Counsel and shield

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The Daily Wisdom Dose for today:

Proverbs 2:7

He has counsel in store for the upright, he is the shield of those who walk honestly…

By following God’s will, and in listening for it in either in prayer or in the variety of life, we are given His counsel, His advice and guidance on getting through the daily routine. Being upright and honest, that is, living out your life in accord with God’s will and commands earns for you the gifts of His counsel and strength. These are freely available to all, but most fail to avail themselves of them because they do not see and hear due to the distractions of life.

It is said that people of Faith, particularly those who pray frequently, experience less stress and anxiety than those who follow purely secular means of coping. The latter are groping in the dark, and in trying to get through things on their own experience the stresses of that burden. With the counsel of the Lord guiding you, and the shield of the Lord (the armor of Faith, the detachment from the values and morals of the world) about you, there is nothing that cannot be handled.

Prayer calms you, settles and relaxes you. I’ve written before about it, here
and here.

Once regular prayer clears out the daily fears and frustrations, you are better able to recieve the gifts that God has available for you. It’s there for the asking.

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!!)

Feast of Sts. Philip and James, Apostles

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An excerpt from the Gospel of today’s Mass:

John 14:6

Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Jesus is the sole way to the Father, He preaches the Father’s Truths and belief in Him gains one eternal life with the Father in Heaven.

These are the Truths that the Apostles handed down to us through the centuries of Christianity, and that is the Faith that we profess today.

If we follow this Faith with sincerity, fidelity and with humility, we will have the strength to persevere through anything that is dealt to us by circumstance. No further need have we for alcohol when we have Jesus, the Bread of Life.

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!!)

Memorial of St. Athanasius (May 2) Part 2: Final Perseverance

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An excerpt from the Gospel of today’s Mass of the Memorial of St. Athanasius (Matthew 10:22)

You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved.

Somewhere I read (it might have been a quote from the writings of St. Josemaria Escriva) that the trials and tribulations, all the sufferings that we go through, are in a sense training for final perseverance, the hour of our death where Satan launches his last attempt to snatch us away from God. All our troubles are NOT for nothing if we always get through them (regardless of how long it takes) and always come out the other side looking for and reaching out to Jesus, who will also be fighting for us during the Final Hour.

The first part of the Gospel passage, about how we will be hated by all because of His name, is about how that as Christians, we live in opposition to the world’s moral values. We do not subscribe to the way the world thinks human life should be lived. And because of this, Satan, the Prince of the World, will try and take us away from Jesus, especially at the end, when we are weakest.

Satan may not wait until the end of our lives. He may try and tempt us with the allurements of alcohol and other things way before that time. Especially since he knows our weakness lies in addiction, we may be consistently tempted throughout our lives, no matter how sober and clean we’ve been, to try it just one more time.

What could one hurt? Plenty. Eternity could be lost.

Don’t fall for the lie. Trust in Jesus now, and He will be there to help you throughout life, and particularly at the end.

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!!)

Memorial of St. Athanasius (May 2nd)

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Today’s Mass was the Memorial of St. Athanasius. An excerpt from the First Reading (1 John 5:3-5):

For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith.
Who (indeed) is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Here, then is the key in our victory over alcohol. If we keep the Commandments of the Lord, we show that we love God, and we are rewarded with victory over the world (especially its allurements and entrapments, such as alcohol).

An interesting point is made in the verse that states, “And His commandments are not burdensome…”. The world will tell you the opposite. The world will tell you that following God’s commandments puts you at odds with fully enjoying the world’s offerings of sin and wonder. And didn’t we agree to this when we were drinking? Didn’t we cast off the “shackles” of organized religion? Didn’t we feel “freer”. Perhaps, until we were caught in the world’s traps, and discovered the false allure of the world’s “freedom”. It’s “freedom” comes at a price (alcoholism, drug and porn addiction, sexually transmitted disease).

His commandments are not burdensome. They instead liberate us from the confines of the world and help us overcome it and conquer it. If we look upon them as best we humanly can from the perspective of eternity, then we can see they are easy to follow, once we keep our eyes on the prize of Heaven and our salvation.

Keep your eyes on the prize.

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!!)

For the Lord gives wisdom

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The “Daily Wisdom Dose” for today is from Proverbs 2:6.

For the LORD gives wisdom, from his mouth come knowledge and understanding…

We have two sources form the Lord’s wisdom: the Bible and the Church. The Bible is the inspired Word of God. The Church was established by Him to safeguard His teachings and also to teach in His name until He comes again. The Church’s teachings are called “Sacred Tradition” and are not to be confused with tradition in the manner of things and doings and practices. Sacred Tradition is the apostolic teachings from the first century through today, the teachings of the Popes and Bishops in union with him (as opposed to Christian Bishops that are not Catholic). They do not add anything completely new to God’s Biblical Revelation, but are derived from Scripture. Sacred Tradition is encapsulated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Reading the Bible, along with the Catechism and even the writings of the Early Church Fathers provides you with access to the “knowledge and understanding” from the Lord. They all direct you to God, the source of all life and wisdom and knowledge. Enlightened by this understanding and knowledge, you grow closer to God, and increasingly view the world through God’s eyes. Perhaps another way of putting it is you view the world from the perspective of eternity. Puts things that encourage you to drink in a different framework, yes?

Along the sidebar there’s the grouping of links called “For All Things Catholic”. In it are links for three excellent translations of the Bible (The New American, The New Jerusalem, and the Douay-Rheims). There’s also links to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. In addition, there are links to numerous sites that can explain Catholicism much better than I can, including anything you need to know about exactly what “Sacred Tradition” is, especially its Scriptural basis. This may come as a shock to non-Catholic Christians, but all Catholic teaching is rooted in the Bible.

The three different Bible translations are useful. Perhaps you are having a difficult time with a particular verse. Reading that same verse in a different translation my assist you in understanding it better.

Get to the links!

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!!)

Call to intelligence

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The Daily Wisdom Dose for today is from Proverbs 2:3-5

Yes, if you call to intelligence, and to understanding raise your voice;
If you seek her like silver, and like hidden treasures search her out:
Then will you understand the fear of the LORD; the knowledge of God you will find…

In the beginning of Proverbs there is the verse that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Today’s can be a revisiting of that. You understand that wisdom has a beginning, and you understand that in any relationship, you have to initiate or participate in it fully to gain the most of it.

The “call” to intelligence, and the “raising your voice” to understanding is prayer. Prayer is the raising of your heart and mind to God, seeking Him out.

Pray, and you will understand the fear of the Lord, and knowledge of God will be bestowed upon you.

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!!)

Turning your ear to wisdom

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Today’s “Daily Wisdom Dose” involves an act of humility, that of turning to another person and listening to their words and commands:

Proverbs 2:1-2

My son, if you receive my words and treasure my commands,
Turning your ear to wisdom, inclining your heart to understanding…

Such a person must command respect and legitimate authority if he expects another to accept their advice and to listen with one’s heart (“incline your heart to understanding”).

We alcoholics have proudly felt that we knew what was best for ourselves, and for others. Our alcoholism fueled a fantasy life in which we rewrote the day’s events, blotting out failures and setbacks. We swelled up in our own puffery, oblivious to our impending demise.

Now, in our sobriety, no matter how long it has been, do we have the humility to acknowledge that we don’t know everything? Do we have the humility to seek out people with greater knowledge of sober living, greater knowledge of the Catholic Faith, and struggle, despite how difficult, to live by that knowledge? Or are we are own self-declared and self-styled Pope or Bishop? We declare that we know better and will live by our own guidance and judgement.

True humility enables us to recieve true wisdom. Whether it is insight inspired by prayer and Scriptural readings, or insight learned from another, wiser person, humility enables us to get ourselves out of the way, and receive what we need to learn and know.

Incline your heart to understanding, listen to the wisdom with your reason, to intellectually grasp what is being said, and listen to the wisdom with your heart, to absorb the meanings of what is said. Do not fear being changed.

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!!)

A graceful diadem

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Today’s Daily Wisdom Dose, from Proverbs 1:8-9:

Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and reject not your mother’s teaching;
A graceful diadem will they be for your head; a torque for your neck.

This may be difficult for those of who have had problematic relations with parents. (Mine were OK. No complaints. Not perfect, but everything worked out.) So for those who regard the very idea of respecting your parent’s instructions and advice to be difficult, if not impossible, read on. Other male and female iconic figures in your life can be picked to serve as “parents”, if needed.

Aside from a being a follow-up to the Commandment on “Honor your Father and Mother” this can be considered a plea for respecting legitimate authority. Parents are the first authority figures in a child’s life, and perhaps their relationship with parents form the basis for their relationship with authority overall. Perhaps a generalization, but how parents exercised their authority determines a child’s attitude toward authority later on.

We alcoholics notoriously have a challenged relationship with authority. In our recovery from alcohol, we can no longer use the excuses of a childhood environment to defy authority or run from it. In our recovery from alcohol, we now have an obligation to govern our lives with responsibility. One of the positive outcomes of the 12 Steps is that it allows us to clean up the wreckage of our past, or at least come to terms with it. One of the marks of our responsible living, if it is still possible, feasible, and necessary, is to repair and rebuild our relationships with the parents. Once they die, it is too late. Once gone, the opportunity is forever lost.

The Fourth Step involves the individual making a “fearless and searching moral inventory”. This is identifying those areas of the past that need to be cleaned up. This is what we did wrong, and now we are going to redress it. Even when we were wronged, we analyze the events to determine what, if anything, we might have done to contribute to the situation. This is personal responsibility, we committed serious wrongs (“sins”) in the past and now we shall try and clean those up. Later on in the steps, (The Ninth) we make our amends to those we have wronged.

Granted, by the time we are old enough to make these amends to parents, we may be well past the age where we need instruction and advice from them. (Personally, I don’t think anyone is ever too old for this.) Nevertheless, we do have the Commandment to “Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother”, and if repairing and restoring a relationship with ones’ parents puts us in accord with that Commandment, then we are showing our willingness to carry out God’s will in our lives. We are also restoring a more balanced relationship with authority, or at least legitimate authority that exercises its power with due consideration for the rights and privilege of those under it’s purview.

The relationship with parents, if it can be restored, now opens up the promise of the passage from Proverbs. “A graceful diadem” will they be. A repaired relationship with parents is a major healing in an individuals life, so great an influence (for good or for bad) have parents had in early life that the promise of a more equitable and healthy relationship later in life may bring tremendous benefits.

Parents are the pillars upon which out life is built. They formed us. It is only right that a conscientious and sincere effort be made to repair the relationship with them. If possible.

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!!)

Fear of the Lord

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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!!)

Daily Wisdom Dose

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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.

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!!)