We should be proud of the fact that AA meeting started in Akron. Now for more than fifty years it has helped and continues to help millions of recovering people. And we all know the famous prayer of AA members, that is, the serenity prayer.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
But, the serenity prayer doesn’t end with this. It continues like this.
Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
One day at a time; one moment at a time! The people I met in Manhattan took a serious promise to be sober for the day, looking forward to attending the meeting tomorrow again. If I were only impressed by the scale of Wall Street and didn’t meet AA members in it, I wouldn’t know the true face of Wall Street. And I have realized that the spirit of AA teaches us how to live as Christians.
People say that past is history and future is mystery. Only this present moment is gift, so that is why it is called ‘present’. How true is it to those who live one day at a time and enjoy one moment at a time!
Christians pray everyday Our Father. Within the prayer, we ask God to give us “daily bread.” The daily bread is not only the bread that Israel had received from heaven in the desert but also the bread we need day after day to live fully. In the Old Testament, people understood the daily bread to satisfy their hunger. But we understand now the daily bread would be the bread that nourishes and sustains us as a whole person who needs not only physical nourishment but also spiritual strength.
When Jesus says, “I Am the bread of life,” we are literally asked to eat the body and blood of Jesus. But eating doesn’t stop to fill our hunger; rather it goes on to quench our thirst and desire for being united with God. The daily bread is not food that perishes in digestion but food that stays for eternal life. It is an irony to see that eternal life comes from the daily bread. If we are not able to live eternity here and now, it will never happen after this life. If we don’t eat and value the daily bread, we will never taste eternal life. So the question would be what the daily bread is.
The daily bread is the way the Lord tests us. Think about the words that the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion; thus will I test them, to see whether they follow my instructions or not.” If we don’t go out each day to gather our daily portion, we fail. If we try to gather more than our daily portion, we fail as well. The daily bread is our duty and responsibility that we need to practice day after day with the grace of God. There is no way to get to eternity without daily steps. We discipline; we endeavor; we may fail but we ask again to give us our daily bread. The daily bread is Jesus that we eat, we digest, we imitate, we become eventually. That’s why Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” because everyday Jesus guides us, teaches us, and feeds us.” So Jesus is the daily bread that we need to receive eternal life.
“Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time.” This is the truth of the daily bread as we receive the Lord in the Eucharist everyday even though we don’t fully understand at this moment. Through this daily bread, our old self changes to the new self that craves for the God whose face can be found in our daily life. God is with us day after day to lead us to eternity. So we pray again to give us this day our daily bread!