Disciple Marco

Epistle 1: “The Church is closed” Grace, peace, and love to you, one and all. “The Church is closed.” You might say. To which I would respond: “Is it really, though?” To which you might rely: “Well, of course it is! Look, the doors are locked, the sanctuary is empty, there is nobody inside and we are not allowed to come together to worship because of the global pandemic! How can you even ask ‘is it really closed?’ Can’t you see that is?” So let me ask you this: What is the Church? Of course, we know that the Church is the Lord’s House; but what does that mean? Does that mean the Church is a building made of wood and stone, possibly with a steel frame? Is the Church a thing built by the hands of men? Is the Church merely a place of worship and fellowship? Yes, it is all of these things, but also so much more! If the Church were merely a building built by the hands of men out wood, stone, and steel to be a place of worship, then God, even in the works and the person of o...

Hello there! I've been gone a long. long time, but I'm back now! I will leave all my former posts up, even if some of my priorities have changed or grown. This blog is meant to serve both as a kind of journal to gauge my growth in relation to God and to share my insights in regards to the Lord in the hope that my experience, strength, and hope might be of useful benefit to you. New posts coming soon. God bless you, one and all.

A CULTURE OF PREVENTION : rebuilding communities by R.Marcus Gaudry Nov 27 2009 Recently, the necessity to create a culture of prevention has become abundantly clear to me, especially since it is looking more and more like a globalized culture of addiction continues to progress despite any effort to put a stop to it. In order to get a clear idea of what it means to create a culture of prevention, it seems to me to only make sense to define what exactly that means, and in order to do that, it appears essential that we first define certain terms, for example the term "culture". This word alone has several meanings, depending on the context in which it is being used. For the purposes of this paper, we will be applying a social, historical, and a somewhat anthropological context to the term: cul-ture : [kuhl-cher] n . a particular form or stage of civilization, as that of a certain nation or period: Greek culture. the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ...

PSYCHOSOCIAL INTEGRATION: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE DISLOCATION THEORY OF ADDICTION R.Marcus Gaudry Nov 18, 2009 My friends,colleagues and all our guests: Let me begin by thanking you all for allowing me a moment to communicate with you, and I hope you find what I have to share helpful and informative. Many of us, I would imagine, either know of someone or know someone personally who has, for all intents and purposes, been transformed from being a familiar person into a slave of some destructive habit or another - whether it be the use of a substance, a process such as gambling or video gaming, or even a lifestyle that lends itself to self harm. In this, we can clearly see that the term "addiction", applies to much more than simply substance abuse. Some of us may have even endured such a transformation into slavery ourselves. In either case, or possibly for some of us here today in both cases, we may be finding ourselves at odds with a question that begs to be answered: "Wh...

I know this is probably a little bit late, but today I want to talk about the Fort Hood shooting. To begin with, my heartfelt prayers for those who are affected directly by this tragedy, and for those who are indirectly affected as well. Some of the following material might sound like an attempt to justify the actions of suspected shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, but that is not the case. This is, in part, using some of the things I am learning about in school as a reflection on the incident.As some of you know, I am currently an intern in the health professions - in particular mental health, and more specifically addictions. I am doing this as a means to give back some of the recovery I have enjoyed over the past six years. While this particular case does not involve addiction, it does bring to mind some of the material that has come to my attention. The following bit is from an article I found at http://www.cknw.com/News/World/Article.aspx?id=157617 His uncle Rafik Hamad, 64, said Sat...

THE "I DON'T CARE SYNDROME" : or: ACEDIA: "LIVING DEAD INSIDE" by R. Marcus Gaudry August 29, 2009 Most typically, counseling focuses on what is commonly known as primary emotions. As with anything else, there are both "positive" and "negative" primary emotions. The "negative" for the purposes of this paper, would typically be recognized by most as sadness, hurt, anger and above all, fear. However, in order to be able to deal with these primary emotions, we often have to address a number of exterior emotional experiences; many of which are used as coping mechanism by our clients. Some of these can help support a person's well being, while others have a tendency to hinder a person's well being, regardless of how effective they may appear to be at the beginning. In my personal experience, and in discussions with various colleagues, a recurring theme of layers appears, much like an onion, each layer being iconic of some emotio...