Category Archives: Service and Volunteering

You Belong to God

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I like to read the New Testament writings of St. John the Evangelist, the mysticism always reveals something new (to me at least). I was perusing through the First Letter of John during meditation recently when this verse popped out at me:

1 John 4:4 You belong to God, children, and you have conquered them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

The first part of the fourth chapter of this letter concerns itself with how to discern whether spiritual “truths” come from God or from the spirits of the world (Satan, perhaps, or competing ideologies that fall short of Christian Truth). Basically, if the spiritual truth is rooted in the Trinity, observing that Jesus is God Incarnate (God made human), then it is True. Anything else is false.

This passage can be adapted to our needs in sobriety. We have given up alcohol and by whatever path we took, now have embraced, or are seeking to embrace, Catholic Christianity as our means to stay sober. We have accepted Jesus into our lives and as a result have started out on a radical approach to living that rejects the world’s moral values and customs. Values that say it is OK to diminish others as mere means of economic production or consumption (the capitalist/consumerist “ethic” that erodes the soul of human culture). Values that regard human life as disposable (abortion, sexual permissiveness, along with the already mentioned economic ethic). We have Christ within us. We are baptized into His Body, and if we are Catholic we can partake of the sacraments, especially Communion and Confession. We are no longer our own but it is Christ who lives within us (a Scriptural reference, and for the life of me I can’t find the passage) who is our guide and light.

Since he is now dwelling within us, we can “fill our soul” with Him, who will never abandon us, and who can satisfy us like alcohol cannot. We can use our devotion to and love for Jesus to repel the spirit of the world, which calls us to satisfy our pleasures and cravings here and now at the expense of our well-being and future.

Jesus is our protector and guide. We have conquered our alcoholic past, it is in our history. We have Him now. He lives in us, and we are changed. We embrace our fundamental dignity as human beings, and start to care for others about us. “The one who is in the world” would seek to have us remain selfish and unconcerned.

You belong to God, move into the world and transform it. Don’t stop at your own sobriety, work as best you can to meet the world and change it.

There is a criticism of AA’s who spend all there time just living soberly. They have families and jobs, attend meeting and such, and stop there. Compared to their alcoholic past, this is an improvement. Their response to criticism that they should get active is usually along the lines of “Hey, if all I’m doing is raising a family, holding down a job and staying out of jail, then that’s better than most.” This may be true, and for perhaps most, quite enough. But if you have all these things, why stop? If you have it within you to use these things for something greater than just being normal and ordinary, then do it. At your job preach the Gospel, not with words, but with your actions. Don’t just be a Christian during prayer time and Church. Live the Faith on the job. Get your family unit organized around a spiritual and religious life. Too many families are broken or breaking, too individualistic with the group. Lead by example.

Get outside allow your “belonging to God” to renew the world.

Get radical.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

The Mass of the Lord's Supper: a Model to Follow

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From the Gospel Reading in the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, celebrated during the evening of Holy Thursday:

John 13:12-15
So when he had washed their feet (and) put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you?
You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am.
If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet.
I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.

We have the image of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples. The Mass of the Lord’s Supper commemorates the establishment of the Eucharist and the ordained priesthood. Jesus is telling His disciples, the eventual Bishops of the Church, that their vocation is one of service, not power.

Despite the seemingly exalted position that the Bishops of today rightfully have (after all, they are the legitimate successors to the Apostles) theirs is one of service to the faithful.

Setting that catachetical and editorial moment aside, what can we take from the actions of Jesus during this moment at the Last Supper? That of service. We are here to serve. No matter who we are or our position and state in life, we are called to serve others. It is a basic Christian duty, and one of the major methods we have at our disposal to cooperate in building up the Kingdom of God. That Kingdom awaits us in Heaven after we die, but we start now, building it here on Earth, in the present.

Service, or doing things for others without financial compensation or any material reward, contributes to our growth as individuals, both on the personal and spiritual plane.

This giving of ourselves, helps us to get outside of ourselves. It helps develop humility by permitting us to see the world through the eyes of other people. In service, it’s about the other person, not yourself.

In our alcoholism, we were selfish, putting ourselves and our needs and desires, if not fantasies, before anyone else. Service work, regardless of what or where it is, is applied medicine for our continual recovery. It goes beyond meeting attendance or reading and the like.

It is Faith in action.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Ash Wednesday-Lent begins

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Today marks the beginning of Lent. For the next 40 days (Sundays excluded) we prepare for the Passion of Christ (the trial, sentencing, Crucifixion and Death of Jesus , the Son of God).

Forty is a significant number in the Bible. It usually marks a time or period of trial or a passage through some thing to somewhere (symbolizing conversion). It rained on Noah and company for 40 days and nights. The Israelites wandered about the Sinai desert for 40 years. Elijah spent 40 days traveling to Mount Horeb from a spot in the desert outside Beersheba. Jesus went into the desert for 40 days and was tempted by Satan.

Fasting and abstinence marks the period of Lent. Catholics are bound by certain obligations regarding such. You can check with a priest to learn what they are (usually listed in the parish bulletin) or you can go to the EWTN website in the sidebar, click on “Lenten Reflections” and then click on “Fast and Abstinence”. Trying to link to it in yesterday’s post caused me much trouble and made me lose the post.

Anyway, fasting involves not eating. There’s more to it that just that. When a Christian fasts, they are linking the act to prayer. Their sufferings of the fast are being offered up to God as a sacrifice. This transcends ordinary prayer, which is powerful, but as you are linking a physical act to the prayer, it is more poignant. God hears all prayers, but the prayer of fasting rings through more clearly and is an acceptable offering pleasing to Him.

Abstinence involves not eating meat. Again, like fasting, abstinence involves much more than the Lenten regulations. The forsaking of something and offering it up as a prayer assists you in detaching yourself from worldly concerns and desires. It liberates your mind to dwell more deeply in God’s Truths, eschewing merely human concerns. Abstinence is the “What are you giving up for Lent?” question. But you do not have to just “give up” something. You can take on additional tasks. Increased prayer and meditation, especially on the Lord’s Passion are fruitful, as well as doing things for others. By doing things for others, it can be said that you are abstaining from the self.

Lent is also and excellent time to start work (or continue) on ridding yourself of character defects and personality problems. What better time to focus on and accelerate your conversion than the season of Lent? It’s perfect, because you are not alone on the journey. Other Catholics are along as well.

Have a productive Lent.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Selfishness – self centeredness!

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“Selfishness – self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root or our troubles.” (from Alcoholics Anonymous , 4th Edition, 2001, page 62.) The paragraph details further aspects of this, namely self-delusion, self-seeking and self-pity. Another section of the basic text of AA talks about alcoholism as “self-will run riot”. (I can’t find the page, sorry.)

I think the key word in the above paragraph is “self.” Alcoholism can be a world view turned inward upon the self. We alcoholics have certain problems with the world. It is not ordered according to our liking and God did not consult us. Therefore we turn our backs on the world in a selfish manner and seek to recreate it in the fantasies aided by alcohol. This increases our isolation from the world and escalates our negative attitude towards it. The world is an even more unfair.

One thing that AA teaches is that in recovery we have to change how we react to things. Since our worldview was messed up to begin with we reacted in a way in keeping with our delusional, fantastic interpretation. If the world is against us everything is sucked in through that filter. We react in a way that mirrors the world’s perceived hostility. And the world get more hostile.

Therefore we need to change how we react to things. The world is just there. It is indifferent to us, although we are an important part of it. (Hence Jesus’ Death and Resurrection) People do not go around plotting ways to cause our demise or tick us off, although many times it seems that way. Through a slow process of conversion initiated by whatever got us to stop drinking, we gradually begin to reprogram ourselves and change how we interpret the world and what it does. Our recovery starts with an admission of our powerlessness over that which brought us solace (and others pain).

As we continue down this path or recovery, we gradually repair our relationships. Our physical, mental and finally our spiritual healing develops as we also repair our relationship with God and then others.

We can continue this outward sign of our recovery by a further giving of ourselves in service and volunteering. I wrote about this a few days ago. When we give of ourselves without expecting anything in return we enhance that healing and the world looks different. You begin to feel and sense joy.

This is not an overnight happening. It takes time and courage to keep going this route. But the giving of oneself, in a sense almost a sacrificial offering, is a saving act. We are bringing ourselves closer to God. We cannot save ourselves in the sense of meriting heaven by our own efforts, but we can open ourselves to God’s graces by being in service to our community.

The Church teaches that God never sends anyone to Hell. Hell is chosen by those who reject God. Their rejection is so total because they are consumed entirely by the self. There was no room in them for genuine love and sacrifice.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

In service to others

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Most people upon joining AA and other 12-Step programs are quickly told that they should perform service work in the meetings. This usually means picking up and setting up before the meeting, cleaning up afterwards, making coffee, greeting people. This is usually intended to get the new member other-directed, that is, focusing on other people rather than themselves.

It is the start in assisting them in realizing that they are a part of a community of individuals, that in this journey of recovery there is strength in numbers and one needn’t go it alone. In fact, isolation or a solitary program is almost a guarantee of relapsing. In some way, forever, you have to connect with other people and maintain that community.

Service work, or volunteering as I now prefer to call it, is an excellent way to “get outside yourself”. Once you learn the skills of giving of yourself without expecting anything in return, the benefits to yourself are measureless.

One neat saying I’ve learned in AA is that “your mind is a bad neighborhood to be caught alone in”. Without connecting to other people, without learning of their problems and troubles and maybe trying to help them (and much is appreciated in the trying) your only alternative is isolating yourself in your mind and being subject to all the self-defeating and dark thoughts that resurface. Volunteering lets other people into your life, and there are no strings attached (No pay. There is little or no economic gain or risk). This lets light into your life and you realize that others like you simply for being.

Being other-directed distracts you from your own troubles. Witnessing other people’s problems contrasts with your own and yours don’t seem so bad.

Volunteering may also help you in performing whatever for-pay job you have. Working as a volunteer detaches you from the economic strings associated with a job. Liberated from the fear of economic need, you can focus on the tasks at hand and improve your professional behavior. (In other words, you are freed from the fear of getting fired, after all, you’re not getting paid, so if you’re dismissed…)

Volunteer somewhere. Serve.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)