Stinking Happy

Embracing our additions and God’s freeing grace  

Galatians 4:22-24, 26-27, 31–5:1  

Brothers and sisters: It is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the freeborn woman. The son of the slave woman was born naturally, the son of the freeborn through a promise. Now this is an allegory. These women represent two covenants. One was from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; this is Hagar. But the Jerusalem above is freeborn, and she is our mother. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are children not of the slave woman but of the freeborn woman. For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.   

          Some of the happiest people I know are those whom I least expected to be happy, namely, recovering alcohol and drug addicts. While I was pastor of St. Raphael, members of AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) would ask to speak at Mass and invite others to attend their meetings. And I couldn’t help but notice the irrepressible smile on their faces. They were genuinely, deeply and uncontrollably happy. You could tell this was not “an act.” The source of their unbridled joy was twofold: on the one hand, they humbly admitted they were addicted to drugs and alcohol. On the other hand, they had turned to God to free them from that slavery. And guess what? He did! These men were truly free, no longer slaves to addition, and that’s why they were so stinking happy.   

          Around the same time, I read a tremendous little book by Gerald May, called Addiction and Grace. In it, he wrote we are all addicts. He said: “The same processes that are responsible for addiction to alcohol and narcotics are also responsible for addictions to ideas, work, relationships, power, moods, fantasies, and an endless variety of other things. We are all addicts in every sense of the word.” As a psychiatrist, May wanted to heal people of their addictions but he met with little success. Then one day, he met a faith healer, who held his hands and said, “I wouldn’t take my dog to you because you think you are the one that has to do the healing.” In other words, like the men in AA, May realized only God can free us and heal us of our addictions. Only then will you be stinking happy.   

          In the first reading today, St. Paul tells the Galatians the secret to being stinking happy, too. Galatians 5:1 could be considered the “core of Christianity” because it says: “For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.” St. Paul, like those humble and happy recovering alcoholics, knew that we are all addicted to something. Indeed, sin and addiction are almost interchangeable terms: both obstruct the flow of God’s love in our lives because we turn to something besides God and become enslaved to it.  But we can also be freed from that slavery by Jesus. Only when you acknowledge both of these two sides of spirituality - addiction and grace - will you be fully free and hopelessly happy. 

  

          My friends, do you want to be happy? I mean, do you want to be really happy, even stinking happy? Well, let me suggest you not look outside for that happiness: in material things, in public praise, or awards and achievements. But rather, look inside your heart. There, you will see the two things that Gerald May saw: (1) we are all addicted to many things (fine food, fantasy football, facebook), and (2) only God can free us from these addictions (we have to open our hearts to his grace). St. Paul said: “For freedom Christ has set us free,” because only then will we be truly happy. You see, only when we are no longer slaves but free men and women will we be able to walk around like those men from AA, with an irrepressible smile on our faces.  

          Praised be Jesus Christ!