Question: My son drinks
heavily and keeps telling me that he doesn’t want to live any longer. He says,
“I’m going to hang myself. I’m desperate.” What should I do? Please help me. Tatiana.
Answer
by Fr. Andrew Lemeshonok: You’ve
got to find out the original reason for this if you want to fight your own sin
and help your loved one in his struggle with his sin. He drinks and doesn’t
want to live because he doesn’t see any meaning in life. He doesn’t know why
and what for he has to keep going. He doesn’t recognise the value of his life.
That is why he chooses to muffle his senses with alcohol to forget about
everything. It’s self-deception.
There is a spiritual component of my answer to your
question. You have to pray for your son and go to church and take communion as
often as possible. You should believe and hope that God can help your son. In
addition, you should be talking with your son. Talk with your son and try to
persuade him that life does have a meaning; that a sober life is worth living;
and that there is a real purpose in life.
Of course, it’s unlikely that you will be able to accomplish
this without God’s grace and solely by willpower. However, if you persist in
your dialogue with your son; if you don’t condemn him, judge him, or yell at
him but instead, show him your understanding and sympathy; if he sees
compassion and love in your eyes — then he will surely listen to you and you’ll
be able to bring him to church for a confession. Hopefully, he will agree to
pray to the Mother of God and read the Akathist to the Inexhaustible Chalice
icon. By doing so, he will turn a new page of his life. It isn’t easy, of
course, because he is used to sinning already; he has a habit of living in the
drowsy and insane state of intoxication.
You will need a lot of humility, a lot of patience,
and a lot of hard work. God can hear your every word. Spiritually advanced
people say that a mother’s prayer can raise her child even from the bottom of
an ocean.
August 17, 2018
St. Elisabeth Convent
CONVERSATION