Do not conform yourselves to this age

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This excerpt from the Evening Prayer for the Monday of the Second Week of Lent is from Romans 12:2.

Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may judge what is God’s will, what is good, pleasing and perfect.

Courtesy: DivineOffice.org

This was the very first Scripture verse I even memorized because I found in it the central theme of addiction recovery by the graces of the Catholic Church. 

“Do not conforme yourselves to this age:” We are Catholic. We reject the false morality of the secular world which would have us murder unborn babies; treat with grave inhumanity undocumented immigrants fleeing poverty, violence and corruption; accept sexual deviancy as normal; and acept the general dehumanization of everyone through economic exploitation.

“But be transformed by the renewal of your mind:” Through prayer and the reading od Sacred Scripture and good spiritual reading, we can help our mind become renewed in Jesus.

“So that you may judge what is God’s will, what is good, pleasing and perfect:” And once that renewal has begun, we are better able to see God’s will in our lives and in the society around us.

I have written about this passage numerous times before:

Be Transformed by the Renewal of Your Mind

Transformed

Renewing Your Mind

What is Good and Pleasing and Perfect

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!!)

Run so as to win

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The Evening Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours for the Second Sunday on Lent is from 1 Corinthians 9:24-25;

While all the runners in the stadium take part in the race, the award goes to one man. In that case, run so as to win! Athletes deny themselves all sorts of things. They do this to win a crown of leaves that withers, but we a crown that is imperishable.

Source: DivineOffice.org

If athletes can deny themselves all sorts of things for a prize that is transtory (after all, who remembers who won a particular championship years ago? And if that team hasn’t won one since, is that much comfort to fans who want a championship this year?) then we, as sober(ing) Catholics, can deny ourselves the allures of the immediate gratification of alcohol and drugs for the ultimate prize: Heaven. 

Keep your eyes on the prize as you trudge your road of happy destiny.

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!!)

Wash yourselves clean!

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The Reading from the Morning Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours for Saturday of the First Week of Lent comes from Isaiah 1:16-18

Wash yourselves clean!
Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes;
cease doing evil; learn to do good.
Make justice your aim; redress the wronged,
hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow.
Come now, let us set things right,
says the Lord:
Though your sins be like scarlet,
they may become white as snow;
Though they be crimson red,
they may become white as wool.

This is similar to yesterday’s lesson. This is also the process of recovery: in ‘washing ourselves clean’ we cast away our character defects and through our fearless and searchiung moral inventory, discover how deep our “evil” had been.  And then we begin to fix things. We mend our relationships with those we have wronged, we give help to those who need it when we are capable; and we seek to be outside of ourselves, we turn outward after fixing our interior and we try to make right the ills of the things around us. “Outside issues” may be a way to keep societal wrings and injustices out of the discussion in recovery meeting rooms (and rightly so, for they distract from the immediate issue of recovery) but in our lives “out there,” in society, we can take the lessons from the Church as she teaches us through Scripture and prayers and the sacraments, and try to heal the world around us.  

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!!)

Make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit

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The Verse before the Gospel for the Friday of the First Week of Lent comes from Ezekiel 18:31.

Cast away from you all the crimes you have committed, says the LORD,
And make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.

Courtesy USCCB

This is essentially what we do in recovery; our ‘crimes’ being our character defects and shortcomings, and the wrongs we committed as a result. “Cast away” from us means we leave them behind, once we’ve worked the Twelve Steps (if that’s your recovery program) or have committed ourselves to a method of recovery encompassing spiritual growth though the Church and sacraments, they are no longer a part of us. We have made for ourselves a new heart and a new spirit.

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!!)

Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.

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The Responsorial Psalm for the Mass for Thursday of the First Week of Lent is from Psalm 138:3:

Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me

Courtesy USCCB

Gratitude is the topic for today. When you were at your bottom, when all seemed lost and life was at its darkest, when you wished for death to escape the slavery of addiction, you called on God for help. It may notn have been in any recognized prayer, or even words, (mental or spoken.) But in some manner of will or action, you cried out to God for deliverance. And He responded. Somehow, you got the help you needed and yoiu’ve been clean and sober since then. One day? Twenty-five years? Not matter. How have you responded to His aid?

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!!)

To behold his temple

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From the Evening Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours for Wednesday of the First Week of Lent:

There is one thing I ask of the Lord,
for this I long,
to live in the house of the Lord,
all the days of my life,
to savor the sweetness of the Lord,
to behold his temple.

Source: DivineOffice.org

Lent is a journey. We begin on Ash Wednesday and arrive at the Easter Triduum of Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday; and hopefully throughout the season we grew to match the image and likeness of God (the natural result of our fasting, penitential prtactices, and shedding of character defects.) 

In a manner of speaking, it is a metaphor for living. If we desire to progress spiritually and enliven our souls with God’s graces through the sacraments of the Church, we eventually arrive at the time of our death in a condition ready to be accepted into God’s home for all eternity. To be united with God and the Communion of Saints and enjoying the sweetness of life there…. that is the ultimate goal of every Christian. And Lent is that “training ground” to prepare our souls for that eventuality.

To behold his temple.Spend this Lent wisely. Regardless of when you start to take the penitential practices of the season seriously, it’s never too late to have a good Lent. Heaven depends on it. 

Image: JillWellington.

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!!)

Pray the Our Father Like You Mean it

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From the Gospel Reading for the Tuesday of the First Week of Lent:

Jesus said to his disciples:
“In praying, do not babble like the pagans,
who think that they will be heard because of their many words.
Do not be like them.
Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

“This is how you are to pray:

Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

“If you forgive men their transgressions,
your heavenly Father will forgive you.
But if you do not forgive men,
neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.”


 Courtesy USCCB

I think the Lord’sPrayer, as taught to us by Jesus Himself, has lost its impact given how often it’s said. Frequent repetition begats familiarity and then we do not realize or grasp the importance of what’s being said.

Take, for instance, the petition in the Our Father to “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” This literally means, as Jesus Himself explains it:

“If you forgive men their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.”

Can’t get more simpler than that. You want forgiveness? First, YOU have to forgive others for their sins and transgressions against you. You cannot hope to obtain forgiuveness from God if you, yourself are  not willing to be forgiving of what others have done to you (or your country, nation, race, ethnicity…)

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!!)

Begin NOW!

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The Verse before the Gospel for Monday of the First Week of Lent:

Behold, now is a very acceptable time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.

Courtesy USCCB

NOW is the acceptable time to begin following Jesus like you’ve not done before; NOW is the day when you say “I belong to Jesus.” And if so, then you must belong to His Church. Come Home to the Catholic Church.

NOW is the time when you begin to take seriously His command to “take up your Cross and follow Him.”

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!!)

(Not) Living in a Material World

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The Verse before the Gospel for the First Sunday of Lent (Matthew 4:4b) 

One does not live on bread alone,

but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.

 

Courtesy USCCB

Just a simple reminder that the material world and all of its allures, it “morality” and everything that it offers, does not bring life to the soul.  On the contrary, as we know from our own drinking anf using, it often creates a “hole in the soul” that can only be filled by God and His Word. 

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 healthy do not need a physician…

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From the Gospel Reading for the Saturday after Ash Wednesday:

“Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”

Courtesy USCCB

This was in response to the question, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” that the Pharisees had for Jesus when He was at table with Levi (Matthew) and the other tax collectors. 

This has always been one of my favorite quotes from Jesus. We are sick people, no matter how long we’ve been sober, the threat of what might happen to us if we relapse is ever present. And we still might not necessarily think normally, especially in response to things happening around us. 

Jesus came for all, but especially for us sinners and sick people. The “righteous” (those who think or feel that they are so, for the truly righteous do not view themselves that way) probably don’t think they need Him. 

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!!)