Being Saved by the Good Shepherd
12-step Eucharist Wednesday, May 3, 2023, Easter 4A
John 10:1-10
“Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
In Richard Rohr’s blog,/ James Finley talks about being saved as the paradoxical power that comes from admitting we are powerless. /When we take the First Step: “We admit we are powerless and our lives have become unmanageable.” The First Step is admitting…. If we admit,/ we’re admitted. If we don’t admit,/ we’re not admitted. If we admit, we live; and if we don’t admit,/ we may die. (Repeat)
Why is admitting so extremely painful when the very thing that’s so painful is the very thing that saves our lives?
Hitting bottom is what most often precedes admitting/ and makes admitting possible. It’s excruciating to admit that our lives have become unmanageable because we all need a sense of control. We all need to believe, “Look, I have handled so many other things. I can handle this.” It is the admitting that is such a painful experience. The admitting brings us to a place where we recognize that it is not looking good/ if this is all up to us. If this is up to us, we see despair. Finley says the fact that we’ve risked despair opens up a whole new possibility because maybe it’s not up to us. Maybe/ there’s another way.
The Second Step of the Twelve Steps is: “We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” To lead us to life, an abundant life./
John of the Cross says, “When we can still see a little bit of light, we will resist guidance;/ but when we cannot see at all, we will stretch forth our hands and be led to unknown places where we don’t know how to go.” This is indeed what admitting can do for us. Admitting is poverty of spirit; it is experiential humility. The act of admitting, then, opens up this paradoxical faith.
Finley believes all of us on this healing journey in relationship to our Higher Power will finally come to say to God: “You know, /I don’t know who you are, /but I do know who you are: you’re the one who saved my life./ And I don’t know who I am, either,/ but I do know: I’m the one you saved.”
James Finley in Mystical Sobriety, an online course with the Center for Action and Contemplation. https://cac.org/online-education/mystical-sobriety/
Joanna Seibert