SAINT PATRICK AND THE RECOVERY STEPS (Post 127)
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2020
POST 127
SAINT PATRICK AND THE RECOVERY STEPS
A blessed St. Patrick’s Day to you! Notice, I didn’t say the usual Happy. Yes, sometimes, we sense deep-down happiness when special blessings come our way. Yet there are moments of blessing when happy feelings do not fit the occasion. St. Patrick’s life is a basic example of those tough experiences wherein the Divine lifts the veil to reveal more to life than human perspective.
St. Patrick’s years were dotted with blessings, unique to specific circumstances, but happiness was not always associated with them. While I reviewed the facts – as opposed to the myths - surrounding his life, GA’s Twelve Steps to Recovery came clearly to mind. For this edition of the GRM Blog, I offer Steps of Recovery and Lessons Learned by St. Patrick.
Born in the mid-to-late Fourth Century CE, Patrick (Maewyn Succat was his birth name; Patrick, his ordained name) grew up in a comfortable home most likely in proximity to the west coast of Britain. Although his parents were Christian, Patrick did not embrace their faith during his early years.
STEP 1: We admitted we were powerless over gambling – that our lives had become unmanageable.
At the age of sixteen, he along with others were kidnapped by Irish invaders and were sold into slavery. In Ireland, he was forced to tend sheep in rough, mountainous terrain. Cold, starving, lonely, and living in rough circumstances, Patrick lived as a slave. Six or seven years later, Patrick escaped and, blessedly, was able to gain passage on a ship to Britain.
Life as unmanageable basically describes addiction. Loneliness, starving (not necessarily for food), and a slave-relationship to one’s compulsions and/or obsessions characterize addiction. Step 1 breaks into denial and opens up the possibility for escape.
STEP 2: Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to a normal way of thinking and living
STEP 3: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of this Power of our own understanding
During his bondage in the Irish mountains, Patrick turned his attention to prayer. Within his writings entitled The Confession [Confesso], Patrick described praying hundreds of times daily during those lean times. His love of God and faith grew immeasurably.
STEP 4: Made a searching and fearless moral and financial inventory of ourselves
Free at last, after yet another captivity in Britain, Patrick reunited with family and returned to his studies, aware that he was sorely lagging in educational growth. Taking this deficit seriously, Patrick devoted many years to academics and eventually to studies for ordination.
STEP 5: Admitted to ourselves and another human being the exact nature of our wrongs
STEP 10: Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it
Again, Patrick’s The Confession specifically describes in most humble terms himself: … while I know that poverty and failure suit me better than wealth and delight … (for more of Patrick’s Confession, visit www.catholic.org/saints/saintpatrick/confessio.php)
STEP 11: Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out
STEP 12: Having made an effort to practice these principles in all of our affairs, we tried to carry this message to other compulsive gamblers
Time and time again, Patrick was directed, through dream, word, or vision, to go back to Ireland and pursue divine directions to bring Christ to the Irish people. His work was devoted and relentless. Often, Patrick’s life was threatened; but he knew this was God’s will for his life – and he was committed.
Were there blessings without the underpinnings of happy happenings? Patrick’s words confirm this: … What is more, let anyone laugh and taunt if he so wishes. I am not keeping silent, nor am I hiding the signs and wonders that were shown to me by the Lord for many years before they happened, [he] who knew everything, even before the beginning of time …
May your steps through recovery bring you abundant blessings!
Blessings,
Rev. Janet Jacobs, CCGSO
Founding Director
Gambling Recovery Ministries
For more information on the IGCCB Clergy/Lay Minister Certification visit:
For more information on gambling disorder and recovery issues