Recovery & 12 Steps

5th Step Prayer

Step Five is the one people dread: “Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.” The inventory from Step Four is finally read out loud, usually to a sponsor, sometimes to a priest or minister.

3 minute read

The Big Book gives no formal prayer for this step. It gives instructions for afterwards instead: go home, find a place to be quiet for an hour, thank God, and review carefully what you have just done. The prayers below follow that shape.

Historical Context

Source: the Big Book, chapter 6, “Into Action”

Step 5: admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being

Scripture: James 5:16, “Confess your faults one to another”

Catholics in recovery often notice how close Step Five is to confession. The early AA members did too; one of Bill W.’s most important spiritual friends was a Jesuit priest, Fr Ed Dowling, who saw the parallels straight away. The step and the sacrament are not the same, but they both rest on the same truth: what is said out loud loses its power to rule you.

A Prayer Before the Fifth Step

God, my inventory has shown me who I have been.
Today I am going to say it out loud to another person.
Give me honesty to leave nothing out,
and courage when I get to the parts I want to skip.
Be with me, and be with the one who listens.
Amen.

A Prayer After the Fifth Step

Thank you, God.
It is said, and I am still standing.
Thank you for the person who listened without leaving.
I have nothing left to hide from you or from myself.
Show me what to do next.
Amen.

The Hour of Quiet

The Big Book suggests an hour alone after this step to review the first five steps, asking whether anything was left out and whether you are building on solid ground. Use it. Pray the Third Step Prayer again at the end of the hour; many people find it means more the second time.

Best Times for This Prayer

The morning of your Fifth Step meeting.
During the hour of quiet afterwards.
Before confession, for Catholics in recovery.
When an old secret resurfaces and needs to be said.

Scripture Connection

“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.” — James 5:16

James ties confession and healing together. He does not say confess so that you can be judged; he says confess “that ye may be healed.” Step Five has the same purpose.

Related prayers

The step before is on the 4th Step Prayer page and the next prayer in the Big Book is the 7th Step Prayer. For Catholics, the Prayer Before Confession.

More recovery & 12 steps prayers

All 11 →

About Stephen S. Griffin

Stephen S. Griffin is the pen name of the person who runs Guided by Prayer, a reference library of prayers. How the prayers are written and sourced.