While praying the Liturgy of the Hours recently a line from a Psalm popped out at me and demanded attention:

Psalm 107:17-20

Some fell sick from their wicked ways, afflicted because of their sins
They loathed all manner of food; they were at the gates of death.
In their distress they cried to the LORD, who saved them in their peril,
Sent forth the word to heal them, snatched them from the grave.

I’m not sure as to the authoritative Church interpretation of this passage, but it struck me a pretty apt description of an alcoholic careening towards their bottom, and then asking for God’s help.

Our “wicked ways” are all the harm we have caused to happen to other people that we will clean up in the Steps and in our own conversion process within Catholicism.

“Loathe all manner of food”, well, I lost a ton of weight towards the end. I could barely stomach food. Said stomach couldn’t handle it, and besides, it minimized the effect of alcohol consumption.

We were all at the “gates of death”.

And most assuredly, even if we didn’t know it, in our “distress” we “cried to the Lord”, who indeed saved us from our peril. We wound up in AA or some alternative program of recovery, and I’d like to think you found this blog as a part of His response to you pleading.

His Word healed us, we were snatched from the grave.

Edited 24 July 2007. Left out “their sins” in Scriptural quote in original post. Ooops.

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