal sins—which  cause severe harm, including destroying a life of grace in the soul.

Somewhere in the mix of any life, addiction can fall. For an addict, at some point the normal use of a drink or a drug becomes abusive—crossing a line that’s different for every soul—and becoming a disease. Addiction is when the need for the substance becomes compulsive and causes spiritual, mental, and physical harm to the user.

Catholic spiritual writers for centuries have referred to addiction as an “inordinate attraction.” In a world that’s wounded by sin and fear, in which people are marginalized by impersonal and uncaring governments and businesses, where multitudes of messages bombard people through media venues that cause some to doubt themselves and make them feel less than others, it is no surprise that folks seek an escape. Drinking enables people to build a fantasy: a unique perception about themselves that is vastly superior to a reality in which they lack the control they desire.

Which brings us here:

The Sin and False Reality of Addiction

The title of this article is a purposeful homage to the classic text on the Blessed Virgin Mary by St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary. While by no means equating this work with that of the saint, it is intended to convey what our ultimate goal should be: arriving at our true home, heaven, and basking in the glory of God and in being glorified ourselves.

We are made in the image and likeness of God, and therefore our souls reflect his image. Tragically, this image is distorted and clouded daily by sin, sometimes to the point of completely obscuring it. Addictions in and of themselves are sinful in that individual wills are corrupted, with the consequences that things are done that ought not to occur.

Through addiction, people enter a false reality, their self-esteem and ego soar on wings like eagles, hurts are avenged, losses and missed opportunities are reimagined into victories, grievances are settled and—in short—they feel “healed.” Of course, the “healing” is as fake as the reality. The “healing” feeling will persist as long as the addict can function in his or her addiction. But at some point, the feeling will come crashing down, and life will become a wreck that the addict created and which desperately needs salvaging.

Recovery: The Path to a Fulfilling Life

Works of mercy, typically called “recovery,” are in place to assist people in addressing their addiction. Recovery helps people overcome addiction, rebuild lives, repair relationships with people and particularly with God so that when life comes to its end and we meet Jesus—our Just and Merciful Judge—we can hear his anticipated words, “Welcome my good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Father.”

Recovery is redemptive. What was lost is recovered. It may be different from what might have been had alcohol or drugs not become destructive. Nevertheless, in recovery, a life that is now responsible and rightly ordered can be achieved.

To those who have a loved one in the vice of addiction, the most important thing you can do is pray fervently for that person until she or he reaches out in need. People generally do not begin recovery until they want it. Those who truly want to do the work necessary to recover will reach a point where they realize that if they continue drinking they will die, whereas if they stop drinking they may only want to die.

If addicts choose the hard work of recovery, they will eventually choose life, and you can hope to be present when they do. That is important: be present to them. At the moment they no longer want to live the way they are living, in their broken and wounded spirit, they will not know what to do beyond not wanting to drink anymore.

If you wish to be informed about addiction, how to respond to it, and what recovery from it looks like, resources are available in your community and online. Your local yellow pages book or online can point them out to you. The information you find will help you minister to your loved one’s needs. Immerse yourself in prayer and beseech the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you. Insight into where to go may come from any source. Listen and be open to inspiration. Humility is also essential, as your loved one may resist your help and seek it elsewhere, perhaps even in recovery organizations. It is often believed—and in my opinion it’s often true—that only another addict can help an addict. Addicts in recovery have credibility from living through and recovering on a daily basis from the problem.

If you have an addiction and are seeking help, there are numerous recovery groups available, from Step organizations and those using other recovery methods. Make use of them. They comprise individuals who have been where you are now, they have suffered through it and now have a life that no longer wants the crutches of the drink or the drug. If you fear how difficult it might be to live a life clean and sober, they will teach you.

Recovery programs are like the practice fields athletes use before going out onto the actual field of play. On the recovery field you will learn the life skills you need and how to keep from returning to the addictive drug or drink of choice to cope.

Help from Fellow Catholics and Other Like-minded People

The Calix Society is a prime Catholic organization offering assistance to alcoholics. “The society is an association of Catholic alcoholics who are maintaining their sobriety through affiliation with and participation in the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous,” says a line from calixsociety.org.

While Alcoholics Anonymous is not a Catholic organization, its early history reveals the influence of Catholics. AA’s Twelve Steps were developed with the assistance of a Jesuit priest, Fr. Ed Dowling of St. Louis. The steps are closely related to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola in their exposition of faults, the amendment of life, and growing closer to God.

Sr. Ignatia, who worked with AA co-founder “Dr. Bob” in his hospital, awarded Sacred Heart badges to alcoholics who successfully left treatment. This initiated the tradition in AA groups of giving monthly and annual chips or medallions to people after periods of self-proclaimed sobriety.

My blog, “Sober Catholic” (found on sobercatholic.com) contains links to many useful resources for anyone who is looking to apply their Catholic faith in seeking assistance for addictions. It has been online since January 2007, and I have endeavored to maintain links to useful resources on it. I believe Jesus, the Divine Physician, established the Catholic Church and its resources, including  the liturgical and sacramental life, ministries, and lay apostolates. Our Church, in my view, therefore can be an effective partner for the alcoholic and addict in staying clean and sober. I am not a certified recovery specialist, just a sober guy with a blog. But my application of my Catholic faith has been primarily responsible for keeping me sober for many years. I have published two devotional booklets, The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts, and The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics (for information and to order, see sobercatholic.com). The former carries the reader through all twenty mysteries of the rosary with reflections on each one and how they relate to the alcoholic. The latter does the same with the Stations of the Cross. The reader goes on a healing journey as the old person is cast off and the new person emerges.

The Catholic faith, with its rich traditions of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and reconciliation, can assist with sobriety. Perhaps not completely on its own. Sometimes the sick need resources that deal specifically with an illness. In that regard, you or your loved ones should make responsible use of qualified professionals, from clinical recovery specialists to treatment centers or therapists. But there is an inexhaustible fount of graces and healing flowing from our Church. With those, the glories of sobriety—for your loved one or you if you suffer with addiction—are within reach.

 

Dealing with Drug and Alcohol Addiction During a Pandemic

After reading some postings on our Venerable Matt Talbot Resource Center site, a reader and his team offered us the opportunity of re-posting the following article: https://detoxofsouthflorida.com/drug-and-alcohol-addiction-during-a-pandemic/.

INTRODUCTION

Drug and Alcohol Addiction During a Pandemic: COVID-19 pandemic has hit differently compared to many other epidemics that have occurred before. It will get marked in history as an era of pain, anxiety, panic, and depression. In case we survive this pandemic as we pray and hope for the very best, the world will be all changed. This pandemic has impacted the restriction of social gatherings, thus no attending the churches, schools got closed, businesses are dissolving every day. And each new day there is an introduction to more and more restrictions which are stricter than the previous ones. This pandemic has even turned the economy upside down. Social distancing means sometimes we do not have to be close to our loved ones like before, It also means people are not even attending their jobs hence financially disabled.

Research says many people may turn into abusing drugs, also let’s only consider the rates of people who have lost their jobs in the United States currently. After the pandemic, we may face addiction more than even the economic crisis. Just like the coronavirus has affected the world both socially and financially also, it has changed the domain of recovery and addiction. The wave of anxiety and fear that is wafting during this pandemic has contributed to a lot of individuals holding back from continuing or seeking addiction treatment and therapies.

EFFECT OF COVID-19 ON THE ADDICT BODY

Generally. addiction affects the body of the user in various means, it weakens the immune system and also alters the functioning of the inner organs. For example, the long term and frequent use of alcohol cause inflammation, pancreatitis, liver cirrhosis, fibrosis, alcohol hepatitis and it’s known for causing various types of cancer and brain damage. These health conditions which are brought by alcohol causes the user to be more vulnerable to the COVID -19 symptoms.

Prolonged abuse of opioids such as heroin, fentanyl, codeine, and hydrocodone causes pulmonary and respiratory complications. Smoking of drugs such as marijuana or tobacco drastically weakens the lungs thus putting long term smokers into a risk of being profoundly affected by the coronavirus. According to the research from the national institute on drug abuse, they reported individuals with substance use disorder and smoker’s coronavirus is a significant threat to them. When COVID-19 infects an individual. It begins with weakening the cells on the lining of the lungs.

Thus the pre-symptoms of coronavirus are fever, headache, fatigue, and dry cough, shortness of breath and muscle pain. The symptoms get more severe after the infection reaches the lower respiratory tract. An individual who has a healthy immune system may be able to recover from the virus when it’s in the upper respiratory tract. However, coronavirus may cause severe impacts in the body such as pneumonia, and bronchitis, in more severe instances which is rare COVID-19 may cause acute respiratory distress syndrome. A healthy individual can fully recover from COVID-19 however if an individual has health complications such as chronic diseases, pulmonary abnormalities then they are at a high risk of not improving or more vulnerable to get severe illness.

CORONA VIRUS IMPACTS TO INDIVIDUALS WITH MENTAL HEALTH COMPLICATIONS.

Before I even jump into the effects of COVID-19 to mental health patients, let me point out that mental health and substance abuse are closely linked. Thus approximately fifty percent of individuals with mental disorders are as a result of prolonged use abuse of substances.

When an individual has substance abuse disorder and mental health issues. the condition is referred to as dual diagnosis or co-occurring disorder. Basing this conclusion on research, most individual’s abuse drugs to calm down and cope with their mental health. Some individuals confess that after using alcohol. smoking or other drugs, they get temporary relief from anxiety and stress, and they go in the state of nirvana ‘as they say. Fifty-three percent of substance abusers are said to have severe mental disorders, however, thanks to the rehabilitation centers, which offer services of treating the co-occurring condition. Actually, with the increased tensions and stress on the coronavirus, it’s the best time to seek treatment.

The increase of COVID 19 pressure may lead to worry and fear of loved one’s health and individual’s health Changes in eating and sleeping patterns more use of tobacco. alcohol and other drugs.

Therefore individuals with mental disorders, should continue receiving treatment and pay attention to worsening or new symptoms. WHO has requested people to limit news about coronavirus, which may cause more anxiety and instead get information from the trusted sources. WHO recommends the caregivers, media experts, doctors and first responders to the COVID 19 patients that in the process they may experience emotional toll and develop secondary traumatic stress. Thus in case, they experience fear, social withdrawal, illness, fatigue or guilt they should pull away from the media and allow themselves time for self-care to unwind.

ACCESSING TO ABUSE TREATMENT DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC. With the environment surrounding this pandemic such as the social distance, risk of substance use may increase, due to stress, isolation, and anxiety caused by COVID19. Therefore the addiction treatment should remain accessible.

OUTPATIENT TREATMENT

This program is for individuals with a mild addiction, they attend rehab during the day, but they go home. Upon arrival, they are screened for Covid-19 symptoms, in case they test positive they are isolated, and a telehealth treatment plan gets initiated. The patients who don’t have Covid-19 symptoms continue or begin addiction treatment while observing physical distance and sanitation.

VIRTUAL 12-STEP MEETINGS

This is a crucial stage for individuals who are in the recovery stage of drug abuse disorder such as the narcotics anonymous and alcoholics anonymous. These meetings currently have stipulated measures such as physical distancing, and sanitary precautions, thus individuals no longer shake or hold hands and hugging. The 12 step meetings are still available through most individuals are afraid of attending them.

Spiritual Resources for Addicts, Families, and Loved Ones

As we begin a new decade, let us consider spiritual resources for those who have an addiction as well as for their families and loved ones. The source for these beneficial resources is available at https://www.hbgdiocese.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Spiritual_Resources_-_Addiction.pdf

The contents include scripture passages, prayers for recovery,  Rosary meditations for help with addictions, Stations of the Cross for 12-step recovery, novena to the Holy Spirit for addictions and recovery, patron saints for addiction and related issues, and other helpful links and resources.

Who is Matt Talbot?

“Guess House in Michigan (USA) has been serving the Catholic Church for more than 60 years with “the world’s first and most successful treatment and recovery program for Catholic clergy and religious in providing  the information, education, treatment and care needed to overcome alcoholism, addictions and other behavioral health conditions.” (https://guesthouse.org/

Who is Matt Talbot?

Sep 11, 2019

https://guesthouse.org/2019/09/who-is-matt-talbot/

Who is Matt Talbot? A growing number of people in recovery know. In November 1991, St. John Paul II  told a Guest House alumnus “I am very interested in the canonization of Matt Talbot.”

Guest House began prayers and Masses in honor of Talbot’s June 19 Feast many years ago and Guest House priests have led or been a part of the growing Matt Talbot retreat movement. Father Mark Stelzer, Guest House education director, has led several of the popular retreats.This year, Guest House brought benefactors and alumni from across the United States for its first Matt Talbot pilgrimage to Ireland, retracing his journey through life. But exactly who was Matt Talbot? His story is inspiring:

Venerable Matt Talbot (May 2, 1856 to June 7, 1925) was an Irish alcoholic (admittedly the son of a drunk), and a laborer who became an ascetic (ascetics abstain from sexual and other pleasures in pursuit of spiritual goals). When brick layer’s laid bricks, he served as their “hodman,’’ humbly gathering mortar and bricks for the craftsmen. 

How Matt Talbot hit bottom

 Numerous American Catholics say a devotion to Matt Talbot helped in their journey toward recovery. From age 13 to age 28, his drinking was uncontrollable. Friends said Matt “only wanted one thing: the drink… for the drink, he’d do anything.’’

In his darkest days, Matt literally spent all his available money on alcohol. 

 

When his wages were exhausted, he could turn the mangle (the hand-driven mechanism that squeezed the water out of wet clothes) for a local wash woman. His reward for helping a wash woman?  A pig’s head. He would then sell the pig’s head for money to buy drinks.

He was also known to pawn his coat or boots for money to buy alcohol and he would be mocked for walking barefoot through the streets. He hit bottom when he and his brothers stole a fiddle from a blind street musician, selling it for the price of a single drink.

He eventually began a seven year search to find the street musician he had robbed. He eventually took the money he hoped to return to the musician and used it to have Masses offered for the man’s soul.

Talbot knew he had to go to Confession. So he went to  Holy Cross College, the seminary for Dublin, Ireland, where he confessed his sins.

He soon after, made a pledge to stop drinking for three months but there was no Alcoholics Anonymous, no recovery or support groups, not even family or friends he could count on. So he focused everything he had on God.

For the first time in many years, he accepted the sacrament of Holy Communion at a morning Mass at St. Francis Xavier Church, beginning a new routine of attending Mass every day. 

But the struggle continued. During Mass, he fell to the floor, hearing a voice tell him “It’s no use. You’ll never stop drinking.”
He got on his knees, begging God for mercy.

 “Three things I cannot escape.’’ Talbot declared. “ The Eye of God, the voice of conscience, the stroke of death. In company, guard your tongue. In your family, guard your temper. When alone, guard your thoughts.” 

12 steps before the 12 Steps

 

Fifty years before the 12-steps were written, Matt Talbot learned his own variation with a Jesuit spiritual advisor who followed the Ignatian Way:

• He abstained from drinking (vowing to be sober for three months, then for another six months and finally for the rest of his life but the first seven years of his abstaining was particularly difficult for him.
• He confessed his sins regularly, attending daily Mass.
• He learned to read so he could study the Bible, becoming a lay member, Third Order Franciscan.
• He gained strength by frequently praying before the Blessed Sacrament, asking how anyone could be lonely when they were with the Lord. Some say they saw him in “ecstasy” when praying before the Crucifix.
• He would take working class jobs and give to charity the money he would have otherwise spent on alcohol.
• His desire for alcohol remained but when he felt the urge to drink, he went to Church, turned to God for help and prayed.
• “It is easier to get out of hell’’ than to give up drinking, Talbot said. He also gave up smoking, confiding that it was actually easier to give up alcohol than it was to quit smoking.
• Talbot was often asked to pray for others. Once, when asked to pray for a man’s sick wife, Talbot said he would pray to Our Lady. The next day, he told the man the prayers would be answered but not in the way he hoped, telling the man to not to be afraid, that everything would work out as it was meant to. The next day, the man’s wife died and the man felt certain Talbot’s prayers had been heard and that his wife was in Heaven.

 

Matt Talbot: From “poorest of the poor” to being widely known as holy

The poorest of the poor and most addicted people can relate to his testimony.

As the Matt Talbot Dublin Diocesan Committee argues, Talbot: “lived in a tenement, wore second hand clothes, died in a laneway and was buried in a pauper’s grave. 

Coming from such a deprived background and with an alcoholic father and a family history of neglect and poverty, Matt found himself sucked into the culture of addiction and to the only choice of drug available to the poor of his day, alcohol. Matt, like so many others, embraced alcohol as a means of escape from the misery and poverty of daily life. Today we live in an age of addictions more sophisticated perhaps than those of Matt’s day, addictions to substances such as alcohol and other drugs soft or hard, prescription or illegal, addictions to gambling, pornography and the internet, addictions to work, professional advancement, sex, money and power. All these have the ability to destroy our lives and like demons even our very souls as well.”

He is celebrated as a patron of the fallen, broken and alcoholics. Talbot also spoke of “the Way” saying: “To know God and to understand His ways and to watch in His presence in all sanctity is the great end of life.” 

He died at age 69 on Trinity Sunday 1925, the hottest day of the year in the midst of a heat wave, while hurrying to attend his second Mass of that Sunday. Witnesses who gathered around him after he fell in the nearby streets said his eyes closed around 9:40a.m. as the Church bells were ringing. 

People immediately began talking about his intense holiness and spreading the word. A short biography written about him the year after he died sold more than 120,000 copies.

People wanted to hear his story. The first formal book about this poor worker, Life of Matt Talbot, would appear in 1928, just three years after his death. 

By 1931, the beatification process had already begun and the following year, the International Eucharistic Congress started encouraging pilgrims to learn the Matt Talbot story.

 By 1972, work began on a shrine and in 1975, he was declared Venerable by St. Paul VI.

“Never be too hard on the man who can’t give up drink,’’ Talbot once said. “It’s as hard to give up drink as it is to raise the dead to life again. But both are possible and even easy for Our Lord. We have only to depend on Him.’’

Learning From Venerable Matt Talbot About Attachment and Detachment of Addictions*

Homily For Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (C) 

by Fr. Billy Swan

https://www.thehookoffaith.com/

July 30, 2019

"Dear friends. I would like to share a few thoughts this week on addiction. I do so not only because it is topical and relevant to our society today but because it is found in the Gospel story this weekend of the man who wasn’t contented with his rich harvest but wanted an even greater return the following year – a year he would never see because of his premature death. Like many addictions, his was to ‘having more’. What he had was never enough.

Now when we talk about addictions, we might be tempted to think only of the big ones we hear about – addictions to alcohol, to smoking, drugs, gambling or pornography. If we do then we might be tempted to cod ourselves in thinking that addictions effect other people but not me. That I’m ok. The truth is that all of us are prone to any number of addictions at any time. Most of us are probably struggling with some addiction right now. It’s not a question of if we are, but more a question of ‘to what am I addicted?’ This is because the human spirit always seeks to attach itself to something greater than itself. And it is this attachment that will either destroy us or fill us with joy in this life and the next.

One man who came full circle on this journey of attachment and detachment was Matt Talbot. It is said that he was a hopeless alcoholic by the time he was 14. He was so addicted to drink that he would do anything and lose everything just to have another drink. He pawned his clothes and boots to get money for alcohol. On one occasion, he stole a fiddle from a street entertainer in Dublin and sold it to buy drink. His addiction to alcohol turned him into someone he hated to be. When he hit rock bottom, he turned to God in desperate prayer and pledged with his grace to detach himself from drink and to attach himself ever more faithfully to God. In his efforts to turn his life around, Matt Talbot was successful but credited everything to God and his mercy.

We can learn so much from his story. The most important thing to learn is how his addiction, like our addictions and every addiction, is a spiritual problem that needs a spiritual cure. Before his conversion, Matt Talbot tried to satisfy his need for God with alcohol before he realised that there is no chemical solution to a spiritual problem. We are prone to addictions when God is not in first place and what comes first instead in our lives are things that can never replace him. Matt Talbot’s detachment from drink corresponded to his attachment to God. To help him make this painful transition, we know he read the writings of St Frances de Sales who urges us not just to give up our addictions but to give up our love for them. So for Matt Talbot, it wasn’t just a question of giving up the drink. It was just as much about giving up his love for it. Since his death on 7th June 1925, Matt Talbot has been an inspiration and sign of hope to people like us who struggle with addictions. He was declared Venerable by Pope Paul VI in 1975 and how wonderful it would be if one day he is declared a saint. He once wrote: ‘Never be too hard on the person who can’t give up drink. It’s as hard to give up the drink as it is to raise the dead to life again. But both are possible and even easy for Our Lord. We have only to depend on him.’

Today we pray for ourselves, that we may know our addictions and admit them. We pray that we become detached and free from whatever holds us back and kills our joy that comes from God. We pray that every day, we may attach our spirits in humble prayer to the God who made them and the God for whom they were made. We pray for all those whose lives are being destroyed by addiction here and beyond. May this be the time when new hope is born and many souls turn back again to God. Matt Talbot, pray for us."

*Note:  We are responsible for this title.

Venerable Matt Talbot’s Road from Despair to Redemption

 

Venerable Matt Talbot – The Road from Despair to Redemption

October 10, 2018

https://www.stmartin.ie/life-and-legacy-of-venerable-matt-talbot-despair-redemption/

The name of Matt Talbot is a very familiar one, especially to Dubliners and those of us who regularly pass through Granby Lane. However he is an inspiration to countless people and has become an icon for the Pioneer Total Abstinence Movement.

Matt was born on May 2, 1856. His father was a heavy drinker and because of this the large family were neglected. Matt like so many others of his time turned to alcohol as a way of deadening the misery and poverty of daily life. Back in those days in Ireland, children were not obliged to go to school. His drinking began aged twelve when he became a messenger boy for Messrs. Edward and John Burke, wine merchants. Matt used to take dregs from the bottom of bottles. He later admitted that from his early teens to his late twenties his only aim in life was heavy drinking.

When his wages were spent he borrowed and scrounged for money. He supplemented his earnings by minding horses outside a tavern and waiting for the owners to tip him on their departure. He pawned his clothes and boots. On one lamentable occasion he was drinking with friends when a blind fiddle player joined them. Matt stole the fiddle thereby depriving the poor man of his livelihood. The incident haunted him and years later he searched the city for the poor musician. Unable to find him he had Masses offered for his sake in restitution. By the time he was twenty-eight he was on the road to self-destruction, refusing to listen to his mother’s pleas to stop drinking.

The Pledge

 

Then an incident occurred. One day utterly broke he loitered outside O’Meara’s pub hoping that his friends for whom he had often bought drink would take pity on him and invite him in with them. However most ignored him. This was a moment of humiliation which years later he admitted had “cut to the heart”. Making his way home slowly his mother was amazed to see him sober and became even more so when he told her it was his intention to take the pledge.

At that time if you wanted to stop drinking the custom was to take a solemn pledge before a priest to abstain for a period of time. He went to Holy Cross Church where he asked for confession and took the pledge. The priest advised him to abstain from drink for 90 days and then revise the situation. These were 90 days of sheer hell. Now we are aware of the withdrawal symptoms of addiction and there is help available. There was no support then and Matt had to endure the sufferings, hallucinations, tremors, depression and nausea alone.

The Road to Redemption

 

Matt with time on his hands began to walk in the evenings. On one occasion passing Bushe’s Public House he was drawn in by the beer fumes wafting out. However he was a stranger and the bar man was too busy serving the locals to bother with him. Ignored he stormed off and ended up in a Jesuit Church nearby where he made a second solemn pledge; this time to abstain from drink for the rest of his life. This experience led to another resolution never to carry any money.

Dropping into churches became a way of life. At first they were places that substituted for the bars and taverns but gradually Matt, who was suffering terribly, began to pray to God to help him persevere. The strict life of the early Irish monks with its emphasis on prayer, penance, humility and manual labour appealed to him and he embraced a totally new way of living. The austere way he lived is a challenge to us today. We live at a time when not only do people regard comfort as a right but they tend to put individual needs before the needs of others


Matt began to attend Mass regularly and to read religious books. He became a Third Order Franciscan in 1890 and was a member of several other associations and sodalities.


Matt used his wages to pay back his debts and what little remained he gave to others. He fasted regularly and when his mother died the little flat that became his home was sparsely furnished. Included was a plank bed with a piece of timber on which to lay his head.

Death

Matt was on his way to Mass in St Saviour' Church on Dominic Street on June 7th 1925 when he collapsed and died on Granby Lane. His life might have gone unnoticed were it not for the cords and chains discovered on his body. Inquiries revealed them to be a symbol of his devotion to Mary. The thinking was that a person who considered themselves a spiritual slave to the mother of God would remain close to her and to Jesus.

Following this discovery, allied to people’s experience of him, stories about his holiness began to spread. A process was put in place which culminated in Matt being declared Venerable by Pope Paul VI in 1975. If this opinion is confirmed by the miracles required by Canon Law, he will be declared a Saint.

Whether or not this comes to pass he will always remain an inspirational example of one man’s capacity to transform a long road of despair into one of redemption. Matt gives hope to those who share his addiction and who are inspired by his courage and faith. They know, he knew how difficult it is and can take courage from the fact that he still managed to find a way out of the darkness.

His shrine is located in the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes on Sean MacDermott Street Lower in Dublin.


Note:  Photographs and prayers that accompany this article are available on the link.

Spirituality, Recovery & Prayer Booklets

Two informative (free) booklets can be read and/or downloaded from Guest House:

SPIRITUALITY and RECOVERY FROM ADDICTIONS

Mary Ellen Merrick, IHM, D. Min., MAC

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6mk26ti9garedp2/SPIRITUALITY%20AND%20RECOVERY%20FINAL%20FOR%20PRINT%20SMALL%20LOW%20RES.pdf?dl=0

Prayers and Reflections For Persons Suffering From Addiction and Their Loved Ones  https://www.dropbox.com/s/x49h89hf9g0521h/Guest%20House%20Prayer%20Booklet%20-%20PROOF%20%284%29-FINAL.pdf?dl=0

Meeting Matt Talbot

Such articles as this one help spread introductory information about Venerable Matt Talbot to those who are not yet familiar with his name and/or life.

 "He was a drunk. And now he's on the path to sainthood: Meet Matt Talbot." 

by Meg Hunter-Kilmer 

Sep 14, 2017

https://aleteia.org/2017/09/14/he-was-a-drunk-and-now-hes-on-the-path-to-sainthood-meet-matt-talbot/

"Jesus fell three times under his cross to show us what it looks like to persevere in weakness, and Matt Talbot does just the same.

Matt Talbot was a drunk. His father was a drunk. Nearly every one of his brothers was a drunk. He was uneducated and unskilled and died in obscurity. And someday soon, God willing, Venerable Matt Talbot will be a saint.

Talbot (1856-1925) was the second of 12 children born to a working class Dublin family at a time when work and food were scarce and hope scarcer still. Matt’s home life was unstable and his schooling inconsistent. After a few years of sporadic attendance, Matt quit school entirely and entered the workforce. 

His first job was for a wine seller, and the occasional taste he took of the merchandise soon turned him into a full-fledged alcoholic. By the time he was 13, Matt’s life was driven by his need to drink. He spent all his wages on alcohol, even pawning his boots when he didn’t have enough for a pint. Matt’s father beat him and made him change jobs, but it was too late. The alcohol had taken hold of him and, as his father well knew, it wouldn’t let go without a fight.

But Matt didn’t want to fight. He wanted to drink. And only to drink. His friends later said that he “only wanted one thing—the drink; he wouldn’t go with us to a dance or a party or a school function. But for the drink he’d do anything.” For 15 years, Matt begged, borrowed, and stole whatever he needed to feed his addiction, once stealing the fiddle from a blind beggar to sell it for liquor.

Matt was a lost cause—so everybody said. But everybody reckoned without grace. 

Matt Talbot was the life of the party, but one day, when he was 28, he suddenly saw how false his happiness was, how false his friendships. He had been out of work for a few days and had drunk all his wages, so he stood outside a pub waiting for one of his many drinking buddies to offer to buy him a drink. But as one old friend after another passed him by, Talbot began to realize the emptiness of his life.

Disgusted with his friends and himself, he went home, to a mother very surprised to find her son home and sober so early in the day. After dinner, he announced his intention to “take the pledge,” to vow that he would abstain from all alcohol. His mother, whose pessimism was not unfounded, urged him not to make such a vow unless he intended to keep it. 

But Matt’s heart had been seized, first by misery, then by remorse, and soon by love. He made his first confession in years and returned to the Sacraments. He promised sobriety for three months, then six, then for all his life. He worked even harder at his blue-collar jobs and gave the money he would have spent on beer to the poor. He went to Mass daily, lived simply, and performed powerful acts of penance and asceticism. He became a Third Order Franciscan. He taught himself to read so that he could study the Bible and the lives of the Saints. Perhaps most importantly, he never touched a drop of alcohol again.

But he never stopped being an alcoholic; the temptation to drink remained with him. Early into his abstinence he decided never to carry money with him as it was too much of a temptation to go into a pub and buy a pint. After work, as his friends went off to the pub, Talbot went to church; if he didn’t fill his time with something, he knew he would relapse. “Never be too hard on the man who can’t give up drink,” he once said. “It’s as hard to give up the drink as it is to raise the dead to life again. But both are possible and even easy for our Lord. We have only to depend on him.”

On Trinity Sunday, at the age of 69, Matt Talbot was making his way slowly through the streets of Dublin on his way to Mass. His body weakened by decades of hard labor, he collapsed of heart failure and was discovered later, an unidentified elderly man found dead in the street. He died as he had lived, in simple obscurity. But he was born that day into glory.

Venerable Matt Talbot is proof that being a follower of Christ doesn’t make virtue easy, it just makes it possible. Jesus fell three times under his cross to show us what it looks like to persevere in weakness, and Matt Talbot does just the same, an example of what it is to live with an addiction without being ruled by it. 

Let’s ask his intercession for all those suffering from addiction, that God may give them the courage to persevere on the hard road of recovery. Venerable Matt Talbot, pray for us!"


A previous post by Meg that we have noted is available at 
http://venerablematttalbotresourcecenter.blogspot.com/2017/07/feast-day-of-martyred-saint-who-died.html

How to Slay Your Goliath

by Fr. Michael Najim
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/cw/post.php?id=68

12-Step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous have helped countless people around the world to win the battle over addiction.  The 12 Step program, which is really a lived spirituality, helps people to see their Goliath, to name their Goliath, and, with God’s help, to overcome their Goliath.  I call it a Goliath because most people in the grip of addiction feel that the giant is just too big, that they can’t defeat it.  And the truth is that they can’t defeat it, not with their own will power.  But more on that point in a moment.

You need not have a serious addiction to benefit from the 12-Step program.  We all have Goliaths in our lives: things that keep us down, that we feel are too big to be defeated.  So what does this biblical story (1 Samuel 17) teach us about defeating the Goliath in our lives?

The young and fearless David is determined to fight the experienced Philistine warrior, Goliath.  Saul admonishes David that he’s too young to fight Goliath; but David is confident that the Lord will give him the strength for victory.  David says to Goliath: “You come against me with sword and spear and scimitar, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of hosts…For the battle is the Lord’s, and he shall deliver you into our hands.”

We know the end of the story.  David strikes Goliath in the head with a stone from his sling.  Goliath drops, and then David cuts off his head.

The first step in the 12-Step program is: “We admitted we were powerless over our addiction and that our lives had become unmanageable.”  The second step: “We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.”  Isn’t that what David did?  He never claimed he was going to take out Goliath by his own power.  David made it clear that the Lord was going to be the one to win the victory.  David wasn’t relying on willpower; he was relying on the Lord.

Sometimes we try to fight our Goliath with will power.  That doesn’t work.  It’s humbling, but we must admit we are powerless over it, whatever “it” is.  We must believe what David believed: “The battle is the Lord’s.”  This is why the third step in the 12-Step program is so important: “We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.”

So, what is your Goliath?  Is it a particular sin or habit?  Is it an addiction?  Is it a memory?  Is it a thought pattern?  Is it a situation or problem in your life?

It’s important to name your Goliath.  Honesty is really important.  Find someone you can confide in and name it.  You see, if we live in fear of our Goliath we empower it; but if we name it, if we look it in the face, we begin to experience freedom.

Make a decision to let go and let the Lord fight your battles.  I know, it seems counterintuitive: when we face a giant we feel we need to fight or flee; but in our lives with the Lord we do neither.  We surrender to God and let him fight for us.  He takes care of us (step 3).  And if we let him, he will slay our Goliath.

It’s okay to give up. No. I don’t mean to give in to despair or to give in to your addiction or bad habit.  I’m simply saying it’s okay to give up the battle and to tell the Lord that you can’t fight anymore, that you’re tired, that He has to do it for you. To overcome sin, addictions, bad habits, or any other situation in our lives, we must throw willpower out the window.  The only decision we need to make with our will is to surrender to the Lord and let Him take over.

Don’t be afraid of your Goliath. Look at it.  Name it.  Admit that you can’t defeat it.  And then surrender your life and will to the Lord.  Let him take care of it for you.  He wants to take it from you.  After all, it’s His job.

The Phenomenon of Craving Based on the "Big Book"

The Phenomenon of Craving

by Barefoot Bill

http://www.barefootsworld.net/aaphenomcraving.html

The Big Book on page xxiv (The Doctor's Opinion) says that an alcoholic has an "allergy to alcohol." An allergy is an abnormal reaction to any food, liquid or substance. If nine out of ten people have one reaction and one out of ten people have a different reaction, then the reaction of the one out of ten crew is abnormal. It also says on page xxvi that "the action of alcohol on an alcoholic is a manifestation of an allergy; that the phenomenon of craving is LIMITED to this class and NEVER occurs in the average temperate drinker." (A phenomenon is something that you can see but can't explain). "These allergic types can NEVER safely use alcohol in ANY FORM AT ALL."
  

Then on page 22, "We know that while the alcoholic keeps away from drink, as he may do for months or years, he reacts much like other men. We are equally positive that once he takes ANY ALCOHOL WHATEVER into his system, something happens, both in the bodily and mental sense, which makes it virtually impossible for him to stop." This includes substances that contain alcohol like mouthwash, cold remedies, some chocolates, food prepared with alcohol, etc.). Your body doesn't know if you are having a drink or taking Nyquil for a cold, it only senses alcohol and begins to process it. 

It also says on page xxviii that,"all the different classifications of alcoholics have ONE symptom in common: they CANNOT start drinking without developing the phenomenon of craving. This phenomenon may be the manifestation of an allergy which differentiates these people, and sets them apart as a distinct entity." Dr. William D. Silkworth, M.D. who at that time had nine years experience specializing in the treatment of alcoholics and drug addicts, wrote this in the late 1930’s. He called it a "phenomenon of craving" because at that time there was no way to study metabolism. Since then, science has proven his theory as correct.

The following is an explanation of what happens when alcoholics put alcohol into their bodies, and how it is a completely different experience compared to non-alcoholics. No wonder why non-alcoholics can't relate, and make statements like, "Can't you just stop after one or two drinks?" It shows why alcoholics can use their willpower against everything EXCEPT alcohol.

Alcoholics make up about 12% of the population.The body of the alcoholic is physically different. The liver and pancreas of the alcoholic process alcohol at one-third to one-tenth the rate of a normal pancreas and liver. Now as alcohol enters the body, it breaks down into various components, one of which is acetone. We know now that acetone triggers a craving for more acetone. In a normal drinker, the acetone moves through the system quickly and exits. But that doesn't happen in an alcoholic. In alcoholics, the acetone of the first drink is barely processed out, so by staying in their body, it triggers a craving for more acetone. The alcoholic then has a second drink, now adding to most of the acetone of the first drink, and that makes them want a drink twice as much as the normal drinker. So they have another. Then, having almost three times the craving as a normal drinker, they have another. You can see from that point how alcoholics have no control over how much they drink. The craving cycle has begun and they have no choice but to keep drinking. Once the acetone accumulates in their body, and that begins to happen with only ONE drink, they will crave another. And how many times does an alcoholic think it would be nice to have JUST ONE drink to relax, but has many more? Now you see why. AND THIS CAN NEVER CHANGE!

On top of THAT (like so far it's not bad enough), alcohol is a poison because it destroys human tissue. The two organs that alcohol damages the most are the liver and the pancreas. So the more the alcoholic drinks as time passes (or doesn't drink, because the liver and pancreas also deteriorate naturally as we age), the less their body is able to processes the acetone. THAT is why alcoholism is a progressive, fatal illness. Bill W. says on page 30, "We are convinced to a man that alcoholics of our type are in the grip of a progressive illness. Over any considerable period we get worse, never better." Pretty revealing, huh. It explains many things I never before understood.

But if you think about it, we never have to deal with ANY of this if we DON'T put alcohol into our bodies in the first place. So the MAIN problem of the alcoholic centers in their mind and in their spiritual condition. My mind tells me it's okay to TAKE the first drink and doesn't see that what I'm about to do is harmful (otherwise known as the obsession or powerlessness), and if I'm NOT spiritually fit I can't STAND being sober because it's too uncomfortable (otherwise known as unmanageability). Coincidentally, the Steps deal DIRECTLY and EFFECTIVELY with both.

So that's what it means to be an alcoholic - I can't handle drinking, and I can't handle not drinking. 

Note:  Also see  http://venerablematttalbotresourcecenter.blogspot.com/2017/07/insatiable-craving.html

Insatiable Craving

In his early years of life, Venerable Matt Talbot craved drink, but from the moment of a turning point at the age of 28, his craving focused increasingly on God for the remaining 41 years of his life.

The Phenomenon of Craving

by Colin O'Brien

Feb 04, 2014

https://aleteia.org/2014/02/04/the-phenomenon-of-craving/

What is the meaning of insatiable craving? How does drunkenness seem to be an experience of the divine? How is it different? How can Catholicism make sense of the joys and sorrows of the drinking life? What, if anything, can an alcoholic in recovery offer to the Church?

The first three questions are addressed in the 2012 documentary film “Bill W.” about the life of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) co-founder, Bill Wilson. The film discusses Bill’s friendship with Fr. Ed Dowling – a non-alcoholic Jesuit priest and an early proponent of the fellowship of AA – who served as Bill’s spiritual director. It recounts a conversation that Bill and Fr. Dowling had once, in which Bill asked Father whether his thirst would ever be quenched. Father replied that, no, Bill’s thirst would never be quenched, because we are meant to thirst; what matters is where we aim what we thirst for. 

This understanding of a profound thirst, an emptiness sometimes described as a “God-sized hole,” is the beginning point of recovery for many. In the 12 Steps of AA, it is described as an admission of powerlessness and a recognition of unmanageability in one’s life. Though this is a good beginning, one needs more for recovery; one needs to “come to believe”, to encounter God and to begin to set aside self-will for God’s will. 

By our Catholic faith, we see that God has created us for happiness – for union with Him – and that He has instilled in us both a capacity and desire for Himself so that we might seek to do His will and to draw ever closer to Him. This desire and capacity seems to have two dimensions or aspects, which I call "unitive" on the one hand, and "infusive" on the other. The "unitive" aspect is one in which we desire and seek after unity or oneness with God, with other people, and with creation; it could be characterized as contemplative, peaceful, quiet, or restful. The "infusive" aspect, as I call it, is a desire to be filled with and transformed by the Holy Spirit; this aspect could be characterized as charismatic, active, or apostolic. This twofold capacity and desire for unity and for infusion I call the "mystical impulse."

Although this "mystical impulse" can be found in each one of us, the effects of sin and concupiscence often direct our desires away from God throughout our natural lives. Alcoholism – the habitual, chronic, and compulsive use of alcohol – is one of the ways in which we see sin express itself in the world. While alcoholism has been described in many ways, one of the most illuminating descriptions of it can be found in the beginning of "Alcoholics Anonymous": the so-called "Big Book," from which the name of the fellowship of AA is derived.

In the section entitled "The Doctor’s Opinion", written by addiction specialist Dr. William Silkworth in the late 1930s, one sees alcoholism described as the operation of a type of allergy to alcohol within the body of the alcoholic. Dr. Silkworth notes that the alcoholic experiences a "phenomenon of craving" that is triggered when he takes a drink. In addition to this physical craving, he experiences a mental obsession with drinking that defies reason or willpower. He seeks after a sense of "ease and comfort" that becomes ever more elusive over time, even in the face of a relentless and fatal progression. If he is fortunate, the alcoholic will come to discover that: a) once he takes the first drink, he is unable to stop, and b) that he has no effective mental defense against the first drink. So why does he do this? The best way to explain is for me to recount my own experience of drinking and recovery.

One of my earliest childhood memories is of my father showing me the coin he received upon his reaching 90 days of sobriety in a Minneapolis alcoholism treatment facility; I was perhaps 5 years old at the time. For as long as I can remember, I was aware of and obsessed with alcohol. On the one hand I was afraid of alcohol knowing that my father had problems with drinking and I did not want to end up in a hospital; on the other, I wanted to experience release from a painful self-consciousness and fear that mounted all throughout my childhood. I recall watching with rapt attention the TV commercials which depicted the Budweiser Clydesdales pulling their fully-laden coach through bucolic, snowy landscapes, wishing for their promised good cheer to break through the sad fog of familial strife that unfailingly settled over my house from mid-November to mid-January every year.

As I entered adolescence, I became aware of a shyness and awkwardness with others that impeded me from forming relationships with my peers, and also of a mental obsession with alcohol and drinking. The knowledge of my father’s alcoholism, along with that of his father and other relatives, gave alcohol a dreadful power over my imagination. It is of little surprise that I experienced a thrill when, at the age of 14, I had my first drink; I experienced a release, an instance of what the American psychologist William James described as alcohol’s "power to stimulate the mystical faculties of human nature usually crushed to earth by the cold facts and dry criticisms of the sober hour. It brings its votary from the chill periphery of things to the radiant core. It makes him, for the moment, one with truth." (James, William, The Varieties of Religious Experience. New York. Modern Library, 2002, p. 421.)

When I entered college, I immediately took to drinking; with a beer in hand, my self-consciousness and dissociation from others, particularly members of the opposite sex, melted away to reveal a convivial, affectionate and uninhibited young man who could easily and boisterously joke and talk with seemingly anyone. Seven years later, living in New York – where I was unencumbered by familial obligations and Midwestern business hours – I found a city made for drinking: the bars were open until 4 am (not counting the illegal "after-hours" clubs); the subways and taxis went anywhere at any time; the city was teeming with the lonely and the adventurous; and its citizens were remarkably tolerant of erratic and inappropriate behavior.

There I blossomed in misery; the very thing I consumed to allow me to escape loneliness – to overcome anxiety and self-consciousness – was also causing daily hangovers, nausea, vomiting, bad decisions, and "blackouts," such that I would wake up not knowing where I had been or what I had done the night before. The thing that had taken away the fear, trauma, and memories of non-contact childhood sexual abuse turned me into a voluptuous pleasure-seeker, unable to truly love the lonely and broken women I ended up with. Infused with false spirits and falsely united to friends and lovers, I chased after sensations without joy.
 

There I blossomed in misery; the very thing I consumed to allow me to escape loneliness – to overcome anxiety and self-consciousness – was also causing daily hangovers, nausea, vomiting, bad decisions, and "blackouts," such that I would wake up not knowing where I had been or what I had done the night before. The thing that had taken away the fear, trauma, and memories of non-contact childhood sexual abuse turned me into a voluptuous pleasure-seeker, unable to truly love the lonely and broken women I ended up with. Infused with false spirits and falsely united to friends and lovers, I chased after sensations without joy.

In the wake of the September 11 attacks, the entire city seemed plunged into the darkness and despair that I had felt for about a year. The autumn and winter months were all a blur of smoke, ash, tears, heartaches, illness, and pubs filled with boisterous firefighters and cops in their dress uniforms hanging out after their colleagues’ funerals. And suddenly, on my 28th birthday the following August, I heard a voice say with an unfamiliar clarity and authority that I was about to have my last drink; the unreal and false began to give way to the Real and the True. I was suddenly imbued with a previously-unknown desire to stop drinking, and to believe the message I had heard.

That experience was precisely the type of spiritual experience that the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous describe as being at the heart of recovery from alcoholism. Bill Wilson saw in his own life, and in the lives of the alcoholics that he sought to help, that alcoholism was a mental, physical, and spiritual disease; recovery from alcoholism was dependent, not on medical or psychological treatments, not on moralistic arguments, but rather on an encounter with God. Why is this? Why does a spiritual program of recovery work in ways that incarceration, temperance movements, lobotomies, shock therapy, exercise regimens, and countless other approaches do not?

I would suggest, as Fr. Dowling did to Bill Wilson all those years ago, that we have a profound thirst that can only be satisfied by God. The alcoholic drinks in order to experience something of the divine, as William James discussed. This theme of thirst for God recurs throughout Sacred Scripture, such as in Psalm 42 (which begins, "As a hart longs/ for flowing streams,/ so longs my soul/ for thee, O God./ My soul thirsts for God,/ for the living God.") and Psalm 63 (where the Psalmist says, "I seek thee,/ my soul thirsts for thee,/ my flesh faints for thee,/ as in a dry and weary land where no water is."). Qoheleth, in the book of Ecclesiastes, recounts how he "kept from [his] heart no pleasure" and yet "all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun."  And yet, God did not create us to be unsatisfied; we see in the fullness of revelation that Jesus promises to give us living water: "whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:14).

When he comes to drink of this living water, the sober alcoholic can show the world and the Church in a particularly dramatic way the transformative power of God’s love. Where once he sought joylessly and compulsively after a false and fleeting sense of ease and freedom in drinking alcohol, he can experience true peace, unity, and joy in Christ. To encounter Christ, and to be infused with the Holy Spirit, is after all, an intoxicating experience. The Apostles appeared to be drunk when the Spirit came upon them at Pentecost; the Heavenly Kingdom will be not, as many fear, a place filled with the grim, the self-righteous, and the moralistic, but rather an eternal wedding banquet, where the saints behold their Creator and where the wine will never run out.

Spiritual masters throughout the centuries have described the relationship with God as a type of intoxication: the Anima Christi prayer implores, "Blood of Christ, inebriate me"; Blessed Jordan of Saxony, St. Dominic’s successor as master of the Order of Preachers, likened the Lord to a friend who wants to sit down and have a drink with us, hoping that we become drunk on the "new wine" of the Gospel. In being filled with that new wine, one then begins to overflow, to share that new wine with others in the hope that they, too, might become intoxicated by it. 
 
Fr. Hermann Cohen – a 19th century Jew who became a Carmelite priest after years of drinking, gambling, promiscuity, and associating with the rich and famous – preached this very thing when he said, "I am overflowing with joy. Yes, I am so happy that I come to offer it to you. … Faith brings us to happiness in God and in Jesus Christ his Son. … [T]o find Jesus Christ, one must watch and pray. … So pray, ask, and you will receive this intoxicating wine of immortality which flows from the winepress of prayer." (Schoeman, Roy, "Honey from the Rock: Sixteen Jews Find the Sweetness of Christ." San Francisco. Ignatius Press, 2007, p. 52.)

In coming to know Christ and in becoming "drunk" on this new wine of the Gospel, the alcoholic comes not only to experience the unity and infusion that he has always sought, but he also is given the chance to testify in an explicit way to the truths of the faith that might otherwise seem too remote or abstract to be believable. An example that comes to mind for me is that of the resurrection and glorification of the body; in becoming sober, I was able to witness in a profound way the healing power of God’s love, and yet I can also see that my condition as an alcoholic abides with me. I can foresee, with hope and faith, a time when that ailment of mind, body, and spirit will be healed and I will be made new.

Beyond this, however, the alcoholic discovers that, in the light of sobriety and washed clean in Christ’s love, his entire life can serve to give hope and encouragement to others. Hermann Cohen preached about this when he baptized one of his Jewish friends, saying: "Do you believe, my brothers, that God converted us just for our own benefit? No – a thousand times no. It is for others as much as for ourselves, that they may avoid the reefs against which we were shipwrecked. Yes, He has nailed us as signposts before the gates of Hell to say, ‘Don’t go this way.’" (Schoeman, p. 53.)

This insight is taken up in the Big Book to good effect. The alcoholic comes to see, paradoxically, that his recovery is contingent upon his remembering the past and being "willing to turn the past to good account." In doing so, he can help bring encouragement and hope to all who suffer, be they alcoholics or not. One of the most hopeful passages of the Big Book describes the culmination of personal transformation resulting from the long-sought relationship with God: "Showing others who suffer how we were given help is the very thing which makes life seem so worthwhile to us now. Cling to the thought that, in God’s hands, the dark past is the greatest possession you have – the key to life and happiness for others. With it, you can avert death and misery for them." (Alcoholics Anonymous. New York, 2002, p. 124.)

In laying down his life in such a way for the good of others, the alcoholic is given the grace to enter into a deeper unity with Jesus and with the Church by speaking from an abundance of the Spirit. In this, and in the Sacramental life of the Church, he finds the mystical impulse beginning to be fulfilled, filled with hope for a future at the wedding feast of the Lamb.

Colin O’Brien is currently works in the Communications Department of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and has previously worked as a litigation paralegal in New York City. He completed a six-week observership with the Trappist community at New Melleray Abbey near Dubuque, Iowa in spring 2013, and is affiliated with the monastery as a layman through its Monastic Center program. He periodically updates his personal blog, "Fallen Sparrow," and also sings in his parish choir.

Note:  Also see  http://venerablematttalbotresourcecenter.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-phenomenon-of-craving-based-on-big_2.html