On a Persona Relationship with Jesus and the work we do in the Parish..
I found the sessions with Sherry Weddell last weekend very challenging. Sherry had three things to say which were very important to would be disciples, and the first thing was that we must have a Personal Relationship with God. Now this is a question she has asked many Catholic leaders with some surprising responses, yet she maintained that without such a relationship the vast majority of Catholics will never advance beyond what she called a seeker, moving to trusting and then openness to that stage when we become a disciple. The vast majority of us are just infant Catholics. This can be quite a shock to many who have laboured in the Catholic Church for many years. Yes, we can have a parish where we have all the societies and charities and everyone can have a choice as to where their talents lie, whether it be prayer or catechesis, the St Vincent de Paul Society or Cafod, but if these labours are bearing no fruit, if it just becomes an enclosed institution the fame of which never goes beyond the walls and reaches out to individuals in society and appears as something that is radical and different then questions must be asked. And if young Catholics who are baptised and confirmed in that institution are deserting it by a figure as high as 90% then if we truly love God questions must be asked. And to ask questions we must have reached that stage of openness which Sherry mentioned that the majority have still to reach.
So what should the Catholic Church look like to other people in order to make it bear fruit? Let me go back to St Augustine. There he was in the Roman Empire living a life of sexual freedom and pleasure. But then one day he tired of it all and wanted to move on to something else. Maybe today he would have met someone selling drugs or perhaps have just become depressed and lonely. Happily Augustine saw a beacon of light. He came across young people who were not seeking sexual pleasure outside marriage and when they did marry they were totally faithful to their spouses. They were called Christians. The story goes on as we know to tell us how Aiugustine fell ini love with that Church and became one of its saints. That Church, that beacon of light, is not there today and only a few manage to break through the fog to see the dim reflection. It would he easy to jump to the conclusion that it is just because our young people are not chaste so if we teach chastity and marriage all will be well. But no, it is almost impossible for a young person to lead a celibate life and be faithful in marriage unless they have a personal relationship with God. And that is what we have to seek for ourselves and for our children.
Sme will object that they read the Bible every day. Some will tell us of the shrines they visit and the Rosaries they say and all the Novenas they offer and that they are good people I will never question. But sometimes we can use these things to hide from God, and we are well practiced in it, but they do not lead us to a personal relationship. I think I have read over a thousand books on the lives of the saints during my lifetime and what stands out? What makes me want to read them. I read my first book when I was 11 years old and it was the Story of a Soul by St Therese. What inspire3d me in the book is that she most certainly approached God in a way that was different. She simply did not just roll off prayers but she talked to Jesus in her own way. Many other books followed and all of the saints had an individual approach to God. They really had a relationship and their prayers bore fruit. As I write this I have a statue of Our Lady of Walsingham beside the computer and every so often when I write something I ask her "Is what I wrote OK" Sometimes I go back and delete sometimes I carry on. It is a small thing but I am trying hard to have a personal relationship with Mary. I then ask her when I have finished "What will I do next?" The answer may come a few days later but it comes.
Perhaps the young people in the Church that St Augustine knew had an advantage. They did not have scripture and they could not read scripture anyway. They did not settle down to the Rosary, or look for some devotion to follow. They simply had to talk to Jesus on their own. Now I am not advocating an abandonment of Scripture or the Rosary but pointing out that they should not be our only contact with Jesus. Sherry was a convert to the Church through experiencing one day the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. She said something very profound. "The Eucharist is not a holy t:hing it is a Person If we want a personal relationship with Jesus this is where we start. In giving us this beautiful presence Jesus wanted to overpower us with his love. He is our shepherd and our guide and it is inconceivable that we should shove him into a corner out of the way. Indeed it is scandalous. Jesus must again be the centre of our parish prayer life and young people should be taught that a personal relationship with Jesus starts with their First Holy Communion.
Having written this I agree that it is not easy. A personal relationship with Jesus can be threatening. We are very good at pretending we are wonderful people to others, but we know we cannot fooll God. He knows us for what we are and perhaps we would rather carry on as we are. I am lucky that Mary took me and shook me first. But I now know that many things I did were displeasing to her and I am striving to rectify them and ask her for more help if it is needed. The woman is trying to make me holy. And that is something else that perhaps we would rather shy away from and carry on as we are. Do we really want to be saints? I will now turn to my statue and ask her "Do you really want me to be a saint? Thank God the woman is silent at the moment.
So what should the Catholic Church look like to other people in order to make it bear fruit? Let me go back to St Augustine. There he was in the Roman Empire living a life of sexual freedom and pleasure. But then one day he tired of it all and wanted to move on to something else. Maybe today he would have met someone selling drugs or perhaps have just become depressed and lonely. Happily Augustine saw a beacon of light. He came across young people who were not seeking sexual pleasure outside marriage and when they did marry they were totally faithful to their spouses. They were called Christians. The story goes on as we know to tell us how Aiugustine fell ini love with that Church and became one of its saints. That Church, that beacon of light, is not there today and only a few manage to break through the fog to see the dim reflection. It would he easy to jump to the conclusion that it is just because our young people are not chaste so if we teach chastity and marriage all will be well. But no, it is almost impossible for a young person to lead a celibate life and be faithful in marriage unless they have a personal relationship with God. And that is what we have to seek for ourselves and for our children.
Sme will object that they read the Bible every day. Some will tell us of the shrines they visit and the Rosaries they say and all the Novenas they offer and that they are good people I will never question. But sometimes we can use these things to hide from God, and we are well practiced in it, but they do not lead us to a personal relationship. I think I have read over a thousand books on the lives of the saints during my lifetime and what stands out? What makes me want to read them. I read my first book when I was 11 years old and it was the Story of a Soul by St Therese. What inspire3d me in the book is that she most certainly approached God in a way that was different. She simply did not just roll off prayers but she talked to Jesus in her own way. Many other books followed and all of the saints had an individual approach to God. They really had a relationship and their prayers bore fruit. As I write this I have a statue of Our Lady of Walsingham beside the computer and every so often when I write something I ask her "Is what I wrote OK" Sometimes I go back and delete sometimes I carry on. It is a small thing but I am trying hard to have a personal relationship with Mary. I then ask her when I have finished "What will I do next?" The answer may come a few days later but it comes.
Perhaps the young people in the Church that St Augustine knew had an advantage. They did not have scripture and they could not read scripture anyway. They did not settle down to the Rosary, or look for some devotion to follow. They simply had to talk to Jesus on their own. Now I am not advocating an abandonment of Scripture or the Rosary but pointing out that they should not be our only contact with Jesus. Sherry was a convert to the Church through experiencing one day the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. She said something very profound. "The Eucharist is not a holy t:hing it is a Person If we want a personal relationship with Jesus this is where we start. In giving us this beautiful presence Jesus wanted to overpower us with his love. He is our shepherd and our guide and it is inconceivable that we should shove him into a corner out of the way. Indeed it is scandalous. Jesus must again be the centre of our parish prayer life and young people should be taught that a personal relationship with Jesus starts with their First Holy Communion.
Having written this I agree that it is not easy. A personal relationship with Jesus can be threatening. We are very good at pretending we are wonderful people to others, but we know we cannot fooll God. He knows us for what we are and perhaps we would rather carry on as we are. I am lucky that Mary took me and shook me first. But I now know that many things I did were displeasing to her and I am striving to rectify them and ask her for more help if it is needed. The woman is trying to make me holy. And that is something else that perhaps we would rather shy away from and carry on as we are. Do we really want to be saints? I will now turn to my statue and ask her "Do you really want me to be a saint? Thank God the woman is silent at the moment.
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