Fait-divers on grace and soul

"The AA movement itself is not a religion. It doesn’t carry any religious affiliation, but it is a real spirituality. On the occasions that I’ve been to 12 Steps or AA meetings, I felt grace very powerfully present there in that group of addicts. All of them must at least have got to the 1st Step of the 12 Steps. They admitted their problem. They knew what their addiction was, and they confessed it. They could admit it and they could speak about it. And they knew that that addiction was stronger than they were. That split in their soul was too great for them to heal by themselves. They couldn’t get themselves back together by themselves. They were powerless – it’s the word used in the 1st Step. And that is a very spiritual moment. That’s the moment where you realize that you are not in complete control of your life, that you don’t know where you come from and you don’t know where you are going but you know that in some way your very existence, your very being is a gift. And it’s interesting that it should be when we are powerless that we are most likely to experience that and realize that. That is a moment where grace can begin to squeeze in." (Spirituality in a Secular Age, Laurence Freeman OSB)