My journey into  the appreciation of the spirituality of The Twelve Steps has been a long one, spanning decades. In Ireland to battle the destructive effects of alcoholism we were introduced to The Pioneer Association. So when I arrived in Phoenix in 1963 I was a blank slate to the workings of alcoholism, and the power of The twelve Steps. It was within the first year my pastor told me to drive to this address, pick up the old man, and take him to Franklin Hospital, which was just down the street fro the rectory. The man was very compliant, and as a result I had no trouble with him. That was first encounter with alcoholism and its treatment. Over the next 60 years my education has progressed steadily. In our Irish Community it was, and is, a constant presence. I read somewhere that back East alcoholism is facetiously named, The Irish Flu.

             I am indebted to Fr. Richard Rohr O.F.M. for a learned introduction into the mysterious workings of A.A.. He has a book "Breathing Underwater" which is a great introduction into the spirituality of A.A. Father has expressed his admiration of the workings of grace in the  lives of those affected and infected with the disease. Alcoholism is a disease. There are no moral issues to deflect from a healthy recovery. The sufferer is " Not a bad person trying to become good, she/he is a sick person trying to get well.". Recovery is a process. A long long journey that can be taken, ONE STEP AT A TIME.  Recovery is lived into, one moment at a time.One receives a daily reprieve from the disease, dependent on ones spiritual condition.There are The Twelve Steps, that are visited again and again during the recovery process. These steps, over time, will guide the alcoholic into "absolute dependence on  Higher Power, into Whose care there is, absolute surrender." Those four words, absolute dependence and absolute surrender, are words one slowly come to the acceptance of. Acceptance is a word that the A.A. member will struggle with all life long. 

 Here is a gift that came to me from Fr.Rohr O.F.M.I get his blog every day. In the following Fr.Richard connects the lessons fro the Gospels and the twelve Steps as life-changing and healing messages that WE can ALL benefit from.

      I am convinced that, on a practical level, the gospel message of Jesus and the Twelve Step of Bill Wilson are largely the same message. The Twelve Step Program parallels, mirrors, and make practical the same message that Jesus gave us, but without as much danger of spiritualizing the message and pushing its effects into a future world.

    Here are four assumptions that I am making about addiction.

     We are all addicts.  Human beings are addictive by nature. Addiction is a modern name and honest description for what the biblical traditional "sin"and medieval Christians called "passions or " attachments ". The both recognize that serious measures or practices were needed to break out of these illusions, and entrapments.

 "Stinking thinking" is the universal addiction......    Substance addictions like alcohol and drugs are merely the most visible forms of addiction, but we are all addicted to our habitual ways of doing anything, our own defenses , and most especially, our patterned ways of thinking and processing reality. These attachments are at first hidden to us; by definition we can never see or handle what we are addicted to, but we cannot heal what we do not first acknowledge.

 All societies are addicted to themselves and create deep codependency.......   There are shared and agreed-upon  addictions in every culture and every institution. these are the hardest to heal because they do not look like addictions. We have all agreed to be compulsive about  the same things and unaware of the same problems. The gospel exposes those lies in every culture.

   Some form of alternative consciousness is the only freedom from addictive self and fro cultural lies......If the universal addiction is to our own pattern of thinking, which is invariable dualistic, the primary spiritual path must be some form of contemplative practice or prayer to break down this unhelpful binary system of either-or thinking and superiority thinking. Prayer is a form of non-dual resting in "what is'. Eventuality, this contemplative practice changes our whole operating system!

Let us sum up, then. These are the foundational ways I believe Jesus and  The Twelve Steps of A.A.  are  saying the same thing but with a different vocabulary:    We suffer to get well. We surrender to win.   We die to live.   We give it away to keep it. 

       This counterintuitive wisdom will forever be resisted, denied, and avoided, until it is forced upon us by some reality over which we are powerless -and, if we're honest, we are all powerless in the presence of full Reality.

         We are all spiritually powerless, not just those who are physically addicted to a substance. Alcoholics simply have their powerlessness visible for all to see. The rest of us disguise it in different ways, and compensate for our more hidden and subtle addictions and attachments.

    Me again. Fr.Rohr sees The Twelve Steps of AA as Americas great contribution to the school of spirituality. This is a school one never graduates from. There are no diplomas handed out, only chips to recognize, the up to the present moment's hard work. 'We do not think our way into a new way of acting, we act our way into a new way of thinking". " Fake it, until you make it."  May your trudge along the road of happy destiny be one of peace, joy and love. Leading to, "a  new freedom and a new happiness".  One out of EVERY three families is infected or afflicted with this disease.

 I am so sorry for the, time between postings. I have been gifted with two new chronic companions for the slog, we also call life. As I sat and listened to The Word being proclaimed I had some really conflicting thoughts. How can Power be present in weakness, loss, death, failure, rejection and the nakedness that is the consequence of living an authentic human life. "We are born human, and we spend the rest of our lives coming to understand and accept what that means."( Bishop Morneau.) Our journey of faith, our spiritual journey leads us to places unknown. We are gently led to an understanding that each places triggers encounters with understandings that contradict the popular beliefs. After each encounter with our powerlessness and impotence we are mysteriously lead to the acceptance of a way of life that before now we avoided like the plague. The road to acceptance is a long and rocky road. With many twists and turns, denying us a look at what awaits us. When am I going to accept this reality, faith is a journey into uncertainty, not certainty". My false self wants clear vision, all we are given is the darkness,  the unknown.  Wow !!! Is not The Unknown another way of expressing our understanding of, The Ineffable, The Divine, God.

 Paul had the experience of encountering weakness where he  mistakenly though he should possess the power to overcome his weakness. His ego, his false self did not want to have to face his continued failures to deal with his particular weakness. We do not know what the weakness was. There have been conjectures, but no certainty. It does mean a hill of beans what Paul was forced to face. In the facing of his weakness and the accounts of his failures, has offer so much hope to all of us who follow in his footsteps. In this revelation of power through failure had within it the font of hope for the many. There is a plan also for our weakness. When we face face failure we must keep before us this freeing reality, from what I am experiencing a wisdom will be taught. A lesson that will not easily be forgotten. This new found wisdom is not for ourselves but to be shared with the person, or persons who will be placed in our paths. As we share this new found wisdom, the pain of our failures, loss, defeats, deaths etc. will be lessened. Joy will come because we have been chosen to be prophets of, The Gospel of Powerlessness. A Gospel the majority are petrified to even consider.  

      For to day's prophets the road is a very dangerous one to travel.  So many of the prophets of Old Testament were killed off, The Prophet Jesus was also killed, so what fate awaits those who dare to challenge conventional wisdom. Which is not wisdom at all, only the road a hell. Hell is the place where Love is not considered as a healthy way of being. It is summarily rejected as the way for the looser, one cannot be successful living a life of dependence on a Power one cannot feel, see, taste or touch. It is the "pig sty' of failure  one comes to the knowledge that in time becomes, the wisdom needed for a truly authentic human life. There are many steps to be taken preparing us for the acceptance. Like all journeys, it is taken, one step at a time. Each step taken is a holy, a  sacred reality. A sacrament, this means what ? 

      Until the next time, peace, joy and love. Great Grandpa Joe.

 

         

" It's Summer time, and the living is easy", great words from Porgy and Bess. It is Summertime and for many millions of people the living is far from easy. It is about survival.   These coming days, weeks and months we will be forced to face  the life and death struggles  of the millions, who  are living, etching out and existence  on or below the poverty. There are the old forgotten ones who will die silently, and alone. What carnage will be wroth on the birds, animals and live stock because of the lack of water. The struggles as seen in the living, in the other world can be seen as the  harsh paradigm of what is happening  in our inner world. This can be very uncomfortable  for those of us who are never exposed to the harsh realities faced by the community who cohabits our common home. A home, I am sad to say is becoming less and less a, comfortable home.  We are being challenged, as never before, to awaken to the harsh reality,  that our inner and outer worlds, need immediate attention. Attention to stave off the sixth annihilation which so many in the science community see happening, right now.

     Memorial Day reminds us, of this fact of life, freedom, is not free. Freedom does not provide the actuality whereby  we are freed of any and all responsibility.  We, with the Creative Spirit of Love are the joint gardeners of the inner and outer, the physical and spiritual creation. There is NO inner and outer creations. there is only, one, creation. A  creation we are struggling to understand. I have had to struggle with this challenging reality over a number of decades. This  struggle is become more intense as I face the stark reality, I am not as young as I used to be. My physical prowess and  athletic abilities are slowly ebbing aware. My awarenesses of the spiritual realities are coming to the surface. What "has been hidden is now being revealed", ever so slowly. Old age has its blessings,  and responsibilities. Do I dare say, "every blessing is a curse, and every curse is a blessing." Thank you Fr. Rohr, O.F.M. for this kernel of wisdom.  These words are  very poor vehicles when it comes for the transportation  of  essential ideas. Those revealed and the daunting number of those hidden and are yet to be revealed. 

    We must not be like the ostrich who keeps hid head hidden in the sand. We must bravely face the Light, and following its unique  invitation to " cast into the deep" and from the depths wondrous emerge. What we are blessed with, must NEVER be seen as something for our private,  individual  use, but always for "the common good", so St.Paul has written. " Look not backward, in anger, forward, in fear, but around in awareness." So Winston Churchill counseled the British in their darkest hour. Now how are you going to apply those words of wisdom, to the faces you are facing today. We are not alone. There is That Gentle Guiding Light ever and always, working in us, through us, and always with us. EMMANUEL is not just a Christmas  word, Its Power resonates throughout It's creation, of which we have been chosen to be  active respondents to the challenge of being "co-creators and co-perfectors" of the emerging cosmos. 

         Have an honest face to face encounter with your true and real self. Give the false self a long, would that it were possible, permanent vacation. You true self, is the one who shares the reality of,  Resurrection Power. With this Power," all things are possible,..... for those who believe. As we are informed recently all that is required is the faith of a mustard seed. Starts out the smallest but ends up as large as you, I, we allow it to grow and spread it's hospitality to all sharing it's cosmic  home. My favorite petition is " I believe Lord, help my unbelief/disbelief." This bromide has gotten me to this point. How I do not know. The miracle of grace is very difficult to comprehend. So, "Life  is NOT a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived." Mystery, in infinite wisdom, has chosen both you and I". My part is done, so that leaves .......?????? 

Those of you who have been keeping close tabs on the author will be well aware of the fact GRBAGE was never completed. There was anxiety, greed and anger still not having been addressed. ( This fact triggers some anxiety in Joe.) So we need to go back and continue our journey, deal withe the three remaining boulders. That is the tough part. This struggle is essential so we may see what  transformation has been brought about by the power of The Resurrection. Yes !!! it is always true,  out of death, always, comes new life. "Those who sew in tears, will reap rejoicing".When we share in the Suffering Servants Death , we will assuredly have a share in the cosmic results of The Resurrection. The same Power that brought about The Resurrection of The Historical Jesus, is that same Power Who is dwelling in our depths. This Creative Spirit of Love, when surrendered too, brings about transformations and transfigurations way beyond our spacial thinking. The Resurrected One is not bound by the laws of time and space. The Resurrection is one of the supernatural mysteries of faith. So when you see that I am struggling with the order of words, Joe has hit a dark, blind  spot and still awaits the revelation that will further his advance along his, Via Dolorosa. Each Via Dolorosa is unique to the traveller as he takes  her/his unique steps, " to where, who  knows ". Each asks our own unique questions, and are lead by, The Spirit, into our unique answers. "Ask the question, and, live into, the answer' (Nouwen).

                    I have read, and listened to a great deal of what has been  said and written about anxiety, I have likewise have invested a serious amount of time seeking insights into the mysterious realm of acceptance and serenity. This is my lot in life, and have been real serious about it for many decades. I DO NOT have any answers for you. You will have to do your own work, because I do not have the answers for you.  Please ask for the help, grace, courage  to honestly delve into your deepest reality. It is there  lies your  unique, Truth is lying in your depths, waiting to be freed. In the freeing will  come with a unique message that WILL ever so slowly come to  your consciousness.  You are now in the process of contributing to the perfection of all of creation. The lasting messages will have their origins, not in your successes, but in your failures. " Not as the world gives, do I give" 

Please believe in your inner Authority. Never allow that to be compromised. It is so precious, and must be defended. Now become familiar with the role of the prophet. We, by our Baptism are given a share in the prophetic mission of Christ. Make friends with the fact that the prophet is allows opposed. Opposed by so called,  "good people'. Jesus was crucified as the result of the conspiracy between the religious, and civil leaders of His time. Will we ever come to the real, honest figure of how many have been martyred in South America because they strove for justice and equality. I personally knew Sr. Dorothy Stern. She is recognized as one of the great leaders of the people. So great was her influence, she was assassinated. I have a photo of her dead body stretched facing down on a deserted forrest trail.  

 Each one has a unique message, gift that will enhance the perfection of creation. For this you were chosen, from all of eternity. There is no magic formula to trigger this migration from your depths. AGAIN I am going to repeat, " No deposit,no return ". As it was true for the pop bottle in the  decades long passed through, so it will be true of your efforts as you " trudge the road of happy destiny. Fear, anxiety, and their "friends" will be a constant presence. Paul in Phillipians has this counsel for us : " Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Peter " Cast all your anxiety on Him Who cares for you". As a reminder, all are the beloved of our Prodigal Father Whose love is everlasting, and cannot be escaped from. " The Hound of Heaven " by Francis Thompson. " I fled Him, down the nights and down the days; I fled Him, down the arches of the years ...." and did it work, Home Work !!!!!!! Love prayers and blessings .Great Gramps.

 My brothers and sisters, as Neil Diamond sang, " the road is long, with many a winding turn, that leads us to who knows where, who knows where." I first heard those words many years ago and for some reason they struck home, like so many of the lyrics Neil has gifted us with. these following words have haunted me for years; "Be as a page ,that aches for words, which speaks on a theme that's timeless" are more mysterious words that have never left my unconscious. These words surface, pop into my head, at time when I am facing the unknown. A "winding turn", around which, I cannot see. Then I am faced with this truth "we walk by faith not by sight". Is not this journey, into the darkness of faith, a journey we are called to make, bye some inner voice ? A Gentle Voice, which needs real deep silence to be heard. We do not surrender to that space very easily, but by some 'winding roads" we are lead to this place of peace, and rest. It is," a buried treasure".  Like anything buried,  this "treasure lies in darkness, but we have been gifted with the light of The Spirit, Who will lead us to All Truth, and the freedom that is ours being the beloved daughters/sons of our Gracious Creator.

             St.Paul tells us that this Spirit is The Spirit of freedom, not the spirit of fear, leading us back into slavery. This is The Spirit which enables us to cry out, Daddy, to The power Who created all, out of love, for love. We are  called then, to be a people of freedom, not cowering slaves, bound by the chains of guilt, fear, and shame. This toxic trinity we do not have to face alone, as beloved daughters/sons, we have an inner strength to strengthen us for the moment to moment battles , of daily living. The community of The Holy Trinity dwells within. Do not we spend our whole lives in the discovery of the  mysterious meaning  being ,tabernacles of this Holy  Trinity, and the power that is always bubbling up from our depths ?  

           Richard Rohr has written the following:" The Spirit is always a gratuitous gift. It  is always an unmerited gift. It's always pure grace. like wind it cannot be seen. like smoke it cannot be controlled. The spirit is elusive, blowing where It wills. yet like fire, The spirit can be felt. The Spirit  is experienced as the warmth of God's love. Like blood it is experienced as an inner vitality. The Spirit is supremely intimate, yet supremely transcendent."  Love prayers and blessings to and on all. Great grandpa Joe.