Read Part 1 of this series on addiction and Saint Benedict’s Twelve Steps of Humility. We turn to what I believe to be the most important and common denominator present at the origin, escalation, and outright enslavement of any addiction, and that which certainly...
“To get completely away from our aversion to the idea of being humble, to gain a vision of humility as the avenue to true freedom of the human spirit, to be willing to work for humility as something to be desired for itself, takes most of us a long, long time” (Twelve...
Addiction and unhealthy attachments can be powerful drivers in our lives—drivers that put us on a course of destruction, pain, and insanity. Below are four ways that addiction and unhealthy attachments create insanity in our lives. A Repetitive Cycle of Suffering...
When I first came to recovery, I was in a lot of pain, and I was doing everything I could to avoid feeling more. In my first foray through the Twelve Steps, my sponsor helped open my eyes to how all of my attempts to avoid pain weren’t actually getting me out of it...
Do you know that God loves you just as you are? He loves you in the present moment, the moments past, and the moments to come. He is the divine artist who has been creating a beautiful and wonderful work of art that is you! Holy Scripture declares it: “You formed my...
Notice in reading the Gospels that whenever Jesus is facing something difficult, He prays. In one of His most human moments, Jesus struggles in agony in the garden of Gethsemane. Before his arrest, He endures a night of extreme stress that we cannot imagine. He even...
One of the most challenging directives in Scripture is when Jesus says, “Therefore you shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). A simple review of the 10 Commandments convinces me that I break many of them daily. Without the presence of...
My spouse’s alcoholism was crushing me both emotionally and physically. Our relationship was no longer a real marriage even though we were living together in the same house. My two children were gone and leading full lives far away from our home. For forty years, my...
I live in rural Pennsylvania, where most of my neighbors are farmers, and many of them are Amish. For those who don’t know, the Amish are Christians whose faith practices include eschewing modern transportation in favor of horse-drawn buggies. All of this means that...
In our pilgrimage as adult children in recovery, we are met by an unwavering companion: grief. These emotions and processes are pivotal in healing from the wounds of our past, particularly in mourning the childhood that was stolen from us. As Catholics in recovery...