7.  I will attend the Sacraments more regularly; completing any 1-time ones such as Baptism or Matrimony which are necessary to the state of my soul and circumstances, but more importantly going to Confession - especially when I have fallen back into my addiction but at least once a month and also regularly receive Communion.

8.  I will identify what near occasions of sin affect me most and I will work to distance myself from those persons, places, and things which most easily lead me into sin, concentrating on my addiction.

STEP 7: ATTEND THE SACRAMENTS REGULARLY:

Once again, it's worthwhile repeating, we cannot overcome our own sinfulness, our own addictions, or anything else without God's grace.  Our Lord rightfully stated, "Without Me you can do nothing".  By ourselves we are zip, nada, nothing - no, less than nothing without God.  The problem isn't that God won't give us grace.  The problem is that we don't accept it.  In other words, the problem isn't God.  We are!  There are two ways to catch more water flowing from a faucet: you can either increase the flow of water from the faucet or you can get a bigger bucket.  Step 7 is about getting more of the heavenly "water" to flow out of the faucet.  The way to do this is to receive the powerful sources of God's grace and that is through His sacraments.  Forget what those are?  They are an outward sign of an inward grace instituted by Christ.

The seven sacraments are (just to refresh your memory):

• Baptism
• Confirmation
• Holy Orders
• Extreme Unction
• Matrimony
• Confession or Penance
• Holy Eucharist or Holy Communion

The very first one, Baptism, is ESSENTIAL to salvation.  If you have never been baptized, get a hold of the nearest traditional priest and take the necessary instructions so that you finally become a member of God's One, True Church.  Everything else that I have been telling you about the Mass, Confession, Communion, is TOTALLY WORTHLESS unless you have been baptized so, first things first, get baptized if this is indeed a requirement unfulfilled. 

On the other hand, the next one, Confirmation, is not absolutely essential to your salvation but, since you're reading this, you're probably addicted to something just like I am and you can't miss out on every opportunity for grace so make sure that you get confirmed the next time one of the traditional bishops is in town.  What good does it do?  Confirmation makes you a soldier of Christ and you receive the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost.  Basically, it equips you with all of the necessary helps you need as an adult to start to live a more virtuous life.  Again, your goal is to maximize the flow of God's grace to strengthen your soul in order to overcome your supernatural hook.  And if satan is using supernatural weapons in order to drag you into hell, you need to use every supernatural weapon in God's arsenal in order to get into heaven.  So don't shortchange yourself and go into combat with only half of a basic load of ammo - get confirmed if you have not been confirmed.

I won't mention Holy Orders or Extreme Unction as these really aren't germane to this discussion.

Matrimony, however, needs a bit of a discussion.  It is quite possible in this day and age of widespread promiscuity that you might be living in a relationship that is, shall we say, defective, with respect to the Church's teaching on marriage.  It might be that it is adulterous or living in sin (shacking up) or one of the two of you is "divorced" and remarried.  This is a touchy subject and if you have any questions about the legitimacy of your current relationship, feel free to contact me at postmaster@blessedmargaret.org and I will get you contact information so you can get in touch with a priest who will give you, maybe not the answer that you want to hear, but it will be the answer that you need to hear in order that you know exactly where you stand in God's eyes.  Sorry, I told you it was touchy.  If you've got your hackles raised over this, again, please contact me.  It's better that you go through life with your eyes opened rather than discovering things later down the road when you might find it more difficult to rectify the situation.  I say this purely out of charity for you, my friend!  Please, please, please note:  If you are in one of these "defective" relationships,  it is critical that you rectify that situation BEFORE you try to conquer an addiction because the relationship is a most serious impediment to God's grace.  In fact, it can be the relationship itself that drives the addiction.  Once again, I apologize if what I'm saying is a bitter pill to swallow but, "We ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5: 29) and I have to make 100% sure that nobody gets the idea that he can "keep" the relationship and "lose" the addiction.  MORTALLY SINFUL ATTACHMENTS WILL PREVENT GOD'S GRACE FROM REACHING YOUR SOUL; YOU MUST TREAT THESE ATTACHMENTS AS THE FIRST ADDICTION TO CONQUER BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO TACKLE THE "REAL" ADDICTION.

I don't want to belabor the point so let's move on.  The sacraments mentioned to this point are one-time deals.  They are meant to be received once and that's it (Matrimony being the exception but I think you get the idea).  The last two on the list, Confession and Holy Eucharist, are NOT meant to be received once.  They are meant to be received very frequently - no less than monthly for Confession and weekly or even daily, if possible for Holy Eucharist.  These two sacraments, used in tandem, will be the "hospital" and the "armory" in your combat against your specific addiction.

CONFESSION - the Hospital

Why is frequent Confession necessary?  Friend, overcoming my addiction was a lot like trying to stand up on an ice-covered pond - I did more falling down than standing up!  You too will fall - repeatedly.  This is not to discourage your efforts but just to let you know what you are in for.  Satan wants your soul in hell and he's had that hook in you for a good long while.  Do not think that he's going to admit defeat easily and just stop tugging on your hook.  He's a sore loser and he will fight you tooth and nail to keep you right there on the ground with his foot on your neck!  Expect it!  You have to fight and I mean exactly that - you will fight him.  "The life of man upon earth is a warfare", (Job vii, 10) says Job.  Confession is the hospital where you get your wounds healed so you can enter once again into the fray, just like a soldier.  Accept the fact that in this combat you will be wounded but steel your will to continue in your resolution to overcome your addiction and, over time, God's grace received in the Confessional will begin to make itself felt in your life.  I know because I've seen it's effects in my own life.  Persevere, my friend, persevere! 

TWO THINGS TO GUARD AGAINST

Here let me add some advice on two tricks that satan uses to get us to stop going to Confession.  The first trick is to make us feel embarrassed.  "What's Fr. So-and-so going to think if I have to confess that I committed such-and-such sin again and again and again?"  Look, the priest  doesn't know who you are, and if he did, he doesn't care.    He's acting in the place of Christ, the Divine Physician, and he's only interested in healing your soul.  Any feelings of embarrassment are just satan trying to use your fear of human respect to keep you out of the "box". 

The other thing to be on guard against is despair.  That's the feeling that it's pointless or hopeless to keep going to Confession because you keep committing the same mortal sins.  "Many say to my soul: There is no salvation for him in his God", (Ps iii,3) is a thought that may very well enter into your mind, especially after having relapsed into your addiction for the umpteenth time.  My advice here is that this is a wonderful moment to exercise the virtue of the saints - humility.  The problem here is one of pride - that we are leaning too heavily on our own strength to overcome our addiction and not enough on God.  He wants us to rely on Him and when we don't, He permits us to fall into despair in order to humble us.  These are the moments to act as the publican in the temple who said, "O God, be merciful to me, a sinner" (Luke xviii,13).  They are also critical times because you are on the crest of either victory or defeat.  You see, my fellow comrade-in-arms, prayer and sin cannot peacefully co-exist.  Either the sin will leave or you will stop praying.  Humble yourself, admit your weakness, and let God carry you.

HOLY EUCHARIST - the Armory

If Confession can be looked upon as a "healing" operation, Holy Eucharist or Communion, can be looked upon as an "arming" (as in to arm or load a weapon with ammunition) operation.  This sacrament will arm your soul with new weapons of grace to raise you in sanctity, further strengthening you to overcome your addiction.  In the beginning this will mean that you will achieve, through these "weapons" received from Holy Communion, very small victories over your sinful "hook".  Each one of these small victories will make you just a little bit stronger for the next battle against your hook.  As you continue to build up a sizeable "armory" of grace through repeated reception of Our Lord, the number and size of these victories will increase to the point where you will begin to gain mastery over your hook.   You will know that you are at this point when you are more often in the state of grace than in the state of sin.  Finally, if you persevere on this path, your attachment to your hook will be broken.  You will hardly, if ever, succumb to the hook.  Now please understand that the hook will ALWAYS be there but the attachment or overwhelming pull towards it will be broken.  To be certain, you will suffer the temptations of your hook throughout the rest of your life, but they will become opportunities where you will gain grace and give glory to the Good God instead of opportunities where you will fall into sin.

A SIDE POINT ON HUMILITY

If you will briefly suffer this old fool to make mention of, what I called earlier in this article, "the virtue of the saints - humility".  According to Saint Ignatius in "The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius", there are three kinds of humility.  They are: 1) To not willingly commit mortal sin, 2) To not willingly commit venial sin, 3) To desire to imitate Our Lord's life by suffering poverty, crosses, humiliations, etc. as He suffered. 

If you are reading this in order to overcome an addiction, you are striving to achieve the first level of humility.  This is the bare minimum for your salvation and the bare minimum that any soul should strive for.    Although this is the minimum, dear fellow soldier, this is NOT what your goal should be!  After achieving the first level, that is, mastery of your hook, God desires that you spur yourself on to achieve the second level by conquering your venial sins  and then to be so intensely in love with Our Lord that you ardently want to imitate His life by following His words, "Take up my yoke upon you, and learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart: and you shall find rest to your souls" (Mt xi, 29).  On first blush, helping others to achieve this first level of humility should be what the Catholic 12-Steps is all about.  In reality, however, the reason for these 12-Steps is to create saints and those striving to become saints by using our addictive hooks to propel us towards perfection and give great glory to God!  Anything else is just AA with a Catholic twist for flavor!

THE WONDER AND MYSTERY OF THE EUCHARIST

Returning back to our discussion on the Blessed Sacrament, I cannot begin to gauge the depths of the wonder and mystery of receiving Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.  When I was in the Conciliar Church, going to Communion was just something that you did like everybody else.  I can't say that I did it with anything more than a pittance of devotion.  I hate to think that my measly level of devotion might even be par for the course among my co-religionists in the New Order - I pray it's not so. 

Since those days, however, and entirely through God's grace, I have at least gained an intellectual understanding of the Sacrament of God's Love.  I wish I could express in words my yearnings as I approach the communion rail and I wish that I could maintain the plateau of the closeness of my best thanksgivings upon returning to my pew but this fool lacks the skill.  Instead, let me quote two portions of the Sequence for the Feast of Corpus Christi (Body of Christ), the Lauda Sion:

1.  Sion, lift thy voice and sing: Praise thy Savior and thy King.  Praise with hymns thy Shepherd true.

2.  All thou canst, do thou endeavor, Yet thy praise can equal never  Such as merits thy great King.

3.  See today before us laid, The living and life-giving Bread!  Theme for praise and joy profound.

4.  The same which at the sacred board Was, by our incarnate Lord, Giv'n to His Apostles round.

5.  Let the praise be loud and high; Sweet and tranquil be the joy  Felt today in every breast.

...

23.  Jesu! Shepherd of the sheep!  Thou Thy flock in safety keep.  Living Bread!  Thy life supply.  Strengthen us, or else we die: Fill us with celestial grace!

24.  Thou Who feedest us below!  Source of all we have or know!  Grant that with Thy Saints above, Sitting at the feast of love, We may see Thee face to face.  Amen.  Alleluia.

This is what it's all about, folks - especially verses 23 and 24 and most especially "Strengthen us, or else we die".  This is why it's necessary, nay, mandatory, that you worthily receive Holy Communion as frequently as possible.  With it - you will conquer your addiction.  Without it - you will die.  

STEP 8: IDENTIFY AND AVOID NEAR OCCASIONS OF SIN:

We've used the term "warfare" to describe our struggle to overcome our addictions.  This term is most apt.  Step 8 is really where the combat begins.  In fact, it is probably the most difficult step in which to achieve victory because it requires us to change our own lives.  In fact, it may require changing fundamental aspects such as our family lives, who our friends are, what we do for a living, or even moving away and these are not private actions but public ones.  And because they are public, other people will be affected.  There will be some reaction from them - either positive or negative, and you must be prepared to deal with these reactions. 

But before we have to deal with these reactions, we need to know what are the circumstances that cause us to sin with our hook.  That way we can be better prepared so that we don't get "reeled in" so often.  These circumstances are called "near occasions of sin".  Let's get precise for a moment and define what a "near occasion of sin" is.  According to The Concise Catholic Dictionary, "It an external circumstance or condition which gives one the opportunity and inducement to sin".  That is, It is any person, place, or thing that tempts us to commit a sin by giving us the

- for our purposes, to sin in our addiction.  Essentially, it is the situation that gives satan the opportunity to "set the hook" of our addiction by tempting us and then for him to "reel us in" to the state of sin when we do, in fact, commit the sin.  Let's look at an example to help everyone understand.

Let's say that I'm an alcoholic and that  I have a brother John who likes to drink beer.  He has no qualms about drinking beer in front of me any time I go over to his house and he always offers me one any time when his wife Cathy isn't around.  Because my will is weak, any time he offers me one, I always accept and end up getting drunk - which is my hook.  Now in this case, going over to John's house when Cathy's not around is a near occasion of sin to me because I know it sets up the situation where I will be tempted and most likely end up committing the mortal sin of drunkenness.  Now let's say that even if Cathy's around, John will probably get me drunk over at his house.  The near occasion of sin changes slightly and it is just simply my going over to his house at any time.  Lastly, we'll put one last wrinkle into the situation and that is that John gets me drunk any time I see him.  Now, the near occasion of sin is my brother John!

In each case, I have to avoid the near occasion - whether it's visiting John's house without Cathy, visiting John's house at all, or just visiting John.  If I know that a near occasion of sin will likely cause me to commit sin, then I must avoid that near occasion of sin.  In fact, it is a sin for me to unnecessarily expose myself to my own near occasions to the same severity as the sin that I will probably commit.  In our example of John and Cathy, as drunkenness is a mortal sin, so is engaging in each near occasion listed above.

So, if I'm addicted to masturbation/pornography and I can't resist the peep shows, going near the adult bookstore is a mortal sin.  If I'm addicted to gambling, going to the racetrack is likewise a mortal sin.  I hope that clarifies what a near occasion of sin is and the absolute importance of avoiding them.

Next, each of us needs to identify what his own particular near occasions of sin are.  Let's be honest with ourselves, my friend.  If you've read to this point, whatever your particular addiction is, I'll bet that you have a pretty good idea of what persons, places, and things lead you to commit your own particular addictive sin.  If not, spending some serious time in assessing your own particular circumstances are definitely in order.

RESOLVE TO AVOID YOUR NEAR OCCASIONS OF SIN

Once you've determined the who, what, when, and where of your near occasions, it's time to make a resolution to avoid them whenever possible.  Hopefully you are filled with holy zeal to amend your life and to conquer your addiction so this resolution is easy for you.  You can make it in any way that suits your style or temperament just so long as it is done with conviction and permanence.  You can write it out as a contract to yourself, tell it to your spouse, throw out or burn the offending objects, or whatever.  I suggest you repeat your resolution periodically when you are in Church before the Blessed Sacrament or at home in front of a crucifix or favorite saint's statue like the Blessed Virgin.  Maybe others have ideas on a "best" way to make this resolution.  I'm open to suggestion but I think you just need to do it and really be ready to give whatever it is up. 

If you find that your will is not hardened to the point of making a firm resolution to avoid your near occasions of sin or that you think that you can overcome them without avoiding them, I guess I humbly submit that you're not ready to give up your hook.  Sorry.

BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO

Having determined what your principle near occasions of sin are, you may have come to the conclusion that there are certain people that are the instigators or "enablers" who cause you to fall into your sinful hook.  This can create a sticky situation since these can be family members, friends, or work colleagues.  "How can I give them up?"

Don't forget that when we are addicted to a sinful hook, we love the hook more than we love God.  Jesus tells us, "For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man' enemies shall be they of his own household.  He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me.  And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth me, is not worthy of me.  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it." (Mt. x: 35-39).

Remember that I told you that this was combat!  What Our Lord is saying in this passage is that we cannot love ANYTHING more than we love God if we want to save our souls.  He includes the things that we have a normal and natural affection for (e.g. family members) and they are NOT excluded from His demands that He be the first beloved of our hearts.  He is also telling us that we can expect that there will be a tension or conflict between the natural affections of man's life (the "finding" of the carnal things of "life") and the salvation of his soul (the "losing his life" in order to obtain the spiritual things of eternal "life").  Lastly, He admonishes us that if we do not "take up" the cross of combating our sinful selves, we are not worthy of heaven.  That's pretty heavy stuff but "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear" (Mt xi: 15).  I hope that it serves to strengthen all of us in making this, and other, difficult resolutions in our lives.

Once having made your resolution to avoid your near occasions, it becomes time to implement breaking free from them.  There is a good likelihood that one or more of them cannot be eliminated immediately, either because of an attachment to them or there is some overriding "political" reason that you cannot excise them from your life - at least not right away.  Fine.  Work on those that are easily done, either by virtue of their being "private" near occasions that others won't notice or ones that you might be able to enlist others, say a spouse, to help you with.  Remember that this is a combat for your soul.  A wise general knows the objectives that he can seize and ones where the enemy is too strong to overcome.  Pick and choose your battles wisely.  In this, I strongly urge you to get the advise of a good spiritual director who knows your soul and can provide you with the objective guidance you need.  If you don't have one, please feel free to contact us at postmaster@blessedmargaret.org with your zip code and we will provide you with contact information for a traditional priest who will be happy to assist you.  The point, and you'll hear this again and again, is to begin simply and simply begin. 

WHITE RABBITS

In the last paragraph, I spoke of "attachments" to near occasions of sin that we weren't ready to give up.  In the 5-day Ignatian Retreat circles, this is termed a "White Rabbit" and we all have them.  The story of why they are called White Rabbits is the story of Little Johnny.  Now I'll probably miss some of the details that my retreat masters have told but this is my version:

Little Johnny went to Mass one day with his family and the sermon was on giving up toys for the missions.  Little Johnny's Mommy asked him if he was ready to give up his toys to help the poor children overseas who had no toys and said that he was ready to give them up to please God and to help the children.  "Great", says Mommy, "We can gather them up when we get home".  Johnny, still full of enthusiasm from the sermon nods his little head.  They get home and Mommy says, "OK, Little Johnny, go get your toys" and Little Johnny goes to the bedroom and brings back a big armload of his toys.  There's the broken GI Joe, the old books, even a ball bat and glove.  "Looks good, Little Johnny", says Mommy, "Go back and empty out your toy chest".  Little Johnny dashes back into the bedroom while Mommy boxes the first batch into bags and boxes.  This time, Little Johnny comes back a little slower with the second batch.  Mommy takes these and proceeds to box them up while asking, "Do you have any more, Little Johnny?"  "Nope, that's it, Mommy", he replies, dropping the last armload.  "Are you sure?", she asks.  "What's that you're holding behind your back, Little Johnny?", she inquires, noticing that Little Johnny has both hands clutching something.  Little Johnny sheepishly pulls out his little stuffed white rabbit - his favorite bedtime buddy.  "Aren't you going to give him up too to help the poor children overseas?", asks Mommy with that look that mothers give to their children when they already know the answer to the question asked.  "I can't", mutters Little Johnny, "I can't give up White Rabbit". 

Just like Little Johnny who, in spite of his desire to do good, could not get himself to give up the thing that he prized most, we all have our own White Rabbits that we are not prepared to give up.  I sincerely suggest that you not try give up "White Rabbit" at the start.  Give up another toy.

PERSEVERENCE

Once you've begun to avoid your near occasions of sin, this is where the struggle really begins.  Seeing that you are intent on breaking free from your hook, satan will begin to strike back.  This will come in various forms that obviously depend on the particular addiction and individual circumstances.  But, if you have begun to increase the flow of grace through the Mass and the Sacraments, you will be stronger than you've been in the past.  God wants your salvation more than satan wants your damnation and He will not abandon you.  Look for the little victories.  Build on those.  Be steadfast.  Humble yourself.  Every time you stumble into your hook, strengthen your will all the more.  Use the natural tools that are available to fight the battle but keep your focus supernatural.  Persevere, persevere, persevere.

That completes Steps 7 & 8.  If you've made it to this point, I don't doubt your patience and perseverance.  Go to Steps 9 & 10 which will discuss increasing your ability to accept more of the flood of grace that He showers you with.  Know that our prayers are with you.  God bless!