Preface
I have been writing this blog, Praying Alone Together for seven years. To my utter amazement, I will have my two millionth visitor in a month or two.When I started writing, a few things were clear to me. I wanted to treat Carmelite spirituality and prayer, particularly from the perspective of Teresa of Avila. Secondly, I wanted to write from the viewpoint of a pastor. Over the years, some things have come into sharper focus. Now, my main effort is to invite people to a deeper personal prayer. My efforts have been to attempt to offer them the guidance of how to accomplish the goal of deep personal prayer. Likewise, I have become aware of both the gifts, and the very real limits, of writing from a pastor’s outlook. It is a struggle to stay simple without being simplistic in presenting a truly complex challenge to guide and enlighten people in their experience of God. This has made me more and more aware of the need of both deep personal prayer and the ever-expanding need for humility on my part. My fondest hope is that my efforts will be a simple invitation to an openness to God’s call to a deeper encounter of love.
A truly clear example of my gift of pastoral insight and the constraints of insufficient academic expertise was a series of reflections on Gerald May’s Addiction and Grace. The responses I received from most readers were twofold. The material was new and interesting. Likewise, it was both insightful and confusing. I have received a series of questions on the topic of addiction. I hope I will be able to offer some clarification. The most common concern was the deep surprise about one’s own addictions and the spiritual damage they can produce. The second area of concern was about the depth of the connection of addiction to spirituality and the magnitude of personal and spiritual harm that is the product of unchecked addictions in the ordinary events of life.
In this second series of reflections on Addiction and Grace, I hope to address these and other questions that I have received from the readers of my first effort.
I am going to begin with a reflection on May’s teaching on willingness and willfulness. May sees in these two contrary items a fundamental approach to life. They involve the never-ending question of meaning and the elusive search for happiness as we face the mystery of life. Properly understood, the true meaning of willingness and willfulness acts as a guide to spirituality and our pursuit of God. Willingness and willfulness are two basic moves towards life. May’s teaching is truly an invitation into life’s true destiny, union with God. We need to approach it with a great deal of wonder and an ever-greater degree of humility.
