Topic: Gratitude and Grace One Day at a TimeTopic: Gratitude and Grace One Day at a Time
Sober Cast: An (unofficial) Alcoholics Anonymous Podcast AA
Catholic nun Sister Bea shares a humorous yet deeply honest AA talk about control, surrender, and the removal of the obsession to drink. Her story highlights how gratitude and grace support sobriety and help her face family grief one day at a time.
1:03:56•9 Oct 2026
Gratitude, Grace and a Nun’s Journey to Sobriety One Day at a Time
Episode Overview
- Alcohol is described as a symptom; the deeper issue is selfishness and self‑centredness, as outlined in the Big Book.
- Trying to manage or bargain with alcohol through willpower, religion or intellect kept the obsession alive rather than removing it.
- Asking for the willingness to change “everything” became a turning point that led to the removal of the obsession to drink.
- The AA promises and a daily relationship with a higher power grow through action: meetings, sponsorship, and working the steps.
- Gratitude and grace can carry someone through deep grief and loss, providing strength to keep showing up one day at a time.
“God and I, just by ourselves, could get me sober. But God and I, just by ourselves, could never keep me sober. I needed to have people like you.”
What makes a recovery story truly inspiring? Sister Bea’s share on “Gratitude and Grace One Day at a Time” offers a funny, unfiltered look at alcoholism, faith, and the long road to letting go of control. Speaking as an Irish Catholic nun with more than five decades in religious life, Bea talks about feeling pushed to the edges of her family after her father’s sudden death, and how perfectionism and “being in charge” became her life’s script.
That script collided hard with reality once she met alcohol, recalling her first margarita by a swimming pool as her “first and best spiritual awakening” and joking that if you want to keep drinking, “don’t ever drink with nuns. They’ll drive you crazy.” You’ll hear how she tried everything to manage her drinking – degrees in theology, retreats, est trainings, psychology books, even bargaining with God – before realising, “God and I, just by ourselves, could get me sober.
I needed to have people like you.” Bea walks through early AA meetings full of smoke, grumpy old-timers and colourful language, her resistance to the steps, and the moment on a crowded freeway when she noticed she hadn’t thought about a drink in days and knew “the merciless obsession… had been removed.” From there she dives into the Big Book, the promises, and the shift from self‑centredness to being “happy, joyous and free.” She also shares current grief over her brother’s terminal illness, showing how gratitude and grace apply when life hurts the most, not just when things feel easy.
But God and I, just by ourselves, could never keep me sober. Her mix of humour, honesty and spiritual depth offers comfort if you’re new, stuck, or just needing a reminder that you never have to do this alone. So where are you today – clinging to control, or ready to ask for a little willingness, one day at a time?
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