A Letter from Father Bill W.
In writing his Divine Comedy, Dante envisions a sign hanging over the gates of hell. It reads: “Abandon hope all ye who enter here.” Hell isn’t filled with fire for Dante. Hell is cold, frozen; each occupant encased in a solid block of ice. Addiction is like that too! Many of us sank into the deep despair of a cold and isolated existence. As the Big Book says we, “… know loneliness such as few do.”
I’ve often wondered why the word hopeless never made its way into Step One. It’s the Step’s message reduced to a single word. It’s the word Wilson used repeatedly in the Big Book as he describes the cold hell into which he had descended. A brief sample:
- “In the doctor's judgment he was utterly hopeless.”
- “The remorse, horror and hopelessness of the next morning are unforgettable.”
- “We have recovered from a hopeless condition of mind and body.”
- “We … know thousands of men and women who were once just as hopeless as Bill.”
But then the miracle! Providence sends us someone who’s already been to hell but found a way out.
If you’ve been practicing Two Way Prayer for a while, I hope you’re realizing the Power you’ve come into contact with. It’s the Power that sets people free. Free from the bondage not just of alcohol or drugs – but from the deeper bondages of self: from self-centeredness, self-loathing, self-defeating feelings and behaviors of every type. These are the deeper, colder levels of hell. Ebby had only sixty days of listening to God when Bill Wilson’s name mysteriously came into his mind. Maybe God has someone in mind for you to call, and share, and show them a way out into a wholly new dimension of their recovery.
Yours in Recovery,
-Fr. Bill W.
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