It was in the rooms of recovery where I learned about God and the possibility of finding freedom from my addictions to alcohol and drugs. It was there that I met people who introduced me to Jesus, first through their personal love, then through Scripture, and, eventually, by inviting me to my first Catholic Mass. That first Mass was a powerful experience, and it felt like I had finally found a home. I began to realize that I needed more than “a power greater than myself” to find true freedom and healing in recovery. I needed a loving God with a name who had a purpose for my life. For true and lasting healing from addictions, compulsions, and unhealthy attachments, we all need Jesus and His unconditional love that St. Paul reminds us of today:
“Brothers and sisters: If God is for us, who can be against us? He did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him? Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who acquits us. Who will condemn? It is Christ Jesus who died, rather, was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?…For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31b-39).
Reflection Questions
- How has your recovery led you to a deeper faith and love for Christ and His Church?
- How have you experienced God’s healing power and unconditional love through Scripture and the sacraments?
Daily Mass Readings
First Reading: Romans 8:31b-39
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 109:21-22, 26-27, 30-31
Gospel: Luke 13:31-35
Reflection by Marty T.