By TAMI QUIGLEY Staff writer
“Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart, and you’ll never walk alone, you’ll never walk alone.”
The well-known refrain of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1945 musical “Carousel” echoed throughout Queenship of Mary, Northampton, as the parish choir sang a beautiful rendition during a special Mass of Healing and Remembrance for people struggling with addiction and their families, and those who have died as a result.
The song was inspiring and very apt for the spirit of the liturgy celebrated by Bishop Alfred Schlert April 15 at the regularly scheduled 10:30 a.m. Mass. All were welcome at the Mass, parishioners and non-parishioners alike.
Father Patrick Lamb, pastor of Queenship of Mary, was homilist and concelebrant. Assisting were Deacon Michael Doncsecz of Queenship of Mary and Deacon William Urbine of Notre Dame of Bethlehem.
“We’re here to pray – something as Catholics we can do and need to do,” said Father Lamb.
Father Lamb said they were praying for those suffering from addictions and their loved ones, the souls of those who died from their addiction, loved ones who lost someone to addiction, and those struggling now with addiction and their loved ones.
Prayers of thanksgiving should be offered for those who became sober from their addictions.
Father Lamb thanked Bishop Schlert for his presence and for bringing the issue of addiction to the forefront.
“It’s so good we’re here to pray together.”
The Mass was celebrated during the Easter Season, which is one of hope and new life. The five wounds of the Resurrected Lord remind us that we have a God who suffers with us, understands our wounds, and offers us new life, healing, and conversion by living in and with him.
Father Lamb said when one becomes sober, “the joy comes back because God comes back.”
He explained the word “addiction” is derived from the Latin words “ad dictum,” meaning “to the dictator.”
“The addict has to do what the addiction says until he can get help.”
Father Lamb said those who ask an addict “why don’t you just stop” are misunderstanding what addiction is – the addict can’t stop.
Father Lamb said as a priest he’s heard the question “Father, can they get to heaven?”
from loved ones after an addict died. “It’s very difficult, it’s heartwrenching. Their life never led to its fulfillment, it was cut short.”
In response to the question, Father Lamb relays these words of Jesus, who once said, “Those who are well do not need a doctor, sick people do. I have not come for those who are well but those who are sick.”
Father Lamb said addicts are not immoral or bad people, they are “sick people trying to get well.
“Jesus has come for the addicts.”
Father Lamb recalled meeting an addict named Tom 15 years ago who had been kicked out of the YMCA because of something to do with his addiction. The man would be homeless and wanted to stay in the guest room at the rectory.
Father Lamb sought the advice of someone in recovery about what he should do. He told Father Lamb, “don’t take his bottom away,” as the man would need to hit rock bottom if he had a hope of getting sober.
Another man, Bob, was in recovery after an alcohol-ridden life and had become a man of deep faith and peace.
Then he was struck with cancer, and after treatment it came to the point where doctors eventually told him his life was in God’s hands.
Bob told Father Lamb, “My life’s in God’s hands and that’s not a bad place to be.”
“That’s faith,” Father Lamb said.
Father Lamb said in the day’s Gospel, Luke 24:35-48, Jesus comes to his disciples in his glorified body and his wounds are still there “because those sacred wounds saved all of us.”
Father Lamb thanked those in recovery for “lifting up your sacred wounds to God so you can be a source of healing for addicts.”
“We’re all wounded healers,” Father Lamb said, noting our wounds need to be healed by God first before we can help heal others.
The seventh of nine children, Father Lamb spoke about his father, a recovering alcoholic who died in 1995. “I’m really proud of my dad. He did a lot of good helping other addicts.” His dad had basically gotten sober before Father Lamb was born, but had a few slips.
Father Lamb emphasized that everyone in a family is sick because of the addict’s illness.
Before his mother’s death in 2002, she told Father Lamb of his father’s drinking, “I needed all of that to become the person I am today.”
“That totally blew me out of the water,” Father Lamb said.
“Through years of prayer and letting go, she was able to come to the point to find the gift in what happened … no anger, no resentment.”
Father Lamb encouraged those struggling or who love someone with an addiction to “keep praying, don’t give up hope. When it’s early on in an addiction you’re not going to be thankful for it. But as life goes on and you come to the other side, God can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He can bring that grace into our lives. Keep praying.”
Father Lamb said we need prayer and education, which means “to draw out that which is hidden.”
Addiction, he said, thrives in hiddenness, darkness and isolation. “We need to bring this out into the light and look at it.”
It’s very difficult for families because there is so much shame around addiction, so “we don’t need to shame people, we need to love them” so they have the courage to tell their story.
He noted Dr. Smith and Bill Wilson, the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, knew the importance of sharing their stories, and encouraged those gathered to do so at the time of fellowship.
Father Lamb asked the congregation to bring their struggles and wounds to the altar at Communion. “Allow God to heal your own wounds so that you and I can become wounded healers for other people.
“We can’t be wounded healers until we deal with our own wounds first because we’re wounded wounders.”
Father Lamb reminded those gathered, “You never look down on an addict unless you’re leaning over and picking him up.”
He asked everyone to ask God to help all be people of prayer and wounded healers.
Before the Mass ended, Bishop Schlert addressed the congregation, and thanked Father Lamb for his “sensitive and powerful homily,” noting visitors to the parish could see how blessed Queenship of Mary is to have Father Lamb and leading a round of applause for the pastor.
Whether a parishioner or visitor to the parish, “For whatever reason, God had you here today to hear these powerful words of hope,” Bishop Schlert said. “Pray for all addicts in our community, Catholic or non-Catholic, it makes no difference.”
Father Lamb’s homily may be heard on the parish’s website by clicking here.
