Twelve-Step Spirituality: Week 3
Summary: Sunday, November 29-December 5, 2015
We humbly asked [God] to remove our shortcomings. —Step 7 (Sunday)
We made a list of all the persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. —Step 8 (Monday)
We made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. —Step 9 (Tuesday)
We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. —Step 10 (Wednesday)
We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood [God], praying only for the knowledge of [God’s] will for us and the power to carry that out. —Step 11 (Thursday)
Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs. —Step 12 (Friday)
Practice: Continuing the Work
As you gradually work through the Twelve Step program with a trusted sponsor, counselor, or friend, these invitations to reflection may help you delve more deeply into each step.
Step 7: When have you tried to eliminate a fault, only to have it reappear later? How might you be more patient with yourself and your faults? How can you begin to see failure as an opportunity to grow?
Step 8: What relationships would you like to redo? Write about things you did wrong, things you might have done differently. What change can you make today?
Step 9: Our lives are never completely our own. Write about the ways in which some of the deepest truths of your life have an impact on other people. Reflect on how to respect their privacy as well as your own as you go through a program of recovery.
Step 10: Set aside some time to look calmly and objectively at your life in this present moment: the good and the bad, the contentment and the stress, the grace and the struggles. Write about what you observe. If it helps you to stay detached, write about yourself in the third person, using your name instead of “I.”
Step 11: Spend some time in meditation, perhaps focusing only on a few words from Scripture or your favorite name for God. Write about any realizations you have about the experience.
Step 12: How can you gently encourage others to begin to explore the hidden depths of their own lives? Remember that this kind of journey can only be undertaken freely and willingly.
Gateway to Silence:
One day at a time
Reference:
[1] Adapted from Richard Rohr, Breathing Under Water Companion Journal (Franciscan Media: 2015).
For further study:
Richard Rohr, Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps
Richard Rohr, Breathing Under Water Companion Journal
Richard Rohr, Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi
A Simple Program: A Contemporary Translation of the Book “Alcoholics Anonymous”
