Daily Reprieve

From the Daily Reflections of November 24;

Be quick to see where religious people are right. Make use of what they offer.   (Alcoholics Anonymous, page 87)

I do not claim to have all the answers in spiritual matters, any more than I claim to have all the answers about alcoholism. There are others who are also engaged in a spiritual search. If I keep an open mind about what others have to say, I have much to gain. My sobriety is greatly enriched, and my practice of the Eleventh Step more fruitful, when I use both the literature and practices of my Judeo-Christian tradition, and the resources of other religions. Thus, I receive support from many sources in staying away from the first drink.

END OF QUOTE

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It does seem to make sense to expand the tools I have to use in my 11th step pursuit.  Whatever works, I will use as long as it is not at the expense of another human being.  No midnight pacts that end in human sacrifice or religious participation that requires me to control or humiliate others to feel accepted.  The tools must be from a source that reinforces the saving reality of a loving Gomu (God of my understanding).

From the Daily Reflections of November 23;

Believe more deeply. Hold your face up to the Light, even though for the moment you do not see.  (As Bill Sees It, page 3)

One Sunday in October, during my morning meditation, I glanced out the window at the ash tree in our front yard. At once I was overwhelmed by its magnificent, golden color! As I stared in awe at God’s work of art, the leaves began to fall and, within minutes, the branches were bare. Sadness came over me as I thought of the winter months ahead, but just as I was reflecting on autumn’s annual process, God’s message came through. Like the trees, stripped of their leaves in the fall, sprout new blossoms in the spring, I had had my compulsive, selfish ways removed by God in order for me to blossom into a sober, joyful member of A.A. Thank you, God, for the changing seasons and for my ever-changing life.

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There is a danger looking directly into the light of the Sun, or so I’ve heard. The brighter the light, the greater the risk that a direct gaze will damage my eyesight.  These mortal eyes are adapted to looking at the effects of light.  I see color and movement and the unfolding of life as light strikes and reflects from my surroundings.

The spiritual Universe comes from the infinity within and shines on all I look at.  In this case, if I desire to look directly into this light, I must focus on the reflection provided to me by a mirror.  I must know me, and the light that comes from within.  Getting to know God is also a journey of becoming familiar with the brightest version of mySelf.

Maybe the ability to look directly into the light requires the blinding of my mortal eyes, the stripping of the leaves of known beauty, so that the seasons bring a truer version of the Tree.  Infinite One, open my immoral eyes.

From the Daily Reflections of November 22;

. . . there are only two sins; the first is to interfere with the growth of another human being, and the second is to interfere with one’s own growth.   (Alcoholics Anonymous, page 542, 3rd Edition)

Happiness is such an elusive state. How often do my “prayers” for others involve “hidden” prayers for my own agenda? How often is my search for happiness a boulder in the path of growth for another, or even myself? Seeking growth through humility and acceptance brings things that appear to be anything but good, wholesome and vital. Yet in looking back, I can see that pain, struggles and setbacks have all contributed eventually to serenity through growth in the program.

I ask my Higher Power to help me not cause another’s lack of growth today—or my own.

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I would think the prayer should be to help me, through my tenth step work, to see were I am a spiritual threat to myself or others.  For instance, I know that when I begin feeling a great deal of self pity or when I become paranoid of being judged unjustly, that fear and isolated selfishness are manifesting in me.  This is a pattern I have discovered in the moral inventory.  What I can change by will power, I do.  What I cannot, I turn to my Higher Power.

Another thing I think is important is to talk with my Gomu (God of my understanding) about is what I am doing that is useful and helps enhance my spiritual growth, and what do I do or can I do to support others along their own journey.  I think these more positive outlooks are step eleven pursuits.  Looking for sins belongs to step ten.  Maybe these are the only two virtues that are the flip side to these two sins.  I speculate.  I would rather quietly listen and make it intimate and personal with the Infinite One.

From the Daily Reflections of November 21;

Lord, make me a channel for thy peace—that where there is hatred, I may bring love—that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness—that where there is discord, I may bring harmony—that where there is error, I may bring truth—that where there is doubt, I may bring faith—that where there is despair, I may bring hope—that where there are shadows, I may bring light—that where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted—to understand, than to be understood—to love, than to be loved. For it is by self-forgetting that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life.  Amen.   (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, page 99)

No matter where I am in my spiritual growth, the St. Francis prayer helps me improve my conscious contact with the God of my understanding. I think that one of the great advantages of my faith in God is that I do not understand Him, or Her, or It. It may be that my relationship with my Higher Power is so fruitful that I do not have to understand. All that I am certain of is that if I work the Eleventh Step regularly, as best I can, I will continue to improve my conscious contact, I will know His will for me, and I will have the power to carry it out.

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Saint Francis of Assisi, the Patron Saint of Animals and Ecology

This prayer entered the collective conscious in 1912 as “A Beautiful Prayer to Say During Mass.”  It was published anonymously and scholars suspect that it was written by a French priest, Father Esther Bouquerel (1855-1923), who was responsible for the publication and ministry that presented it to the people of his generation.  In 1915, after World War I had begun, the prayer was sent to the Pope and the next year it was published in Italian in the Vatican’s daily newspaper.  After World War I, a French Franciscan priest printed the prayer on the back of an image of St. Francis and circulated it, thus loosely associating it with the life of Francis. After the Great War, a French Protestant movement called the Knights of the Prince of Peace decided in 1927 to tightly bind the prayer to a Christian saint know for his pacifism.  So they told the world it was written by St. Francis in 1927.  Benito Mussolini became a fascist dictator in Italy in 1925.  Adolph Hitler had participated in a failed coup in Munich, was imprisoned, which gave him the time and opportunity to write Mein Kampf to be published in 1925.  In 1940, Hitler conquered France.  The prayer came out of a historical crucible of war.

St. Francis of Assisi was born in 1181 and Genghis Khan was born approximately 1162.  The Saint died in 1226 and the Khan died in 1227.  Both men believed they had a calling by their God.  One to build up a church and the other to expand an empire.  My Gomu (God of my understanding) is inspiration both to the beloved pacifist Christian shaman and the feared Mongol conqueror.

When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

(The Tyger – William Blake)

This prayer is basically a poetic expression of a petition being made to God that is a familiar cry of the recovering alcoholic; “please let me be apart of the solution rather than the problem.” For me, it is like spiritual marijuana.  It feels good reciting it, but it does not really give me any meat hooks to hold spiritual substance in my spiritual pursuit.  It is the steps of AA that give it the necessary pragmatic substance.  If it works for you, please use it.