Ave Explore Series

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Tuesday, April 08, 2025

Holy Pruning

Elizabeth Tomlin Late August in my family is usually filled with last-minute beach trips, back-to-school shopping and sports try-outs. It’s fun for the kids but hectic for me as I balance leisure time with the kids’s needs and my own work. And like many moms, I have a lot of work! First off, we’re an Army family, so I spend significant time volunteering to support families in my husband’s unit. I’m active in my parish and I also have a career as an attorney and author. By September I’m always ready for school to start, in part, so that I have a little more “me time.” But school is not starting this year—at least not in a usual way. My older children are beginning classes digitally and we have opted to homeschool our rambunctious second grader for the first time. As an added wrinkle, my husband will be away for most of the fall, so much of the adjusting to this new routine will fall to me. Instead of a quiet September we’re bumping up the chaos, and I’m already feeling overwhelmed. The Name of the Game is Recalibrating So how do I manage amid the noise of competing demands of life? Honestly, it’s tough! A friend recently wrote that “the name of the game is recalibrate.” And I have to agree that managing my household requires frequent recalibration. The key question, however, is to what do we recalibrate? You see, recalibrating is adjusting to a true and accurate value. Like orienting a compass toward north, we have to recalibrate to the right value, which for me is my Christian vocation. When I feel overwhelmed and pulled in a billion directions, I know it’s time to recalibrate by doing two things: first, I re-focus on my vocation; second, if necessary, I practice some holy pruning. Recalibrating Your Vocation When I feel like life is too chaotic, I recalibrate to my vocation. The word vocation gets tossed around frequently in Christian circles, but what does it mean? Very broadly, our vocation is how we express our love of God and share the Gospel. God uniquely calls us to our vocation and we live out our vocation through married life, religious life or holy orders, or singleness. It’s possible to have more than one vocation. St. Teresa of Calcutta, for example, spoke of her vocation to the religious life and her vocation to serve the poor as a “vocation within a vocation” or a “call within a call.” If my life is properly calibrated, each aspect of my life feels like a vocation within my vocation. Married life is my primary vocation, but motherhood, too, is part of my vocation. I also express a love of God in serving my community and through my profession, so I approach these things as part of my vocation. When I’m working within my vocation, instead of feeling pulled toward competing priorities, I feel nudged toward a closer relationship with God. Holy Pruning When I feel overwhelmed, I remind myself what my vocation is and—as importantly—what it is not. I scrutinize whether the things that demand my time help or hinder my vocation. This is a prayer through which I’m reminded that God created me as a finite being with finite capabilities and finite hours in my day. I am not called to do everything. During this global pandemic, and especially as I face some extended time of solo-parenting this fall, God is certainly calling me to focus on my family, keep my children safe, educate them, and catechize them. This is requiring me to prune things out of my life and make space to live my vocation more fully. Some of the pruning is obvious: I need to limit the time I spend on Instagram and Netflix, for example. But I’ve also made some harder decisions to prune away volunteer work that I enjoy so that I can give my full attention and energy to our new homeschool endeavor. Navigating this fall’s evolving school approaches and family dynamics will require continued recalibration and pruning, but I find it consoling to remember Jesus’ words that God prunes every branch that bears fruit so that it can bear even more fruit for the kingdom (see Jn 15:2). Download this article as a PDF here. Elizabeth Tomlin is a Catholic author and general counsel for the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA.

Tuesday, April 08, 2025

Liturgical Living

by Rachel Bulman You’re only as holy as you are at home. I can’t even remember the first place that I heard this but I can remember it etching into my heart and pulling away at the scar tissue that had grown from my own failures at home. I was only a teenager but keen to the reality that good evangelization really begins in the family. Other than the sacred space of the Church, the home provides the grounds for the most vulnerable hearts and the goodness of the human family can be wielded well, raising saints…or wielded as a weapon, distorting the goodness of the human person through generations of woundedness. As a family of six (with one child praying for us in heaven), I admit that my husband and I weren’t aware of the profundity of parenthood when our family began to grow. Our first child was injured during his birth which took away any “first time parent” fears as we quickly had to shuffle between surgeons and specialists to give him the greatest opportunity for healing. Looking back on those days, I know that the Lord was at work. He was teaching us that the most important thing for our children was healing – for ourselves and for them. Those initial moments of suffering introduced a greater understanding of liturgical living for us. All too often we confine liturgical living to the Church calendar, rote prayers, and the Mass. But, the Mass, the universality of the Church herself, and even the cosmos beckon us into the liturgy that exists within the human person in constant relationship with Christ. Our baptism grafts us into Christ thereby introducing us into the constant love affair within the triune God – the liturgy per se. The Holy Mass brings that liturgy into time and space for us. Our goal with our family has been to ingrain a Christocentric way of living for them or better said, a framing of the world through the lens of the liturgy of trinitarian relationship. We provide for them a sacramental worldview. How do we do that with a 9, 8, 6, and 3-year-old? By living our lives as fully as possible with a keen awareness of opportunities for formation. A brief of example of this: The eldest was arguing about bedtime. “Why do I need to go to sleep?’ And my husband masterfully walked him through why he needs to go to bed early using the Socratic method. The final answer was, “You want me to go to bed early because you love me.” If we would’ve ignored this plea as just another tug of war for going to bed later, we would’ve missed an opportunity to form his heart. And another great example of this is through the group of young adults that enter our home every week. The kids go to bed even earlier for these nights, and my favorite bedtime question is, “Is everyone coming over to talk about Jesus?” Three years ago, I recognized the need for young adults to gather for deep conversation with no real agenda other than God and no time table. I went home and asked my husband if we could invite a few people over to talk about theology and philosophy, and he said yes. To our surprise about 15 young adults showed up at our house that first night. We continue to meet (virtually and more sporadically as Covid dictates) and the gatherings can be anywhere from 3-35. But they are always fruitful. Those young adults have now become our dearest friends and even our family. And the initial thought of evangelization beginning at home has spilled out through the young adults and back to us. Isn’t that what authentic love does? It grows and grows until it spills out into everything around it but giving it away does not empty the vessel. Instead, it fills it all the more. One night, with about 20 or so young adults, we asked, “When did you first witness authentic love?” We were humbled when many of them answered that it was when they witnessed our marital love and the love that we give our children. Although humiliating in a good way, it was also heartbreaking. I am convinced that the family can change the world. That theodrama of the incarnation plays out every day within our own homes. He desires to be birthed again and again in the human heart and ever more in the human family. He is not ours to contain but ours to emulate through holiness and sacrifice. The world often views Christianity as a sort of heteronomy – as man obeying some outside force. But, the fullness of Christianity is better understood as a participative heteronomy – or our ability to participate with what already exists. And every moment is an opportunity to step in sync with the cosmic liturgy that exists within the trinity. It is an ever-growing understanding that these children, this husband, this ministry to the world and to the young adults, none of it is mine until I realize that it is first his. Download this article as a PDF here. Rachel Bulman is a lover of humanity, especially her husband and children. She is an author and speaker, avid reader, and below average homemaker. She regularly contributes to the Word on Fire Blog, the blog at CatholicMom.com, and is currently working on her first book with Our Sunday Visitor.

Tuesday, April 08, 2025

The Creativity and Diversity of Catholic Family Life

by Katie Prejean McGrady We met on Facebook: not the most conventional of romances, but definitely not too weird for two very online millennials. Then we dated long distance. It was fourteen months before Tom moved to Louisiana. We were engaged not long after that and married the following summer. Ours was not a whirlwind romance—twenty-five months from our first conversation to saying “I do”—but definitely not long and drawn-out either. As we sat in my childhood parish on that hot June afternoon with a humid rain pouring outside, I was trying to keep my mind off the details of whether the cocktail hour could be held outside. (A bride is never-not planning.) But then our dear priest-friend Fr. Jeff began his homily: “Love is creative because God is creative. And God is love. So you two, who met on Facebook of all places, are products of his creative love and are now called to be creative with your love too.” It was perhaps the most straightforward, punchy, and needed thing we heard on that beautiful day. Love is creative. When we think of Catholic family life in all its iterations and expressions, “creative” is perhaps the best word to capture what it can, and perhaps should, look like. By its very nature, any version of the Catholic family must be creative because it is a creation—the very design—of God himself. More often than not, the circumstances of life demand we think outside the box to handle what’s thrown at us—caring for our kids, paying the bills, thriving in our faith life, and building a happy home that feels safe, welcoming, and stable. The creativity and diversity of Catholic family life are the focus of this edition of Ave Explores. You’ll hear stories of couples with lots of children, no children, grown children, adopted children, and little children still underfoot. You’ll learn how engaged and newly married couples are preparing for and living the Sacrament. You’ll get to know men and women who have found great joy being single. You’ll meet grandparents, grown children caring for their parents, single parents, couples who have struggled with infertility, and those in the trenches of the foster care system. The family is the heart of society and every family is a unique, beautiful, and creative witness of God’s love to the world. As St. John Paul II famously said, “As the family goes, so goes the nation.” Ave Explores: Catholic Family Life will share the impact of the family in the life of the Church, on communities, and on God’s plan for salvation. Download this article as a PDF here. Katie Prejean McGrady is a Catholic speaker and the project manager of Ave Explores and the host of the Ave Explores and Ave Spotlight podcasts.

Tuesday, April 08, 2025

Four Ways to Keep Your Relationship Afloat In Tough Times

by Greg Popcak Husbands and wives pledge to love each other through good times and bad, sickness and health, wealth and poverty. On the day of the wedding, these promises feel comforting. But when bad times come through the door, love often flies out the window. How can a couple stick together even when the going gets tough? Decades of research have revealed four essential habits for staying close through difficult times. They are like four pontoons that keep your relationship afloat (see what I did there?), especially when the storms of life lead you into choppy waters. Meaningful Couple Prayer—As it turns out, the Venerable Patrick Peyton, C.S.C., was right: The couple that prays together really does stay together. Research by Baylor University found that couples who engage in meaningful prayer together are significantly more likely to think positively about each other and feel closer, especially through hard times.Meaningful couple prayer isn’t just about “saying words at God.” It requires you and your spouse to take a little time every day—even just five minutes—to talk to God about your life, your fears, your hopes, your dreams, and your feelings. Sit down together and speak to God as if he were the person who knew you best and loved you most. In addition to the graces each person receives from prayer, couple prayer works on a human level to give couples a safe, quasi-indirect way to reveal your hearts to each other. You talk to God while your spouse listens in. Then, as your spouse prays, you ask God to help you hear what your spouse is trying to say. What are their needs, their fears, their wants and concerns? How do these fit with your own needs, fears, wants, and concerns? By listening to each other in prayer, the Holy Spirit can guide you toward graceful solutions. Talk Together—Create a daily talk ritual, a time where you intentionally discuss topics that don’t naturally come up. Focus on three questions.How are each of you holding up? Be honest. What do you feel like you’re handling well? Where do you feel like you’re struggling? When were you at your best today? When were you at your worst?When did you feel closest to your spouse/most grateful for your spouse’s support today? First, discussing this question daily makes you more conscious of the need to do things to support each other. Second, acknowledging the ways you have shown up for each other throughout the day reminds you that you aren’t alone. You have a friend who wants to be there for you.What could you do to help make each other’s day a little easier/more pleasant? Is there a project you need some help with? Is there something you need prayer for? Are there little things that your spouse sometimes does that mean a lot? Take this time to ask each other to do those little things that say, “Even when life is falling apart, you can count on me to be here and take care of you.” Work Together—Your household chores aren’t just something to get through, they’re actually opportunities to build a sense of solidarity and team spirit. It’s a funny thing: You might not know how to weather the latest crisis, but doing something as simple as making the bed, cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, or picking up the family room together before you turn in sends a powerful, unconscious message that says, “I’m not just here for the fun. I’m here for the hard stuff and the boring stuff too. Somehow, we can get through this. Together.”Research shows that couples who make a daily habit of cultivating simple caretaking behaviors such as doing chores side-by-side develop better cooperation, communication, and problem-solving skills. It turns out that the way you work together to avoid bumping into each other and stepping on each other’s toes while you clean the kitchen becomes the unconscious template for how you work together to handle a health crisis, financial problem, or other unexpected challenges. Play Together—When you’re going through tough times, you don’t want to play. You just want to isolate and hide. Resist that temptation as best you can. Make a little time every day to do something pleasant together. Think about the simple pleasures you enjoy in happier times and make yourselves do them—even if you’re not really feeling it. It might not be all laughs and giggles, but worst-case scenario? You might help each other remember that life isn’t completely horrible and you’ll have each other to thank for that little moment of joy. Psychology reminds us that humor and play are the most sophisticated defense mechanisms. They help us stubbornly resolve to make beautiful moments even when life is anything but. The couple that learns how to gently play together even in the face of trials are true masters at life and love. Life can be hard, but cultivating a love that “endures all things” (1 Cor 13:7) isn’t complicated. By remembering to pray, talk, work, and play together, you can build a relationship that can stand up to whatever life throws at you. Download this article as a PDF here. Greg Popcak is the founder and executive director of the Pastoral Solutions Institute and the author of many books including Just Married. Learn more at CatholicCounselors.com. If you are in crisis or you think you may have an emergency, call your doctor or 911 immediately. If you're having suicidal thoughts, dial 988 to talk to a skilled, trained counselor at a crisis center in your area at any time (National Suicide Prevention Lifeline). If you are located outside the United States, call your local emergency line immediately. With the help of professionals and those who have struggled with stress, anxiety, and other mental health issues, we’re offering insights, resources, and suggestions for a path to healing and a road to hope in the midst of dark and scary times.

Tuesday, April 08, 2025

Carrying the Cross of Infertility

by Carmen Santamaría A recent Gospel reading at Mass reminded me of the stinging pain of infertility and how countless women throughout history have borne this trial. In Luke 1:25, St. Elizabeth says, “so has the Lord done for me at a time when he has seen fit to take away my disgrace before others.” There is deep pain evident in Elizabeth’s words. To be disgraced means to fall out of grace: there is an implication that she has fallen out of favor with God. This is a sentiment I can relate to regarding the infertility journey. My husband and I have faced eleven years of infertility, and during that time we have gone through many difficult moments. Infertility has been one of the most profound challenges our marriage has faced. The most exhausting and trying aspects of infertility are the moments of desperate prayer where you are begging, but it seems as if God is not listening. I remember praying fervently so often for the gift of a child and wondering what I had done to lose God’s favor when this prayer went unanswered month after month. I have heard it said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Infertility, at times, made me feel that I was bordering on insanity. We endured countless appointments with medical specialists and treatment options. The mental health effect of infertility is an aspect of the journey that unfortunately gets overlooked all too often. Couples find themselves immersed in doctor’s appointments and tests but can neglect their mental and spiritual health. We sought the counsel of a Catholic psychologist at a particularly difficult part of the journey, as well as when we discerned adoption. Seeking out this treatment—in addition to medical interventions—proved invaluable as we faced many decisions and needed help navigating the mental strain infertility was causing. It is important, in our experience, that your mental health professional share your faith. This helped us specifically navigate infertility as a Catholic couple because our therapist never encouraged us to try treatments that went against the teachings of the Catholic Church. Instead, he challenged us as a couple in the light of our faith and encouraged us to stay the course and trust in God’s guidance, particularly as we adopted our younger children. The pain and jealously have run deep. I remember hosting a shower for my sister-in-law at which there were five pregnant friends and family. It hurt so much to have them pose for a picture while I was barren. I have felt deep pain at the news of friends’ pregnancies, even friends who are “family.” I never wanted them not to get pregnant but I wanted to join the celebration. I have often felt I need to grow stronger in my relationship with the Holy Spirit and rely on him more, especially when I feel left out or “disgraced,” as St. Elizabeth did. Galatians 5:22-26 states: “In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ [Jesus] have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit. Let us not be conceited, provoking one another, envious of one another.” Perhaps the most challenging of the Fruits of the Spirit for me is self-control. Ben & Jerry’s has an ice cream flavor called Chocolate Therapy that I think is very aptly named. I purchased a pint during a particularly mentally trying time during my walk with infertility. This pint was all-too-quickly devoured by my husband and me during one of our late-night venting sessions. I recently heard that we should give God some time before opening the fridge door or picking up the mouse or remote. I am an emotional eater and often look for food to fill a void when I am down. I even tell myself it’s OK because of how hard a day I’ve had, for example. My growing waistline shows me that I should make a change, and my faith challenges me as well. I want to challenge you to let God fill that void that you feel at times since only he can truly bring you comfort. Hopefully, we can work on this together and learn to bring our concerns to our Father before resorting to any frozen “therapy” or any other outlets that aren’t the healthiest choices for us. As many as 20 percent of pregnancies end in miscarriage. Though this is not something I have personally experienced, I have walked this road with many friends. Many have shared how personal the experience and grief are and that it is different for each couple. The common thread among them, though, seems to be that knowing they were not alone made a huge difference. Some of the stigma of sharing miscarriage experiences seems to have dissipated in recent years, and more and more people are discussing the grief and pain that comes with their loss. As people of faith who know life begins at the moment of conception, the loss of a family member is real, and the pain can be profound. For those who also have struggled with infertility prior to miscarriage, the despair and loss of hope can make it seem like such a low blow from God. However, knowing there is a little intercessor in heaven for the family and that they all will meet someday gives peace to many. St. Elizabeth’s reflection in the Gospel also shows hope and endurance. Infertility is something you endure and God’s grace, through the Holy Spirit, makes it possible for us to endure it. Romans 5:3-5 says, “…but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Download this article as a PDF here. Carmen Santamaría is an attorney and the coauthor of The Infertility Companion for Catholics. If you are in crisis or you think you may have an emergency, call your doctor or 911 immediately. If you're having suicidal thoughts, dial 988 to talk to a skilled, trained counselor at a crisis center in your area at any time (National Suicide Prevention Lifeline). If you are located outside the United States, call your local emergency line immediately. With the help of professionals and those who have struggled with stress, anxiety, and other mental health issues, we’re offering insights, resources, and suggestions for a path to healing and a road to hope in the midst of dark and scary times.

Tuesday, April 08, 2025

Healing is Essential

by Bob Schuchts Healing is an essential dimension of the apostolic mission and of Christianity. When understood at a sufficiently deep level, this expresses the entire content of redemption.Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth Jesus came into our broken world to heal our wounded hearts and to set us free from the many entanglements of sin that bind us (see Isa 61:1-2; Lk 4). He understood more than anyone how underlying sins and wounds are often the root of what afflicts us physically, spiritually, and psychologically. Likewise, when Jesus sent his disciples on mission, he commissioned them to proclaim the Kingdom of God, to heal the sick, and to liberate those who were oppressed. This understanding of Jesus’ work inspired Pope Benedict XVI to assert that healing is an “essential dimension” of the Church’s mission. It is vital to both her evangelization and sanctification. All the teachings, sacraments, spiritual disciplines, and ministries of the Church are meant to bring us into wholeness in Christ and into communion with the Holy Trinity. Sin fragments and divides us; healing is ultimately about growing in wholeness and in communion in Christ. This Catholic vision of wholeness is much different than the world’s rather shallow understanding of health and healing. The world’s health systems often treat symptoms rather than root causes. Even at a personal level, each of us looks to relieve our suffering so that we can get back in control of our lives. If I am honest with myself, I was looking for this kind of relief in my late twenties when I began my healing process after panic attacks left me feeling hopelessly out of control with anxiety. I sought Jesus’ help to restore my sense of being in control. But he had something much more essential and enduring in mind. He wanted me to face the deeper places of my heart where sin and wounds had accumulated for many years so that I could grow in my capacity to love and be loved. As a young teenager, my heart had been broken by my father’s infidelity and my parent’s divorce. These events, along with a series of other betrayals, left my once-secure world shaken to the foundation. With no guidance at home or in the Church to face these wounds, I buried them and found solace in my achievements, relationships, and profession. I didn’t know how much I needed the Divine Physician’s intimate care until Jesus gently led me to face these deeper wounds. I began to see that my sins, past and present, kept me imprisoned in ways that were not obvious to me. Yet the more I faced this brokenness, the more I encountered Jesus’ merciful compassion and the more I desired healing for myself and for everyone I knew. Are you aware of your personal need for healing? What deeper needs and desires have not yet been fulfilled in your life and relationships? Where are you bound by sin, addictions, fears, or self-protection? Where have you been afflicted physically, psychologically, and spiritually? Are you aware of anxiety, depression, or any physical ailments that may have deeper psychological or spiritual roots? Depression is often a symptom of suppressed pain and anger. Anxiety can be a signal of your pain emerging to the surface. We all have symptoms like these. The question is how do we deal with them and who do we turn to for help? I recommend you start by asking the Holy Spirit to show you the areas in which you are currently struggling with sin, unfulfilled desires, physical infirmities, difficult relationships, or emotional distresses. Then offer these to Jesus, inviting him to be your Divine Physician. Ask him to show you the root causes and to reveal his love and truth in these areas of affliction. Adoration is a great place for this kind of prayer, but you can do it anywhere. Furthermore, invite Jesus to encounter you in the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist or in meeting with a spiritual director or with a Christian therapist In your discernment about which steps to take, the key questions to ask are these: Will this healing process ultimately lead me into greater wholeness and deeper communion with God? Will it enable me to have a greater capacity to love and be loved? Will this bring true freedom through the Holy Spirit and greater fulfillment into my life mission and purpose? Will this healing process benefit my family and community as well as myself? As we embark on our healing journey, it is easy to get lost in the process with its many twists and turns. Through it all keep your eyes on the end goal: The Beatific Vision. Seeing him face-to-face is not only our ultimate healing, but also the means of our healing now. Pope Benedict XVI describes this encounter beautifully: Before Jesus’ gaze all falsehood melts away. This encounter with him, as it burns us, transforms us, allowing us to become truly ourselves. . . . His gaze, the touch of his heart heals us through an undeniably painful transformation “as through fire.” But it is a blessed pain, in which the holy power of his love sears through us like a flame, enabling us to become totally ourselves and thus totally of God. (Pope Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi, 47) Healing is essential for all of us. It allows us to become ourselves and to give ourselves totally to God. Download this article as a PDF here. Bob Schuchts is the bestselling author of Be Healed and founder of the John Paul II Healing Center in Tallahassee, Florida. In December 2014 he retired as a marriage and family therapist after thirty-five years of practice. If you are in crisis or you think you may have an emergency, call your doctor or 911 immediately. If you're having suicidal thoughts, dial 988 to talk to a skilled, trained counselor at a crisis center in your area at any time (National Suicide Prevention Lifeline). If you are located outside the United States, call your local emergency line immediately. With the help of professionals and those who have struggled with stress, anxiety, and other mental health issues, we’re offering insights, resources, and suggestions for a path to healing and a road to hope in the midst of dark and scary times.

Tuesday, April 08, 2025

Addiction Recovery through the 12 Steps and the Sacraments

by Scott Weeman The presence of an addiction or mental health challenge is not a moral referendum on someone’s life. This is a critical starting point when considering how to approach the work of healing addictions, compulsions, and unhealthy attachments of all varieties. Oftentimes, individuals suffering from alcoholism, drug addiction, compulsive overeating, gambling addiction, pornography and sex addiction, codependency, and other attachments find themselves seeking fulfillment from an idol that can only provide short-term relief. Their family members lie alongside them in darkness while balancing concern and care with mistrust and resentment. The substance or behavioral addiction might change from situation to situation, but patterns of shame, fear, and isolation tend to describe the pre-recovery experience of most addicts and their loved ones. I know this because I have lived it. How can the Catholic Church respond to the alarming rates of addiction we continually hear about? We can start by leaning into the sacramental life of the Church and borrowing some spiritual wisdom from modern recovery groups. The 12 Steps of addiction recovery were founded in the 1930s with the beginning of Alcoholics Anonymous. In its early years, the organization was strongly influenced by a Jesuit priest, Fr. Ed Dowling, who noted that the 12 Steps had a strong correlation with the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Although not affiliated with any religion, 12-step fellowships have been responsible for saving hundreds of thousands of lives across the world, restoring family relationships, and awakening some of the most disaffiliated members of society to the transformational power of God. In a 2013 interview with America Magazine, Pope Francis shared his vision of the Church as a field hospital where priority is given to healing wounds. Unfortunately, addiction is the source of some very deep wounds among God’s children. Addiction does not discriminate and identifying as Catholic does not make one immune from its devastating effects. However, truly embracing your Catholic faith can be a catalyst for great change assuming it is accompanied by honesty, openness, and willingness. Tending to the wounds of addiction is most effective when those seeking help are united in fellowship with those who have overcome a similar condition of hopelessness. “I know exactly how you feel,” were the first words spoken to me by my first recovery sponsor. His message was radically different from the well-intended family members and friends who previously shared their concerns. The authenticity of others in recovery disarmed the shame of my past and inspired me to follow directions. The 12 Steps gave me the blueprint to accept the circumstances of my life, recognize I am powerless over alcohol, drugs, and many things of this world, surrender my life to the care of God, take an honest inventory, share it with God, and another human being, clean up the mess I’ve made in relationships, connect with God in prayer, and share with others what was freely given to me throughout the process. Put simply, working through the 12 Steps transformed my dark past into a spiritual asset that keeps me desperately close to Jesus Christ and qualified to share the gospel of hope to those who still suffer. I am not alone, as many others are on a similar mission to stay sober and help others achieve sobriety. After all, the best daily remedy for a condition rooted in selfishness is service and self-sacrifice for others. When overlapped with the sacraments, addiction recovery can enliven the faithful and serve as a bridge and evangelical model for those seeking a deeper relationship with their Higher Power. As we plunge into the waters of Baptism, we profess Jesus Christ as Lord and acknowledge our own powerlessness and need for a savior. When others are new to the Church and seeking Baptism, we are reunited with our own baptismal promises and our faith is rejuvenated as the community welcomes newcomers. A similar movement takes place when a recovery fellowship welcomes a new member and each person is given a fresh reminder of God’s saving power. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is, perhaps, the most glaring similarity between 12-step traditions and Catholic spirituality. In its fullness, the preparation for Confession is a valuable outlet for self-discovery, honesty, and humility. Absolution is bestowed upon us and we are given the chance to reconcile relationships to which we’ve done harm. The fruit of our penance, or amends, is a restored connection with God, our brothers and sisters in Christ, and ourselves. The 12 Steps and the sacraments unite what addiction naturally divides. The Catholic Church provides many opportunities to grow in conscious contact with God. None, however, can get us closer than the Eucharist. The Blessed Sacrament is the source and summit of the Christian life, and its reception both glorifies God and sustains the healing power of Christ. Through prayer, we seek knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry it out, which is propelled by the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. A gift is not truly so until we give it away, which is true of our faith and recovery. The Sacrament of Confirmation showers us with gifts to deepen our relationship with Jesus while sharing it with others. Sharing this message is vital to long-term recovery and provides practical application of important spiritual truths. Empowered by God’s saving grace, a Catholic response to addiction can invigorate the Church and be a vital source of healing. Download this article as a PDF here. Scott Weeman is the founder and executive director of Catholic in Recovery and author of The Twelve Steps and the Sacraments: A Catholic Journey through Recovery. He is a registered associate marriage and family therapist, has a heart for serving young adults and those seeking recovery from addictions, and loves God and his family. Scott lives in San Diego with his wife and daughter. If you are in crisis or you think you may have an emergency, call your doctor or 911 immediately. If you're having suicidal thoughts, dial 988 to talk to a skilled, trained counselor at a crisis center in your area at any time (National Suicide Prevention Lifeline). If you are located outside the United States, call your local emergency line immediately. With the help of professionals and those who have struggled with stress, anxiety, and other mental health issues, we’re offering insights, resources, and suggestions for a path to healing and a road to hope in the midst of dark and scary times.

Tuesday, April 08, 2025