“I never saw more than I was willing to risk seeing.”
-- Paula D’Arcy, Gift of the Red Bird: The Story of a Divine Encounter
This line from a book by Paula D’Arcy is the perfect complement to two experiences of mine this Easter weekend.
This morning, I attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting off Mt. Vernon Avenue in Del Ray with my friends Bill, Bud, and Chris. (All of them gave me permission to divulge that they attended this meeting.) I went to the meeting to support my friend Bill who is beginning his third week of sobriety after an emotionally exhausting intervention involving a dozen friends and family members.
While I am not a regular participant in 12-step programs, I know enough people who are involved to be reasonably familiar with the process and its precepts. As stated in the AA Preamble, which was read at the very beginning of today’s meeting, “ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism.” The preamble goes on to say “A.A. is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.”
One of the common attributes of the addiction to alcohol, as I’ve discovered from my friends in AA, is an ongoing, fierce battle against denial. Denial is a powerful enemy that can lull an alcoholic into a false sense of security that the struggle against the disease is being won; meanwhile, just around the corner, a cunning temptation is lying in wait to sucker the alcoholic back into addiction with a single punch.
My friend Bill and I have had several conversations about his alcoholism in the last two weeks. In describing his denial and the “double life” he led, Bill has not used Paula D’Arcy’s exact words, but they are no less true for him: “I never saw more [of myself and my addiction] than I was willing to risk seeing.” My companionship with Bill at the AA meeting today is one encounter that drives home the mini-sermon from Gift of the Red Bird.
The other encounter that will happen very soon is the gift of Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday. Again, Paula D’Arcy’s words are bold and powerful, putting the story of the gospels in stark relief: “I never saw more than I was willing to risk seeing.”
As we know from reading the gospel narratives of Jesus’ death and resurrection, not one disciple fully understood Jesus when he told them, I will destroy this temple and raise it again in three days. They didn’t understand when he told them that the Son of Man must be put to death, and the Father will raise him again on the third day. Not one of them understood. NOT ONE.
Even when the two disciples went into the empty tomb where Jesus’ body had been placed and they saw the strips of linen lying there as well as the burial cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head, they still did not understand. “I never saw more than I was willing to risk seeing.”
This season, this moment, this Easter is a time for us to take a risk. It is a time to risk seeing more than we have ever been willing to see before.
-- Pat Jones
This line from a book by Paula D’Arcy is the perfect complement to two experiences of mine this Easter weekend.
This morning, I attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting off Mt. Vernon Avenue in Del Ray with my friends Bill, Bud, and Chris. (All of them gave me permission to divulge that they attended this meeting.) I went to the meeting to support my friend Bill who is beginning his third week of sobriety after an emotionally exhausting intervention involving a dozen friends and family members.
While I am not a regular participant in 12-step programs, I know enough people who are involved to be reasonably familiar with the process and its precepts. As stated in the AA Preamble, which was read at the very beginning of today’s meeting, “ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism.” The preamble goes on to say “A.A. is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.”
One of the common attributes of the addiction to alcohol, as I’ve discovered from my friends in AA, is an ongoing, fierce battle against denial. Denial is a powerful enemy that can lull an alcoholic into a false sense of security that the struggle against the disease is being won; meanwhile, just around the corner, a cunning temptation is lying in wait to sucker the alcoholic back into addiction with a single punch.
My friend Bill and I have had several conversations about his alcoholism in the last two weeks. In describing his denial and the “double life” he led, Bill has not used Paula D’Arcy’s exact words, but they are no less true for him: “I never saw more [of myself and my addiction] than I was willing to risk seeing.” My companionship with Bill at the AA meeting today is one encounter that drives home the mini-sermon from Gift of the Red Bird.
The other encounter that will happen very soon is the gift of Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday. Again, Paula D’Arcy’s words are bold and powerful, putting the story of the gospels in stark relief: “I never saw more than I was willing to risk seeing.”
As we know from reading the gospel narratives of Jesus’ death and resurrection, not one disciple fully understood Jesus when he told them, I will destroy this temple and raise it again in three days. They didn’t understand when he told them that the Son of Man must be put to death, and the Father will raise him again on the third day. Not one of them understood. NOT ONE.
Even when the two disciples went into the empty tomb where Jesus’ body had been placed and they saw the strips of linen lying there as well as the burial cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head, they still did not understand. “I never saw more than I was willing to risk seeing.”
This season, this moment, this Easter is a time for us to take a risk. It is a time to risk seeing more than we have ever been willing to see before.
-- Pat Jones
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