Addiction and Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions

by Gerald G. May

In the context of addiction, the essence of Jesus’ teachings can be seen as threefold. First, he gave a powerful, unequivocal restatement of the necessity of relinquishing attachments in order to love God and neighbor with a full, unfettered heart. “No one can serve two masters…. You cannot love both God and money.” “Anyone who prefers father or mother…son or daughter to me is not worthy of me.” Second, he both explained and exemplified the nature of a life free from attachments, lived in true liberation and love. “I am gentle and humble of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Third, he established the way toward fulfillment, the Good News.17 Jesus’ existence as the divine incarnation proved that instead of hoarding the qualities of divinity, God wished to share them through a right relationship with humanity. The events of Jesus’ life, leading to his crucifixion, demonstrated the threat he posed to peoples’ addictions and the lengths to which they would go to protect their attachments. In turn, the crucifixion itself demonstrated the extent to which God would go to liberate people from their attachments. Jesus proclaimed that there was no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends, and then he proceeded to do just that. Finally, and most important of all to the Christian faith, Christ’s resurrection proclaimed absolute and unquestioned victory over attachment itself, over its consequences, and over its ca...