Do Catholics Need a Personal Relationship with Christ? (Yes!)

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Catholics have the True personal relationship with Jesus through the Sacraments (I will be with you always) and His teachings (doctrine…if you love me you will obey my commandments). The protestant notion of a personal relationship is really nothing more than having their own personal Jesus. One that conforms to their interpretation of scripture.
 
I am a little bit gobsmacked that such questions arise on a Catholic forum or are published in a Catholic newspaper .

I’ll leave the wording of my response to the Holy Father .

Pope Francis has said that all Catholics , lay and religious " must put their relationship with Jesus above all else " .

He has said that as a disciple of Jesus a Catholic " needs to perceive that Jesus is truly ‘Lord,’ he is truly the centre of his life, the whole of his life. "

“Being a Christian means having a living relationship with the person of Jesus; it means putting on Christ, being conformed to him.”

Pope Benedict spoke similarly when he said : “Christian faith is not only a matter of believing that certain things are true, but above all a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Only in this personal relationship with Christ, only in this encounter with the Risen One do we truly become Christians.”

Centuries earlier , in his typical no-nonsense way , St Bonaventure said : “If you have learned everything except Jesus, you know nothing. If you’ve learned nothing but Jesus, you have learned everything.”
 
yankeesouth said:
Catholics have the True personal relationship with Jesus through the Sacraments […] and His teachings […]. The protestant notion of a personal relationship is really nothing more than having their own personal Jesus. One that conforms to their interpretation of scripture.
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It’s not that simple. I’m not a protestant by any means – neither by background nor by doctrinal leanings – but their idea of a personal relationship with Jesus isn’t so easily dismissed. (Much of their other ideas are.)

In your answer you redefine a personal relationship with Christ as a relationship through the sacraments and Christ’s teaching. But that’s putting the cart before the horse. The sacraments and teachings are only efficacious for those who have a personal relationship with Christ in the first place.

So the answer to @observer333’s question is a firm yes, of course, but to me that means that Catholics must have a personal relationship with Christ in addition to the sacraments and teachings – or better yet: prior to them. Without that personal relationship something essential is lacking no matter how much one partakes of the sacraments and abides by the teachings.

P.S. I’m not fond of the word “relationship”, especially not with reference to Christ or God. The right word is “bond” or “connection”. The word “relationship” implies an otherness that isn’t there for those who know Christ intimately.
 
Catholics already do that and it is called the Interior Life.
 
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I think you’d be surprised how much of our interpretation of Jesus conforms with yours. I’ve read (and respect) the Roman Catholic Catechism. We have confessions and catechisms of our own - and I think you’d find much what they say - especially about our great King and Savior - similar.

In any case, I’m pretty sure the Jesus I know and love - is the same guy my Catholic brothers and sisters and friends know and love. I’m sure of this because when I talk with them, and pray with them, and break bread with them, and cry with them over hard times, and laugh with them in the good times, we know Jesus is in the middle of it all. I see him in them - and they see him in me. It’s all…personal.
 
I am with you on all that. Let’s call it what the NT called it, koinonia, intimate fellowship. That is prior to the Sacraments that celebrate it. So I see this relationship, this intimate fellowship, this koinonia, as an indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ and the Father. It transcend denominations and perhaps even religions.

How many of us have non Christian friends? And yet we can sometimes recognize the Spirit of Christ in them. Don’t you think?
 
Though I may not be a fan of the terminology ‘personal relationship’, I appreciate how the article goes into the specifics of what it means. I often hear that term thrown out there with no explanation or definition.
 
Shakuhachi said:
Let’s call it what the NT called it, koinonia, intimate fellowship. That is prior to the Sacraments that celebrate it. So I see this relationship, this intimate fellowship, this koinonia, as an indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ and the Father. It transcend denominations and perhaps even religions.
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Precisely!
How many of us have non Christian friends? And yet we can sometimes recognize the Spirit of Christ in them. Don’t you think?
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Yes, absolutely! It’s refreshing to see someone acknowledge this so openly and straightforwardly on this forum. Thanks 🙂
 
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And we know Him through the Church that He established, the Catholic Church and the Sacraments He instituted for us. You can not have a more personal relationship with Jesus than through the Eucharist…
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you;
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Roguish said:
It’s not that simple.
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Actually it is pretty simple. Jesus founded the Catholic Church and said I will be with you always. Jesus and His Church, the Catholic Church are One and the Same. CCC 795

St. Joan of Arc said…About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they’re just one thing, and we shouldn’t complicate the matter.

protestantism complicated the matter
 
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yankeesouth said:
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Roguish:
It’s not that simple.
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Actually it is pretty simple. Jesus founded the Catholic Church and said I will be with you always. Jesus and His Church, the Catholic Church are One and the Same. CCC 795

St. Joan of Arc said…About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they’re just one thing, and we shouldn’t complicate the matter.

protestantism complicated the matter
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If Protestants have complicated the matter it seems as though “the matter” must have existed before Protestants evolved, whatever “the matter” is supposed to be anyway. From the sudden silence on an otherwise interesting thread it seems like maybe you have complicated the matter.
 

A Personal Relationship with Jesus​

ROMAN CATHOLIC SPIRITUAL DIRECTION


@Shakuhachi" I see this relationship, this intimate fellowship, this koinonia, as an indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ and the Father. It transcend denominations…"

I agree with this…the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a very overlooked aspect of salvation!

@semper_catholicus
“Though I may not be a fan of the terminology ‘personal relationship’, I appreciate how the article goes into the specifics of what it means. I often hear that term thrown out there with no explanation or definition.”

Here is the definition: A true personal relationship with Christ = An indwelling of the Holy Spirit = “Saved” (i.e. justified/forgiven sinner/child of God etc.)
 
yankeesouth said:
protestantism complicated the matter
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As I said I’m not a protestant either by background or by leanings. Nevertheless, on this particular topic the protestant view does not complicate. A personal connection to Christ isn’t a complex thing, nor is it a later (protestant) invention. It is simple, fundamental, and the very starting point of all Christianity.
 
As you form a love for Our Lord it couldn’t get more personal. He knows us intimately. It may be in some ways a skewed relationship since He knows us in such an intimate way but in my opinion it can be described as a personal relationship. I don’t tend to use that term myself much but I don’t find it offensive at all.

The only time I can remember being slightly offended was when someone of another faith pronounced to me that Jesus was their personal saviour. I felt a twinge, luckily before I was a Catholic. The phrase smacked of exclusivity which upset me.
Our Lord is the ultimate King and serves all.
 
Yes. It is necessary but not sufficient. All these things are necessary but not sufficient.

From yesterday’s Gospel:

“Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.”
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him,
“You are lacking in one thing.
Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor
and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
 
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