Category Archives: Conversion

New wineskins

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An excerpt from today’s Gospel of Luke is a parable I like, as it symbolizes our changes in a way almost designed to catch an alcoholic’s attention:

Luke 5:36-39;
And he also told them a parable. “No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one. Otherwise, he will tear the new and the piece from it will not match the old cloak.
Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined.
Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.
(And) no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.'”

The parallels are clear as relevant to the focus of this blog : the old cloak and old wineskins are our old selves in our practicing alcoholic lives. The new patch and new wine is our new way of living, through our Catholic Faith and spirituality along with whatever recovery program we work.

The new cloak and new wineskin are our new selves, having received the new patch and new wine in our recovery and conversion/reversion to the Church.

The new message will not fit in with the old self. The new self must change to accommodate the new message. You have to be humble, get ourself out of the way, and become teachable. You’re not going to learn anything by clinging to old ways with their old failures.

I’ve written about this before , although the earlier post used the Gospel according to Mark. Check that out, too.

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 destined for wrath

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Since this passage from the First Reading from today’s Mass refers to being sober and drunk, I could hardly pass it up:

1 Thessalonians 5:6-11

Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober.
Those who sleep go to sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night.
But since we are of the day, let us be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet that is hope for salvation.
For God did not destine us for wrath, but to gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live together with him.
Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, as indeed you do.

This is what we are to do. We are sober Catholics, we used to get drunk, but do so no longer (or at least plan to). Just like what you hear in AA meetings about what we were like, what happened and what we are like now. We have returned or are returning to Jesus and His Church. Our Faith is our armor and guide, it defends us and directs our actions. It is our sure guide to salvation, the only guaranteed path to Heaven, written by God Himself.

We are not destined for an eternity of pain and suffering, although that can be chosen by those who reject God. Nor are we supposed to live a wasted life, enslaved to alcohol and drugs. We are destined for better things, ultimately, to live together with Jesus and the saints in Heaven.

And we encourage each other. That’s sort of what I had in mind with the Twitter thing I joined yesterday. Still not sure of it’s usefulness, but time will tell. Perhaps Sober Catholic readers who want to “encourage one another and build one another up” can start something in a chat room, if that’s better. Less restrictions that the 140 character limit of Twitter, but maybe Twitter can supplement a chat room.

Any, at least meditate on the Scripture passage, allow it to build yourself up.

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!!)

Awaking from sleep

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This was a reading in the Liturgy of the Hours from a few days ago:

Romans 13:11-14;

…it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand.
Let us then throw off the works of darkness (and) put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and licentiousness, not in rivalry and jealousy.
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.

People in recovery can see in this Scripture passage their own awakening in sobriety. When we stop drinking and enter the sober life, we “awaken from sleep”, inasmuch as while we were drinking we were asleep to real living, caught in the nightmare of our own making. Having made the first forays into sobriety, we realized that life is worth living and starting to work out our salvation. Much time was lost, but regardless of how much time is left, our new day is dawning.

We cast aside our old, alcoholic and addictive ways, and don a new set of clothing, our new selves wrought by our program of recovery and also our Catholic Faith. We learn a new way of living, a new way of reacting to things, and proper conduct amongst other people. We now know (or are learning to) how to relate to others.

“…Not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and licentiousness…”. I am using words from the passage directly now instead of in a rough paraphrase. One thing I’ve noticed amongst some (not a lot) in early recovery is a fast and loose regard for morals and the dignity of others. Halfway houses where people in early recovery live with other genders (a violation of Catholic teaching about living with the opposite sex outside of marriage), and Internet use by said residents visiting public libraries where their online activity is on lewd dating and soft-porn sites. This is why I put the “For those addicted to porn” links in the sidebar. As we begin to value our own new lives, we should also learn to value and appreciate other people as dignified children of God, and not as sexual objects, stripped not just of their clothing, but also of their value as unique human beings, with intellect and immortal souls.

The selfishness (“rivalry and jealousy”) we exhibited in our alcoholic state is past. Entering into our new sober living, we decide to make the best of our past. Instead of moaning about it, we seek to help others and with God’s assistance, establish mutual support. Either formally or informally we seek to help others regardless of who they are. We were wounded. We are still wounded. We heal our wounds in the healing of others.

We are drawn to Jesus Christ, and to His Church. We seek to become like Him, as Christians are obligated to do. We “make no provisions for the desires of the flesh”, meaning that as Christ, the Son of God died in His body, we as Christians, die to our flesh, we follow the spirit of Truth and not the morals and ways of the world. Truth liberates, the world enslaves and denigrates.

How awake are 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!!)

Division

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You are embarking upon a new way of life. You are sober and have left the bars or solitary drinking behind you, and are also living (or learning to live) a Catholic life.

Some people aren’t going to like that.

A lot of people have this New Age-ish 1960’s or 1970’s touchy-feely view of Jesus as just this swell long-haired freaky hippie dude who just wants people to get along and be nice.

Not quite.

From the Gospel of the Mass on the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C):

Luke 12:49-53

Jesus said to his disciples:
“I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing!
There is a baptism with which I must be baptized,
and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!
Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.
From now on a household of five will be divided,
three against two and two against three;
a father will be divided against his son
and a son against his father,
a mother against her daughter
and a daughter against her mother,
a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

Like I said, not quite the peace-and-love flower handing out “Can’t we all just get along”, acoustic guitar strumming, (OK, Paulcoholic, we get the idea.) guy of pop culture derivation.

Jesus was a radical who knew that commitment to His teachings and living them out would be a sacrifice. Not everyone would go along with your conversion or reversion to the Catholic Christian life. Any convert or revert will attest to the fact that acceptance of Catholic Christian living will be met with less-than-enthusiastic embracing by other members of their family, friends and acquaintances.

Some people will reject you for your new way of life. As is heard quite often in the meeting rooms of 12-Step groups, sometimes people may need to be left behind if they are a hindrance or obstacle to your survival.

Even if they accept your sobriety, they may draw the line at your Catholicism. So you may feel compelled to quit you new-found Catholic Faith and instead pick a less radical way. Just keep to 12-Step meetings or a less demanding Christian denomination.

OK, fine, do that. But the risk to your soul is not worth the gamble of picking the easier, softer way of 12-Step meetings or a different denomination. Only the Catholic Church contains the fullness of the Gospel and Apostolic teachings from Sacred Scripture. Pick pretty much any post in the “Church” label in the sidebar and there will be something written about that.

Do not expect the easy path. It will be difficult and you will lose people. But consider the probability that the people who oppose your new way of living are looking out for their own self-interest. They may resent your change simply because it reminds them they may have to, as well. Or you commitment to a radical new way of living is incomprehensible to them.

Be that as it may, pray for them, and if needed, let them go.

For an explanation as to why you’re reading this on a post date of “Thursday” instead of the expected “Sunday”, read this post .

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!!)

That you may not grow weary and lose heart.

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You’re struggling with your alcoholism or addiction. You think there’s no point in going on, of even trying. Take heart with this:

From the Second Reading of the Mass from the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C):

Hebrews 12:1-4

Brothers and sisters:
Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us
and persevere in running the race that lies before us
while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus,
the leader and perfecter of faith.
For the sake of the joy that lay before him
he endured the cross, despising its shame,
and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God.
Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners,
in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart.
In your struggle against sin
you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.

As I’ve written before, you’re not alone in your struggle. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, gain strength and perseverance from the suffering that He endured. Offer your suffering up to God, in imitation of the Son of God’s crucifixion and death for our sake.

People may reject you for your intention to become sober and or clean. They may oppose your efforts to survive. They may despise your struggle to live the Catholic Faith to keep sober and clean.

He suffered on the Cross to the extent that He did so you can draw upon that strength in your own trials.

Do not weary and tire. Do not lose heart. In your struggle to survive in a sober and clean life you are cooperating in building up the kingdom of God, that is working to transform the world from its destructive ways and towards a culture of life.

Choose to live. You are not alone in the struggle.

For an explanation as to why you’re reading this on a post date of “Thursday” instead of the expected “Sunday”, read this post .

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 look at Him, and He looks at Me"

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One of the things that I have seriously overlooked on Sober Catholic is talking about the lives of the Saints. I think I mentioned that in my introductory post, or in some other “About this Blog” post that I would do that. As this blog concerns itself with using the Catholic Faith and spirituality in maintaining one’s sobriety, talking about the saints is a crucial aspect in this regard. After all, saints Made It. They’re in Heaven, and they were once Down Here, like us. So, they did something right, against whatever odds and personal failings they struggled with.

So, I will attempt to be more attentive to the saints as the appear on the Church calendar. I may even discuss saints not on the calendar, along with probable future saints.

Anyway, today, August 4th, is the feast of St. John Mary Vianney. He is as good a saint as any to start with. He was known as the “Cure of Ars” and you can read more about him here. Ars is the small town in France where he was assigned as priest. “Cure” (pronounced kyoo-ray) means “Pastor”. So, he was the pastor of a church in a small town in France.

One day, or so the story goes, St. Vianney saw a little French farmer visit his chapel daily, about noon. The Cure was curious as to what the farmer was doing in there, as he was alone. Not worried, I guess, just concerned. Anyway, one day he decided to ask him. And so he did. The little farmer said that he comes in to visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament (The Eucharist reposed in the Tabernacle).

The little farmer’s style of prayer was simple. He told the future saint, “I just look at Him, and He looks back at me.”

A simple, yet profound declaration. Take a look at this passage from St. Paul’s 2nd Letter to the Corinthians:

2 Corinthians 3:18;

All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit.

This is what the little French guy was doing, gazing upon the Lord and being transformed. We are no longer the same person when we partake of the Eucharist, whether it is receiving it at Mass, or gazing upon it in an Adoration chapel. This is what Jesus, in His Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist, does for us. And if this is focused on our efforts to remain sober and clean, how successful we will become! Ask Jesus, in faith, next time you receive Him in Communion, or pray before the Tabernacle to help you strengthen your sobriety. No matter how long you’ve been sober. Ask Him to help you. Ask Him for what you need to know to accomplish this.

Read from the Gospel of Matthew 7:7-8;

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
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!!)

My Way or His Way

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In my spiritual development (or “spiritual progress” as they like to say in AA) I have found that there is a very useful method by which one can come to terms with Church teaching and also discerning the meaning of the Bible. That method is to shift one’s perspective.

In what way?

To view things not from a human perspective, but from God’s.

Although that is difficult for a limited human to do (and we all are limited) it is possible.

Too often when we try and grasp Church teaching or try to interpret or understand the Bible we do it from the approach of our own selfish human ego. This will never work. The Bible and Church teachings are, in general, opposed to the human ego’s natural desire to want for itself and to satisfy its own cravings.

One short way of discerning God’s will that is applicable to this is the order of importance in who an individual serves or is concerned with. You are seeking God’s will if you:

  1. Put God first;
  2. Put other people second;
  3. Put yourself third.

(For married people I would assume that Number 2 can be broken down into 2a: Spouse; 2b: Children; 2c: other family members; 2d: other people.)

Taking this to the task of understanding Church teaching and developing a proper sense of Bible interpretation more in line with the Church’s authoritative interpretation we can ask:

  1. How does this passage or teaching best help us serve God?
  2. How does this passage or teaching best help us serve others?
  3. How does this passage or teaching best help us get us closer to God and building His kingdom? (For in doing so we develop spiritually.)

This is an act of humility. It deflates the ego, (EGO: Easing God Out) and allows the grace of God to enter and illuminate our soul.

Takes some time to develop the habit, but it works after a fashion.

Your way, or His way. How has your way been doing lately?

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!!)

Virtue to love

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Last Friday night I went to my weekly Holy Hour. What’s a Holy Hour? See here.

Anyway, while in my Holy Hour I chanced upon this passage from The Second Letter of Peter:

2 Peter 1:5-8

…make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge,
knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion,
devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love.
If these are yours and increase in abundance, they will keep you from being idle or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The passage makes a continuous connection of a right living that will bear fruit in growing into a deeper relationship with Jesus. You will not be idle (spiritually stagnant or lukewarm?) and will instead grow in the knowledge of the Lord.

Starting with virtue and concluding with love, the Letter provides a roadmap for living and loving the Way of Jesus. We should not be content to merely provide lip-service to our Christian vocation. We are instead called to live by it fully. It isn’t just for Sunday morning. It’s a way of living out our full lives.

All the more reason to continue with, or struggle towards, a clean and sober 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!!)

A New Creation

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I’m not sure if this is from a recent Mass Reading that I forgot to write about on the relevant day (it’s been sitting in draft mode for a while) or just something I picked up in a blog or Bible perusal, but ponder this from St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians:

2 Corinthians 5:16-18

…from now on we regard no one according to the flesh; even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no longer.
So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.
And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
So we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

We are “in Christ” when we live out our Christian vocation. Being Christian isn’t something you do for an hour on Sundays or when its convenient or inoffensive. It isn’t something you turn on or off. No one is perfect in the ideal, but you try anyway.

When you are “in Christ”, you’ve cast off your old self, the self that belonged to the World and its shifting and changing “anything goes” corruptible moral and social values. By being Christian and living according to Jesus’s teachings, you are a new creation, a new person, one who has been reconciled to God through Jesus by His sacrifice on the Cross.

We have been reconciled for our sins, no matter how scarlet, no matter how often committed. No matter what the transgression was, reconcile yourself to God, and be “in Christ.” Confess your sins to a priest and be made new.

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!!)

Treasure of your heart

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In the Gospel reading for today’s Mass Jesus talks about priorities:

Matthew 6:19-23

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal.
But store up treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

“The lamp of the body is the eye.
If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light;
but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness.
And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be.”

Think about the line that I emboldened. You can discover what is truly the priority of your life by the attention and conviction you give it. I fall short of this quite often which is why I’m writing about it (and coincidentally the Gospel reading just happens to be what had been on my mind recently. That happens a lot. My mind mulls over something and lo and behold an upcoming Mass Reading is about it. Perhaps the unconscious is at work. Or the Holy Spirit is leading. Or both.).

What is the priority of your life? Is it discerning God’s will for your life and trying for the strength to live it out? Does it go beyond maintaining your sobriety and perhaps using that as a vehicle for living out God’s will?

You can discern where your treasure is right from the start. This is the part that I’ve been thinking about recently. “Right from the start” means right from when you awaken. There are reasons why in many monastic communities they awaken early and immediately are exhorted to rise from the bed and proceed to Morning Prayer or whatever the daily routine is. To start the day off right and to establish where your priority is your must conquer yourself, your selfish desires to remain in bed and catch a few extra minutes (hours?) of sleep and self-indulgence. Getting up and immediately going about the day gives you an immediate victory: you’ve conquered the desires of the flesh to remain at rest and be comfortable. This is something to build on. How many times have you smacked the snooze button a few times, felt OK about it but later on decided that the day wasn’t going too well because in sleeping in you had to curtail or rush through whatever your morning routine is? This establishes the tone and tempo of the day.

How long does it take you to get to you morning prayer and spiritual routine? Is it among the first and earliest? Or is it after you’ve gotten through most everything else and “Now I can get to and devote some time?” If it’s not amongst the first things you do, you morning offerings and prayers to God, then it’s not where your heart truly lies.

It’s not amongst your treasures.

This is more than just what you do when you awaken in the morning. It’s the mountain that you climb every day. What is at the summit of your endeavors? Fulfilling God’s will and growing closer to Him and maybe leading others by your actions to Him? Or merely fulfilling what the world expects of 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!!)