This excerpt from the Responsorial Psalm for the Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent is from Psalm 34:19-20;
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;
and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.
Many are the troubles of the just man,
but out of them all the LORD delivers him.
Alcohol and addiction have broken you down; you are at your bottom: that place where you know that if you continue to drink it will kill you, but you know that if you stop drinking, the difficulty in coping without your crutch may only make you wish for death.
In looking at those options, you decide to choose the latter as that has some hope in it; hope for some kind of life.
At this time in your life, you were crushed in spirit; despairing of ever having a life that is respectable in some way. Perhaps not the one you dreamed of growing up, but a life that you’re not embarrassed about.
Crushed in spirit, He reached down to you and saved your from the path you were on. You started a new life, perhaps with the aid of a recovery program, perhaps through a devotion to Matt Talbot or “just” using the Church and Her sacraments. Has life been all hummngbirds and marigolds? No, for many are the troubles of the just person, but out of them all the LORD delivers them. Just like He delivered you from the clutches of your addiction, He will deliver you from your troubles. Have faith (and patience) and make use of redemptive suffering: offer up your troubles and the pain they are causing you to the Lord for the redemption of not just yoiurself, but of others, too.
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