I am not trying to promote a website or lead anyone anywhere - I received a cd series/ talk from a friend and am trying to figure out if I should listen to it. I dont want to be lead in a wrong direction but I am trying to understand my friend’s understanding of God (she is a baptised Catholic though fallen away and now seems to be searching for God). The series is by Fr. Tom Allender and Don Fisher through “LifeSjourney.org” Catholic Ministry and I have done keyword searches and googled it - it seems ok with a small red flag - at one point one speaker begins promoting a “personal relationship with Jesus” which I know is not necessarily a problem but is sort of a protestant phrase - anyways if anyone has heard of this or can give me (name removed by moderator)ut on this I would appreciate it
“Having a personal relationship with Jesus” is not a red flag–it’s essential to the Faith. According to our Catechism
“Great is the mystery of the faith!” The Church professes this mystery in the Apostles’ Creed and celebrates it in the sacramental liturgy, so that the life of the faithful may be conformed to Christ in the Holy Spirit to the glory of God the Father. This mystery, then, requires that the faithful believe in it, that they celebrate it, and that they live from it in a** vital and personal relationship with the living and true God.** —Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), 2558
“As you well know it is not a matter of merely passing on a doctrine, but rather of a personal and profound meeting with the Saviour.” ~Blessed John Paul the Great 1991.
“Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” ~Pope Benedict XVI
The Holy Father also says this relationship is at the heart of prayer, it involves being before God more than simply “carrying out acts of worship or pronouncing words. Prayer has its center and founds its roots in the most profound being of the person … However, the full realization of man’s search is found only in the God who reveals himself. Prayer, which is the opening and raising of the heart to God, becomes a personal relationship with Him” (General Audience, St. Peter’s Square, 11 May 2011).
I pray that during this feast of Pentecost the Holy Spirit helps you and your friend fall more in love with Jesus.
Good post. God bless:thumbsup:
Well thank you for correcting me where I was wrong but I was asking if you heard anything about that series and/or ministry
also I beleieve I stated that there was nothing wrong with it BUT WAS POINTING OUT THAT PROTESTANTS TYPICALLY ASK YOU IF YOU HAVE A PERSONAL REALATIONSHIP WITH JESUS and so in trying to determine the “catholicness” of this it seemed to be a relevant fact to bring up
It may be relevant to bring up, but if that’s the only “red flag” that pops up in your mind, I sincerely doubt you have anything to worry about. However, I have not heard of this group/ministry before, so I can neither endorse it nor… whatever the oposite of “endorse” would be. (Is there a single-word opposite of “endorse” aside from “condemn”, which seems too harsh in this case?)
…
That being said, having glanced at the website, I am a bit… wary. Their mission statement seems a teensy bit hinky to me:
“All of our relationships are mirrors of our own relationship with ourselves and our God, thus spirituality becomes the source of loving one another as God loves us. The purpose of this site is to help us to become our own best friend. Therefore, the journey to make our God personal is precisely the same journey as to become our own best friend. When we accept and become comfortable with ourselves, we are then able to accept and allow others to be the way they are. Our hope is that these materials can assist you with making your lives and relationships more satisfying and meaningful.”
While they could, theoretically, mean becoming more like Jesus when they say, “becom[ing] our own best friend,” the fact that they say their process starts “[w]hen we accept and become comfortable with ourselves” seems to suggest otherwise. It sounds to me more like they’re saying that we first need to “find ourselves” or some such nonsense, before we can do anything else. Combine this with the fact that their goal seems to be to make people “able to accept and allow others to be the way they are” (rather than to become holy so that we can call others on to holiness), and you have what I consider to be a far, far bigger “red flag” than simply using the phrase, “personal relationship with Jesus.”
Since they don’t seem to have any of their materials available, even in an example form, on their website (which to me is yet another “red flag”), I think, unless someone here does have personal knowledge of their methodology and orthodoxy, the best course might be to sign up for their “Daily Inspiration” emails, print them out, and then take them to a faithfully orthodox deacon, priest, or bishop that you know and ask them if there’s anything in those emails that seems problematic or unorthodox.
Thank you tiberious - well put