Seeds of Grace: A Nun’s Reflections on the Spirituality of Alcoholics Anonymous Reviews

Seeds of Grace: A Nun's Reflections on the Spirituality of Alcoholics Anonymous





A surprising and enlightening assessment of AA-its basic tenets and how it works on the spirit-by a nun and recovering alcoholic.

When Sister Molly Monahan joined Alcoholics Anonymous she was looking for the help and support she needed to stop drinking. But what she found was something more, something that surprised her: a deeper spirituality than she had ever experienced in her religious community.

How could a nonreligious group espousing the most basic of spiritual beliefs have anything to teach a nun who had already spent three decades steeped in the values, rituals, and traditions of the contemplative life? The mystery of the effectiveness of AA has yet to be explained. This book looks at that question in new, interesting, and important ways. In Seeds of Grace, Sister Molly Monahan traces her progress through the Twelve Steps and identifies the lessons that Alcoholics Anonymous has to instruct all of us about grace, forgiveness, community, and, in AA parlance, "the God of our understanding." Along the way, through a series of meditations, she shares her insights on why AA works, how it works, and how it has changed her life and the lives of millions of people. When Sister Molly Monahan, a Roman Catholic nun, came to Alcoholics Anonymous she expected to find sobriety. What she hadn't counted on was finding a more meaningful relationship with God than she had ever experienced in her religious order. "What could AA teach me about spirituality?" she asks. "Going to meetings did not feel like going to church, or going on a retreat, or sitting at the feet of some guru in pursuit of lofty spiritual goals. It felt like to defeat to me, as it does to most."

So of course Monahan was surprised to discover that alcoholism is indeed a "physical, mental, and spiritual disease," as the program states. Using the 12- step program as the basic structure, Monahan tells her own story of recovery alongside panhandlers, VPs, and soccer moms. Much more than a memoir, this is an elegant meditation on the power of the 12-step program, how it penetrates and guides the way that sober alcoholics live. What readers come to see, whether they are alcoholics or not, is that the AA program is indeed a significant spiritual contribution to the American landscape for all families, faiths, and walks of life. --Gail Hudson









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