It is probably obvious to all of us now—if we didn’t believe it before—but the Coronavirus pandemic has brought to light the reality that we are complex creatures. If Jesus cites (Deuteronomy 8:3) by saying that “man does not live on bread alone” (Matthew 4:4), the...
Brothers and sisters in recovery, how are you faring in our current state of affairs? For a month now we have been restricted from many of our usual daily activities. This means we haven’t been able to attend in-person recovery meetings, Mass, or the Sacrament of...
One of the phrases that I keep hearing get thrown around amidst the Coronavirus pandemic is “nothing has prepared us for this!” And in a sense, this is true. We haven’t seen a pandemic like this on a global scale since the Spanish Flu in the early 20th century. ...
Lately, I have been having dreams of my high school years. Many of these years involve specific memories of my failures on the gridiron. Missed tackles. Blown assignments. Not giving enough effort. The inevitable fear that I always played with. Being screamed at by...
When I first walked through the doors of a 12-step meeting over 13 years ago I was hopeless, helpless, and desperate for a change. It was by far the hardest and best thing I ever did and I immediately felt accepted in a room full of complete strangers. 30 days earlier...
Before discussing five strategies that help me stay clean with regard to porn and masturbation, let me start by explaining that nothing short of the grace and mercy of God ever worked in helping me experience victory over this ongoing battle, which spanned over 40...
I’m an addict. But you can’t tell by looking at me. I don’t have needle marks and I don’t smell of alcohol. I’m not a compulsive gambler or a shopper, either. I’m a food addict. And I hide it well. Most of my family members and work associates are unaware of my...
When I started recovery, the stories that people told me about both their addictions and the families they came from fascinated me. As a man named “Dan” once said, “My family put the fun in dys-FUN-ction.” Over and over again at 12-step meetings, I have heard people...
Step Eight: Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. Step Nine: Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. In Step Four through Step Seven, all of my...
The disease of addiction is devastating on families. Everyone related to the addict often struggles immensely to live with and try to help the person they love dearly and desire more than anything to help. However, many times with our attempt to help our loved one we...