August 7.  Addictions.   Rayhab, a social worker, shared her concern about the hardship faced by Petru.  She was a single mom and she had never had a stable relationship since her teen years when she had become addicted to alcohol.   She had become involved in prostitution and eventually her daughter had been born with foetal alcohol syndrome.  Rayhab mentioned a number of such cases she had to deal with because they were rejected by their families.  Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) had helped some of these girls.

My son is an epileptic and suffers terribly. I brought him to your disciples but they could not heal him. Jesus rebuked the demon and the boy was cured instantly.  Jesus said to the disciples, “O you of little faith.”  From Mat 17:14-20.  

Pope Francis:  Drug use was mentioned as one of the scourges of our time, causing immense suffering and even breakup for many families.  The same is true of alcoholism, gambling and other addictions. Society and politics fail to see that families at risk “lose the ability to help their members.” AL51