Earlier today I wrote that I was going to post more on the Beatitudes, as the “Sermon on the Mount” was today’s Gospel Reading at Mass. Well, I did, however I was inspired to write the additional material at another blog that I help administer and write for. That blog is CatholicPreachy. I’ll talk about that blog later on, but it is a wonderful endeavor that I share with a friend.
Anyway, just click on the link below, and read the four posts I wrote over there, today. (One is actually at “The Four Last Things”, but a link on CP will take you there.) Thanks!
This is a re-post from an earlier date. The Gospel Reading for Mass today (Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time) is the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus teaches His disciples and the crowds gathered about the “Beatitudes”.
Updated: I deleted the “Four Last Things” part of the Facebook Page, that blog will have it’s own Page.
I am not sure offhand what I am going to do with this, and it may serve a purpose in promoting this blog, but there is now a Facebook “Page” for Sober Catholic and The Four Last Things, click below:
I suppose if readers have Facebook accounts and you all want to meet up there and discuss things, that’ll be nice. That may be an advantage in blogs having a Page on Facebook, additional interaction and “community.” If you wish to interact and build community, while maintaining anonymity, there is still always:
Chance, “the Shelter Dog,” is the narrator in a very interesting short novel about adoption.
In Second Chance: How Adoption Saved a Boy with Autism & His Shelter Dog by Sandra J. Gerencher we get inside Chance’s head as he relates the story of how a seemingly ordinary day in his animal shelter pen turns into a new life for him as a woman and her Autistic young son Ryan wander in, see him, and take him home.
Along the way we see the world as Chance (a Rottweiler/German Shepherd mix) sees it, and we learn with him that Ryan is adopted, as is the rest of the “pack” in Ryan’s home (a trio of Pomeranians). It is from this pack that Chance is told that he should ask Ryan about the mysterious word “adoption” that he keeps hearing.
Although we know that Ryan is Autistic, an equally mysterious word to Chance, we learn from Ryan’ and Chances’ conversation how that makes him “different” from others.
We discover that being “different” is not a bad thing, for in our differences we have unique gifts to offer each other. Ryan’s unique gift is that because of his Autism, he can talk to his dogs, and they can talk to him. Apparently persons with Autism sense the world in ways that others do not. Whether this actually lends them unique communication skills might be considered artistic license on the part of Gerencher, but as this novel is based on her real life, it may instead be an unorthodox manner in which to reveal a theory. Ryan is real, as is Chance and the three Pomeranians. Gerencher is entitled to her thoughts on Autism, her real-world observations from living with her son gives her credibility.
Gerencher adopted Ryan (not the son’s real name) and all four dogs. One thing that becomes clear from the book is the loving self-sacrifice that adoptive parent’s must make. Adoptive parents must “make room” in their lives. One does not “have to” adopt. There is no compelling reason to do that except the motivation of love.
John 15:13: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
How does this book review connect to the reason Sober Catholic is online?
We must open our eyes to the many ways of “recovery”, it isn’t just becoming free of an addiction, it is about starting anew. As Chance got a new life when Ryan’s Mom adopted him from the shelter, so do we addicts get new lives when we leave the past behind. Also, the sacrificial nature of adoption (or any other radical work of service) expands and develops our own sense of who we are, and what we can be.
I have probably blogged about this Scripture passage before, but it bears mentioning again. The Gospel reading for today’s Mass (Saturday of the First Week of Ordinary Time) tells us that Jesus came here for the broken and wounded of humanity:
Mark 2:16-17: “Some scribes who were Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors and said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ Jesus heard this and said to them (that), ‘Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.’“
He came for all who need healing. Regardless of the circumstances, if you are sick and suffering, alone and fearful, anxious and worried, He came to heal you. Turn to Him in the Mass, in the Eucharist and in Adoration, and He will heal you. It may take time, but the process begins.
A reading from the Office of Readings in the Liturgy of the Hours has these interesting cautionary words:
Sirach 11:25-26: “The day of prosperity makes one forget adversity; the day of adversity makes one forget prosperity. For it is easy with the LORD on the day of death to repay man according to his deeds.”
Do you lead a balanced, grateful life? When things are good do you forget how things were during the bad times? When times are bad do you remember that they had been good, and can be so again (or do you sink into despair thinking that God has abandoned you?)
Do you thank God for the good times and rely on Him during the bad?
No retrospective or reflections on the experience, except that it has been an interesting and feature-packed 4 years, with its share of major ups (I got married! w00t! w00t!! w00t!!! and I moved this blog to its own domain with the help of my second-greatest Internet find: Bro Jer.) and downs (some lost or missing friendships).
I am writing up a sort of review of recovery blogs by Catholics. If you know of any, please email me through the blog or post the link in the comments. (All comments are moderated, now, so be patient and I’ll get to them when I can.)
This month I’ve been asked by Tribute Books to review “Red in the Flower Bed” by Andrea Nepa. It is a nice illustrated children’s story about interracial adoption.
At first I wasn’t going to do it as I couldn’t figure out how it might apply to the purpose of this blog, that of recovering from addictions, but then I remembered one of my favorite lines from AA’s “Big Book”:
“We are people who normally would not mix.”
Just as in 12 Step Meetings we quickly learn to look past obvious differences to hear and accept the message that the person has to offer, we learn from this nice little book that “We have a complete rainbow” when we accept others into our family, even though they are different from us. That difference within a unity can be a strength if we acknowledge, accept and cherish our differences as something that makes the whole community greater.
It is a lovely book and nicely introduces interracial acceptance to wee little kiddies.
Advent, a time of waiting for the coming of Christ the Lord. How well do we receive Him into our lives? Is He welcome in all areas of it or do we compartmentalize (pigeon-hole) Him in convenient places?
There are many distractions, and we do not make sufficient room for Him in the inn that is our lives. He is pushed outdoors.
Some of these distractions are addictive. These addictions fill the “hole in the soul” that should be filled by Jesus and the Sacraments. Grace alone should suffice but we improperly seek it. We are misdirected in our gropings in the dark for Truth and Life. We don’t find them in the right places. We stray from the path marked out for us.
Jesus is ever-present in the Blessed Sacrament and ever-waiting for us to come to Him. We prepare our way to Him through prayer, meditation and examining our consciences. We offer up a contrite heart as a sacrifice to Him, so that we will be pleasing in His sight.
And then Jesus, upon being asked, enters our lives and fills our very being with the stuff we seek: healing, direction, life. Things we sought elsewhere and failed miserably because we were deceived.
Christmas is coming, with Jesus in the Manger. Are we prepared to welcome and receive Him?
(Blogger’s Note: This post is a part of the 2010 Catholic New Media Advent Calendar on Catholic Roundup For those new to Sober Catholic my usual source for inspiration is either the Sunday and Daily Mass Readings, or some commentary on the liturgical season. I then try to make it applicable to those recovering from alcoholism and other addictions. But, if you are in a conversion or a development of the interior life mindset, (or just love the Sacrament of Confession), you might find my ramblings useful. 🙂
My other blog, with it’s own post for the Calendar, is: The Four Last Things a blog on Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. Its first post explains it: The Four Last Things.
In Twelve Step movements we usually hear a lot about cleaning up the past, and this in important in 4th and 5th Step work. Past hurts, resentment and guilt all can clog up and retard your spiritual development. Not to mention unconfessed sins can perhaps condemn you if they are mortal.
In the Spirit Daily piece linked to above, the writer describes how Jesus can help you clean up your past through Confession.
This is the season of Advent. We must prepare for the coming of the Lord. Clean up your life by examining your conscience and going to Confession before Christmas.
