Fr Jim Cogley
Other areas where the traditional churches have so much to learn from the AA Programme are in relation to humility and surrender. The person suffering from an addiction has often had to reach rock bottom before they can humbly say that ‘I am an alcoholic and my life is so unmanageable that only a higher power can restore me to sanity. This is a contrite state where truth spoken in anguish is the herald of freedom. At this point there are no more hiding places, all the lies have been exposed and will-power has been declared bankrupt. The next stage is one of surrendering ones life to a Higher Power or God as He//she is known to the person. In AA terms this is known as ‘letting go and letting God’; it is where will-power gives way to Divine grace. The will is still crucial, but now it is my will working in conjunction with Divine power, and so the miracle of transformation begins – all one day at a time. And it works!
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