Addictions
Addictions
200 Words: With Jesus, one can die to addiction, rest from it and rise to life without it.
Modern life is replete with addictions.
Alcohol takes its toll. Illicit drugs kill. Pornography is plentiful, accessible and destructive.
Experts say that the gambling addiction is the worst – hardest to break.
One thing is certain. Psychologists will be kept busy.
Can we offer anything from our rich spiritual tradition?
Enter Paul.
Well educated, formed in the Jewish faith, he undergoes an unexpected conversion, re-orientating him from persecution of Christians to the warm embrace of Christ and his followers.
The Letter to the Romans is his most mature work:
When we were baptised in Christ Jesus we were baptised in his death.
In other words, when we were baptised we went into the tomb with him and joined him in death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glory, we too might live a new life (Romans 6).
Those who suffer from addictions have access to a spiritual movement, which is a spiritual powerhouse.
Psychologists have an ally.
With Jesus, one can die to addiction, rest from it and rise to life without it.
Accompaniment is needed. A wise spiritual director indispensable.
There is hope.
Addiction can be broken and defeated – ‘new life’ emerges.
Amen.
What a great piece of writing. Thank you.
I suspect what St Paul is referring to here is the process of 'transcendence'. As an addict myself working within the 12-Step Fellowship of Recovery from addition (e.g. Alcoholics Anonymous), the 'new life', or grace as it might also be termed, is an inner knowing, at the deepest level of my being, that everything in the universe is one, unrestricted, emanating from the Source, always a part of, and connected to the Source and forever returning ‘home’ to the Source. This is a truly transcendental experience gifted from the great spiritual movement known as 'Christianity'. As an addict, I do experience 'letting go' and being created by God who maintains the whole universe in being. For me, the Universal Christ exists simultaneously within, without, living and present. I now call this the experience of the Omnipotent Majesty of God.
Blessing all. JPM