seeing beyond addiction

​Sunday | 23 | OT | C
Vancouver, September 8, 2019

While I was in Rome, I met someone whom I had been seeing over several years -- during the summer months. This person had been suffering from addiction. He was exasperated like anyone who deals with addiction. Discouraged. Yet, he had not given up.

What makes addiction difficult is knowing there is a very high chance you are going to repeat the same acts that you will later regret -- the same sin, over and over… This vicious -- endless cycle -- addiction is painful because it does not seem to stop.

And yet, there he was talking about his addiction, with the hope, that just maybe, this glimmer of light within him, that this vicious cycle of pain and pleasure would end. Yes, pain and pleasure. Underlying addiction is pain. And to bring relief to this pain, a person seeks pleasure; pleasure becomes like a medication. A person with an addiction will talk about being “medicated,” and medication is the addiction.

Now, this man who was struggling, was also hopeful, because he had faith in God, he believed in God, that God could and would heal him. So, the last time I saw him, I looked at him and said, “You look different almost like you are now glowing with light.” He simply smiled. And said, “I feel so liberated. God’s grace has helped me. It’s been a slow journey to recovery. But, now I even have someone to accompany me, in a very personal way, I found the woman I want to marry. She knows all about me.” And he introduced me to her. I gave them both a blessing.
​
I was so happy for him. He battled, he was courageous, he put his trust in God, and sought help from people whom he could rely on… and now, he would have a wife to journey with him. He found his ultimate source of hope and joy and strength in God. The joy on his face was incredible. The love and trust he had placed in God led him to freedom.

---

What is the wisdom that we discover in this story: well, this young man knew he could not manage on his own -- he needed help. And so, he turned to God for strength, to devout believers who were serious about the practise of their Roman Catholic faith, he found guidance in them. He turned to Priests and to the Religious for support.

His journey was not alone although the pain he had suffered and continues to experience -- the battle with addiction -- this he experienced alone. He knew he was too weak and too fragile to journey by himself, even though, the decisions to seek help, and to abstain, were ultimately his. And he knew that the wisdom of God, would lead him to sanctification. Overcoming his addiction he believed that God would purify. In the Wisdom of God he trusted.

The second reading, the Letter to Philemon, concerns Onesimus who kept Paul company while Paul was imprisoned and Onesimus became like a companion for Paul. Rather than keeping Onesimus with him, Paul sends him back to Philemon. But Onesimus has become a Christian and so, what does Paul tell Philemon, to receive him as a Brother. It’s very easy to mistreat a worker or a servant in this case a slave because they depend on the support of their employers. But Paul says, remember, he is now a Christian, you are to treat him as your own brother, because in Christ we are all one, we are all equal. These are profound words spoken and written two thousand years ago, already expressing equality among individuals who share a common faith in Jesus Christ.

The Wisdom of God, the Word of God, is manifested in His Son Jesus Christ. As sinners, we are not only cleansed but recreated in Christ. Regardless of the addiction we might have, God purifies us when we ask for healing, we show this desire for conversion by our choices and actions. We are guided by God’s divine Wisdom, his healing Wisdom: slave -- or slaves to sin -- freed by Christ we are restored in Christ.
In the Reading from St. Luke’s Gospel we hear this radical teaching of Jesus Christ: whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Jesus wants us to put Him at the centre of our lives and too often we have many others, and many other things, who are at the center. Jesus is teaching us detachment from the world -- from people and things. He is teaching us to prepare ourselves for eternal life.

St. Augustine tells us in his Confessions about the story of a friend of his who died. He was very very attached to this friend. And when his friend died he cried feeling as though his own world had come an end. How could he live without this friend, St. Augustine wondered, whom he loved so much and who was now dead? But what did St. Augustine discover? He was too attached to a creature, a person, created by God, and this person was not God, not the Creator. And St. Augustine understood from his friend’s death he needed to be attached to God. To be attached to the very one who created him.
This is what Jesus Christ is teaching us, we need to attach ourselves to Him. The one who saves us. The one who leads us to eternal life. As long as our hearts and desires are attached to the world how do we expect to take up our Cross and follow Jesus Christ as His disciples? Jesus is teaching us about letting go. At one time in religious life, family members could not see their children once they passed through the doors of a convent or monastery. Perhaps on special occasion such as solemn vows or Ordination. Things have changed, but there is still a spirit of detachment. And during the novitiate year it was always strict -- a complete break with the family and the world -- as a way of teaching detachment -- and is still remains true for the novitiate year of formation which is a very intense spiritual year. To see if Religious life is made for you.

If Christ is to be the center of our lives, we need to purify ourselves of earthly attachments. Sometimes these attachments can be in the form of addictions, that prevent us from following Christ. This is why, someone who suffers from an addiction and wants to follows Jesus Christ, well, this person knows what sacrifices signify in terms of self-denial and abstinence; but the recovering addict also discovers the joy of being liberated, and therefore, the joy of taking up the Cross.
​
Let us ask Christ to strengthen us, to heal us of our addictions, no matter how great or small, and let us pray to the Virgin Mary to strengthen us in holiness. Amen.