When I came into the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous over twenty years ago I was not financially poor. I was well established in my career and had money in the bank. But I was living in a shell. I was emotionally and spiritually empty and about to file for spiritual and emotional bankruptcy. My family was still intact, but just barely. I was living in a house of cards, and those cards were about to come down and it was going to hurt. I knew I needed to stop drinking.
In today’s Responsorial Psalm, we read, “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.” After many arguments with my wife over my drinking and waking up most mornings with a feeling of dread, I had certainly become brokenhearted. I was emotionally and spiritually crushed.
I prayed. I asked God for help. I acknowledged I couldn’t do it myself. My road to recovery began with a prayer similar to the repentant tax collector, “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.” But as we read today, God heard my cry, as He does for all of us who cry out to Him from our poverty of spirit. And when we do cry out to Him, we soon experience His closeness, healing, and the richness of His peace on our recovery journey.
Reflection Questions
- What were your emotional and spiritual states in the final moments before you entered recovery?
- How have your emotional and spiritual states changed since entering recovery? What can you hand over to God that still needs to be changed for the better?
Daily Mass Readings
First Reading: Acts 5:27-33
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 34:2 and 9, 17-18, 19-20
Gospel: John 3:31-36
Reflection by Kevin S.