Mountain Climbing

Psalm 24 recurs frequently in the daily prayer of the Church known as the “Liturgy of the Hours”. The following excerpt appeals to me:

Psalm 24:3-6;

Who may go up the mountain of the LORD? Who can stand in his holy place?
“The clean of hand and pure of heart, who are not devoted to idols, who have not sworn falsely.
They will receive blessings from the LORD, and justice from their saving God.
Such are the people that love the LORD, that seek the face of the God of Jacob.

That passage resonates with me as I regard the “mountain of the Lord” to be the goal of our life and sober existence. To me the “mountain” symbolizes the summit of our lives, that is to become closer to God by shedding our character defects and weaknesses and striving to progress spiritually by seeking to better understand the teachings of the Catholic Church and the Bible. Neither are easy to comprehend, constrained as we are by our human limitations.

Nevertheless, as we struggle to come into full communion with Church teachings and struggle to live by the Bible’s ways, we come closer to ascending the mountain of God. We shun idols (anything that distracts us from God or takes us away from Him) and we live honest, truthful lives (as best we can.)

Every moment or opportunity to better ourselves in accord with the Church and the Bible gets us closer to the summit of the mountain. We may never reach its zenith, but the point is that we are trying.

Are you a creative Catholic? "The Catholicpunk Manifesto" is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone, perhaps yourself, who might like Catholic devotionals for alcoholics? Please take a look at my books! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

One Comment

  1. Hi Paulcoholic,It must be a God thang that I have read this the same day that our work had a guest speaker on Substance Abuse Awareness. One of the analogies he gave involved mountain climbing. Our speaker is the director of a counseling agency and he was discussing psychological models for making change. He asked if any of us had watched any of the documentaries where people are planning to climb, say Mt. Everest. There is much planning involved. No one would dare brave it alone. You gather your team of like minded individuals who are ready to travel that same journey with you. You make sure you have someone who has made the journey before. You gather the proper gear. You study the wind and survey the best route, etc. Hours of planning and teamwork go into it before you ever take that first step and then it is not alone. You do make it to the summit, but just like every successful person who has ever achieved anything, it is because you had the support and tools you needed with you the whole way. Such should be any change we endeavor.

Comments are closed.