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Today’s Daily Wisdom Dose:

This is the introduction to the Book of Proverbs (Chapter 1:1-6):

The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel:

That men may appreciate wisdom and discipline, may understand words of intelligence;
May receive training in wise conduct, in what is right, just and honest;
That resourcefulness may be imparted to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man by hearing them will advance in learning, an intelligent man will gain sound guidance,
That he may comprehend proverb and parable, the words of the wise and their riddles.

Now, for the actual dose (Proverbs 1:7):

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; wisdom and instruction fools despise.

“Fear” doesn’t mean cowering in terror, it means the proper reverential respect due to God, recognizing His supreme sovereignty over the Universe and your life. Starting out from this necessary act of humility, you are now open to receiving God’s wisdom and inspirations. Your human self and its attachment to things of the world, no longer get in the way. Excess attachment to the self and satisfying its worldly desires blocks off the streams of God’s grace. It is through His grace that we grow spiritually and are better able to accept the commitments and obligations of Christianity. And subsequently, we are able to grow stronger in our sobriety as we cast off (or better cope with) our human weaknesses. We see them in light of God’s plan for us, and we adjust and adapt to our circumstances. We are stronger, and fear less as we know we are continuing to walk with God.

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!!)

I am going to be starting a new endeavor here on Sober Catholic. It’s called “Daily Wisdom Dose.” It should probably be called “Daily Wisdom Pearls” but that may be taken, or at least more worthy of someone else.

In the Catholic Bible there are 7 “Wisdom Books”. They are in the Old Testament, and are the Books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs (sometimes called the Song of Solomon), Wisdom and Sirach (sometimes called Ecclesiasticus. I’ll refer to it as Sirach, easier to spell and less confusion with Ecclesiastes.)

What I shall do is take a verse, and write about how it relates to being a sober Catholic alcoholic. Each day, one verse. I will probably not do each verse, only if something relevant to the blog pops out at me.

I will intend to cover at least four of the seven: Proverbs, Wisdom, Sirach and Ecclesiastes, in that order. I will possibly not touch Song of Songs, as that doesn’t relate well to the purpose of this blog. I might change my mind, but as it’ll take me quite a while to get through the four that I say I’ll do, there is plenty of time for me to ponder that and change my mind. Songs poetically deals with the love that God the Father has for humans, and also is about idealized human love. Maybe a bit advanced for now.

I may not tackle Job, either for a while, as I admittedly have had a difficult time getting through it. It is a natural Book to cover in this blog, as it deals with the nature of suffering, a common experience for us alcoholics. It may be a separate endeavor from “Wisdom Dose”, but at any rate, it shall be a while before being discussed.

Psalms may also be a separate endeavor, as well as being a part of my ocassional Mass Readings commentary.

Once I get through all of the above, I shall either start over, or more than likely start on the Gospels. (“Daily Gospel Dose”?)

I intend to write this blog for years to come, so no hurry in getting to all the expected stuff.

“Daily Wisdom Dose” will be an attempt to get me to blogpost daily. It will also be in addition to the usual sources of blogging (ocassional Mass Readings, and the general intent of the blog as mentioned in various “About this Blog” postings.) Another reason is that there’s a lot of, well, wisdom in the Books of Wisdom. Members of Twelve Step Movements usually bandy about lots of slogans and pithy sayings that are taken from the various texts or are developed in meetings. I think it is important that sober Catholic alcoholics, whether newly sober or longer recovered, develop a familiarity with Scriptural quotes. Get to know these as well as the 12 Step stuff. NOT TO EQUATE scriptural passages that are the inspired Word of God with bonmots of wisdom thought up by ex-drunks, but this is just a way to augment or supplement the little tools you use to cope.

Enjoy.

ADDENDUM(6 May 2007: Due to a variety of circumstances (i.e. “life”), this won’t be “Daily” anymore, just numerous times a week, in addition to the usual postings.

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!!)