Step 5
“Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.”
We’ve been working on Step Four of the 12 Steps for Catholics. I have links on the sidebar now for steps 1 through 4 if you need to play catch up. We spent quite a bit of time on Step 4 because it is so important. For us Catholics, it is really an examination of conscience before the Sacrament of Penance.
I focused mostly on anger because for drunks, indeed for most people, it is the emotion that causes the most harm. PaulaB52 over at As We Wait in Joyful Hope has an excellent post on anger. It would do everyone a world of good to read what she excerpted from Catholic Answers with her comments. She also has a link to the entire article.
It’s not a bad idea to write out your “inventory” as we call this examination of conscience in the program. Now we have to do the hardest step of all – we have to tell someone what we have done and list our faults.
“All of A.A.’s Twelve Steps ask us to go contrary to our natural desires - they all deflate our egos. When it comes to ego deflation, few steps are harder to take than Five. But scarcely any step is more necessary to longtime sobriety and peace of mind than this one.” Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, page 55
Holy Mother Church and the Twelve Steps of A.A. recognize that it is not enough to just sit in a corner and say, “darn, I’ve been bad.” We must tell another person who we really are. How lucky Catholics are to have the wonderful Sacrament of Penance. I did my Step Five in the confessional but for a non-Catholic, a wise, understanding, and trustworthy A.A. sponsor is the next best choice.
This is the first step to true humility. We recognize our deficiencies in an effort to make corrections, and we start to learn about the value of honesty. We all need outside help, and must be willing to take advice.
Warning: The biggest reason we need help is because we all love to take other people’s inventory. I don’t care if your husband is a twit, or whether your kids are driving you crazy, or if your best friend has led you astray. You are a drunk because you drink. End of story! So stick to your own inventory, no excuses and no blaming. This time, it really is all about you.
“Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.”
We’ve been working on Step Four of the 12 Steps for Catholics. I have links on the sidebar now for steps 1 through 4 if you need to play catch up. We spent quite a bit of time on Step 4 because it is so important. For us Catholics, it is really an examination of conscience before the Sacrament of Penance.
I focused mostly on anger because for drunks, indeed for most people, it is the emotion that causes the most harm. PaulaB52 over at As We Wait in Joyful Hope has an excellent post on anger. It would do everyone a world of good to read what she excerpted from Catholic Answers with her comments. She also has a link to the entire article.
It’s not a bad idea to write out your “inventory” as we call this examination of conscience in the program. Now we have to do the hardest step of all – we have to tell someone what we have done and list our faults.
“All of A.A.’s Twelve Steps ask us to go contrary to our natural desires - they all deflate our egos. When it comes to ego deflation, few steps are harder to take than Five. But scarcely any step is more necessary to longtime sobriety and peace of mind than this one.” Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, page 55
Holy Mother Church and the Twelve Steps of A.A. recognize that it is not enough to just sit in a corner and say, “darn, I’ve been bad.” We must tell another person who we really are. How lucky Catholics are to have the wonderful Sacrament of Penance. I did my Step Five in the confessional but for a non-Catholic, a wise, understanding, and trustworthy A.A. sponsor is the next best choice.
This is the first step to true humility. We recognize our deficiencies in an effort to make corrections, and we start to learn about the value of honesty. We all need outside help, and must be willing to take advice.
Warning: The biggest reason we need help is because we all love to take other people’s inventory. I don’t care if your husband is a twit, or whether your kids are driving you crazy, or if your best friend has led you astray. You are a drunk because you drink. End of story! So stick to your own inventory, no excuses and no blaming. This time, it really is all about you.
