Please pray for my son who finally got out on perrole from prison. NO ONE would allow him to their home. By a miracle from Our Holy Mother's intercession we got him accepted into an amazing men's sober living facility. The wait list was LONG but they made an exception. There's a time commitment to live there, plus quite a LOT of rules and restrictions. Our son was involved in hard stimulant drug abuse, but a large percentage of the residents there are from alcohol abuse, DUI etc. trying to stay sober and get their lives by on track. Our son was very happy to be accepted there and thought it was amazing and great but meetings that are like 12 step meetings, volunteer work, household duties, frequent church services are required, some with quite varying dogma that he has trouble understanding. He has this stubbornness of a 35-year-old man with a child like mind in many ways. He seems to have become quite judgmental of those who struggled with alcohol because in the meetings he's required to attend, they seem to glorify the parties and fun times they had while drinking and how boring their lives are now. My son seems to think that his situation is so much different or better because when it is his turn to speak or he's asked to say something, he always sounds like he considers himself better than them because he is so set on restarting his life and staying away from his own drug of choice when he was deep in addiction and going absolutely crazy with delusions and to this day he still claims he has no mental illness even though he's been diagnosed since he was very young with schizophrenia, ADHD and other mental imbalances. Please pray he can get the most out of this situation, that he can be more accepting even though their stories are different than his, that he's able to have gratitude for the fact he's even allowed to live there when no one else would even give him a place to go after prison and the things he did to family. He is very anxious to get out of that place but I believe it's a 6 month commitment and that's controlled also by the fact that parole decides where he can go and has to approve every change that he may or may not request. I spoke with him today and he was already fed up with rules and doesn't understand how it's a men's only facility and I guess his hormones are starting to rear up, some of the volunteer work involves him running into people he knew in the past around here. They ask him a lot of questions and some of them even try to suggest he should just go back to the old ways or how our family was the problem instead of being the ones to try and help him get away from that. He saw a woman that was struggling, broke and living in her car, that he used to know. She even dated my husband's nephew for a Time. She is very strung out right now and he took pity on her and wanted to talk to her and that wasn't why he was where he was and the meeting was for the benefit of the residents of the sober living house and not to try and conversate with others who are not at this time seeking recovery, even though he gave words of encouragement to her, he felt like she was talking bad on her family and how we should have let him just move right back in our; homes again which probably will never be possible. He had earned some money doing some painting at a food pantry and wanted to give it to her to help her out. I'm sure the other residents were against that and he probably felt like they were being controlling but their whole residency it's kind of based on a buddy system and the men are not just out doing these tasks by themselves but always have a partner to help oversee and guide if one of the residents looks like they might be straying rom the goals of the program. Yes, when I spoke with him, he sounded like he was wanting to quit the whole recovery program and I'm not sure exactly why. Please I beseech you, our Blessed Advocate, Holy Mary, Mother of God, you have never left me or failed me. I didn't have a mother in my life, but for you every day since I took my first breath. Please help him be able to complete and get everything offered to him, to lead him in the right direction always, everywhere he goes, and with everyone he interacts with. The facility he got into is only about a 15-minute drive from our home and he still may not understand everything in full. Or he may be starting to forget everything, or other people may have been trying to make him feel like we were mistaken about how severe the things he was doing to us were. Exaggerating any bad things that people have been saying about him, excusing what he did, placing blame! where blame wasn't due. He is not understanding how parole works and how they can put you back in prison or help you get into programs and situations where you can get your lives back on track, work, acquire transportation and make friends that will continue to support the good decisions. One of the things he mentioned while he was still in prison and had nothing but high hopes and was fully convinced he would never ever be tempted to go back to any of the things that caused him to make such bad decisions. Many incarcerated individuals do this. Then when they are free again, it's like a honeymoon period until little by little temptations become more prevalent, and fully realizing the extent of what was lost in the way of relationships, housing, employment and employability. Today he sent me a message about he didn't think he could handle these meetings that are alcohol-based and that he didn't understand having to comply with the programs offered because he thinks he's cured and will never returne to any of his old ways. I want him to realize the absolute miracles that had to occur to get him into this wonderful facility. Please pray that he will be understanding of those that had similar or different struggles in life or with addiction. That he can be a help and light instead of portraying himself as better or not in need of help that they're offering. Please pray that the director of the facility who is actually a son himself of an old man my husband went to high school with over 50 years ago who had also faced extremely difficult situations in life that involve drugs and or alcohol, will be patient with our son. He was already annoyed with our son yesterday for deciding to sleep in instead of going to a job that our son had promised to help the team finish. Sometimes they do painting, volunteer work at a local rodeo directing parking, cleaning and a little construction type activities. I think our son is starting to think he's more skilled and that they are not acknowledging that. Maybe he's got a little pride rearing up because he's always felt like life was unfair to him. In his imagination he believed people looked down on him, or made fun of him, or we're talking about him, and these were parts of his delusional mental state that he was born with coupled with a relationship he was in that made things even more difficult at times. Please pray that he can see himself as he truly is, a child of God, as susceptible to failings, and as blessed as everyone else. That he can understand the full love of God, who orgives all things and has given us a perfect guide, our Lord Jesus. I was never the best mother and with our 5 children, I guess I seemed more favorable to some over the others. They've talked about it many times. My only explanation was that each of the five had very different personalities and needs. The common denominator was that they all needed love. I thought I was being fair and equal. But with each being so different from the others, some require different types of guidance and; parenting. I guess I got it wrong most of the time, because they've told me repeatedly, especially this son. But one thing will always be true, Our Holy Eternally Virgin Mother Mary is in every way perfect. Our ever present advocate who hears every single cry of all humankind. Please pray that when I leave the world, which could be any minute or years away but I'm 70 years old and have breast cancer. Please pray he'll accept her as his eternal mother, and that simply asking her to intercede for us through her son, Jesus comes without any requirement and is always ready and listening.