Anne Costa - Praying for Those with Addictions: A Mission of Love, Mercy, and Hope

PRAYING

for Those with

ADDICTIONS

A Mission of Love, Mercy, and Hope

ANNE COSTA

To my friend Kathy

Faithful friends are a sure refuge:
whoever finds one has found a treasure.
(Sirach 6:14)

Copyright 2016 Anne Costa

All rights reserved.

Published by The Word Among Us Press
7115 Guilford Drive
Frederick, Maryland 21704

20 19 18 17 161 2 3 4 5

ISBN: 978-1-59325-295-3

eISBN: 978-1-59325-485-8

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, DC and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All rights reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Excerpts from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for use in the United States of America, copyright 1994, United States Catholic Conference, Inc.Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

Cover design by Coronation Media

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the author and publisher.

Made and printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016941500

Contents

Introduction

T his book is written to offer hope in the hell storm of addiction. It will set you on course for a mission of love and mercy and for a miracle of healing, not just for the person who is addicted, but for yourself as well. If you purchased this book, it is because you probably already know too well how desperately help and healing are needed in the face of any addiction.

The statistics are grim. It is estimated that approximately 53 percent of Americans have one or more close relatives who have an alcohol dependency problem. In addition, 43 percent of American adults have been exposed to the problem of alcoholism in their family, either as something they grew up with or something they experienced with a spouse or a partner, and 6.6 million children under the age of eighteen live with a parent who struggles with alcoholism. I suspect that the percentage is actually much higher.

While these numbers represent the cold hard facts of addiction in our country, they cant speak to the countless broken hearts and lives that are affected. For we know that it is not just the addicted who suffer but all those who love and care for themfamily, friends, and co-workers alike. Chances are that there is not a single person among us who has not in some way been touched by addiction.

Addiction of any sort is a very personal condition. Experts tend to study it in terms of a general disease process and to apply evidence-based scientific interventions to develop treatment options. However, how addiction affects each individuals mind, body, and spirit or why people become addicted in the first place is due to a complex and individualized set of factors that we are still only on the brink of understanding. As a result, there is no single solution or approach to treating or curing addictions.

What seems clear is that at the heart of every addiction is a wound that needs to be healed. While many have found that the support and fellowship offered through a twelve-step program seem to have the longest-lasting effects, we dont really know how or why they work for some and not for others. What we DO know and can believe is that prayer works and faith fixes things! We know that God ministers to the brokenhearted:

The righteous cry out, the LORD hears

and he rescues them from all their afflictions.

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted,

saves those whose spirit is crushed. (Psalm 34:18-19)

We can stand in the gap through prayer, sacrifice, and supplication for the one who is addicted. Our prayers can, and will, make a difference. As we are encouraged by Scripture,

Is anyone among you sick? The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. Pray for one another, that you may be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful. (James 5:14-16)

How We Pray

The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes three expressions of prayer: vocal prayer, meditation, and contemplative prayer.

Vocal prayer associates the body with the interior prayer of the heart, following Christs example of praying to his Father and teaching the Our Father to his disciples (CCC, 2722). It is the spoken words of our hearts when we cry out, offer thanks, or pray a novena or special intercessory prayer to a saint. Vocal prayers are like the four walls of our prayer closet. They are the foundation and pillars that make it possible for us to go deeper into the interior room of our souls as we approach God with our needs, desires, joys, and sorrows. Vocal prayers are just the beginning of our conversation with God.

Meditation is a prayerful quest engaging thought, imagination, emotion, and desire (CCC, 2723). Christian meditation leads us into a discernment of Gods will and teaches us how to pay attention to the life of the Spirit within us. One of the most popular forms of meditative prayer is the Rosary. It combines vocal prayer with an invitation to reflect on the life of Jesus as we pray through the beads.

Another effective means of meditation is through a process known as lectio divina, which means divine reading or sacred reading. It is a method of reading a short passage or verse from Scripture in a slow, deliberate, and repetitive manner (usually three separate times) while listening for a word or impression that speaks to our hearts. We reflect on that word or impression and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal its significance to us personally. Lectio divina will often lead us to insights that we can apply to our daily lives in a practical and helpful way.

Contemplation, in the words of St. Teresa of Avila, is taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us (CCC, 2709). Characteristics of contemplative prayer are silence, intensity, and a gaze of faith that is fixed on Jesus. The outcome of contemplative prayer is union and communion with Christ and an increase of love in our hearts. Going to adoration and simply receiving what Jesus wants to give us, as well as gazing upon a crucifix with love, are examples of contemplative prayer.

St. Paul urged his friend Timothy that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

Not a single prayer goes unheard in heaven. When we pray for others, we are making a difference in a very real way, both spiritually and temporally, in our own lives and in the lives of others. Even when we dont know what or how to pray, Jesus is continually offering up prayers for us through his Holy Spirit: In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings (Romans 8:26).

When we take up the mission to pray for those who are addicted, our prayers become an ongoing dialogue that saves, heals, and leads us and our loved ones and friends who are addicted back to the heart of the Father and the freedom he alone can give.