What Gift Have You Been Given to Share?

There is an old Christian tradition that God sends each person into this world with a special message to deliver, with a special song to sing for others, with a special act of love to bestow. No one else can speak my message, sing my song, or offer my act of love. These are entrusted only to me. (John Powell, Through Seasons of the Heart,1986).

 

We have noted that God chose Matt as a sign of hope for addicts   (http://venerablematttalbotresourcecenter.blogspot.com/2015/11/venerable-matt-talbot-sign-of-hope-for.html).

 

Take time to think about what song, message, act of love God has given you to bring into the world, to help God's kingdom on its way. Ask God to give you His power and His wisdom to use that gift bravely and well.

Venerable Matt Talbot: A Sign of Hope For Addicts

Matt Talbot Dublin Diocesan Committee

February 22, 2014
https://www.facebook./permalink.php?id= 217785025048151&story_fbid=268544269972226

 

There is an old Christian tradition that God sends each person into this world with a special message to deliver, with a special song to sing for others, with a special act of love to bestow. No one else can speak that message, or sing that song, or offer that act of love and according to this tradition, the message may be spoken, the song sung, the act of love delivered only to a few, or to all the people in a small town, or to all the people in a large city, or even to all the people in the world. It all depends on God’s unique plan for each of us and this truth is no where more evident for us than in the life of Matt Talbot.

Matt did not speak with great eloquence but his message has touched the hearts of millions, he was no nightingale but his song of hope has soothed many a tortured soul and his acts of love continues to resonate in our world today, unaware of the impact his life would make God’s unique plan for Matt was gradually unveiled and the stage on which it was set was Dublin’s inner city during a time of great social and political unrest.

Jesus said: “I bless you Father Lord of heaven and earth for hiding these things from the learned and clever and revealing them to mere children.” Matt 11:25

Matt Talbot was not learned or clever he was one of Dublin’s poor he lived in a tenement, wore second hand clothes, died in a laneway and was buried in a pauper’s grave. Poorly educated he did not start school until he was 11 years old and with less than a year of formal education, the two words written in the remarks Column of the roll book in O’Connell’s sums up Matt’s time in school, a mitcher. Coming from such a deprived background and with an alcoholic father and a family history of neglect and poverty, Matt found himself sucked into the culture of addiction and to the only choice of drug available to the poor of his day, alcohol. Matt like so many others embraced alcohol as a means of escape from the misery and poverty of daily life. 

Today we live in an age of addictions more sophisticated perhaps than those of Matt’s day, addictions to substances such as alcohol and other drugs soft or hard, prescription or illegal, addictions to gambling, pornography and the internet, addictions to work, professional advancement, sex, money and power. In a sense you might say they are the ancient enemies, even if the e-technologies and the e-drugs provide new faces for them and a new attraction and power that like demons, can take procession of our souls.

Matt Talbot gradually came to this awareness and from the time of his conversion from alcoholism to sobriety, as a young man of twenty eight, he spent the rest of his life living to a heroic extent the Christian virtues thro’ prayer, spiritual reading, work and love of neighbour. Matt sets before us a radical example which demonstrates that ordinary people can do extraordinary things. His life is a witness to the fact that people can by God’s grace and their own self acceptance say no to that which leads to addiction or addictive behaviors and that in the meantime our communities must never lose hope and must continue to care for them.

Maybe it is because of this that so many have come to love and admire Matt Talbot. Matt’s friend Paddy Laird always found it extraordinary that there were only seven people at Matt’s funeral, but upon making public his life story hundreds of thousands have come to see him as a hero and a beacon of hope.

People need heroes, not in the sense of comic book or movie superheroes with superhuman powers, not pop stars or celebrities all art and pizzazz but with little or no moral substance. No what we need are ordinary people who against extraordinary odds do the right thing, like saying no to addiction or compulsion.

Matt Talbot understood this and he would say to others, “If I can do it so can you with the grace of God”. But Matt also understood the human condition he once said to his sister Susan, “never think harshly of a person because of the drink it’s easier to get out of hell than to give up the drink, for me it was only possible with the help of God and our blessed Mother”.

Matt’s example has inspired many institutions, movements and individuals around the world giving hope of recovery to those who are willing to accept their weakness and need. Such people stand as beacons in our world to the truth that we can overcome addiction rise above our weakness and achieve great things even sainthood.

Jesus said, “Come to me all you who labour and are overburdened and I will give you rest shoulder my yoke and learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart and you will find rest for your souls” Matt 11:28-30. Matt Talbot’s life as a labourer who was overburdened by addiction and guilt gradually grew in awareness through the gift of grace and the Holy Spirit that a life of meekness and humility of heart will lead to rest for our souls, and towards a better world where all self destructive drive will come to an end, where people will live in harmony of body, mind and spirit, in harmony too with each other, with creation and with God.

By following the example of Matt Talbot you tell the world that there is more to life than “sex, and drugs and rock n roll,” that there is hope for every broken heart and that by God’s love his kingdom comes into our hearts, our homes and our world.

At this time when so many of our communities are affected by the scourge of alcohol and substance misuse, God has chosen Matt to be set before us as a model of temperance and a source of strength and support to all who suffer from addiction or addictive behaviors.

Matt Talbot ascetic and urban spiritual mystic, who overcame addiction by the Grace of God, his higher power, whose faith was nourished by his extraordinary love of the Eucharist and his sublime devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

“You must therefore be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,” Christ told his followers. When Matt found sobriety through prayer and spiritual guidance, his desire for drink was replaced by a desire for Christian perfection.

This is why God chose Matt as a sign of hope for addicts.

"From Adversity to Hope, from Hope to Action”

This article was posted on 26th October 2015 at
http://www.salesiansireland.ie/2015/10/from-adversity-to-hope-from-hope-to-action/

 The only known letter that Matt Talbot ever wrote was to the Columban Missionaries. Matt was very ill at the time, in December 1924 and in a very poignant and moving letter he wrote: “Matt Talbot – have done no work for past 18 months. I have been sick and given over by priest and doctor. I don’t think I will work any more. There one pound from me and ten shillings from my sister.”

It was fitting therefore that the Matt Talbot Novena Mass for October, the month of the Missions, was animated by the Columban Missionaries. The Mass was held on Sunday 25th of October in Matt Talbot Shrine, Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Sean McDermott Street. The Eucharist was led by Fr Vincent, a Columban Missionary from Fiji presently studying in Ireland, while Fr Richard Ebejer and Fr Cyril Odia concelbrated; a sizeable crowd gathered for the occasion.

The theme for the evening was “From Adversity to Hope, from Hope to Action”: seeking to highlight Matt Talbot’s own love for the missions, and how in the midst of his own struggles, the hope that sustained him encouraged him to reach out to others.

Venerable Matt Talbot, who died in 1925, was renowned for his holiness, having overcome a crippling alcohol addiction, through prayer, penance and works of charity. He has been a heroic inspiration to many people in Ireland and abroad battling addiction. His shrine attracts quite a number of pilgrims who come seeking spiritual strength to be able to stay in recovery.

The occasion also marked the conclusion of the 90th Anniversary Year, during which the parish held a number of special activities to commemorate Matt Talbot and celebrate his legacy.
  
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The Salesians of Don Bosco have been entrusted with the pastoral care of the Shrine and Parish in inner city Dublin for over twenty years. Though in the heart of the city, it is very much a ministry to the marginalized and those affected by social problems.

Inviting God to Use Me

While this homily is addressed to all of us, it may speak especially to those who are addicted.

 If You Can Use Anything Lord, You Can Use Me - Homily for the 11th Sunday of the Year
Msgr. Charles Pope
June 14, 2015 
http://blog.adw.org/2015/06/if-you-can-use-anything-lord-you-can-use-me/

The readings today speak of God’s providence, which is often displayed in humble, hidden, and mysterious ways. While it is true that God sometimes works in overpowering ways, His more common method seems to be to use the humble and even unlikely things of the created order to accomplish His goals.

For us who are disciples, there are three related teachings that speak of how God will make use of us and of others. It will also be good to link these teaching to Father’s Day, which occurs next weekend in the U.S. These three teachings can be described as Adaptability, “Awe-Ability,” and Accountability.

I. ADAPTABILITY – In today’s first reading as well as in the gospel, we hear how God can take something humble and adapt it to be mighty and powerful.
The tender shoot of the first reading becomes a mighty oak: I, [the Lord], will take from the crest of the cedar … a tender shoot, and plant it on a high and lofty mountain; … It shall put forth branches and bear fruit, and become a majestic cedar (Ezekiel 17:22-23).

The mustard seed of the first reading becomes a great shade tree: The … kingdom of God … is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade (Mk 4:32-33).

The next time you think God can’t use you, remember

Noah was a drunk
Abraham was too old
Isaac was a daydreamer
Jacob was a liar
Leah was ugly
Joseph was abused
Moses was murderer had a stuttering problem
Gideon was afraid
Samson had long hair and was a womanizer
Rahab was a prostitute
Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
David had an affair and was a murderer
Elijah was suicidal
Isaiah preached naked
Jonah ran from God
Naomi was a widow
Job went bankrupt and was depressed
Peter denied Christ
The Disciples fell asleep while praying
Martha worried about everything
The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once
Zacchaeus was too small
Paul was too religious
Timothy had an ulcer
Lazarus was dead!

No excuses then, God chooses the weak and makes them strong

In fact, it is often our very weakness that is the open door for God. In our strength we are usually too proud to be of any use to Him. Moses was too strong at age forty when he pridefully murdered a man, thinking he was doing both the Jews and God a favor. It was only forty years later, at the age of eighty, that was Moses weak and humble enough to depend on God. Only then could God use him.

We are invited in this principle to consider that it is not merely in the “biggie-wow” things we do that God can work. It is also in the humble and imperfect things about us, the mustard seed of faith, the tiny shoots, and the humble growth that God can magnify His power.

So the first principle is adaptability. God can take and adapt even the humblest, most ordinary, lowliest things and from them bring forth might and lasting fruit. Never despair over what is most humble about you, or that you are of little account on the world’s stage. It is precisely our humble state that God most often uses to bring forth His greatest and most lasting works.

II. “AWE-ABILITY” – This is the capacity to reverence mystery and to have wonder and awe at what God does. In today’s gospel, Jesus emphasizes that though a man plants seeds, he does not really know the deeper mysteries of life and growth:
This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and through it all the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how (Mk 4:26-27).

Despite our often self-congratulatory celebration of our scientific prowess and of how much we know, there is much more that we neither know nor understand. We do well to maintain a reverential awe of the deeper mysteries of God’s works and His ways. We are also rather poor at assessing how effective our methods are. We may come away from a project considering it to have been very effective, and yet little comes of it in the long run. Conversely, sometimes what we consider to have been an ineffective effort may bear great fruit. God works in His own ways and we do well to remember that God can surprise us, reminding us that He is able and is in charge.

Some years ago, a friend of mine had on her desk a “God can.” It was a metal cookie tin with the following saying on its cover: “He worketh in strange and mysterious ways, his wonders to perform.” Into this box she would place slips of papers on which were written the challenges, struggles, and failures of her life. When she met the limits of her strengths and abilities, she would say, “I can’t … but God can.” So into this metal “God can” went the slips of paper, placed there in the hope that God would make a way out of no way. And quite often He did.

We do well to cultivate a sense of wonder and awe at who God is and how He works. Not only does this bring us joy, but it also opens us to hope and to the possibility that God can work in hidden ways to exult what is humble and to transform those who are cast down and troubled, including us and our culture. As we saw in the “adaptability” section, it is often in the humblest things that God does His mightiest works.
 
The second reading today reminds us, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil (2 Cor 5:9-10).

As we have seen, God is able to adapt and to work in wondrous and hidden ways to lift us up, even if we are humble and struggling. Given this capacity of God’s, we must one day render an account of how we have responded to God’s grace and His invitation to be exulted.

On the Day of Judgment, the answer “I couldn’t” will ring hollow because, as we have seen, “God can.” Today’s readings remind us to be open to what God can do, often in mysterious ways, and even with the most humble things in our lives.

As Father’s Day approaches, I am calling the men in my parish to account. I am summoning them to spend a year preparing, with prayer, Bible study, and fellowship to make the following pledge:

I DO solemnly resolve before God to take full responsibility for myself, my wife, and my children.
I WILL love them, protect them, serve them, and teach them the Word of God as the spiritual leader of my home.
I WILL be faithful to my wife, love and honor her, and be willing to lay down my life for her as Jesus Christ did for me.
I WILL bless my children and teach them to love God with all of their heart, all of their mind, and all of their strength.
I WILL train my children to honor authority and to live responsibly.
I WILL confront evil, pursue justice, and love mercy.
I WILL pray for others and treat them with kindness, respect, and compassion.
I WILL work diligently to provide for the needs of my family.
I WILL forgive those who have wronged me and reconcile with those I have wronged.
I WILL learn from my mistakes, repent of my sins, and walk with integrity as a man answerable to God.
I WILL seek to honor God, be faithful to His church, obey His Word, and do His will.
I WILL work courageously with the strength God provides to fulfill this resolution for the rest of my life and for His glory.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15).
This resolution comes from a movie of a few years ago called Courageous, which I strongly recommend you see (if you have not already done so).

Indeed all of us, men and women, will be held accountable. For even if we can’t, God can. And even if we feel too humble and insignificant, God does His greatest work with humble things and humble people. For us, it is simply to say that we have an adaptability that God can use. This should inspire in us an “Awe-ability” that joyfully acknowledges God’s often secretive and hidden power. If that be the case, then, knowing our accountability, it simply remains for us to say, “If you can use anything, Lord, you can use me!”

Venerable Matt Talbot as a Beacon of Hope for Those Addicted

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This thoughtful reflection was presented at the Venerable Matt Talbot Hope and Recovery Service held at the Shrine of Venerable Matt Talbot, Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Dublin, on 17th September 2014. This spiritual recovery evening was open to all seeking recovery from addiction.

The Venerable Matt Talbot - Reflection
1856-1925
Posted September 19, 2014 
Source: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Matt-Talbot-Shrine/263868810479483?ref=stream

“We have gathered here this evening for this service to seek spiritual strength that we need on our lives’ journey of recovery. We gather in this particular place, in this sacred space to draw strength from one who had already done the journey, who had initially been caught up in the cycle of addiction in which we often find ourselves caught in. We come to this Church, where the remains of Matt Talbot are kept.

Matt Talbot was born on 2nd 1856 May to Elizabeth and Charles Talbot on the North Strand, and baptised a few days later. Having attended school for only one year, Matt got his first job. At this time he began to drink and later admitted that from his early teens to his late twenties his only aim in life was heavy drinking.

But at the age of 28, an incident made him realize the abysmal point that he had reached: Matt was broke and so he lingered outside a pub with his brothers with the hope that one of the many friends whom he had helped in their moment of ‘need’ would invite him in. But even his supposed friends disowned him and passed him by, friends whom he had supported in their own moment of need. 

It was an incident which affected him deeply. It triggered in him a soul searching process as he stood on a nearby bridge, gazing at the canal, gazing at the water as it flowed over in the lock. There and then he took a decision; I will no longer share their company or engage in their hollow laughter, but I will arise from my misery. Matt stopped drinking and made an initial three month pledge to God not to drink, which he later took for life. Despite great temptation in the early stages he never took a drink again.

What helped him take this step? I think it was his own Feelings, feelings that had been numbed for many years; without the influence of drink his feelings came rushing in. They were not comfortable feelings, but since he could not resort to his old way of avoiding them since he had no money to buy drink, and none of his friends would oblige him, he had no alternative but to face his feelings.

Contrary to popular belief, addiction is not about persistently indulging in a substance or some soothing behaviour. Rather it is about feelings, or rather disconnecting, cutting off our feelings. We live in an addictive society that seeks to cut off any unpleasant feelings. And when we cut off our feelings leaves us vulnerable, for though we may get some relief from the pain, however we cannot realize the moment when more harm is being done. We need to learn how to Feel our emotions rather than fear them, and this is what Matt learnt to do. Running away from your difficult feelings, means running away from yourself. You cannot form and maintain a solid relationship with anyone else, until you learn how to have a healthy one with you, until you accept yourself without self-judgment.

He knew that he could not achieve this on his own; he needed a higher power in his life, a power that affirmed him, that accepted him without conditions, inviting him to reach his full potential. Recovering from addiction we know is no easy process and Matt himself found it very difficult. But he found the strength he needed in the sacred spaces that dotted the city landscape, in the many churches where he encountered the Divine Presence, the loving embrace. There he encountered Jesus and the deep love that Jesus had for him. You are my beloved; indeed here Matt felt accepted and loved. Whenever he felt weak and the urge knocking at his door, this is where he fled , away from the streets, away from the pubs, away from sight to be close to the Lord and bask in his love. One of his favourite devotions was the Sacred Heart, which is another way of saying sacred Love. His remaining forty-one 'dry' years, were lived heroically, attending daily Mass, praying constantly, helping the poor and living the ascetic life-style of Celtic spirituality. This life was his prayer to God and his defence against a reversion to alcoholism.

Matt Talbot has been given to us as a beacon of hope; he is one of us and so he is able to understand us. That is why within a short time of his death, Matt's reputation as a saintly man and especially as a protector of those suffering from all forms of addiction and their families was being established. He once said: ‘Never be too hard on the man who can’t give up drink. It’s as hard to give up the drink as it is to raise the dead to life again. But both are possible and even easy for Our Lord. We have only to depend on him.’

He was able to make the journey from addiction to wholeness, to holiness. For this is what holiness is about, living a wholesome life relying not on ourselves but with the help of a higher power. He has been entrusted to us so that we can follow in his steps. Matt died in Granby Lane on Trinity Sunday, 7th June 1925 on his way to Mass in Dominick Street. The chains found on his body at death were a symbol of his devotion to Mary, to whom he wished to devote himself as a slave.

This coming year 2015 is the 90th year of his death and it is good that we mark it in a special way. In keeping his memory we seek to draw the same strength that he himself received from the ultimate Good.

Matt Talbot was declared Venerable in 1973 which means the Church has decided that from a human point of view he has the qualifications of a Saint.

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."

"Called to Hope"

This is just one powerful example of a life-changing experience. "Don't give up hope before the miracle happens.

 

 

Transformed by His Word: Called to Hope

 by Terry P.*

The Word Among Us

January, 2014

http://wau.org/archives/article/transformed_by_his_word/

 

“Three weeks without a drink: I was hanging on by my fingernails. I was on a long-planned vacation with friends and had come armed with literature from the Alcoholics Anonymous program I had joined. But I despaired of ever getting what the AA people had—a sure faith in their “Higher Power” that they could stay sober, one day at a time.

One Sunday at Mass, missalette in hand, I followed the first and second readings of the day. Then, as we stood to hear the Gospel, the Alleluia verse pierced my heart with an intensity that brought tears to my eyes: May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our heart, that we might see how great is the hope to which we are called (Ephesians 1:17-18). I tore the page from the missalette and folded it into the palm of my hand, gripping it tightly, as if to assure my hanging onto the hope that St. Paul was talking about.

That mind-blowing verse called me to hope, yet I was not suddenly struck sober. In the days that followed, I continued to suffer and experience powerful cravings for a drink. But I didn’t give in. I wore out the torn missalette page that reminded me of the promise—a hope that I was incapable of fulfilling on my own. Over and over, I willed my unwilling self to answer God’s call and stay sober.

Hour by Hour. Between swimming and sunning on the beach, I read my AA books and went to an AA meeting in a building across the road from a bar and poolroom. I could hear the click of the pool balls and thought I could hear the drinks being poured as the AA speaker told us of the hope for a sober day that meetings gave him. 

A million times that week, especially when ordering bottled water while others ordered cocktails, I silently repeated the AA slogan: “The first drink gets you drunk.” With all my heart, I prayed that God would enlighten the eyes of my heart so that I would know the hope of new life in Christ.

When I got back home, I called out to the Lord more and more. Often I pounded on my desk at work, as I prayed for hope that God’s power would keep me from a drink for the next hour. Then, when the next hour came, I would pray, “Thank you for the last hour, Lord. Now you must give me your power in which I hope again.”

How Great a Hope! I got what I prayed for—the ability not to drink, the grace to be faithful to what I was learning in AA about changing the way I lived. 

The Gospel acclamation that God gave me during my vacation became my prayer in the toughest, darkest moments: “Lord, please open me to the hope that is mine as your daughter.” One day three months later, I realized that I had not thought of a drink for an entire morning, and I thanked God for the respite from the cravings.

The hope I had been offered was moving from my head to my heart. It opened me more to God’s power. It energized me to put one foot in front of the other, to count my blessings, and to thank the Lord for keeping me sober each day.

In that one moment at Mass, the Spirit grabbed my heart, opened my eyes, and showed me that I had the right to hope in God’s power to help me change. I know now that I can live as God wants me to live—happy, joyful, and free. One day at a time, I thank God.”

*A pseudonym has been used at the author’s request.

Note: We are grateful to the publisher for such articles as well as five that specifically mention Venerable Matt Talbot.