When we believe we have to earn God’s favor—that He will love and help us only if we do certain things—we are building a false image of God. This image of God is distant, impatient, condemning, cross-armed, and sighing with disappointment. We might believe that God “could” help us if He chose but we begin to doubt that He “would” help us. We doubt His love and mercy, and thus we are shut off from the very power and grace we need to recover and be healed.

We uncover these wrong ideas about God during Step Two. In this step, we ask for the willingness to let go of these false beliefs, similar to those of the scribes in today’s Gospel reading, and “come to believe” the truth that God has and continues to reveal Himself through the Catholic Church. Through the Church’s teachings, Scripture, prayer, adoration, the rosary, and the sacraments we are led to the unfathomable love and mercy that burns away any false image of God.

God has not turned his back on us. He has not abandoned us. The strong and evil one has harmed us but Jesus is stronger. He breaks into the house of addiction, compulsions, and unhealthy attachment—of despair, shame, and sin—and binds up the evil one. In response to the revelation of Jesus’ unconditional love and mercy, we can find the courage to accept His healing and grace. We can make a decision to turn our will and lives over to God in Step Three. And we can continue working the Steps, coming to believe in the unconditional and merciful love of God.

Reflection Questions

• What kind of false beliefs about God have you had in the past? What do you do to combat these false beliefs from cropping back up?
• What can you do today to let God “bind up” your addiction, compulsions, or unhealthy attachments and give you peace, freedom, and healing?

Daily Mass Readings

First Reading: 2 Samuel 5:1-7, 10
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 89:20, 21-22, 25-26
Gospel: Mark 3:22-30

 Reflection by Ann A.