PRAYER FOR THE ADDICTED

God of mercy, we bless You in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, who ministered to all who come to Him.

Give Your strength to ________, Your servant, bound by the chains of addiction.

Enfold him/her in Your love and restore him/her to the freedom of God's children.

Lord, look with compassion on all those who have lost their health and freedom.

Restore to them the assurance of Your unfailing mercy, and strengthen them in the work of recovery.

To those who care for them, grant patient understanding and a love that perseveres.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Thank You Ven. Matt Talbot!!!

AOCA

NOTE: It is possible that the signature, "AOCA," is a typing error. "ACOA" typically refers to "Adult Children of Alcoholics," which may be a self-described label as well as a twelve-step program for women and men who grew up in an alcoholic or otherwise dysfunctional home.

Source: http://www.yenra.com/catholic/prayers/share-a-prayer/archive089/

Acknowledge Your Poverty

by Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D.

Catholic Exchange

September 8th, 2008

Mi 5:1-4 or Rom 8:28-30 / Mt 1:1-16,18-23 or 1:18-23

The first of the eight beatitudes has a hidden wisdom waiting for us. The literal reading, of course, is, “Blessed are you poor, the reign of God is yours.” In a word, God is going to GIVE the poor the kingdom, for no reason except that God is generous.

The same beatitude, however, can be read on another level, “Blessed are you who KNOW you are poor….” Recognizing that deep down we are all poor, and that we own nothing at all, not even our own lives, comes slowly to many of us. Having a decent supply of this world’s goods can insulate us from the facts of our situation as creatures. We can take ourselves too seriously. And unless we’re brought up short by some tragedy, we can think that we’re quite self-sufficient and can dispense with bothering too much with God. An occasional bow in his direction will suffice — we think.

In fact, that’s a recipe for disaster, because it locks out God. It’s that sin of presumption which the old catechism warned us was unforgivable, because it says, “I don’t need God’s help,” which is the biggest lie of them all. In that circumstance, a wake-up call, even if it comes in the form of a tragedy, is a blessing, because it gets us back to reality. It gets the doors open and lets God in.

The stakes here are high, so some serious questions are in order:

Have you faced what it means to own nothing, not even your own life? Have you really accepted the fact that everything you have is strictly on loan, even your greatest talents? Has that recognition led you to a deep gratitude and a total reliance on God?

If so, you’re on your way, and the kingdom of God will be yours. If not, you’re in trouble and don’t even know it. But you will. So don’t wait for a painful wake-up call. Face the facts now, and give your life into God’s hands. In the end, he’s the only one who can save you, and that’s exactly what he wants to do.

Source: http://www.catholicexchange.com/2008/09/08/113636/

We may not express our deep gratitude and total reliance on God in exactly the same way that Matt Talbot did or to the extent that he did, but our challenge is simply to do it, each and every day.

Experiencing Different Types of Poverty

When we see or hear the word “poverty,” we probably immediately think of economic or financial poverty. Matt Talbot knew such poverty, growing up in a family in which both parents worked and frequently moved because they did not have sufficient money to pay their rent. (In later life he chose voluntary poverty, sharing his meager income with others in need.)

Some recovering addicts today have not experienced financial poverty during their "drinking careers." But probably all addicts in recovery, and especially Matt, can identify with the description of poverty below that previously existed in their lives.

Breakdown to a Breakthrough?

Richard Rohr

CatholicIreland.net

Thought for the Day:

6th, September, 2008

There are four descriptions of poverty in the Scriptures. First, there's poverty as sin, emptiness, the poverty of people who are dead inside. That obviously is not the poverty that Scripture idealizes. And yet it does play a part in the whole pattern of salvation. Sin and grace are related. In a certain sense the only way we really understand salvation, grace, and freedom, is by understanding their opposites. That's why the great saints are, invariably, converted sinners. When you finally have to eat and taste your own hard-heartedness, your own emptiness, selfishness and all the rest, then you open up to grace. That is the pattern in all our lives.

I think all of us have to confront ourselves as poor people in that way. And that's why many of our greatest moments of grace follow upon, sometimes, our greatest sins. We are hard-hearted and closed-minded for years, then comes the moment of vulnerability and mercy. We break down and break through.

Richard Rohr
Letting Go: A Spirituality of Subtraction (CD)

Source: http://www.catholicireland.net/reflect/

Reflections on Work and Workers

These links are provided for reflection on work and workers today in the USA and nearly a century ago in Matt Talbot's Dublin.

The first link is a personal reflection by Deacon Keith Fournier on the Catholic Church's perspective on the dignity, meaning, and redemptive value of all human work.

See http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=29071

In keeping with their annual Labor Day tradition, the US Bishops have released the following statement on the dignity of human work: http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=29072

Life, work, and workers were significantly different during Matt's lifetime.The first link provides a perspective on various themes in Dublin in 1911, when Matt was a 55 year old labourer with 27 years of sobriety: http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/exhibition/index.html

This link, The 1913 Strike and Lockout, is self-explanatory.

Remembering Matt Talbot on Labor Day

Today is Labor Day in the USA.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Day)

Whereas the saintly Matt Talbot is considered by many as the patron of alcoholics and other addicts, he may also be considered the "workers' saint." Even during his alcoholic years, Matt was praised by his employers as an exemplary worker.

Publicizing Matt Talbot

This is one of multiple examples of introducing Matt Talbot to others. It was created by the Knights of the Southern Cross-Australia for their 2006 Formation Program titled "The Saints in our Lives."

After reading the session on Matt Talbot, you may want to view the Formation foreword, segments, and theme links.

FORMATION 2006

Foreword & Segments

Theme #1

Theme #2

Theme #3

Theme #4

Theme #5

Theme #6

Theme #7

Theme #8

session NO 6

topic: “matt talbot”

A layman who turned his life around

opening prayer:

introduction:

In looking at the life of Matt Talbot, we may easily focus on the later years when he had stopped drinking for some time and was leading a penitential life. Only alcoholic men and women who have stopped drinking can fully appreciate how difficult the earliest years of sobriety were for Matt. He had to take one day at a time. So do the rest of us.

word of god

& The Gospel according to Matthew 5: 1-12

The Word of God is now read aloud slowly and prayerfully

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

"Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Allow a few moments reflective silence and then read the following:

Venerable Matt Talbot (1856-1925)

Feastday – June 19

Matt was born in the poverty of Dublin's inner city, where his father worked on the docks and had a difficult time supporting his family. After a few years of schooling, Matt obtained work as a messenger for some liquor merchants; there he began to drink excessively. For 15 years—until he was 30—Matt was an active alcoholic. This was the drug culture of the 19th century. Matt was an addict.

One day he decided to take "the pledge" for three months, make a general confession and begin to attend daily Mass. A priest helped him, giving him a rehabilitation programme, which providentially incorporated the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. That was fifty years before AA was founded. There is evidence that Matt’s first seven years after taking the pledge were especially difficult. Avoiding his former drinking places was hard. He began to pray as intensely as he used to drink. He also tried to pay back people from whom he had borrowed or stolen money while he was drinking.

Most of his life Matt worked as a builder’s labourer. He joined the Secular Franciscan Order and began a life of strict penance; he abstained from meat nine months a year. Matt spent hours every night avidly reading Scripture and the lives of the saints. With the help of his priest friend, Matt modelled his life on that of the monks, who lived in Ireland in the 6th and 7th centuries. It was a tough programme of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. To his neighbours and his work mates in the timber yards, he was a cheerful, happy friend. Though his job did not make him rich, Matt gave away most of his wages every week to the poor at home and abroad. "Matt had no time for money", his sister remarked. He was keenly aware of his fellow workers struggle for social justice. A loyal member of Ireland's Transport and General Workers Union, a Union leader, Stephen McGonagle, described him as "a beacon of light to Irish workers".

After a life of heroic perseverance, his health failed and Matt was forced to quit work. He died suddenly on his way to church on Trinity Sunday. Fifty years later Pope Paul VI gave him the title Venerable. Matt can be considered the patron of men and women struggling with alcoholism. He remained sober for forty years until his death. His life story has been an inspiration for alcoholics and addicts throughout the world.

For the next five minutes silently read and reflect on the readings.

Underline what you consider to be key words and/or phrases for you.

� Share your insights in discussion of the following:

v What are some of the addictions which can take you away from the Christian life?

v How can we, as Knights of the Southern Cross, assist those struggling with addiction in our communities?

conclusion

Leader: Matt's programme of recovery was built around devotion to the Eucharist, love of Mary, Mother of God, spiritual reading, self-discipline and manual work. But he never forgot his struggle with his addiction. Some day he may be declared the patron saint for addicts; and so we pray:

All: Lord God,

May Matt Talbot's triumph over addiction, bring hope to our community and strength to our hearts, through Christ Our Lord. Amen

Source: http://www.ksca.org.au/Formation/2006/who_formation2006.htm

Permission has been granted by LSCA to reproduce this activity.

For the Healing of an Addiction, One Day at a Time

This day I have within me the resolve of Matt Talbot.

This day I have within me the discipline of Brigid.

This day I have within me the triune faith of Patrick.

This day I have within me the courage of Brendan.

This day a pilgrimage,

One step at a time.

Let me walk with Matt Talbot

And the pioneers of sobriety.

This day is a pilgrimage,

One step at a time.

Let me walk with Brigid,

Her staff a guide and discipline.

This day a pilgrimage,

One step at a time.

Let me walk with Patrick,

His Breastplate, my daily shield.

This day a pilgrimage,

One step at a time.

Let me sail with Brendan,

Safe, sober, and clean at day's end.

Source: Fitzgerald, William John, A Contemporary Celtic Prayer Book, (1998). Chicago, IL: ACTA Publications, p. 117-118.

Freedom from Addiction

by Sarah Jennings, Crosswalk.com Family Editor

Crosswalk the Devotional - Aug. 18, 2008

I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12: 1-2

Have you ever met someone you thought was beyond God's reach? Someone whose life has sunk to such depths all seems hopeless? Most of us can think of people we've encountered like that. It may even be someone we love.

When we start to lose hope for another's soul, it's good to remind ourselves that some of the greatest Christian Saints were some of the most broken people. This week, in my search for Christian heroes, I encountered the story of one such person that did not resemble the perfect stained-glass images I grew up with. His name was Matthew Talbot, and here's a glimpse into his life.

The second of 13 children, Matthew was born in Dublin, Ireland on May 2, 1856. His family was poor and heavy drinking was the norm among his father and brothers. So from the start, Matthew was predisposed to alcoholism -- and sure enough, his drinking began at age 12.

As Matthew entered his teen years, odd jobs led way to a career working with bricklayers. While the local community considered him excellent at his trade, his drinking became central to his life. By the time his twenties arrived, it was common for Matthew to spend all his earned wages obtaining alcohol. When that wasn't enough, he began selling his possessions and eventually resorted to credit. Finally, after racking up too much debt, he sunk to an all-time low: stealing.

Not only was Matthew a heavy drinker-turned-thief, but he had a terrible temper and a vulgar tongue. Gripped by his disease and his poor choices, Matthew's life was going nowhere. His mother, Elizabeth, pleaded with him to change his ways. Finally, Matthew's life sunk so low he had no earthly place to turn.

So, in 1884, Matthew's mother received an answer to her prayers. The 28-year-old went to the only place left to go: Church. There, he confessed his sins and took a pledge to avoid drinking for 3 months. He seemed an unlikely candidate to keep the pledge. Yet Matthew had experienced an interior conversion in that church.

Three months passed, and he was still sober. Inspired by his progress, he pledged to avoid drinking for life and also gave up tobacco.

While Matthew's first several years of sobriety consisted of intense, interior battles, he lived the rest of his life with unwavering devotion to God. The once angry, vulgar Irishman became kind to those he encountered, and he paid back all his debts. He lived simply, prayed daily, and served those in need.

Mathew Talbot died at age 69 while walking to church. He had been sober for 41 years.

Matthew's story is a testament to God's transforming power as well as our participation in that transformation. A tearful mother pleaded, a broken young man made a decision to change, and God poured out His graces. It's also worth noting that Matthew, with the help of his pastor, employed many of the same steps later incorporated into the Alcoholic's Anonymous 12-Step program. While he wasn't healed overnight, Matthew Talbot eventually experienced new life, giving hope to those battling addictions and the people who love them.

Intersecting Faith & Life: Devote your quiet time this week to praying for the "impossible cases," especially those in the throws of addiction.

Further Reading:

Matthew 14:34-36
(Details of Matthew Talbot's life obtained from "The Venerable Matthew Talbot" http://www.savior.org/saints/talbot.htm and the Venerable Matt Talbot Resource Center: http://venerablematttalbotresourcecenter.blogspot.com/)

Source: http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/crosswalkdevo/11580598/

"It is constancy that God wants"

Although Matt Talbot never wrote more than one short letter in his life, he did write on scraps of paper and in books. The title quote is one by Matt that is often repeated as it is in this homily that includes the retelling of a very special love story.

Homily for August 17, 2008: 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Deacon Greg Kandra

The Deacon's Bench

posted August 16, 2008

This week, in the Boston Globe, I read the story of an elderly couple named Sol and Rita Rogers. They’ve been married 61 years. They’ve raised a family and lived a long and happy life together. A few years ago, that began to change. Rita developed Alzheimer’s. And she is slipping deeper and deeper into dementia.

Several weeks ago, she was taken to a health care center, where she now has to live. The first few days, she screamed and talked incoherently. She could barely form words with her mouth. Most tragically, she could no longer recognize her husband. She had no idea who he was. This was agony for him. He would go home from visiting her, trembling with grief, overwhelmed by sadness.

One morning, he went into her room, and saw her lying there and had an idea – an idea, he said, that could only have come from God. Sol climbed into his wife’s tiny twin bed, and put his arms around her. And he just held her. He hugged her. He whispered to her. That’s all. But something happened. As he put it, “I got into bed with her and loved her and it lifted my depression.” And Rita was transformed, too. She responded to his touch. And she began to talk.

He now does it every day. Rita’s doctor says that her “old memory” recalls being in his arms, remembers how he used to hold her, and part of her is able to come back.

Now Sol spends a couple of hours of every day, just holding Rita, telling her he loves her, and she tells him she loves him. Just as they have for 61 years.

I can’t think of a more beautiful example of what married love is all about – for better or for worse, in sickness and in health. The venerable Matt Talbot said that it is constancy that God wants. Persistence. Perseverance. Sol Rogers had that – and more.

And so did the Canaanite woman in today’s gospel.

It comes down to never giving up for someone you love.

Never losing faith.

The Canaanite woman was the mother of a very sick girl, a child tormented by a demon. The girl may have suffered from epilepsy, or schizophrenia. Terrors in the night. Paranoia. Inconsolable fear. We can only imagine what the mother was going through. The helplessness, and the worry.

But this mother had something more powerful. She had faith – faith in someone who was not even a part of her race or religion. Jesus became her last, best hope.

And so the mother went to Jesus and implored his help. Not once. Not twice. But three times. She wouldn’t take no for an answer. Finally, Jesus was so moved by her faith that he couldn’t refuse her. And her daughter was healed.

Hearing this story again, we discover something timeless and true. It is something that St. Paul even mentioned in his famous letter to the Corinthians, the one we hear so often at weddings.

Love never fails. It can spark miracles.

Because love itself is a miracle.

Love that endures across 61 years is a miracle.

Love that pleads for a sick child again and again and again is a miracle.

A miracle of unceasing devotion … and unwavering faith.

Yes: faith. Faith is a subject we’ve been hearing about a lot over the last few weeks in our Sunday readings. Last week, you’ll remember, Peter tried to walk on water, but began to sink when his faith failed him.

We are being taught a valuable lesson in all this. Faith transforms. It can turn water into walkways. And it can drive away demons.

But it requires more than we realize -- more than we often feel able to give.

Faith requires that we keep walking, even when the wind and waves are against us.

Faith demands that we keep pleading, even when God seems to turn away.

Faith asks us to wrap our arms around those we love, even when they don’t remember who we are.

It defies logic, or reason. But that is what is so extraordinary – and so extraordinarily difficult. Faith asks us to believe in the unbelievable…to trust that the impossible will be possible.

Like love, faith asks that we surrender ourselves to something we can never fully understand

And it asks us to persevere.

If we do that, the result may astonish us. We may find ourselves walking where we’ve never walked before. We may see life renewed, and hope restored.

Sol Rogers said he knows that his wife Rita will never fully recover. But he told the Boston Globe, “While she’s with me, I want to enjoy every minute.”

And so he holds her. And she smiles. And the demons are dispelled.

Every day, for as long as he is able, he says he will do this.

Call that love. Call it commitment. But those moments exist because Sol never gave up. He persevered. And he continues to.

Since I read that story, I’ve been thinking of Sol and Rita. I think of them late at night, when I hold my wife’s hand before we go to sleep. I think of what it takes to love, truly love, another. It takes constancy, as Matt Talbot put it. Tenacity. Trust. The belief in something, and Someone, greater than ourselves.

It takes what the Canaanite woman had.

It takes faith.

Source: http://deacbench.blogspot.com/2008/08/homily-for-august-17-2008-20th-sunday.html

"Saved or Spent"

In this latest collection of (100) homilies, Once Upon a Gospel (2008), Fr. Bill Bausch includes one homily titled "Saved or Spent" (based on Luke 13: 22-30) in which he asks, "How did you spend yourself in service to others. Or was everything saved for one's own self?" For his illustration he introduces the reader to Matt Talbot.

This homily can be read at http://books.google.com/books?id=GJAnaY4KCPMC&pg=PP3&vq=matt+talbot&dq=matt+talbot&lr=&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=0_1&sig=ACfU3U0pDeFBRPcNbDgRjLRBafm6HuEydg#PPA242,M1

beginning on page 242. (If a problem occurs, just type "Matt Talbot" into the "search in this book" box.)

Recovering Meditations on the Stations of the Cross

One of the multiple spiritual practices that Matt Talbot engaged in in sobriety was regularly making the Stations of the Cross, which numerous sources posted here have noted, including the eye witness account by the late Sean T. O'Ceallaigh, the second President of Ireland (1945 to 1959), who as a alter boy personally knew Matt between 1890 and 1897 at St. Joseph Church, Dublin.

For those interested in making the Stations of the Cross within a recovery context, click http://www.calixsociety.org/articles.html, for a 16 page printable Word Document from the Calix Society.

Reference note:

The quote by Sean T. O'Ceallaigh regarding Matt Talbot can be found on page 239 in the book, Saintly Men of Modern Times - Google Books Result.

Spreading the word about addiction, recovery and Matt Talbot

This message is to alert readers of the Venerable Matt Talbot Resource Center website about the U.S. National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month, which is September of each year. Their site at http://www.recoverymonth.gov/2008/kit/default.aspx provides a wealth of information and activities for helping people learn about the disease of alcoholism and drug addiction and recovery.

Whereas some might choose to initiate and participate in community events, others might do so through their church, especially if one's church does not have a recovery ministry or services. This might be a good time to spread the word specifically about Matt Talbot and his approach to recovery in whatever format would be acceptable to your priest (and perhaps parish council). Note the two following links:

Recovery Month Guide for Clergy and Faith-Based Groups
... As the founding director of the Matt Talbot Recovery Center, I-along with the center itself-am celebrating 20 years of this work. ... www.recoverymonth.gov/2006/kit/html/Targeted_Outreach/clergy.aspx - 90k -

Personal Stories at Recovery Month
... Recovery had taught me to live my life passionately. Gregory K. Alex, MA, CDC Executive Director The Matt Talbot Recovery Center. ... www.recoverymonth.gov/2006/kit/html/Targeted_Outreach/voices.aspx - 46k -

We would greatly appreciate an email from those of you who are involved in such efforts to help others learn about addiction and recovery as well as informing others about Matt Talbot.

Amazing Grace that Saved a Wretch like Matt Talbot and Us!

Homily for the Nineteenth Sunday Year A

by Fr. Tommy Lane

John Newton was an English sea captain. During a storm at sea he promised his life to God if he survived. The ship survived and he later studied for ministry and was ordained and became pastor of a small church near Olney, England. He became famous as a composer of hymns, and one of them you know well, Amazing Grace.

Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I’m found
was blind, but now I see.

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come.
‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home.’

We can identify with the second verse of John Newton’s hymn. We have all come through many dangers, toils and snares. We did not do it on our own, it is grace that has brought us safely as far as now and we trust that grace will lead us home. Like the disciples struggling against a heavy sea in the boat who were reassured by Jesus calming the storm we all need the reassurance and help of Jesus to calm the storms in our lives. Like Peter sinking, sometimes we need the Lord to stretch out his hand and save us.

When a trial comes we may be tempted to say, “God doesn’t care about me”, or to think other negative thoughts. But God is always faithful and never abandons us and doesn’t cause our suffering. When you think about it, an amount of suffering is caused by the cruelty and inhumanity of humans to humans. So much of the suffering could be avoided if everybody took the Gospel to heart. We could have heaven on earth. But since we don’t, and we have to face storms like the disciples in the boat, Jesus catching Peter by the hand is, I think, Jesus’ way of telling us that he is there for all people of all time to catch them by the hand and take them to safety. If you are struggling with a problem at this time can you imagine Jesus catching you by the hand and pulling you up to safety? See him before you and hear him saying to you, “Courage! It is I! Do not be afraid.”

Many passages in the Bible give us encouragement when we are struggling. Obviously God intended that the writers to include these passages in the Bible to give us courage in our storms. There are so many beautiful passages but I can only give you a sample of a few now.

Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
stop being anxious and watchful, for I am your God.
I give you strength, I bring you help,
I uphold you with my victorious right hand. (Isa 41)

Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name, you are mine.
Should you pass through the sea, I will be with you;
or through rivers, they will not swallow you up.
Should you walk through fire, you will not be scorched
and the flames will not burn you (Isa 43)

Does a woman forget her baby at the breast,
or fail to cherish the son of her womb?
Yet even if these forget,
I will never forget you. (Isa 49)

With God on our side who can be against us? Nothing can come between us and the love of Christ, even if we are troubled or worried, or being persecuted, or lacking food or clothes, or being threatened or even attacked. These are the trials through which we triumph by the power of him who loved us (Rom 8:31-37)

None of the trials which have come upon you is more than a human being can stand. You can trust that God will not let you be put to the test beyond your strength, but with any trial will also provide a way out by enabling you to put up with it. (1 Cor 10:13)

We could also add Jesus’ words to Peter in today’s Gospel, “Man of little faith, why did you doubt?”

This is just a small selection of most beautiful texts. God certainly wants us to understand that he is with us in our storms. When a storm hits, take the hand of Jesus and let him lift you to safety.

Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I’m found
was blind, but now I see.

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come.
‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home.’

This homily was delivered when I was engaged in parish ministry in Ireland before joining the faculty of Mount St. Mary's Seminary, Emmitsburg, Maryland.

Source: http://www.frtommylane.com/homilies/year_a/19-2.htm

Becoming Prayer

Even with only a brief introduction to writings about Matt Talbot,
one can recognize that in sobriety he became not only a man of
prayer but was one who "prayed without ceasing." In light of the
following reflection we can also recognize that Matt "became prayer."

Are we learning to "become prayer?"

Reflection by Deacon Keith Fournier CHESAPEAKE, VA (Catholic Online) 7/30/2008 Through prayer, daily life takes on new meaning. It becomes a classroom of communion. In that classroom we learn the truth about who we are - and who we are becoming - in Jesus. “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit.” (1 Thess. 5:16-19) St. Paul wrote these words to the early Christians in Greece. They did not live lives of ease, in any sense of the word. They had families, occupations, and real struggles, beyond what many of us could imagine. They also suffered greatly for their faith in a hostile culture. He instructed them to “Pray without ceasing”. Did he really mean it? I believe that he did. The older I get, the simpler life gets. That does not mean it is “easy”. I speak of spiritual simplicity, the kind of attitude which gets right to the root of what really matters. I believe that Paul meant what he said to the Christians at Thessalonica and that his words are important to those who bear the name Christian today.We need to pray. Prayer is an ongoing dialogue of intimate communion with God. God fashioned men and women as the crown of His creation, creating us in “His Image”, for this loving, relational conversation of life with Him. At the heart of understanding what it means to be “in His Image” is to understand the immense gift of human freedom and what has happened to our capacity to choose. Love is never coerced. Our relationship with God was broken, separated and wounded through the first sin, the sin of origins or “original sin”. That sin, like all sin since, is at root a misuse of freedom infected by pride and self sufficiency. Our ability to exercise our freedom rightly, to live His Image by directing our capacity for free choice always toward the good, was impeded through the fall. Freedom was fractured. The “Good News” is that through Jesus Christ, the way has been opened for an even fuller communion with God, one that is restored through His Incarnation, Saving life, Death and Resurrection. In Jesus Christ we are being re-created, re-fashioned and redeemed. He comes to live in all who make a place for Him within the center of their lives. This “making a place” is the essence of Christian prayer. It is not about doing, but about being. The Lord wants us to freely choose to respond to His continual invitations to love. We will only find our fulfillment as human persons by entering into that kind of relationship. This is the meaning and purpose of life itself. As we grow in faith through our participation in the life of grace, lived out in the Church, our capacity to respond to His loving invitation grows as well, through prayer. Prayer is about falling in love with God. Isaac of Ninevah was an early eighth century monk, Bishop and theologian. For centuries he was mostly revered in the Eastern Christian Church for his writings on prayer. In the last century the beauty of his insights on prayer are being embraced once again by both lungs, East and West, of the Church. He wrote these words in one of his many treatises on Prayer: “When the Spirit dwells in a person, from the moment in which that person has become prayer, he never leaves him. For the Spirit himself never ceases to pray in him. Whether the person is asleep or awake, prayer never from then on departs from his soul. Whether he is eating or drinking or sleeping or whatever else he is doing, even in deepest sleep, the fragrance of prayer rises without effort in hid heart. Prayer never again deserts him. At every moment of his life, even when it appears to stop, it is secretly at work in him continuously, one of the Fathers, the bearers of Christ, says that prayer is the silence of the pure. For their thoughts are divine motions. The movements of the heart and the intellect that have been purified are the voices full of sweetness with which such people never cease to sing in secret to the hidden God.” The Christian revelation answers the existential questions that plague every human heart and trouble every generation. Through His Incarnation, Saving Life, Death, and Resurrection, Jesus opens full communion with God for all men and women. He leads us out of the emptiness and despair that is the rotted fruit of narcissism, nihilism and materialism. When we enter into the dialogue of prayer, we can experience a progressive, dynamic and intimate relationship with God and He transforms us from within. We, as Isaac said, can “become prayer” as we empty ourselves in order to be filled with Him. Through prayer, daily life takes on new meaning. It becomes a classroom of communion. In that classroom we learn the truth about who we are - and who we are becoming - in Jesus. Through prayer we receive new glasses through which we see the true landscape of life. Through prayer darkness is dispelled and the path of progress is illuminated. Through prayer we begin to understand why this communion seems so elusive at times; as we struggle with our own disordered appetites, and live in a manner at odds with the beauty and order of the creation within which we dwell only to find a new beginning whenever we confess our sin and return to our first love. Prayer opens us up to Revelation, expands our capacity to comprehend truth and equips us to change. Through prayer we are drawn by Love into a deepening relationship with Jesus whose loving embrace on the hill of Golgotha bridged heaven with earth; His relationship with His Father is opened now to us; the same Spirit that raised Him from the dead begins to give us new life as we are converted, transfigured and made new. Through prayer, heavenly wisdom is planted in the field of our hearts and we experience a deepening communion with the Trinitarian God. We become, in the words of the Apostle Peter “partakers of the divine nature.” (2 Peter 1:4) That participation will only be fully complete when we are with Him in the fullness of His embrace, in Resurrected Bodies in a New Heaven and a New earth, but it begins now, in the grace of this present moment. The beloved disciple John became prayer. He writes in the letter he penned in his later years: “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure. Everyone who commits sin commits lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness” 1John 3:1-4 As we “become prayer” our daily life becomes the field of choice and we are capacitated to choose the “more excellent way” of love of which the great Apostle Paul wrote. (1 Cor. 13) Pondering the implications of the exercise of our human freedom becomes a regular part of our life, as we learn to “examine our conscience”, repent of our sin and become joyful penitents. Prayer provides the environment for such recollection as it exposes the darkness and helps us surrender it to the light of Love, the Living God dwelling within us. “Becoming prayer” is possible for all Christians, no matter their state in life or vocation, because God holds nothing back from those whom He loves. This relationship of communion is initiated by Him. Our part is to respond. That response should flow from a heart that beats in surrendered love, in the process of being freed from the entanglements that weigh us down. The God who is Love hungers for the communion of sons and daughters - and we hunger for communion with Him - because He made us this way. Nothing else will satisfy. The early Church Father Origen once wrote: “Every spiritual being is, by nature, a temple of God, created to receive into itself the glory of God.” We were made in the “image” of God and are now being recreated into His likeness in Jesus Christ. As we “become prayer’, that likeness begins to emerge. We give ourselves fully to the One who gave Himself to us and cry out with Jesus Christ “Abba Father.” No longer alienated, we participate in the inner life of God who now dwells within us. We also dwell in Him through His Spirit. This dwelling is prayer. It is not about doing or getting but about being, becoming, receiving, giving, and loving. We will live the way we love and we will love the way we pray. A wonderful spiritual writer of our own time, Henri Nouwen, understood the intimacy of prayer and the call to live in God. He wrote these words in his work entitled Lifesigns: “Jesus, in whom the fullness of God dwells, has become our home by making his home in us he allows us to make our home in him. By entering into the intimacy of our innermost self he offers us the opportunity to enter into his own intimacy with God. By choosing us as his preferred dwelling place, he invites us to choose him as our preferred dwelling place. This is the mystery of the incarnation. Here we come to see what discipline in the spiritual life means. It means a gradual process of coming home to where we belong and listening there to the voice which desires our attention. Home is the place where that first love dwells and speaks gently to us. Prayer is the most concrete way to make our home in God.” Let us learn to “become prayer.” Deacon Fournier is writing a series of reflections on daily Catholic Christian living. Catholic Online will soon be offering these reflections, "Bread on the Trail: Daily Food for Daily Life" to all those who subscribe to a free newsletter. "Bread on the Trail: Daily Food for Daily Life" Source: http://www.catholic.org/printer_friendly.php?id=28750&section=Cathcom

One commentary on the play, "Talbot's Box"

We have previously noted two plays about Matt Talbot. (See our link for "plays.") An analysis included in the book, Contemporary Irish Literature: Transforming Tradition (1998) by Christina Hunt Mahony can be found at http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0312219016/ref=sib_dp_ptu#reader-link.

In the search box to the left of your screen, type "Talbot's Box."

Then click each page link (p 149, 150, 151, 152).

Other commentaries on this play by Thomas Kilroy are available through a Google search.

Lay Franciscan Heroic Witnesses

"Franciscans on the Edge: Sr. Ingrid J. Peterson speaks on heroic witnesses"

Fr. Chuck Talley, OFM

Posted Monday, September 24, 2007

Sister Ingrid Peterson knows her stuff. A Third Order Franciscan sister of Rochester, Minnesota, she is an internationally recognized scholar and has taught and written extensively in the area of Franciscan history and spirituality. She came to our parish of St. Francis of Assisi in Sacramento this past weekend to share some of the fruit of her lifelong reflection before an audience of more than 100 parishioners and guests.

When I heard the topic of her half-day workshop/seminar, I flinched just a little. Franciscans on the edge? The edge of what? Extinction? A nervous breakdown? What? I know we have our problems, but can things be that desperate? Turns out the ‘edge’ Sister Ingrid is referring to is that marginal space of culture, society, and even the Church itself that has been the real central focus of Franciscan contemplation and action for eight hundred years. Among the marginalized, the dispossessed, the despised, and the ignored is where we have always been at our best and frankly, it’s where we oughta be.

Peterson didn’t parade the usual suspects of Franciscan life (Francis, Clare, Anthony of Padua, etc). Instead, she spoke about Franciscan laypeople— Secular Franciscans/Third Order members mostly—who strove to find Christ and to ‘Spirit’ the edges of our world. In doing so, she opened up Franciscan hagiography to a whole new bunch of halos that haven't always been appreciated for their own special glow, including those of Brother Juniper, Elizabeth of Hungary, the married couple Luchesio and Buonadonna , Francis of Rome, and, closer to our own time, Matt Talbot and Carlo Carretto.

These have all been keepers of the Rule, to be sure, but more importantly, lovers of Jesus and the Gospel. “There are always rules coming out of the Church at various times,” Peterson quipped, “and we have to live between these rules.” She then proceeded to demonstrate the way that Franciscan women and men throughout the centuries have been able to thrive in and through the tensions of their own eras, both “on the edge” and “between the rules.”

Peterson systematically examined the biographies and legends of these holy people in order to dig deeper into the substratum of their real spiritual lives, and then in turn, to try to make these ‘lives of the saints’ accessible and relevant to ourselves. Elizabeth of Hungary, for example, when confronted by her husband about the bread she was sneaking to the poor, opened her food basket only to reveal a bouquet of roses instead. Angela of Foligno, while on pilgrimage to Assisi, received a deeply transforming experience of the love of God “in which she heard the Holy Spirit tell her how much she was loved.”

So why doesn’t that happen to us? “My bread never turned to roses,” someone once complained to Peterson. (We all nodded in silent agreement.) So, in the absence of roses, “How do I know what God wants of me?” Peterson asked. She emphasized that for most of us, our call does not arise through some extraordinary private revelation, but rather in the context of community and in the circumstances of our daily living.

Peterson then spoke about her own vocation. “ How did I know I wanted to be a religious sister? I didn’t want to be one, actually. I went to public schools, and then in college—I was a college student, after all-- I saw the sisters and thought, ‘I don’t want to do that.’ But you know, it was just like the poem 'The Hound of Heaven'. Our God can be a real nag and in my case, just wouldn’t let go of me. Finally, I gave in and became a sister, and as they say (smiling) “I lived happily ever after.”

The real point of our Christian vocation, whether lay or religious, Sister Ingrid reflected, is to look to the example of Jesus and try to live it. “Jesus is the visible sign of the invisible God. Jesus teaches us that the way to God is through the Beatitudes. . . . The saints-- all the saints—have given their lives to follow Jesus in this way,” (no matter where it has led them). . . . And that’s what life at the edge is all about for all of us, isn’t it.

Some reflections questions, courtesy of Sister Ingrid J. Peterson:

What do you do for the love of God that others might consider foolish?

What are some of the ways in which you feel called to bring peace instead of violence?

In what ways has God broken into your life to set things right?

Can you recall times in which service to others has brought you closer to God?

Some further reading by Ingrid J. Peterson:
Clare of Assisi: A Biographical Study
Praying with Clare of Assisi: Companions for the Journey (w/ Ramona Miller).


Source: http://friarsidechats.blogspot.com/2007/09/franciscans-on-edge-sister-ingrid-j.html:

Presidential Acknowledgement of the Matt Talbot Community

Clare Champion, Friday, February 7, 2003

The Riches of Clare exhibition at the local authority-run Clare Museum charts the county's history over 6,000 years using authentic artifacts. In this article, museum curator John Rattigan, writes about a visit made by Dr Patrick Hillery as President of Ireland to the Matt Talbot Community…

One of the roles of the President of Ireland is to undertake a wide range of engagements with particular emphasis on the contribution of local community and self-help groups. It was in this capacity that on November 11, 1979, President Hillery visited the Matt Talbot Community in Dublin, and a commemorative presentation was made to him that day, which is part of a collection of objects recently donated to Clare Museum.

The Community was named after Matt Talbot, an alcoholic born in Dublin's inner city on May 2, 1856. Coming from an extremely poor family he began drinking at the age of twelve, and quickly became a chronic alcoholic. After 16 years, and with the help of a priest, he decided to stop drinking, and he began to model his life on Irish Early Christian monks, who believed that prayer, fasting and almsgiving would bring them closer to God.

Although extremely religious, Matt Talbot was not a somber man. In fact, to work mates and friends he was a cheerful, happy person. He gave most of his wages to the poor each week and was very much involved in Trade Union activities. Following a horrendous struggle, he had found sobriety through prayer and self-sacrifice and remained sober until his death, on 7 June 1925, on a busy Dublin street while on his way to his third mass that day. Finally, after years of hard work and self-denial, his aging heart had given out.

Matt Talbot's funeral was attended by only a handful of people. Having died in obscurity and buried in a pauper's grave, the story should have ended there. However, it was only the beginning. When Matt died on the street, nobody knew who he was. He was initially reported missing by his sisters and it was they who identified his body later in a hospital morgue.

It was at that point that they became aware of what the examiners had found while looking for identification of the body. A heavy chain had been found fastened tight around Matt Talbot's waist with other lighter chains around an arm and another below one knee in a place where it would have caused considerable pain when kneeling. Without the news of the chains becoming public and prompting further enquiries, Matt Talbot's story might never have been revealed.

Through the network of emigrant Irish Catholics, the story of Matt Talbot's life was taken abroad. Today, there is a Matt Talbot center in Seattle, Washington, with others in Nebraska and New Jersey in the United States. There is a huge Matt Talbot hostel, serving 1,000 people a day and founded in 1937, in Sydney, Australia, while a centre to serve alcoholics has been recently opened in Warsaw, Poland. In Dublin, he even has a bridge named after him.

Matt Talbot was declared Venerable by the Catholic Church in 1973. This means that the Church believes Matt lived a life of heroic virtue and, from a human point of view, he has the qualifications necessary to become a saint. Pope John Paul II, while a young priest, wrote a paper on Matt Talbot, and is believed to be keen to canonise him, believing that the addicted community needs a saint. Matt Talbot quickly became an icon for those struggling against addiction.

By visiting the Matt Talbot Community in Dublin, Dr Patrick Hillery as President of Ireland was acknowledging and endorsing the community as it serves to promote the memory of this holy man and by providing help and inspiration to addicts.

View the Talbot Community Presentation

Source: http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/claremuseum/news_events/presidential_acknowledgement_of_matt_talbot_community.htm