“I hate myself! I just made a great confession and felt clean and blessed. So, why did I commit this sin yet again?” I often had the above thought when I fell to sexual sin and before I took my recovery from pornography and masturbation seriously. Perhaps it’s a...
I remember the moment I came to terms with my addiction: the moment I stepped out of denial and into God’s healing light. I had no idea what would happen. I was scared and overwhelmed with guilt and shame. I had gone almost twenty years without openly acknowledging...
Ever since I can remember, there was always something about Mary that drew me in. I would never share this with any non-Catholic but the truth is I’ve only recently felt drawn to God the Father and Jesus. The Holy Spirit, despite being somewhat nebulous and...
What the Church means by “chastity of the eyes” relates to the notion of avoiding the “near occasion of sin.” And understanding the Church’s meaning behind chastity of the eyes can help all of us struggling with addictions, compulsions, or unhealthy attachments avoid...
For a long period of time in my own recovery, I found myself trapped in a “plateau” of sorts. I would fall, go to Confession, and be good for about a week. Hardly would a temptation enter my mind, then suddenly it was like a switch was flipped, and I would fall again....
Recovery is not just about staying free from sin and addiction, it’s about rebuilding the whole person—body, mind, and soul. This happened for me by adopting spiritual strategies when I was in early recovery to deepen my faith in Christ and engage in spiritual...
Recently, I have been reflecting on how my porn addiction began in the first place. This took me back to a dark place in my life during college, when I had broken up with who I thought was the love of my life, which left me directionless and unstable. I had no passion...
The month of March is an important month in the Catholic Church’s liturgical calendar. Not only does this month occur during the Lenten season, but over thirty saints are celebrated over the course of the month’s 31 days. What a gift that the Church holds up so many...
When I first started attending secular 12-step meetings for the loved ones of lust addicts, I noticed that the facilitator of each meeting made sure to read information about the Seventh Tradition, which usually sounded something like this: “Our Seventh Tradition...
It was an argument over a grocery order. My husband and I were in the early days of my discovering his lust-driven secret life. Because he did not choose to disclose to me all of his deception at once—a concept called “trickle truth”—it seemed that every time I turned...