As recovering (or recovered) alcoholics, we embark upon a new way of living. We are learning to live according to new principles, whether they be 12 Step or Christian. But we still have our old lives to contend with.
From the Reponsorial Psalm of today’s Mass:
Psalm 25:4-9
Make known to me your ways, LORD; teach me your paths.
Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior.
For you I wait all the long day, because of your goodness, LORD.
Remember your compassion and love, O LORD; for they are ages old.
Remember no more the sins of my youth; remember me only in light of your love.
Good and upright is the LORD, who shows sinners the way,
Guides the humble rightly, and teaches the humble the way.
This excerpt from Psalm 25 can serve as a prayer for those of us in transition from the old ways of drinking to the new ways of sobriety. We need a new way of living, a new path to chart our lives. We implore God to teach us the way, and if we incline our ears to listen to Him, we can discern the meanings and teachings in our heart. We learn to trod the new path.
The old path needs to be cleaned up. We have sinned against God and against others. We also implore God to forgive us for our past wrongdoings. We ask Him to blot out from memory our past misdeeds and to look upon us through a Father’s loving eyes. For a loving God He indeed is, as He sent us His only Son to die for our species’ past transgressions in the beginning of our history. Only Jesus, fully human and fully divine, could pay the price for our Original Sin. Jesus, in His human-ness, accepted our guilt (though He committed no sin), and in His divinity, He redeemed us. We would otherwise should have died as a species were it not for His compassion and love. He allowed us to live despite Original Sin, and instead had His Son pay the price for us.
This is the God that we implore to remember us in the light of His love.
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Know someone, perhaps yourself, who might like Catholic devotionals for alcoholics? Please take a look at my books! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)