Personal Relationship with Jesus

12 /31/ 06

by Fr.Gus Carter

The New Year beginning this evening causes most people to reflect, at least to some degree, on their

lives. Devout Christians think about their relationship with Jesus. We might ask ourselves what some

evangelical Protestants ask of us, "Is Jesus your personal Savior?" All of us here in church today can

say that we know about Jesus, but we question what kind of personal relationship we have with our

Lord.

Personal relationships change our lives. Many individuals make a distinction. Some people are

acquaintances. Others are truly friends. With friends we know some of the realities of that person's

life that are not obvious to those who are only acquaintances. We spend precious time with our

friends and we share intimate details of our lives in friendship. We help each other discover and act

upon the truths of life. That is what makes friendship intimate.

Believers through their prayers and actions come to sense the living presence of Jesus as a reality in

their lives. The life of Jesus tells us much about what it means to be human. Our awareness of Jesus'

presence gives us transforming power to be more deeply human. When we live lives of

true interaction with Jesus, we experience a peace and joy that confirms the reality of Jesus with us.

We have come to learn something of our personal relationship with Jesus through important people

in our lives. Recently I read a remark of a priest who said, "My parents have always been a

revelation of Jesus to me." Most of us can remember what we call "living saints" in our lives. These

people do reveal something intimate about Jesus to us. The lives of the saints reveal to us what a life

of intimacy with Jesus is like. I recall reading St. Teresa of Avila's statement, "In all the world you

will never find a better friend than Jesus."

Of course a prime source of knowing Jesus intimately would be the Four Gospels. We know that true

friendship requires dialogue. The Gospels were written so that Christians throughout history could

relate personally to Jesus. Reading the Gospel, our faith tells us, offers us the same graces

that Jesus personally offered to those who met him in his life upon earth. Actually, we have more

access to the reality of Jesus in the Gospel because Jesus has given us his Holy Spirit who

guides us to all truth. We must read the Gospel as Jesus' personal revelation to us. Reading the

Gospel prayerfully, reflectively, allows us to let Jesus challenge the way we are living, console us in

our sorrow, point out to us how we might proceed to deepen our relationship with Christ.

We must personally let Jesus say to us, "Come to me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will

give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and

you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy and my burden light."

St. Ignatius systematized for us how to use the most ancient method of praying the Gospel which is

called "lectio divina," literally divine reading. We read a passage of Gospel. Then we recreate the

incident in our imagination. Then we talk to Jesus in the scene we have created. We might think

about how we would react to such a situation, what we would say to Jesus under such circumstances.

We could imagine Jesus replies. We can reflect on what Jesus might say to us in return.

Another way of doing 'lectio divina" would be to read a Scripture passage slowly and let ourselves

react to what we have read. A tenth century monk outlined how we might do "lectio divina." His

method is called "the Ladder of the Monk." Praying Scripture is like going up and down a ladder

which has four rungs: reading, reflecting, praying and contemplating. Praying means talking to God

about what we have read and reflected on. The fourth rung of contemplation is resting in any

feelings we have about what we have reflected on: peace, joy, gratitude, enthusiasm about following

Jesus.

We do not have to be scripture scholars to pray with the Gospels. We need good will and an open

heart. Simplicity is a sign of healthy prayer. As memory aids to the ladder of prayer, we might recall

the English words that are patterned after the Latin: lection, reflection, oration and contemplation; or

the four R's: reading, reflection, reacting and resting.