Prayers for Addiction Recovery
Venerable Matt Talbot, a Dublin laborer sober forty-one years after sixteen drinking, is the Church's face of recovery — proof that grace works one day at a time. The Psalms supply the honest language: waiting, falling, being lifted.
Traditional prayers
Act of Hope
and infinite mercy and promises,
I hope to obtain pardon of my sins,
the help of thy grace,
and life everlasting,
through the merits of Jesus Christ,
my Lord and Redeemer. Amen.
Our Father (Lord's Prayer)
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil. Amen.
From Scripture
2With expectation I have waited for the Lord, and he was attentive to me.
3And he heard my prayers, and brought me out of the pit of misery and the mire of dregs. And he set my feet upon a rock, and directed my steps.
— Psalm 39 (40), vv. 2-3, Douay-Rheims · read the full chapter
9And he said to me: My grace is sufficient for thee: for power is made perfect in infirmity. Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
— 2 Corinthians 12, vv. 9, Douay-Rheims · read the full chapter
Psalm numbers follow the Douay-Rheims (Vulgate) numbering; the common Hebrew numbering appears in parentheses.
Pray a novena
Patron saints for this intention
How to use these prayers
Prayer partners with recovery programs, sponsors, and treatment — the Church blesses all of it. One day at a time is a profoundly Catholic sentence.