For some peculiar reason, the idea of "where and when" just sort of resonated with me today.
Yesterday here it was bright, sunny and at or near 70 F. degrees. Tonight we're in the 30s with up to a foot of snow predicted. It doesn't even stick for a day with the ground and roads as warm as they are now but it still makes a mess and everybody has to grumble some.
I have a few sponsees who are going through tough patches now. I have been too so I've not been real sympathetic to their particular dramas but, increasingly, I'm struck by my sponsor's principle of being simpatico. It seems they're all wrapped up in variations of the drama of "...I don't get what I want, when I want it."
My whole life seems to be about getting to where God wants me to be there when I am needed to be there, and then really being there when I'm there.
Where and when - if I can be "here", "now", my life is a whole different experience.
41 comments:
Staying in the here and now is difficult for most people. Addicts are pros at trying to escape the moment. Living in the present while recovering is quite a trick. Keep blogging and talking to your sponsor and staying aware. Thanks for the reminder to keep focused and good luck in your sobriety.
Oh my goodness. It is nice that you got that nice encouraging word from the Pat Moore foundation. Inpatient treatment from only $400. a day!
Good luck in your sobriety indeed.
May your next 26 years be as blessed as the first 26 were. And thank you.
Where and When.
I haven't heard that before, but I've heard of the rest of it.
I wonder at the sponsee drama of not getting what one wants when one wants it. I think that God has good timing and shows me the where and the when. I just need to pay attention.
The last two lines of your post inspired me today, thanks!
I try for a drama free existence. I bring less of that to the table these days, and I try my best not to absorb other people's drama as I have in the past. It's just better that way!
Is that picture really you. (Mine's me! I really am a golden hamster. Hang on a sec I've got a hazelnut in my left pouch...)... That is a v characterful face. And you're sober since 1983?! That's pretty amazing. I remember being at an NA meeting where I met a woman 10 years clean... She'd only gone because she "felt like a meeting" not that she needed them any more.
I wish I could be like you!!
I miss you!
Ed G...Hey, you slipped "in" and right back "out" again, and I missed the whole show. Your posts always, ALWAYS made a lot of sense to me.
And Pride (Ego) well, that is the basis for every sin I ever committed
...and FEAR, say no more...
Hope to read you again soon. Please!
Hey there! I love your blog! Come visit me:
www.rainbowrecoveryclub.org/author/laurenl
TTYS!
I still miss you!
hi there ^^! warm greeting 0_0
you have a nice blog.
by the way,
if you need to find Linux Font, you can go to our website.
best regards;
Just checking back to see if there are any "wisdom-words" written here. Hope you are OK, Mr Ed G
Miss ya, man....
donde esta?
I hope that you are well.
I want to thank you for the fine work you have done. Yours is one of the better organized and thorough presentations of this difficult subject
Just reading your blog....my father has a serious problem with drinking too much alcohol...apparently, he is quite resistant when it comes to recovery. I want to thank you for finding your value and worth in this world for long enough to make the effort to stop drinking alcohol. I wish my father will find his value and worth for himself because he is so incredibly valuable and priceless to me.
The "oh no you didnt" thing seems to creep in everyones life from time to time. Im thinking humility is where it's at all the time with a little bit of gumption mixed in. Letting ones ego drive your behavior is the issue quite often. Be humble and everything else takes care of itself with the right action plan
"‘I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.’
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’" (John 6:51–52).
His listeners were stupefied because now they understood Jesus literally — and correctly. He again repeated his words, but with even greater emphasis, and introduced the statement about drinking his blood:
"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him" (John 6: 53-56)
EXPOSING ERROR:
Holy Scripture gives us several guidelines for what we are obligated to do when we see error.
If a Prophet from GOD gives us a warning in regard to error once, then we certainly should pay attention to it.
And one certainly did:
Ezekiel 3:18-19, "Suppose I tell you that wicked people will surely die, but you don't warn them or speak out so that they can change their wicked ways in order to save their lives.
Then these wicked people will die because of their sin, but I will hold you responsible for their deaths. But suppose you warn the wicked people, and they don't turn from their wicked ways. Then they will die because of their sin, but you will save yourself."
However, if that same Prophet from GOD gave a similar warning a second time, then he has added emphasis for the importance of his message and so we must take it very seriously.
And thus did Ezekiel issue his message for a second time:
Ezekiel 3:20-21, "If righteous people turn from living the right way and do wrong, I will make them stumble, and they will die. If you don't warn them, they will die because of their sin, and the right things they did will not be remembered.
I will hold you responsible for their deaths. But if you warn righteous people not to sin, and they don't sin, they will certainly live because they listened to the warning. You will save yourself."
But what if that very same Prophet from GOD repeated that same warning yet a third time???
Ouch!
Surely it has become a dire warning indeed, one that simply cannot be ignored:
Ezekiel 33:8-9, "Suppose I say to a wicked person, 'You wicked person, you will certainly die,' and you say nothing to warn him to change his ways.
That wicked person will die because of his sin, and I will hold you responsible for his death. But if you warn a wicked person to turn from his ways and he doesn't turn from them, then he will die because of his sin. However, you will save yourself."
As you can readily see we are obligated to speak up and to challenge those who are in error. If we see someone about to fall into the pit, then we must warn them before they do so.
If we fail to warn them, then we too will fall into the pit with them, since by our failure to act we have assumed their error as well.
THE NEW COVENANT
Once we become members of Christ’s family, he does not let us go hungry, but feeds us with his own body and blood through the Eucharist.
In the Old Testament, as they prepared for their journey in the wilderness, God commanded his people to sacrifice a lamb and sprinkle its blood on their doorposts, so the Angel of Death would pass by their homes. Then they ate the lamb to seal their covenant with God.
This lamb prefigured Jesus. He is the real "Lamb of God," who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29).
Through Jesus we enter into a New Covenant with God (Luke 22:20), who protects us from eternal death. God’s Old Testament people ate the Passover lamb.
Now we must eat the Lamb that is the Eucharist. Jesus said, "Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no life within you" (John 6:53).
At the Last Supper he took bread and wine and said, "Take and eat. This is my body . . . This is my blood which will be shed for you" (Mark 14:22–24).
In this way Jesus instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist, the sacrificial meal Catholics consume at each Mass.
The Catholic Church teaches that the sacrifice of Christ on the cross occurred "once for all"; it cannot be repeated (Hebrews 9:28).
Christ does not "die again" during Mass, but the very same sacrifice that occurred on Calvary is made present on the altar.
That’s why the Mass is not "another" sacrifice, but a participation in the same, once-for-all sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
Paul reminds us that the bread and the wine really become, by a miracle of God’s grace, the actual body and blood of Jesus: "Anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself" (1 Corinthians 11:27–29).
After the consecration of the bread and wine, no bread or wine remains on the altar. Only Jesus himself, under the appearance of bread and wine, remains.
WHAT YOU MUST DO TO BE SAVED
To be saved, you must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31).
However, that's not all. Sacred Scripture clearly shows other things you must also do to be saved:
• You must endure to the end. Matthew 10:22, Matthew 24:13, Mark 13:13.
• You must accept the Cross (suffering). Matthew 10:38, Matthew 16:24-25, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23, Luke 14:27.
• You must be baptized with water. Mark 16:16, Titus 3:5, I Peter 3:20-21.
• You must be a member in God's true church. Acts 2:47.
• You must confess your sins. James 5:16, I John 1:9.
• You must keep the Commandments of God. Matthew 5:19-20, Matthew 7:21.
• You must heed the words of St. Peter, the first Pope. Acts 11:13-14, Acts 15:7.
• You must eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus Christ. John 6:51-58, I Corinthians 10:16, I Corinthians 11:23-29.
• Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to His call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life. CCC 1996, John 1:12-18, John 17:3, Romans 8:14-17, 2 Peter 1:3-4.
The only Church that meets all the requirements of Salvation is the Holy Catholic Church.
Jesus drank from 3 cups during the Last Supper, but the last - the fourth - he did not drink from then.
Matthew 27:48, Mark 15:36, Luke 23:36, and John 19:30 show Jesus drinking vinegar or sour wine on the cross, from a sponge placed on a hyssop branch. The hyssop branch was symbolic of the sprinkling of the Passover lamb's blood using a hyssop branch - see Exodus 12:22.
So Jesus was truly the Passover Lamb; then he said, "It is finished." When did Jesus drink the last cup?
THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS THE CATHOLIC CHURCH!
The Kingdom of God! Sounds kind of heavenly, doesn’t it. But is it? Or is it right here on earth now in the midst of us all? Let’s see what the Holy Bible has to say about it.
In Matthew 12:28, Jesus tells the Pharisees that the Kingdom of God has come upon them. In Mark 12:34, He also tells the scribe that he is not far from the Kingdom of God.
In Matthew 16:19, Jesus gives Peter the keys to the Kingdom, and then establishes His Church on Peter the Rock. Jesus says that whatever this Church binds on earth shall be bound in heaven, where Jesus reigns now.
So what does all of this tell us? It tells us that the Kingdom of God was established on earth by Jesus Christ in the year 33 AD, in the form of His Church, led by Peter.
The Bible says in Luke 17:20-21 that the establishment of the Kingdom will not be accompanied by signs, which would presumably preclude angelic trumpet blasts and dead people coming back to life.
Instead, Jesus says that the Kingdom of God is in the midst of us, now. And Jesus said in Matthew 28:18 that all authority in heaven and on earth has already been given to Him.
Isn’t it an insult for us to say that that statement isn’t a reference to His Kingdom having already being established? And where is the Kingdom of God on earth? It would be in the Tabernacle at each and every Catholic Church, where Jesus Christ is truly present, body, blood, soul, and divinity, in the Eucharist!
He’s waiting for you to come see Him and talk to Him, right now! And the really good news is that everyone who is in the state of grace is a prince or princess of this Kingdom, right now!
Do you understand the 4th Cup?
After the beginning of Jesus' Last Passover Supper (Seder) Judas Iscariot left to do what he had to do. The twelve left in the room were at the point where the second of four traditional cups was about to be drunk.
(The first is at the beginning of the Seder meal.) Jesus took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them and said, "Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God comes."
More of the lamb meal was consumed. During that He took a loaf of unleavened bread, gave thanks, broke it and gave it to His disciples saying, "This IS my body given for you; do this to recall me." ("Recall" is a better translation of the Greek "anamnesis" than "remember".)
After the supper He took the third cup saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This IS my blood of the NEW and everlasting covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."
A hymn was sung, which is a combination of several psalms called The Great Hillel, and they went out to the Mount of Olives.
What happened? The Passover ceremony and ritual was not complete. There was no fourth cup. There was no announcement that it was finished. Could it be that Jesus was so upset with what He knew was about to happen that He forgot? Doubtful!
Not only Jesus, but also the 11 others had participated in the Passover Seder every year of their lives. No, this was done on purpose. The last supper of Jesus was not over.
On the Mount of Olives, in the Garden of Gethsemane, the disciples slept while Jesus prayed, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done."
He prayed that three times. Then Jesus was arrested, illegally put on trial by the Sanhedrin, then by Pontius Pilate, sentenced and crucified.
While on the cross He wept. Jesus, who was in excruciating agony, was so merciful that He prayed for the forgiveness of His executioners. He was offered some wine with a pain killer, myrrh, in it. He refused it.
"Later, knowing that all was now complete, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled and the kingdom established, Jesus said, 'I am thirsty.'" A man dipped a sponge into sour wine; he placed it on a hyssop branch and lifted it up to Jesus lips.
He drank. (We recall that it was the hyssop branch which was used to paint lambs blood around the Hebrew's door for the Passover of the angel of death.)
It was then that Jesus said, "It is finished." He then bowed His head and gave up the spirit to His Father.
The fourth cup now represented the lamb’s blood of the first Passover, a saving signal to the angel of death.
The Lamb of God was now sacrificed. The last Passover supper of Jesus Christ was now complete with the fourth cup. It was finished.
The tie in with the Passover is unmistakable.
The Lamb of God was sacrifice and death was about to be passed over come Easter day.
The promise of eternal life for many was about to be fulfilled.
Christ’s Passover was finished, but His mission was not until he rose from the dead.
The Last Supper was a re-enactment pf the Jewish Passover Meal!!
Jewish Passover Meal:
1. Festival Blessing - Drink from 1st cup of wine
2. Passover Narrative and Little Hallel (Psalm 113) - Drink from 2nd cup of wine
3. Main Meal: Eat the roasted lamb, unleavened bread, and the bitter herbs and spices - Drink from the 3rd cup of wine (Cup of Blessing)
4. The Passover is completed with the singing of the Great Hallel (PSALMS 114-118), the drinking of the 4th cup of wine, and closed when the presiding priest or host says the phrase, "TEL TELESTI" which is interpreted as "IT IS FINISHED" or "IT IS CONSUMATED".
Prayer against Depression - by Saint Ignatius of Loyola
O Christ Jesus,
when all is darkness
and we feel our weakness and helplessness,
give us the sense of Your presence,
Your love, and Your strength.
Help us to have perfect trust
in Your protecting love
and strengthening power,
so that nothing may frighten or worry us,
for, living close to You,
we shall see Your hand,
Your purpose, Your will through all things.
By Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Our Lady's Favorite Prayer
In recent times the Mother of God has appeared in various parts of the world and asked for the recitation of the Rosary, the prayer she gave to the world centuries ago.
It is her favorite prayer for it is essentially a meditation on the life of her Divine Son. The Rosary is a combination of vocal prayer (the Our Fathers & Hail Marys) and of mental prayer, namely, reflection on important events in the life of Christ and His Mother.
When one refers to the Rosary, it is usually understood to mean five decades, or one fourth of the entire Rosary.
While many Catholics pray five decades of the Rosary each day, there is a considerable number who pray the twenty decades daily.
Those who pray the Rosary regularly would do well to be enrolled in the Confraternity to gain extra spiritual benefits for each Rosary they pray.
Some frequently asked questions are how to Pray the Rosary, difficulties that some experience, and why these particular mysteries?
THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit will not be subject to human reason. This is the fundamental problem with Protestantism.
The intellect becomes one’s compass for truth, instead of the Living Voice of the Holy Ghost.
The proper use of reason is to believe in and serve the Divine Revelation revealed by the Holy Ghost in the Church, not to criticize what is revealed endlessly until you satisfy your intellect.
The intellect is only perfected after it has accepted the divine truths that God reveals to it.
SPANISH LIGHT OF THE CHURCH
In December of 1850, St. Anthony Claret was saying good-bye to friends in Spain before leaving to take charge of the Archdiocese of Santiago, Cuba.
At dawn one day he took a stagecoach to go to visit the Archbishop of Tarragona. When the coach drew into Villafranca del Panades, about seven A.M., all the priests of the town were there to meet it and begged Archbishop Claret to interrupt his journey and come to their aid.
As soon as he heard their story he dismounted and sent word to his host that he had met with a delay. Four criminals were to be executed there that morning – three boys in their late teens and a man of forty – and all four had absolutely refused to confess and receive Communion.
The pastor of the town pressed Archbishop Claret to have a quick cup of hot chocolate and hurry over to the prison. No, said the Archbishop, they must first go to the church and place the affair in God's hands.
When they had done this, they went to the prison, and the missionary was at once admitted to see the condemned men. St. Anthony Claret's warm, fatherly pleas soon conquered the three younger criminals.
They made their confessions, and the chaplain prepared to administer them Viaticum, the last Communion. He asked the young men, according to the custom, if they forgave all who had injured them. Two replied yes. The third said yes, he forgave everyone except his mother. Archbishop Claret prostrated himself and kissed the boy's feet.
"My son," he said, "if you do not pardon your mother you will be damned. For God's sake and for my sake I beg you to forgive her."
"No," the young man said, "it is on her account that I am in this trouble. If she had punished me in time I would not be here. I do not forgive her."
The four prisoners were covered with execution robes, mounted on mules, and led to the scaffold. The moment before his sentence of death was carried out, the unforgiving youth shouted, "I forgive my mother from my heart. Pray for me!" Then the older man, the toughest of the four, held up his arms and asked to confess.
Seated on the bench, with his head covered, he confessed and was absolved. Then the four men were put to death. Some time after, God revealed to Anthony Claret the judgment the four had received.
In a public conference he emphatically stated: "The four criminals of Villafranca were saved."
EAT MY FLESH
The book of John was written in the Greek Language. And when the author recorded things down - when he said you must eat my flesh - he used the Greek word "trogo."
Now in the Greek language, many words can be used for "eat". However, the word "trogo" was chosen; it's a very special word because it cannot be taken symbolically. When that word was chosen - when you trogo something, you actually gnaw on it. The definition is to aggressively or loudly munching, gnawing and chewing, as an animal would eat.
This cannot be taken symbolically, and the author chooses this word so that later on when people read this - it's not a soft word - it's meant to actually gnaw and to eat. It's very important; it cannot to be taken symbolically.
Addiction is one of the hardest things to come to terms with and fight, whether it's you who has the problem or someone you love. While it may be an uphill battle, there are people out there who are willing to offer help and give advice to help you take the first steps. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and life experiences. Your blog is very inspiring.
Addiction is one of the hardest things to come to terms with and fight, whether it's you who has the problem or someone you love. While it may be an uphill battle, there are people out there who are willing to offer help and give advice to help you take the first steps. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and life experiences. Your blog is very inspiring.
THE EUCHARIST
Eucharistia means thanksgiving, and the Eucharist is the "source and summit of the Christian life." St. Justin Martyr described the Eucharistic Liturgy in 155 AD in his First Apology. The Paschal mystery of Christ is celebrated in the liturgy of the Mass. The Mass is the Eucharist or principal sacramental celebration of the Church, established by Jesus at the Last Supper, in which the mystery of our salvation through participation in the sacrificial death and glorious resurrection of Christ is renewed and accomplished.
The word "Mass" comes from the Latin missa, as it refers to the mission or sending forth of the faithful following the celebration, so that they may fulfill God's will in their daily lives.
The essential signs of the sacrament are wheat bread and grape wine, on which the blessing of the Holy Spirit is invoked during the Sacrifice of the Mass, and the priest pronounces the words of consecration spoken by Jesus at the Last Supper: "This is my body...This is the cup of my blood..." (Matthew 26:26-28, Mark 14:22-24, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26).
Jesus died once on the cross in sacrifice for our sins (Hebrews 9:25-28). But Jesus is present for all time, as he is the eternal Son of God. What he did once in history also then exists for all eternity. What happened in time goes beyond time.
In the heart of Jesus he is always giving himself to the Father for us, as he did on the Cross. When we celebrate the Mass, the sacrifice of the cross, that happened once in history but is present for all eternity, that same reality is made present in mystery.1
The bread and wine through Transubstantiation become the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, and we receive the Real Presence of Jesus when we receive Holy Communion. Our soul is nourished, helping us to become like Christ. The Eucharist is the heart and source of community within the Church. Receiving Holy Communion with others during the Mass brings unity of the Church, the Body of Christ (I Corinthians 10:16-17).
Then he took the bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them, saying,
"This is my body, which will be given for you;
do this in memory of me."
And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying,
"This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
which will be shed for you."
Gospel of Luke 22:19-20
"I am the living bread which came down from heaven;
if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever;
and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh."
Gospel of John 6:51
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you,
that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;
and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said,
"This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me."
In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying,
"This cup is the new covenant in My blood;
do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,
you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.
First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians 11:23-26
Jesus was very clear in what we must do in order to have Him ABIDE in us and we in Him.
He left this command for us in John 6:53-57, and it is the only place in Holy Scripture in which you will find it:
53 "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you (the taken away branch);
54 he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
55 For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 HE WHO EATS MY FLESH AND DRINKS MY BLOOD ABIDES IN ME, AND I IN HIM. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me."
What does "Truly, truly" mean to you in verse 53? What does "unless" mean?
The body lives because it receives real food sustenance. Starve the body and it will die.
Just as the body needs real sustenance, so does the soul, else it will not bear fruit.
The soul lives by real Divine sustenance, the true presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.
THE ROOM OF CROSSES
The young man was at the end of his rope. Seeing no way out, he dropped to his knees in prayer. "Lord, I can't go on," he said, "My cross is too heavy to bear." The Lord replied, "My son, if you cannot bear its weight, just place your cross inside this room. Then open another door and pick out any cross you wish."
The man was filled with relief. "Thank you, Lord," he sighed, and did as he was told. As he looked around the room he saw many different crosses; some so large the tops were not visible.
Then he spotted a tiny cross leaning against a wall. "I'd like that one, Lord," he whispered. And the Lord replied, "My son, that's the cross you came in with."
There's a fair bit of twaddle getting put on here - are you paying attention?
Sober 100 Days
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