A Personal Relationship with God

[Teakafrog]

I must say, that being raised as a Protestant (Baptist, then Nazarene), my relationship with Jesus is SO MUCH more ‘personal’ now that I am a Catholic than it could have ever been outside the Church. I pray and talk to Him more, think about Him more, and try so much harder to live His commandments. And then there’s the Eucharist, what more can you ask than to receive Him body, blood, soul and divinity? Keep studying, it is worth it! I know, btdt.

 

[Greg27]

I myself recently converted from Protestantism (Evangelical) to Catholicism, for various reasons, but mainly because I was drawn to the riches of the traditions, and I felt (despite some reservations about later innovations and some popular forms of devotion) it was closer to the early Christianity of the early Church and the great Fathers such as the Cappadocians and St Augustine.

I think it is fair to say Christianity is all about a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. How this occurs is done in various ways in different Christian denominations, but even within the Catholic Church itself there is great diversity in unity.

I feel my personal relationship to God comes most strongly in times of reflective and contemplative prayer, though for me these are not separate from the Church and the sacraments but their completion. I never had this sense of completion and unity as a Protestant, and in retrospect, I think it was a mistake by Protestantism to reject many of the sacraments of Catholicism as well as the rich mystical/contemplative traditions. It is important though that scripture is not removed from this process and Catholics are encouraged to love, revere and study the Bible with great care and devotion, as much as Protestants are (this came especially with Vatican II).

Each Catholic has a certain stability and continuity in their faith through the teaching of the Church as well as the rich patrimony of tradition, and all these help rather than hinder a personal relationship with God. While there is only one intermediary between God and man, the multiplication of devotions, the reverence of tradition, or the existence of certain figures of authority does not mean any of these can usurp God or the Bible. While of course in the past there have been excesses, I think there is a good balance there in general. While each person needs to find and cultivate their individual relationship with God, salvation is also community based in Catholicism which counter-acts any tendency to selfishly focus only on one’s own needs and goods.

In terms of ‘sola fide’ and ‘sola scripta’, the Council of Trent I think well addressed the concerns of Protestant Reformers like Luther or Calvin who were drawn to the teachings of Paul’s letters on grace, faith and justification. The Council of Trent taught we are justified by faith but in order to be justified we need to undergo sacramental incorporation into Christ through baptism, which removes sin and infuses justifying and sanctifying grace and hence justifies us in the sight of God against our unrighteousness, but also that salvation requires us to co-operate with God by working after baptism to persevere in the life of faith and grace given to us by baptism, which in the Church occurs by avoiding sin, participating in the sacramental life of worship and through a life of prayer and constant conversion from sin. The Church to my knowledge does not teach Double Predestination, as you find in Calvin, through predestination is there (in the sense God predestines those who are saved in the elect, but also anyone who loses salvation does so not by God’s decree but by their own free will turning them from God into mortal sin and hence losing their original grace). So strictly speaking while we are saved by faith and by listening to the Word of God in Church, it is also necessary to be baptised and to participate in the eucharistic celebration as well as the sacrament of reconciliation for the process to be completed on Earth.

While some Christians may believe intellectual assent to a set of propositions about Jesus may be enough to save, in my own experience I felt it was only truely and fully completed when I was properly baptised, which seems right with the understanding of the Early Fathers.

 

[Margaret33]

I would like to know if Catholics consider themselves to have a personal relationship with God. For protestants, salvation comes by grace through faith alone, which opens the door to having a personal relationship with God, with direct access to God and salvation. How does the idea of a personal relationship with God relate to Catholic praxis of their faith (ie the sacraments, confession of sins to a priest etc…) Do you consider your relationship with God to be personal, and how is it the same/difference from the relationship with God experienced by Protestants?

We worship differently but I do not think it lessens or diminishes the end result in any way, for Catholics anyway. While there is more informality in Protestant services, I believe the reverence of a mass, our sacraments and the depth of our teachings gives us a deeper knowledge of Christ, heart and soul.

There seems to be a huge misconception out there that Protestants know God better and that Catholicism prevents a personal relationship with God (amongst others)… and I sometimes wonder if it’s intentionally perpetuated by non-Catholic faiths as a means of keeping their followers from going over to the other side and actually finding out the truth.

But I can tell you, having been on both sides of that fence, there are words and platitudes, and then there are actions and evidence. You can preach the scriptures to others, or you can live them in your daily actions and deeds.

We are devoted to traditions because of our devotion to Him, we sacrifice and in doing so we are humbled by his Sacrifice for us. We undergo stages in our becoming a full Catholic, because it is in these stages we grow closer in knowledge and stronger in faith. And it makes everything so much more meaningful than it would ever be otherwise.

I have never felt as close to Christ nor could I ever been able to, outside the Catholic faith. He is my Father, my friend, my Savior and personal confidant. I can and do speak to Him in my heart, and with my words, every chance I get. He always comforts me in times of sorrow and fills me with joy when at times there is none. He shows me his miracles which are always there to see, if one only takes the time to hear Him and Know that He is always listening.

Everyone’s journey is different, this is true. But the Catholics I have known have all shared a certain commonality in the depth of their faith. And it is the Church that has brought us to this place, where we hold Him above ourselves and all others. And in this, lies the answer to everything else.