I got very involved in watching a cable show called “Intervention”. These are true stories of people living in some kind of addiction.  I think anyone who watches the show can find themselves immersed in the “mess” and disease of the addiction.  What is clearly depicted is there are many people living in pain, not only the addict. 

It is these others who reach a point of no return: they are in pain, the addict is in pain and things are spiraling out of control.  An individual enters who meets with the family and friends about an intervention.  An intervention is a meeting with the “interventionist” and the family and friends.  They confront the addict with their love for the individual and in that same loving outreach, their unwillingness to live with the addict and their behaviors.  They ask the addict to accept the gift of recovery.  They give the addict a “bottom line” if they refuse help: e.g. no more contact and no financial support.  I found myself in tears along with the loved ones.  They are desperate people craving hope. 

It seems that many do accept the gift of recovery.  Some refuse it. Some continue to deny there is a problem.  Joy was my experience for those who entered a rehabilitation center.  I found myself praying for those who, after a few months of sobriety, relapsed into their addiction. 

I have had few times in my life when I have felt anger with God.  Living with addiction or encountering people who live with addicts and their suffering ignites my anger with God.  I trust that God knows their pain: the pain of the addict and of their loved ones.  I want God, the great Healer to intervene now!  I know it is my lack of patience in God providing solutions that frustrates me especially when I know there is so much pain in these situations. 

Let’s pray for those living with addictions: those whose lives are out of control because they are addicted and the ones who love them.

Father Andy Prachar