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.
10 comments:
Anything dealing with pride is always a toughie, especially, as you put it, ego deflation. I know how painful a release it is for some of us when the ego is punctured and the hot air that kept us so full of ourselves is vented into the open.
This is one might indeed be one of the most difficult steps of the program.
A, I was thinking of your AA Series as I was writing my post. To be honest, if I were going thru the AA Steps, I don't think I could make it through this step. It's just so hard!
I've had friends/ex-boyfriends in the past who've gone thru the AA and come to me to admit their wrong doings and ask forgivness. I think it takes a lot of guts to do that, especially since some of the stuff they were "confessing" was years in the past and I was over and done with it.
Thanks for this series. My grandfather was an alcholic, I'm guessing due to PTSD from WWII. His behavior had a lot to do with shaping me.
Love the steps..
I like that picture of the cats!
marye the quene - Oh my gosh - a have a queen visiting me. Can you make me a princess??
I am addicted to LOLcats (which, I guess, is better than gin:) Just google LOLcats and you will find the site
Paula - you saved me a TON of work. Thanks
Jackie - Do you ever sleep?? You do more than 10 other people put together.
Good going Adrienne; I'm proud of you!
Thank you, Irene. I'm proud of you, too:)
Adrienne, this is useful stuff. I've been kinda doing the 12steps to help me deal with all the alcoholics in my life and some of my own damage from the past. It's good to have reminders.
The Sacrament of Confession is so important.
Good insight on pride.
I was reading the blog of a former atheist, now Catholic, who got a note from an agnostic saying he couldn't muster any faith in God and was ready to give up trying. The former atheist offered some advice on what had helped her become a believer, and she emphasized humility. Pride is a huge bar to changing and becoming a Christian, she wrote.
Pride destroys so much. I can see in my own life how it stops me from doing some things that would really be helpful...
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