Today is the Memorial of the First Martyrs of the Church in Rome. As I prayed the Divine Office this morning, I was struck by the Intercessory Prayers from the Morning Hour:
INTERCESSIONS
Our Savior’s faithfulness is mirrored in the fidelity of his witnesses who shed their blood for the Word of God. Let us praise him in remembrance of them:
You redeemed us by your blood.
Your martyrs freely embraced death in bearing witness for the faith,
– give us the true freedom of the Spirit, O Lord.
Your martyrs professed their faith by shedding their blood,
– give us a faith, O Lord, that is constant and pure.
Your martyrs followed in your footstep by carrying the cross,
– help us to endure courageously the misfortunes of life.
Your martyrs washed their garments in the blood of the Lamb,
– Help us to avoid the weaknesses of the flesh and worldly allurements.
I was reminded that we all may be called to be martyrs. But even if not, some of the intercessions do remind us alcoholics and addicts of the road we are called to trudge along, especially:
Your martyrs followed in your footstep by carrying the cross,
– help us to endure courageously the misfortunes of life.
and:
Your martyrs freely embraced death in bearing witness for the faith,
– give us the true freedom of the Spirit, O Lord.
For the first one, evryday we are beset with annoyances and trials. “Normal people,” i.e, the ones who can drink safely, either take these in stride or resort to a few drinks to “take the edge off.” We, of corse, cannot. Furthermore, while in the past we abused the privilege of being able to drink by resorting to it for any reason, we also failed to learn socially acceptavle ways to “take things in stride.” In our recovery we had to relearn basic skills we somehow missed when others learned them. Even long after sobriety, we sometimes have to engage these new coping mechanisms willfully, so as to avoid the drink. Normal respond in stride, alcoholics have to think about how to cope. As Sober Catholics, we’ve learned to “offer it up.”
For the second one, we can reframe the martyrdom as having witnessed our old self dying for recovery. This means that in willingly turning away from the drink, we killed that old addicted version of ourselves and are reborn in Christ Jesus. In essense, we have found what true freedom is; liberation from the chains of addiction and having our souls fed by Holy Mother church via the Mass and Sacraments. We become free to become our truer selves.
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