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INTRODUCTION

Recovering Benedict was first inspired by the down-to-earth wisdom of the Rule of Benedict (RB). Addicts sometimes suffer from more than one addiction at a time. Numerous anonymous twelve-step programs have come into existence to address addictions to alcohol (AA), narcotics (NA), overeating (OA), gambling (GA), sex (SA), and debt (DA) to name but a few. Support groups such as Al-Anon, Alateen, Nar-Anon, S-Anon, and others were created to assist those who are in a relationship with addicts.

In my view, the most effective recovery programs are those based upon the twelve steps first outlined in a work referred to as The Big Book or simply Alcoholics Anonymous (April 1939). This pioneering methodology suggests addressing addiction “one day at a time.” Because of AA, a generous number of daily recovery readers already exist. Recovering Benedict also approaches recovery from twelve-step methodology, but from an additional perspective as well. The meditations after each daily reading from the Rule of Benedict were written for persons in recovery and those who support their efforts.

Benedict of Nursia (480–547) was an Italian layperson who sought a more authentic spiritual life than was currently available to him in the religious culture of his day. Benedict, often referred to as the “father of Western monasticism,” collated various strands of monastic culture and practice into a single coherent document. He created his short handbook to guide others seeking a holier life. For over fifteen centuries now, the Rule of Benedict has been translated, adapted, and adopted in far more ways than Benedict could ever have imagined. It is a true classic of Western spirituality.

An equally novel, indeed revolutionary way to deal with the age-old problem of alcoholism appeared with the publication of Alcoholics Anonymous. The first edition of 1939 ushered in a fresh way to approach the disease of alcoholism. Based on twelve simple yet practical steps and minus moral judgmentalism, this pioneering venture—like the Rule—inspired others to translate, adapt, and adopt it to address not only alcoholism but countless other addictions as well.

Basic to all twelve-step programs are values such as rigorous honesty, interdependence with others (through attending meetings and working with a sponsor), accountability, systematic step work, confidentiality, anonymity, persistence, simplicity, self-evaluation, openness to transformation, humility, consideration, and a reliance on one’s Higher Power—however one might understand that. In my view, the twelve-step method has met with such enormous success because deeply within its methodology it has both spiritual as well as therapeutic roots.

While most of the basic values espoused by AA certainly existed well before 1939, it took one motivated individual, in consultation with fellow travelers, to pull the various strands together into a new format. And here is where the dots connect for me: it took a sixth-century Italian drawing on earlier experience to create a handbook for Western monasticism; it likewise took a twentieth-century American to pull together a program for people who just wanted wellness, who wanted to recover.

Recovering Benedict came into being because I, too, found healing by relating monastic practice with recovery values. Monastics and non-monastics alike share the same twenty-four hours. Monastics live twenty-four hours of work balanced with prayer; addicts likewise try to live out their lives one day at a time. How we spend our hours are how we spend our days.

A Recovery Prayer

May your reading and reflection

bring you the peace

that passes all understanding.

May you experience all the serenity

that sober living can bring about.

May you come to quiet

and find wholeness.

May you be restored and revived.

And in our moments of reflection,

in our heartfelt prayers,

let us remember the community of souls

struggling along with us.

Amen.

The Twelve Steps (adapted)

1 I admit I am powerless over my dependencies and that my life has gone out of control.

2 I believe in a Higher Power that can restore me to sanity.

3 I surrender my life and my will to my Higher Power.

4 I examine my life as courageously and as completely as I can.

5 I admit to my Higher Power, to myself, and to someone else exactly what I’ve been doing wrong.

6 I am fully prepared for my Higher Power to remove all my character defects.

7 I humbly ask my Higher Power to remove all my character defects.

8 I list every person I have harmed and am ready to make amends to each and every one of them.

9 I make amends personally to everyone I have harmed wherever possible, unless doing so would cause them or others further harm.

10 I continue examining my life, and whenever I do wrong, promptly admit it.

11 I seek more conscious contact with my Higher Power, asking only for discernment and perseverance.

12 Grateful for my spiritual awakening from working these steps, I share my experience with others, while practicing these principles myself, one day at a time.