A Good Friday Message to recovering persons

A Good Friday Message to recovering persons:
Whether you’re a Christian or not, the Christian message pervades our North American cultures. Today is ‘Good Friday’… for Christians that means the God-Man Jesus sacrificed his life to atone for our sin! And what addict/alcoholic has not sinned! I’m not trying to make a moral issue out of addiction but there are some obvious ethical dimensions to recovery.
Today we remember the crucifixion of Jesus. Any recovering person be they gamblers, food addicts, love addicts, sex addicts, pill poppers whatever needs to follow Jesus’ example of allowing the ego to be crucified. As its only by letting go of our control, that our personalities can be transformed and resurrected. The crucifixion of the ego is of course very painful and many people avoid that and simply remain ‘dry drunks’… unhappy, bitter, struggling never to know their potential until they reach out for help.
In psychotherapy the addicted person is carried through their personal crucifixion by a compassionate witnessing therapist who provides ‘faith’ for their journey into their dark night. It takes a lot of courage to do this but the rebirth/resurrected personality is a joy for all to see. When we change the world around us changes!
Perhaps your recovery will start today with a crisis of conscience? You’ve violated your moral code, the things you swore you would never do you’ve done. Recovery is about admitting our guilt and moving on, not wallowing in self-pity or neurotic guilt. I invite you not this day nor this hour but in this moment to stop meditate/pray…recovery moves forward and our world is a better place!

I leave you with a quote from ‘The Cloud of Unknowing’… perhaps the most profound writing on meditation ever penned:
For in the beginning it is usual to feel nothing but a kind of darkness about your mind, or as it were, a cloud of unknowing. You will seem to know nothing and to feel nothing except a naked intent toward God in the depths of your being. (…) But learn to be at home in this darkness. Return to it as often as you can, letting your spirit cry out to Him whom you love. For if, in this life, you hope to feel and see God as He is in Himself, it must within this darkness and this cloud. P49 (…) by the work of contemplative love man will be healed. Failing in this work he sinks deeper into sin further and further from God, but by persevering in it he gradually rises from sin and grows in divine intimacy. P.50.
In Christ,
Brian
Innercare Services International Inc.
p. 1-604-746-1164
e. info@innercare.org
w. www.innercare.org

Based in the Fraser Valley near Vancouver… serving North America and the world!