Broken Hearted

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The Responsorial Psalm from today’s Mass has two verses of note:

Psalm 34:19-20
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted, saves those whose spirit is crushed.
Many are the troubles of the just, but the LORD delivers from them all.

We are all wounded and broken to varying degrees. I previously wrote here about our wounded condition, and how the Lord’s mercy is available to us.

The two verses imply much. God IS close to the broken-hearted, but in my experience and knowledge, such a closeness may be a mutual endeavor, a relationship between God and ourselves. The broken hearted do not forsake God in their brokenness, but turn to Him, and He in response uplifts them in some way. This does not necessarily mean that those who do not seek out God are ignored by Him, for He may choose unique avenues to show His concern. He may place certain people, places and things in their path to direct them towards Him.

The second verse refers to the “just”, again, in my readings (I forget the actual source) “just” refers to those who “walk with God.” They allow their minds and actions to be guided by Him, and through this they are delivered from their troubles.

Believing in God and being a Christian does not exempt anyone from suffering. The verse even states that “many are the troubles of the just”, perhaps because they “walk with God” they are walking counter to the ways of the world.

The above Psalm readings made me think of another set of verses (not from today’s Mass). These are from St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians:

Philippians 4:4-7
Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!
Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near.
Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.
Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

There is a clue as to how the broken can survive. The Lord is near, Paul says, we should rejoice over that and allow that goodness to be known to others. Our anxieties and fears? We can simply offer them up, turn them over to God. Pray (get close to God), petition (ask Him for stuff) and be thankful (all good things come from God), and the peace that endures will get you through the bad times.

Will it be easy? No, of course not! Will all be sweetness and light? No, of course not!

But you will endure and get through it.

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!!)

Be sober and vigilant

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There was a recent reading in the Liturgy of the Hours (a daily prayerbook used along with the liturgical season, there’s a big link above the posting area that takes you to Universalis, where they explain the LOTH) that I like.

1 Peter 5:8-9 Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for (someone) to devour. Resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing that your fellow believers throughout the world undergo the same sufferings.

The “sober” doesn’t refer to “not drinking” or a “state of sobriety”, it means to be clear and emotionally level-headed, the better to be vigilant about what is going on about you. But nevertheless, I cannot read the word “sober” without thinking of “not drinking” and how to keep to it. “Avocational hazard”, I suppose.

Anyway, there follows a warning that the devil is also vigilant, constantly on the prowl looking for victims to devour. All Satan needs is a weakness, a lack-of-resolve in your Faith that he can use to exploit.

I’ve written before about how easy that can happen. One needn’t relapse when the alcohol goes down your throat. The relapse happens before the actual event. Once the thought process starts that accepts the safety of drinking, that thought needs to be rooted out and tossed on the spiritual compost heap to wither and decay. Otherwise a type of parallel thinking occurs in which the thought of a drink lurks and waits until a vulnerability opens up. This may be the “cunning, baffling and powerful” refrain heard so often in AA meetings about drinking again sneaks up on people. This is mentioned in AA’s basic text: Alcoholics Anonymous in the chapter entitled “More About Alcoholism” (page 37) “But there is always the curious mental phenomenon that parallel with our sound reasoning there inevitably ran some insanely trivial excuse for taking the first drink. Our sound reasoning failed to hold us in check. The insane idea won out.” In the last paragraph in that same chapter: (page 43)“The alcoholic at certain times has no effective mental defense against the first drink. Except in a few rare cases, neither he nor any other human being can provide such a defense.” It concludes with the declaration that such defense must come from a “Higher Power”, and from the perspective of this blog, that HP is God.

God can provide the effective mental defense against drinking, if you turn your reliance on alcohol to solve things over to Him. Make your Faith your automatic reaction for when things go bad. Jesus is there for you, if you’re Catholic He’s accessible directly through the Eucharist, either in receiving Holy Communion or in Adoration. You can also go to confession and receive powerful graces from that sacrament. Being steadfast in your faith offers a strong resistance to the temptations of the Devil.

And Satan exists. It is said that Satan’s greatest victory these past few centuries is the growing conviction that he’s a medieval Catholic fairy tale, and therefore doesn’t exist. For if he doesn’t exist, why do you need any defense against him? He exists, and the Faith is your only weapon.

Be steadfast.

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!!)

Magnolia

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I just joined another social bookmarking site, this one is “ma.gnolia”. Take a scroll down the sidebar and you’ll see two graphic links, one for just “ma.gnolia”, and the other for the “Alcoholism” group I manage on the site. So far I am a group of one. Hopefully other sober alcoholics will join.

I joined “Ma.gnolia” for the same reason I joined “del.icio.us” and the feed sites: the ease of distributing Sober Catholic to readers and the option to meet others on similar journeys. Also, in case anyone does not have private access to the web, they have an additional means to store links online.

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!!)

Octave of Easter

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This week we are in the Octave of Easter. This means that Easter is celebrated for eight days. This is evident to anyone who prays the Liturgy of the Hours (link from Universalis way up above posts) as parts of Morning and Evening Prayers are taken from Easter Sunday.

Imagine a holiday that last for 8 days.

As sober alcoholics we do not need to drink during that holiday. Imagine back in the days of our drinking the very idea of us celebrating anything for 8 days and doing it without drinking. Impossible.

This is the new life we have, the new life as sober alcoholics. Just as Christ’s Resurrection on that Easter morning 20 centuries ago gave all of humanity the potential for eternal life in Heaven, our Resurrection on our own Easter morning, whenever our last drink was, gave us the freedom to choose that eternity with Him. We have a new life in Christ.

Live it wisely, and soberly.

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!!)

Morning Prayer

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What do you do first thing in the morning? (I mean after the immediate basic…stuff.) From Matthew 6:21 “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.”

The following pasage from the First Reading of today’s Mass (Wednesday of Holy Week): Isaiah 50:…4-5:

Morning after morning he opens my ear that I may hear; And I have not rebelled, have not turned back.

If you awaken in the morning, that means you’ve been given another chance. Once again, you’ve got another day to do whatever it is you feel called to do. To function properly you need to start the day out right. Your body needs to be nourished as well as the mind. Breakfast and a shower energizes you and shakes off the old.

But your soul needs nourishment and a cleansing, too. And for this you need prayer. Prayer, perhaps the thing to do before the body and mind rituals, is important to get properly oriented at the start of the day.

I’ve written before, both here and here about keeping to a regular daily routine of morning prayer. Getting your mind situated in the proper direction helps everything else fall into place. You lessen your chances of rebelling, and turning back.

When morning after morning the Lord opens your ear, do you listen? Prayer is an act of communication. You pray and mediate, and you listen for a response. Just rest in the space of prayer.

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!!)

Catholic Converts and VERT

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If you scroll down the sidebar and look at the “Bloggy Communities…” section you’ll notice that I’ve joined another community of Catholic blogs. Catholic Converts is a group of blogs created by, well… converts to the Catholic Faith.

They offer a great community to others who have “crossed the Tiber” and have “come home to Rome”, not to mention they have a great list of resources linked on the blog. I’m not a convert, just a person who strayed and came back (a revert) so that qualifies me as a “Friend of Catholic Converts”.

Check it out if you are a reader of Sober Catholic who may be dissatisfied with the depth (or lack of) spirituality you find in the rooms of your 12 Step Group or “non-denominational” Church and are considering conversion to the Catholic Church.

Catholic Converts serve as a great companion to VERT, another group of blogs run by converts and reverts to the Faith. I’ve mentioned VERT before, with the occasional homework assignments that Owen prompts his family of bloggers to write on a specific topic.

Happy surfing!

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!!)

Bruised reeds…

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Isaiah 42:3

A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench…

This excerpt from The Book of Isaiah from yesterday’s Mass (Monday of Holy Week) speaks of the mercy of Christ.

This passage is an important one for anyone to remember, but particularly for us alcoholics.

For we were bruised reeds and we were smoldering wicks. Caught in the grips of alcoholism and perhaps at the depths of despair, we were on the verge of breaking or winking out.

And yet we did not break; our light, however dim, was not quenched. How we managed to grab onto whatever lifeline that pulled us out of our misery may be a mystery. It might have been a family member calling the local AA hotline, or a clergy rescuing a lost soul, or some other seemingly coincidental or improbable event, but whatever it was, we had enough hope left in us to grab onto that lifeline.

Some of us pulled on that lifeline and entered AA. A lot stayed there, content to remain with the comfortable and easygoing spirituality and friendships it offered. Some of us were not satisfied and kept on searching. We needed something deeper and more sustainable and somehow entered the Catholic Church.

Perhaps our hurt was not fully healed by the 12 Steps of AA, and we responded well to the Church’s teachings on God’s mercy and forgiveness. That despite whatever our past, God still loves us and desires us to be close to Him. We heeded the sacramental call and drank of the deep waters of the Eucharist and Penance. And we were satiated like alcohol never could do for us.

There was a “hole in our soul” that we thought could be filled by our addiction, and we were eventually disappointed and wounded. But upon entering the Church, we became whole again, healed by the sacraments and an invigorated, deeper prayer life.

Rest in God’s mercy.

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!!)

"Remember me…"

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Luke 23:42-43

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

The person asking Jesus to remember him in Luke’s Passion Narrative from Palm Sunday is the so-called “Good Thief”, the criminal hanging on the cross next to Jesus, and being crucified for some crime he did commit. He believed in Jesus (how he arrived at his faith is never explained, but immaterial) and asked that Jesus remember him in the afterlife. Legend holds that his name was Dismas.

The word Luke used in his Gospel “anamnesis” for “memory” does not merely mean to recall something. It means to remember it so intimately that it becomes present to you, rergardless of the passage of time. Dismas was aking Jesus not to remember him fondly, after all, both were dying. He was asking Him to be saved, to bring him, Dismas the Thief, into Jesus’ heavenly kingdom.

The Church usually uses Dismas as an example of the mercy of God, and how it triumphs over the judgment of God. This relates to the recovering alcoholic is a great way. Dismas was a thief, and apparently lived his whole life as a thief. Yet despite that, he still asked Jesus to save him and Jesus did. Right there on the Cross, Jesus told Dismas that essentially he was going to Heaven after he died. Jesus granted a plenary indulgence to someone right then and there.

While you shouldn’t wait until you’re dying to convert or revert to the Faith, or to ask Jesus to save you (why gamble on eternity?) it does serve as a useful reminder that no matter how bad you have been in your alcoholism or addiction, you ask Jesus with faith for forgiveness and redemption, and He will give it to you. As a Catholic, you can get this in sacramental confession. No matter how bad your sins are, no matter how long you committed them, no matter how long its been since your last confession, they’ll be wiped clean off your soul and you will be new again. There is no sin so great that He cannot forgive. In fact, believing that your sins are so great that He cannot forgive them is a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Your evil (or cumulative sinful acts) cannot be greater than God’s mercy.

Ask Jesus to “Remember you.” And then proceed to live out your new life. Go to confession.

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!!)

"Do this in memory of me"

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Luke 22:19
Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.”

During the Homily on Palm Sunday, my priest mentioned the significance of the word “memory” in Hebrew. The word used in Luke was “shoah“, which means more than merely recalling an event in the past. It meant something far deeper. It means to remember it so intimately that the past event “becomes present” to you. You “come into” the event, it becomes real, not merely a symbol. This is what Jesus meant when he referred to the bread as his body (see this) and that we were to do this again, as if we were present in the event.

What Jesus was establishing was the Eucharist. The Last Supper was in essence, the first Mass. When you attend a Catholic Mass, you are as if you are present at the Last Supper, you are as if you are on Calvary, present at the Crucifixion of Jesus. The Mass is the presentation again of the Last Supper and the continuation of the Sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary, although in unbloodied form. It is NOT a re-sacrifice, or a sacrificing of Him again, but a participation across the chasm of time and the distance of space. The priest, acting in the person of Christ, is carrying out Jesus’ command that we do this in memory of Him. The Mass is the full meaning of the Hebrew word, shoah, we are coming into the presence of Jesus at the Last Supper and on the Cross. We are not merely re-enacting or symbolically “remembering” an event from 2,000 years ago. We are there, regardless of where the parish offering the Mass is located. And if you think of it, this “across the chasm of time and the distance of space” idea also means that you are sharing in all the Masses that are being offered now and ever have been offered in the past.

How does this relate to a Catholic recovering from alcohol? In Twelve Step groups, it is advised that members have a “Higher Power”, or a “God of your own understanding”. For a Catholic, this is the Trinitarian God of the Bible. If you want to have a “Higher Power” that is not some vague, ill-defined spirit force or a god of your own creation, and would rather instead meet the Real Thing, live, up close and personal, right there in the flesh (so to speak), then go to Mass. He is there, waiting for you. No greater love or devotion that you can offer to God than a prayerful attendance and participation at Mass.

Your prayers offered at Mass are heard with greater force than at any other time. For if Catholic teaching on the Mass is true, then the Mass is where Heaven and Earth meet. Angels in Heaven worship God, and since God is physically present in the form of the Eucharistic bread, angels from Heaven descend upon the church where the Mass is offered and worship the Eucharistic God. Whether the church is St. Peter’s Basilica or a lonely mission chapel in the desert, Heaven unites with Earth. Therefore, when you pray in the presence of the Lord, He hears it more clearly than at any other time. (Yes, God hears all prayers, regardless of the person or the place. But despite this, sometimes it is more efficacious to pray with others. Christians of any denomination ask each other to pray for particular intentions, despite the fact that God hears the intentions of the original supplicant.)

Make the Mass the source and summit of your prayer life. Don’t just attend Mass on Sundays, many Catholic parishes offer it throughout the week. (For active, faithful Catholics, Sunday Mass is an obligation, the weekday Mass is optional.) If it’s not available daily, or your schedule prohibits you from attending, watch it on EWTN. If you don’t have EWTN on cable or satellite, go to the EWTN link in the sidebar. EWTN broadcasts their Masses every day, and rebroadcasts them numerous times throughout the day.

Attempting to maintain a regular Mass attendance, and prayerfully participating in Mass, provides a focus for you. A summit, “God’s holy mountain” for you to climb. You will be amply rewarded.

In the sidebar, way down, there’s a link to a site created by R.J. Grigaitis: “A Very Simple Guide to the Catholic Mass”. It’s the yellow and purple javascript link that jumps around. Nicely done, it takes you by the hand and guides you through what happens at Mass.

What is your Higher Power? Where is it? How does it compare to Jesus, present at the Mass?

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!!)