A Personal Relationship with God. Where to Start
I was perhaps 6 years old when I learned to recite from my Penny Catechism the answer to the question "Why did God make you?" The answer which I have in my lifetime gone back to many times was "God made me to know Him, love Him and serve Him in this world and to be happy with Him forever in the next" The Catechism represented the official teaching of the Church as taught by the Council of Trent and is full of the wisdom and teachings of the Catholic Church.
So let us make a start and think about the first part which is knowing God. I know a great many people but the ones I get to know at a personal level are those I talk to, share stories with, and when I am in trouble they are the ones who are on my side and give me help and encouragement. Some I have a really close relationship with so that in my everyday life they are constantly in my thoughts. But it is in my family unit I get the most love and support. My wife, my sons, my daughter- in- laws, my grandchildren, my in-laws, they are all very close to me and we share our secrets as well as our stories. "And when you pray say this 'Our Father who art in Heaven................" So Jesus wants us to see him not as a God outside our experience but as a God who is as close to us as the head of a Family the father who protects and provides for his wife and children. "Call no man Father, you have one Father and He is in Heaven" Jesus once said. God is the one who created children and gave them into the care of a human father and so all fathers must model themselves on God, full of love and mercy. But God is a Creator who lives outside our human experience. We do not see him, and it is indeed Fatih that keeps us believing and this is perhaps the difficulty. So we are comfortable with the question "Do you believe in God" but if we go on to the next question "Do you know God" we are not so ready with our answers. So let us pause after the sentence and say, and indeed I will stop typing for I am just like you, "God I do not know you, will you reveal yourself to me?"
We are in the Church so used to a God who is packaged to us, that we think we do not need to talk to him at a personal level. We only talk to Him when it is time for morning or night prayers, when we go to Mass on Sunday, or say the Rosary, or read the Bible. That is what I call the packaged God, it is only when involved in some kid of religious liturgy or practice that we turn to Him. I was playing with my grandson this morning, not yet two, and I love him so much, but on reflection I did not ask what God wanted of me in my relationship with him. Perhaps in the future I will ask God how the child will get to know Him through me in our relationship. Yes, I sill say the Rosary later and mention him, but I also am building a relationship with God through just talking to Him about everyday matters and when answers come, as they will, I will get to know God so much better. But it is not just my grandson I want to talk to God about, it is his mother and father, it is my wife, it is my sons, I wasn't to talk to Him about almost everyone at a personal level. Yes it could be time consuming and there are so many other secular attractions that can make us postpone our conversations, but did Jesus not talk about denying ourselves and the real difficulty is that we can suddenly be leading a different kind of life. One perhaps we are afraid of starting.
God My Father, pity me, Mary my Mother pray for me.
So let us make a start and think about the first part which is knowing God. I know a great many people but the ones I get to know at a personal level are those I talk to, share stories with, and when I am in trouble they are the ones who are on my side and give me help and encouragement. Some I have a really close relationship with so that in my everyday life they are constantly in my thoughts. But it is in my family unit I get the most love and support. My wife, my sons, my daughter- in- laws, my grandchildren, my in-laws, they are all very close to me and we share our secrets as well as our stories. "And when you pray say this 'Our Father who art in Heaven................" So Jesus wants us to see him not as a God outside our experience but as a God who is as close to us as the head of a Family the father who protects and provides for his wife and children. "Call no man Father, you have one Father and He is in Heaven" Jesus once said. God is the one who created children and gave them into the care of a human father and so all fathers must model themselves on God, full of love and mercy. But God is a Creator who lives outside our human experience. We do not see him, and it is indeed Fatih that keeps us believing and this is perhaps the difficulty. So we are comfortable with the question "Do you believe in God" but if we go on to the next question "Do you know God" we are not so ready with our answers. So let us pause after the sentence and say, and indeed I will stop typing for I am just like you, "God I do not know you, will you reveal yourself to me?"
We are in the Church so used to a God who is packaged to us, that we think we do not need to talk to him at a personal level. We only talk to Him when it is time for morning or night prayers, when we go to Mass on Sunday, or say the Rosary, or read the Bible. That is what I call the packaged God, it is only when involved in some kid of religious liturgy or practice that we turn to Him. I was playing with my grandson this morning, not yet two, and I love him so much, but on reflection I did not ask what God wanted of me in my relationship with him. Perhaps in the future I will ask God how the child will get to know Him through me in our relationship. Yes, I sill say the Rosary later and mention him, but I also am building a relationship with God through just talking to Him about everyday matters and when answers come, as they will, I will get to know God so much better. But it is not just my grandson I want to talk to God about, it is his mother and father, it is my wife, it is my sons, I wasn't to talk to Him about almost everyone at a personal level. Yes it could be time consuming and there are so many other secular attractions that can make us postpone our conversations, but did Jesus not talk about denying ourselves and the real difficulty is that we can suddenly be leading a different kind of life. One perhaps we are afraid of starting.
God My Father, pity me, Mary my Mother pray for me.
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