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The Catholic Sobriety Podcast
Welcome to The Catholic Sobriety Podcast with your host Christie Walker!
This podcast is dedicated to empowering Catholics to live lives of freedom by providing tips and tools to help them be successful as they reduce or eliminate alcohol consumption. Christie Walker, a compassionate Catholic life and sobriety coach, is here to support you on your journey toward a healthier, more fulfilling life.
Are you questioning whether alcohol has taken control of your life? Do you worry about the impact it may have on your well-being? Many people find themselves in this situation, fearing the loss of pleasure and stress relief associated with alcohol. They assume that giving it up will only bring deprivation and misery. But Christie offers a different and much more positive perspective.
With Christie's expertise, you'll discover the joy and peace that come from embracing a healthier lifestyle rooted in the Catholic faith and tradition.
Ready to get curious? Start listening!
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The Catholic Sobriety Podcast
Ep 126: What if drinking less alcohol didn't have to be so hard?
Far beyond mere willpower, true freedom comes through supernatural strength.
What if I told you that you already possess "supernatural superpowers" specifically designed to help you break free from alcohol's grip? This special episode takes you inside a transformative workshop from my Sacred Sobriety Lab, revealing how the Holy Spirit serves as your ultimate ally in the battle against cravings and temptation.
We explore the distinct roles the Holy Spirit plays in your life - as comforter when you're distressed, counselor when uncertain, helper providing support, intercessor bridging differences, and strengthener during temptation. I break down the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit and explain how each directly empowers your sobriety journey.
Perhaps most importantly, I share how to distinguish God's loving voice from the enemy's vicious cycle of temptation followed by shame. When you recognize whose voice you're hearing, everything changes. You'll learn practical ways to cultivate genuine intimacy with God through prayer, scripture, adoration, and spiritual practices that strengthen your connection to divine guidance.
This episode offers a powerful perspective on alcohol freedom that addresses the whole person - mind, body, and spirit. I invite you to commit to a nine-day novena to the Holy Spirit, opening yourself to the supernatural strength that transforms struggling into thriving.
Ready to discover how God's power dwelling within you can accomplish what willpower alone cannot? Listen now, and please share this episode with someone who might need these words of hope and practical spiritual guidance.
Break free from alcohol with Christ-centered guidance, community support, and powerful tools. Transform your life with the Sacred Sobriety Lab. Join today at SacredSobrietyLab.com.
I'm here for you. I'm praying for you. You are NOT alone!
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Welcome to the Catholic Sobriety Podcast, the go-to resource for women seeking to have a deeper understanding of the role alcohol plays in their lives, women who are looking to drink less or not at all for any reason. I am your host, christi Walker. I'm a wife, mom and a joy-filled Catholic, and I am the Catholic Sobriety Coach, and I am so glad you're here. Hello everyone, I am giving you a sneak peek inside the Sacred Sobriety Lab again today. This week's episode actually comes from a workshop that I did with my Sacred Sobriety, from a workshop that I did with my Sacred Sobriety Lab ladies, and I just was going through it and as I was giving the workshop, I realized it was too good to keep just to the lab. I knew that all of you would benefit from hearing it as well and I just wanted to share it with you. So the focus of this I'm actually going through my Sacred Sobriety Lab, module by module, with my ladies, and the first thing I have them do, even before diving into module one, is a novena to the Holy Spirit, because I know how important the Holy Spirit has been in my life and my transformation and I know that the Holy Spirit is there for you, wanting to help you get through those cravings and reduce or eliminate alcohol from your life so that you can live the life that God desires for you. So this episode, again, is about the Holy Spirit. It is also about how to create intimacy with God, because the Holy Spirit does not speak on his own behalf, and so if you want to hear the Lord's voice more clearly, then that connection, tuning in to the Holy Spirit and your spiritual gifts, is so critical. But to do that, sometimes we need to know how to do that right. So that is why I'll also be talking about creating intimacy with God, which is actually at the end. Maybe I should have put it at the beginning. I don't know, it's just kind of how it shook out. So I hope you enjoy this episode. If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear them, and please remember that there are other women who could benefit so greatly from this podcast, from the encouragement, from the guests I have, from the knowledge. So please do not keep it to yourself. Share it with a friend, subscribe, leave comments, rate it if you love it, and if you don't love it, you don't have to rate it. So fine, you don't, but if you love it, please rate it so that this podcast will get shown to other people as well. So enjoy. Hello and welcome everyone today to our group coaching session.
Speaker 1:So today I wanted to start with the first part of the program, which is the welcome and the novena to the Holy Spirit. I think it's very appropriate as we are in the Easter season and moving toward Pentecost, which is my favorite. I love Pentecost. I remember when I read in Acts 2 the descent of the Holy Spirit and how all of the apostles were so scared after the ascension. Jesus went up but he said I have to go so that the helper will come. And I remember you know it's something that I've heard forever, my entire life. I'm a cradle Catholic and so I've heard this story renewed mind and how mind-blowing it was for me, how it was mind-blowing and it was this light bulb moment. You see, the apostles just hold up in their room and they're shaking and they're nervous and they're not sure what's going to happen. And you know, jesus has left him and he's talking about this helper. And then, all of a sudden, as soon as the Holy Spirit descends on them, they are transformed, they go out and do things that they did not think they could do. They spoke in languages that everyone there was able to hear. That was one of their gifts that they had at that time, and they were able to do things in the name of Jesus, not from themselves, but in the name of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and so, that said, this is one of my favorite topics to talk about.
Speaker 1:I actually have done many talks to groups about the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, fruits and charisms many, many times and discipleship, because I believe in it so much and I have experienced it for myself. And so I feel like when you experience a transformation and I hear this all the time when I have guests on my podcast or I'm talking to clients that have come from where they were to now they're walking in freedom I just see them reaching out because they feel this excitement and this equipping to be able to pass that on to others. You know, if you're just sitting there chained, you can't really do anything, but once you're free, you can just say, look, I did it. You can do it too, and, honestly, this is why I do the work that I do because I was chained, I was able to overcome it by the power of the Holy Spirit, with God's grace, because I not only had the desire for change, but I had the willingness to change. The desire for change. I had the willingness to change, and I know you do too, and that's why you're here.
Speaker 1:So let's start out with a prayer to the Holy Spirit. So let me share my screen. Let's pray this together In the name of the Father, son, holy Spirit. Amen. Come, holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created and you shall renew the face of the earth. Let us pray, o God, who have taught the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant that in that same Spirit, we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in His consolation through Christ, our Lord. Amen In the name of the Father, son, holy Spirit. Amen. Oh man, I love that prayer. I just like whenever I say it, I feel instantly like calm and peace come over me, and I hope you do too.
Speaker 1:So the first thing I'm going to do is talk about just briefly. Again, I'm not trying to make this a two hour talk or even a one hour talk. I just want to kind of touch on it briefly, because and I'm actually not going to touch on I'm going to talk about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but I'm not going to talk about the fruits and charisms this time, because I have all that included in the last module, which is you are made for greatness, and so I will talk more about that in that module. But the reason why I start with the novena to the Holy Spirit and I want to talk about it now is because I want you to know that you are equipped with gifts from God, supernatural superpowers from God, supernatural superpowers. You are equipped with gifts from God that are going to help you break free. The Holy Spirit is going to help you break free.
Speaker 1:How do I know that, christy? How do you know that? Number one, god is a promise keeper. He keeps his promises. He has our best interests in mind. He doesn't want to leave us fending for ourselves. He wants to give us what we need to combat the enemy, to combat all of the things that we experience in our humanness, to resist temptation, to root out vice and cultivate virtue, and he has given us the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts to help us do that. Okay, so who is the Holy Spirit? That seems pretty simple, right? We know, we think, we know.
Speaker 1:I thought I knew for years and years and years, but I really didn't until I started exploring who the Holy Spirit is. I started exploring who the Holy Spirit is, what he means to my life, what he means to my spiritual life, and once that happened I was like, oh my goodness, like I see how he has been with me throughout my life, even in those super dark times when I didn't feel like God was with me. I realized he was closer than ever but was having trouble breaking through because of, you know, the veil over my eyes, because of my sin, because of my unwillingness to change, because of my not knowing who I was, not knowing my identity as a beloved daughter of God, as a temple of the Holy Spirit. And that is something I'm so passionate about and why I do the type of coaching I do, why I am a Catholic sobriety coach, because I know that we have these gifts. And if we don't, if I don't speak to that, that is a huge disservice. That is not helping to heal the full person. It's not helping you to, you know, get the freedom, the full freedom that you want, because it's mind, body and spirit, and so that's where the Holy Spirit's power will just help you so much if you know these things, and that's why it's so important to me that I talk about this today.
Speaker 1:So who is the Holy Spirit? He is a comforter. The Holy Spirit is our comfort. He is there for us in our times of distress, so we can call upon him to be our comforter. When I am in, when I'm feeling anxious, when I'm feeling uncertain, when I am feeling any of those negative emotions that are keeping me stuck or making me feel stuck or making me feel less than a cherished daughter of a king, I call upon the Holy Spirit, I call upon him to strengthen my spiritual gifts, to pour forth his graces, to give me supernatural peace that surpasses all understanding. I light a candle, sometimes I play some like Gregorian chant or instrumental music, I take a lot of deep breaths and I pray, and pretty soon I am so comforted and a lot calmer to be able to move forward and ask for what I need, or have the clarity that I need to move forward and kind of get unstuck from whatever it is that's holding me back.
Speaker 1:The Holy Spirit is also our counselor. He is the one whose profession it is to give advice and manage causes. So one of our spiritual gifts that we'll talk about later is the gift of counsel. So when you just don't know what to do, ask the Holy Spirit, pray to the Holy Spirit, pray for that guidance, pray for a strengthening in the gifts of wisdom and knowledge and counsel, and allow him to work through you and give that to you. The Holy Spirit is also your helper. That's kind of the one that we think about. I think a lot is that he's our helper, and so he is the one who furnishes you with relief or support. And this is what you need right now, as you're walking through this journey toward sobriety or reducing the amount of alcohol you're consuming Calling upon the Lord, asking for his supernatural grace to strengthen you, to strengthen that gift of fortitude, to help facilitate that fruit. You know, bring about that fruit of temperance, self-control. You know, pray for that indwelling of the spirit.
Speaker 1:There's so many songs out there. I actually have a Spotify playlist. Maybe I'll put that in the bonus section of the Sacred Sobriety Lab. It's called Come, holy Spirit. I know that kind of music isn't worship, praise and worship music isn't for everyone. I have a deacon friend. He can't stand it. It's not his jam at all, but if you do like it you can listen to it. You can fast forward through songs you don't like. But it's called Come Holy Spirit. I've tried to cultivate a playlist I like to listen to that really kind of just pumps me up in the spirit and gets me calling upon the Holy Spirit to come down and rest on me and allow the Lord to work through me for his purpose and his glory.
Speaker 1:And also, again, with the Holy Spirit being the helper. When you don't know what to do next, when you don't know how to take that next step, he is there and you can call upon him. The Holy Spirit is also a powerful intercessor. So ask the Holy Spirit for his intercession. He will help reconcile those differences, bring you to the foot of the Lord, lord, and really just intercede on your behalf. Of course also we have our Lady, our Blessed Mother, who wants to intercede so that she can take our intentions to her Son on a silver platter and just say Jesus, here are these beautiful intentions from your beloved daughters.
Speaker 1:And I know some of you, most of you probably have other patron saints that you like to ask for your intercession, the more the merrier. Right we just ask for prayer from our loved ones and the saints in heaven who are beholding the face of God, and so allowing the Holy Spirit to be your intercessor is so, so powerful. And then, finally, the Holy Spirit is your strengthener. So in those times when you're facing temptation, when you are feeling like you can't call upon the Holy Spirit for his guidance, for his strength, again, for strengthening those gifts, your supernatural spiritual gifts, that allow the fruits of the spirit to come to fruition, to grow and flourish. And yeah, I think that if you can just do that and remember who the holy spirit is he's your comforter, your counselor, your helper, intercessor and your strengthener. And if you can remember those things, it will be so beneficial when you are facing suffering, when you're facing those temptations, and just allow him to work in you and through you.
Speaker 1:And you know the Holy Spirit this is another important aspect to mention is that the Holy Spirit is literally the voice of God. He is the breath of God, he is the voice of God. So when you hear God speaking to you, that's the Holy Spirit speaking to you. The Holy Spirit does not speak on his own behalf. He speaks the word of God to you. So you can always be assured that when you hear from the Holy Spirit, when you hear from God, it is going to be loving, it is going to be comforting, because he is speaking to you with the heart of God Father for you, to you with the heart of God Father for you.
Speaker 1:Okay, so when you first come to the Sacred Sobriety Lab, you are going to come to the Welcome. The Welcome is the first module. I guess it would be like module zero. I didn't number the modules. I used to have them numbered, but I decided not to number them because I feel like I'm just going to be adding to this or tweaking different things as the Lord moves me to do so or as you move me to do so. If you have something that you're like oh wow, it would be really helpful, christy, if you spoke to this or if you gave me tips about this. I'm all ears, I am down for it. So definitely feel free to offer your suggestions for the lab. I have it priced really low now because I'm still trying to kind of make sure that I get all the things ironed out and I get what is most valuable, what is going to be most valuable for those who do the lab. So I just encourage you to go through it and give me your feedback good or bad, it's just going to make things better in the future. So you've come into the lab at an exciting time and I'm just so glad that you are here.
Speaker 1:So for the welcome, of course, you have your welcome video. Then you have the workbooks. I actually go through the workbooks and before you look at the workbooks, I actually go through them and tell you what is in them and how to use it if you want to use it. And then this is actually what I wanted to talk about today, which is the Holy Spirit, novena. So I would encourage you, for nine days, to if you can not drink for nine days and do this novena, if you can't abstain the whole nine days, you know that's what it is, but I would encourage you to at least greatly reduce it if possible. But it would be so beneficial if you could really make your best effort not to drink for these nine days. Just tell your brain it's just for nine days and I'll be praying the whole entire time, and so and you will have the power of the Holy Spirit. So, again, remembering to ask for God's grace and his, the strengthening of those gifts, asking the Holy Spirit just to come and be with you again in those times of temptation, will be very beneficial.
Speaker 1:So, as we go through this Holy Spirit novena, you can see that the prayer is the prayer that I said before. It's an old prayer, the come Holy Spirit prayer. You'll say that first, and then each day, I have just a little prayer to say afterwards and this is going to help you ask for. So the first one is knowledge. Day two is piety. Day three is fortitude. Day four is wisdom. Day five is understanding. Day six is counsel. Day seven is fear of the Lord. Day eight is peace. Peace is a fruit. Day nine is joy, and that's a fruit.
Speaker 1:I guess I don't have virtues in here, but I think some of those can be virtues as well. So I think fortitude is also a virtue and a gift. Anyway, you have this that you can do. That said, you can start today. That'd be amazing, but if you want, if you're like I'm not ready right now, you could start the day after the Ascension. So this year, 2025, the Ascension is on the 29th of May, the 29th of May. So if you wanted to, you could start this Novena to the Holy Spirit the Friday after which would be May 30th. That will take you to Pentecost. So you will be doing the Holy Spirit novena leading up to Pentecost.
Speaker 1:Now I was given something about this, about the novena to the Holy Spirit, and it says that the novena to the Holy Spirit is significant because it was the first novena Before Jesus ascended to heaven. He instructed Our Lady and his disciples to return to Jerusalem, to pray and wait for the promise of the Father, which was the helper, the paraclete that was coming. So, as Our Lady and the disciples waited, they prayed, and so that is why starting it that Friday after the Ascension is so beautiful as well. The one other thing I just wanted to share, this quote from Saint Ignatius of Antioch do everything as if he were dwelling within us, everything as if he were dwelling within us. Thus, we shall be his temples and he will be within us as our God, as he actually is.
Speaker 1:Saint Paul tells us that we are temples of the Holy Spirit, that the spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us, that power dwells in us. So when we think I can't, we can't in our humanness, but God can and he dwells within us. So I just want you to remember that and feel so encouraged that you know maybe no, you can't, but God can, and you just have to ask him, just invite him, because he's not going to force you to stop drinking, he's not going to force you to use your spiritual gifts. He's not going to force you to do these things. He loves you, he values your freedom, and in order for you to actually have freedom, you have to have free will, and so you have that free will to do as you wish. But if you ask him for his help, he will help you.
Speaker 1:So let's just talk briefly, but I just want to touch briefly upon the gifts of the Holy Spirit and what they actually do. So the gift of wisdom, the supernatural gift of wisdom, is the ability to see things with God's eyes and to make good judgments. So we see things from a heavenly perspective and not a worldly one. But what I like to say is that we see things with God's heart, and that's something that I've learned. I think I've mentioned many times that I'm a student of Encounter School of Ministries, and that is the one thing that I will take away from that school is to try to see things with God's heart, whether that's situations with family members, with obstacles I face, with ways that I'm thinking about myself or things that I've done, or things that I need to do like really inviting the Lord in and seeing with his heart, which helps see with his eyes, and then that just helps us make those good judgments. The other is understanding, which is the ability to comprehend God's thoughts and to understand the teachings of the church.
Speaker 1:Again, all of these are powered by the Holy Spirit. It's not something that we just, it's not something that we just, you know, do on our own. It's something that the Holy Spirit helps breathe into us so that we can do that when we need it most. The other is counsel, the ability to make choices in communion with God and to give good advice. So the gift of counsel is a good one if we're trying to make good choices, if we're trying to make the best choices for our health, for our family, for our ministries, for our church, for our world, and then you can always call upon the gift of the Holy Spirit of counsel, you know if you have to have a tough conversation.
Speaker 1:Sometimes when we are looking to reduce or eliminate alcohol, we do have to have tough conversations with people that we love, with our husbands, with our parents, with our friends, siblings. You know, sometimes people don't always understand our decisions to want to drink less or not at all. Having those conversations is so necessary at their allotted time. Again, that's where coaching comes into play. I can help you talk through these things before you actually have to have those conversations. I know from experience this can be so helpful. So that is something I highly encourage you to bring to coaching.
Speaker 1:The other gift is the gift of fortitude, the ability to stand up for God and his truths and to have courage and determination. So it does take courage and determination to decide and make that decision and don't decide again, right? One of my friends says decide and then don't decide. You decide this is what I'm doing and then nothing else needs to get in the way of that. So, like for me, recently I told you I would say let you know what my struggle lately has been, because during Lent I gave up sugar. I'm doing awesome with that. That's great.
Speaker 1:I was noticing that I had an uptick in my social media use and I was using a lot of it. It was keeping me from doing things I needed to do around my home, in my business and, most of all, things that God was asking me to do. I took it to prayer, I took it to confession and after confession I was prompted the priest didn't give this to me for my penance, but the Holy Spirit did give it to me later was to delete my social media apps off my phone. Now I've thought about it. I've said, oh, I should do that many, many, many times, but I've also have a gazillion excuses about why I couldn't do it. Now, you know, I've used social media a lot for my business, for communicating with people, for letting people know that I'm here and what I do, so that if they are suffering with a problem of overdrinking or misusing alcohol, I would be there for them and that voice. But the Lord was just telling me like this is an obstacle to me, this is an obstacle to the work that I need to do through you, and so I deleted my Instagram and my Facebook. That's not to say I never use them, but I use them on my desktop when I do need to use it like, let's say, I do need to post something on Instagram which I haven't in. I think I posted one thing in several, several weeks and then I immediately deleted Instagram off. So I just put it on my phone for what I needed it for and then I took it off right away Because I would find myself just mindlessly picking up my phone and just scrolling and you know, I've curated my social media so that things I didn't think that things were bothering me that much by what I was seeing, but at the same time it was just like too time consuming.
Speaker 1:I actually was getting anxious about things and I decided it was something that I needed to do. So I actually had to have that determination. Like you know what, christy, you're going to stop talking about it and you're just going to do it. And that's what I did. And I have no plans to put it back on permanently on my phone because it just I'm I feel so much freer without it and I'm noticing those benefits. I'm noticing more clarity, more productivity more, I'm hearing God speaking to me even more and speaking to my heart more, and it has just been a huge benefit. Do I get FOMO about not knowing every single detail going on in people's lives or the world, or you know certain accounts, influencers, that I like to follow, sure, but I love my freedom more than that, and so I had to pray for that courage and that fortitude. I asked for that. Anyway, that's my little story, and you can apply that to your efforts to drink less or not at all, as well.
Speaker 1:So the next gift is the gift of knowledge, which is the ability to understand God's meaning and purpose and to learn and acquire information. So this, sometimes we think this means like being super smart or you know, just knowing a lot of things about church teaching and those types of things. But it's also understanding what God is saying to you, understanding his meaning and his purpose for you. Knowing something like what? What can you use that for? To help someone else or to help yourself learn exactly what you're doing right now. You're acquiring information so that you can break free from the cold that alcohol has on you right now. You can break those chains off, and I just want you to know that you have that gift. You have been given that supernatural gift, so just ask the Holy Spirit to strengthen that so that when you are reading scripture, when you are trying to figure out different things and getting information that you need that's going to help you move forward in your journey of drinking less or not at all. You can do that.
Speaker 1:The next is piety. It's the ability to live a decent life devoted to God and to worship and serve God. So in Matthew 16, 14, jesus clearly lays out the conditions for discipleship right To live a life devoted to God, to emulate Him to. You know, try to live as Christ lived, and that is to deny ourselves, to take up our cross and to follow Him. It's really as simple and as difficult as that, and the gift of piety helps us do that. So if we just pray that we can be more pious people, that we can have that heart of piety, that gift can be strengthened, that we can be more devoted to God, so that we want to live a life that glorifies Him, where we are worshiping and serving God, and I know so many of you, all of you actually do this on a daily basis.
Speaker 1:But there's something else that he's asking of you. There's something he needs you to hear, to see, to feel, to walk through that you are not able to because you are attached to this thing your freedom is not intact right now, your complete freedom is not intact that you are called to be a disciple. We all are as Christians, and so we have to ask ourselves continually. We all have to ask ourselves continually what do I need to deny myself so that I can take up my cross and follow Jesus? What is it Right now? For you, that is alcohol and for me, that is my social media. So you know that's we're all working on. We're all working on ourselves all the time.
Speaker 1:The last gift is fear of the Lord. Now, this is not being afraid of God. This is the ability to have awe and reverence and respect for God and to acknowledge that everything comes from God, and I think that you all really have that. I don't know if that's something that you don't have. That's something that you don't have. I think that when I think back to fear of the Lord because I used to misinterpret this a lot before I really started studying the Holy Spirit and gifts of the Spirit and things I thought it meant being afraid of God, being afraid of His punishments or something like that, and that's not what it is at all. It's this awe and reverence of not wanting to offend him because I love him so much. So that's my prayer, lord. What is it that I'm doing that is offending you? What am I doing that is not showing you reference, that is not showing you respect and, you know, really taking that to heart and listening to him?
Speaker 1:I was only going to talk for like 20 to 30 minutes, but I might as well share some of this with you too, because I think it could be helpful cultivating intimacy with God. So if we want to hear God's voice, if we want to be able to hear those promptings of the Holy Spirit, those nudges of the Spirit, if you will, we need to cultivate intimacy with God, just like we would cultivate intimacy with a friend, a family member, you know, or something like that. And in order to cultivate intimacy, there are some things we have to do, but what does intimacy with God look like? So, intimacy with God gives you access to God, and the Lord loves to share his plans in his heart with you. So the more you talk to him, the more you go off into those quiet spaces, even ladies, even if it's folding laundry, even if it's on a walk, even if it's as you're doing dishes in the evenings. I know that I've spoken to so many of you who struggle with that nighttime drinking like as you're preparing dinner and or cleaning up the kitchen. What if you could turn that into a prayer where you're just speaking your heart to God and asking him to share his plans with you and his heart with you, and then having intimacy with God helps you recognize his voice so that you can tell the devil like dude, I see what you're doing.
Speaker 1:I am not taking this abuse anymore, because what happens is and I've heard this also we go to confession. This happens to me. We go to confession, we confess our sins, you confess over drinking or whatever. It is the minute you step out or I step out of the confessional, you know, I say, father, you know I haven't been a good steward of my time. I am reliant, I am using distractions, I'm making an idol of social media. Then I leave my husband's driving and what do I do? I open up my phone and I check Facebook. Hello, what? Why did I do that? I just confessed. I just, with a contrite heart, said I'm not going to do this, and then I didn't. Why did I do that? It is because the enemy is going to be on the attack right after that, because you are fresh and clean and you've, you know, reconciled yourself to the Lord and the enemy's like nope. I need to get that. I need to get that stronghold back on her, I need to get my claws in her again, that foothold in her.
Speaker 1:And what he does is he tempts us to sin, he makes it seductive, he makes it alluring, he makes it seem like we deserve it. He makes it seem like we're missing out if we don't. He makes it seem like we are not capable. So he speaks all these little lies coded in truth, coded in a thin coating of truth so that it helps it go down a little bit easier. And the minute we do that, he pummels us with just shame and condemnation. You are worthless. Like, why are you doing this? You can never do this, you're never going to get it, you have no willpower, just, whatever he speaks to you, then the enemy is just going to pummel you.
Speaker 1:First he entices you to sin and then, once you give into it, he pummels you with shame, with all of his tricks to make you feel like dirt. And then what does that do? It puts you in that shame cycle again, to where you don't trust yourself, you have broken trust with yourself. You feel terrible. But God doesn't talk to you like that. He loves you. He might convict your heart, but not in a condemning way, in a way again with that fear of the Lord, because you love him and you want to do right by him. You want to do the things right that are going to make him happy, because they're actually ultimately going to make you happy and give you that sustained joy. Like alcohol might make you happy for a little bit Happiness is fleeting, but that joy, that supernatural joy, that is something that is sustaining and cannot be shaken. If you have that. And so when you recognize the Lord's voice, that just helps strengthen your hope, your joy, your peace and all of those fruits that help you move forward, that help you break away from the vice. You move forward, that help you break away from the vice.
Speaker 1:So recognizing the Lord's voice makes it so much easier when that temptation comes, when you go to confession, let's say, and you get all snowy white, you go out, you're feeling great, you go home, you see that bottle of wine and the enemy is just going to be like girl, you deserve it. You just went to confession and you deserve it. And then you're not going to give into it. You're going to be like no, no, no, sir, I see what you're doing and we are not doing this. So you take it, you move it, you pour it down the drain, whatever it is, whatever you have to do, whatever you have to do, and that is your first step in strengthening your muscles so that you can continue to resist temptation. And it gives you the clarity you need to recognize the Lord's voice. And what he's going to say is I am so proud of you, you did it and you're going to feel so good about your choices. The other thing about cultivating intimacy is that it and you're going to feel so good about your choices.
Speaker 1:The other thing about cultivating intimacy is that it keeps you in rhythm, so everything you do is with him. I just love to think of being meek to the Lord and doing everything with him. Like Jesus is just my co-pilot. We're just doing life and he's with him. Like Jesus is just my co-pilot, we're just doing life and he's with me. But he's not going to just barge in. He's going to wait for me to invite him in. He's knocking at the door of my heart. There's no, there's no doorknob for him just to barge into my heart. Nope, there's nothing there. He's knocking and it is my responsibility to open that and allow him in, allow him to work in me and through me.
Speaker 1:The other thing is that intimacy with God allows you to love well, not just those close to you, but you know, those within your sphere, those you know with those that, quite frankly, are hard to love. When you can love well, that means you can love others and you can love yourself enough to keep your promises to yourself, so that you don't break trust with yourself. And finally, cultivating intimacy with God allows you to know who you are and whose you are. Because when you understand that I think, as Catholic women especially, like we know that we are God, but sometimes we just feel like we are unworthy. Or maybe it's not all the way, or maybe that's for others, but not me, but I assure you it is for you. You are his and he is yours.
Speaker 1:Go read Isaiah, chapter 43, at least the first, at least the first verse, but I would read all of it. So it's so good. The Lord loves you. So the only time that our Lord asked the apostles for anything was the night he went into agony. Not for activity did he plead, but for an hour of companionship. Our Lord just wants to spend time with us. He just wants us to invite him and ask him to be with us. We can do this through adoration, eucharistic adoration, which St Pope Paul VI tells us is the best way to grow spiritually outside of mass. And then St Therese of Lisieux tells us that the Blessed Sacrament is expressly for you alone, that Jesus is burning with a desire for you to come into your heart. He just wants you to sit at his feet. That's such a great time to really focus on your goals. Maybe do some journaling ask for that supernatural strengthening of gifts and all of that.
Speaker 1:John 16 13 says but when he, the spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak from himself, but whatever he hears, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. That is what I was trying to say in the beginning is that the Holy Spirit doesn't speak on his own behalf. He speaks what he hears and he will show you things to come. It's right there in scripture. We must carve out time to spend with him. It's so easy to get busy and maybe you are a person who does carve out time and you have that time, and if you do, that's amazing. And maybe you are a person who does carve out time and you have that time, and if you do, that's amazing and I'm so glad. But for a lot of us, we just let busyness and different idols, you know different things that we continually go to, instead of God come before him.
Speaker 1:Some tools that you can use to hear the voice of God, which can be really, really difficult for some people, is prayer, reading, scripture, doing spiritual reading. I actually listened to a podcast that was going through the diary of St Faustina. That was so beneficial for me, because if I had to just sit down and read it on my own, I don't know if I could have made it through, but this lady went through it in a year and it was so wonderful because now I can say that I've read it and I actually want to do it again and I got so much out of it and such a deeper appreciation for divine as well. You can also hear God's voice spoken through music, adoration. I also like you know because I say it all the time right, have a notebook and I like to put God notes in here.
Speaker 1:So if you feel like God has said something to you that you need to write down whether he said it to you or you read it or you heard it or whatever it is write it down so you can capture it. And then you'll be prompted at some time to kind of go back. And it is amazing, when I write that stuff down, how I can go back to it and see, oh my gosh, the Lord asked me to write that down. I wrote it down and now I can use it in maybe a talk I'm giving, maybe I can use it to encourage someone, maybe I can use it for myself because I need that encouragement. So I suggest keeping a notebook of God notes and then you can kind of capture these words that you get from the Lord, whether, again, it's through prayer, scripture, spiritual reading, music, things you hear, things you see and all of that. And then the last thing is just to pause to really notice what you are thinking. I think that's very, very important. So, all right, well, I could go on for days on this because, as you can tell, I'm pretty fired up about it.
Speaker 1:I love talking to people about the Holy Spirit, about spiritual gifts, about how we are equipped and how much God loves us. So that's kind of what I've done today and I hope it's been helpful for you. I would encourage you to pray on this, to do the Novena to the Holy Spirit. Maybe you can go into the message board and let us know if you are doing it. So take care, I am praying for all of you and God bless.
Speaker 1:Well, that does it for this episode of the Catholic Sobriety Podcast. I hope you enjoyed this episode and I would invite you to share it with a friend who might also get value from it as well, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss a thing. I am the Catholic sobriety coach, and if you would like to learn how to work with me or learn more about the coaching that I offer, visit my website, thecatholicsobrietycoachcom. Follow me on Instagram at the Catholic sobriety coach coach. I look forward to speaking to you next time and remember I am here for you, I am praying for you. You are not alone, thank you.
