Remarkably, God has nevertheless implanted within each of us an undeniable and insatiable yearning to behold His glory, to see God as He is in Himself, to experience intimate union with His presence. We are all hardwired with this holy desire, and life’s journey, centered in our ongoing conversion in recovery, is learning to follow the spiritual instincts of our souls seeking to return to their spiritual home—to God Himself. For a whole host of reasons, in active addiction our sacred and natural desire for God and His holy glory became profane and disfigured as we became “nailed” and “attached” to the idols of transient things and fleeting pleasures. Our holy desire, divorced from love, became “compulsive” and “possessive” in all the unhealthy and tyrannical ways these terms suggest. Our desire became sin, the very definition of which is “to miss the mark,” like an arrow missing the target. Our habitual addictive sins are the very illustration of our inborn desire for God gone astray, of obsessively “missing the mark!”

How can we behold the infinite, the wholly other, the indescribable, the untouchable, the unknowable, the surpassing glory of the Father in this mortal life? Through the gift of Christ Jesus who is the face of the Father. “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9b). Jesus communicates God’s glory through the gift of Himself in sanctifying grace, the most precious treasure we have short of eternal life with God in Heaven. This is why the sacraments must be front and center in any program of recovery. Receiving the sacraments worthily is to be in God’s presence, to participate in His divine life, and to be healed of our profane desire.

Father Matthias Scheeben beautifully wrote, “We do not hesitate, then, to say that grace is the most precious, and, since it contains all other gifts, is the only great good, which is the subject of the Gospel, that joyful heavenly message brought to this earth by the Son of God. By grace we are made true children of God and acquire the right to the possession of the highest gifts that God can bestow upon His creatures, even to possession of God Himself, who wishes to become the inheritance of His children, with all His infinite glory and happiness” (The Glories of Divine Grace). Let us not “miss the mark” in our recovery. Let us come to honorably possess the glory of Christ Jesus. And may the Father through His Son in the Holy Spirit consume us wholly and eternally in His majestic glory.

Reflection Question

• How do you understand God’s glory? How did you “miss the mark” in active addiction and how did that take you away from God’s presence?
• Do you believe that God has called you personally to possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ? Consider how obedience and humility as virtues play a significant role in receiving God’s grace from your own experience.

Daily Mass Readings

First Reading: Ezekiel 1:2-5, 24-28c
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 148:1-2, 11-12, 13, 14
Gospel: Matthew 17:22-27

Reflection by Pete S.