2 Corinthians 12:9: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me. The First Step of AA is “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol-that our lives had become unmanageable.” Many …
I seemed drawn to a more orderly prayer routine, almost liturgical in nature. Perhaps it was the daily Mass on EWTN and later my own Mass attendance at a local parish. At any rate, I found that meditating on the daily Mass readings helped me and gave my prayer life a more fulfilling routine. It …
Continue reading ‘Keeping Your Head on Straight, Part 2 (Regular Daily Prayer)’ »
One of my early realizations about AA was that its brand of spirituality wasn’t enough for me. However, one of the good things it taught me was that a regular period of daily prayer and meditation was essential in “getting your head on straight” every morning. At first I read from daily devotionals based on …
Continue reading ‘Keeping Your Head on Straight, Part 1 (Regular Daily Prayer)’ »
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears …
Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you…” This was taken from the First Reading of the Mass today, the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Meditate upon that. Think about that the next time you’re feeling worthless and discouraged. Especially of when others are …
Continue reading ‘"…before you were born I dedicated you…"’ »
Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, the Apostle. As a result of his conversion, in a rather direct and not-too-subtle manner, he went from being a persecutor of the followers of Christ to being their leading apologist (defender) and evangelist. Christianity was largely shaped by his efforts to spread …
Continue reading ‘Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle (2007)’ »
Today, January 20, would have been my Mom’s 91st birthday. She died November 7th, 2005. Although she might have suspected that my Catholicism in the 1990’s was less than sincere, she never let on. She watched EWTN a lot on TV. One thing she watched daily was the Divine Mercy Chaplet. (I’ve added a special …
I never drank regularly until I was 29. (I’m almost 44 as of this writing.) I never drank in high school, did drink in college but no where near as much as most (and this was wayback when the drinking age was 18). I started drinking when I was living in southern California and became …
Mark 2:21-22 “No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are …
In short, “Grace” is a supernatural gift from God. One may call it divine assistance or blessings, but in essence it is a supernatural gift made freely available to all by the Will of God. As Catholic Christians we have direct access to it by using our own free will in seeking out the sacraments …