"personal relationship" with God

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Sword_of_Fire

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It seems as though in modern times, many who call themselves Catholic are into asking whether or not one has a “personal relationship with Jesus”. This is particularly big with those who buy into “charismatic renewal”. It seems as though, in an attempt to unify with protestantism, these folks think they are going to “ween people away” from what they consider archaic about Holy Mother Church. Perhaps they don’t believe in the teaching authority of the Church and that the Church as the visible Body of Christ is not necessary. Thoughts?
 
I met an ex-Catholic who now attends the mega-controversial-pentecoastal-church Hillsong in Australia who said she left the Catholic church because she didn’t know Jesus there. To her, knowing Jesus was having a service based on listening to bands sing about Jesus and waving your hands in the air and feeling “the Holy Spirit” (she thought the good feeling you get when you go to a concert was the Holy Spirit, when it’s actually endorphins released in the brain)
So clearly she was looking for a physical experience, that’s what she interpreted a relationship with Jesus as, and ended up believing a natural reaction to something was supernatural.
sigh
 
The charismatic movement is but one corner of the Church. What they are doing is turning this catch-phrase around and providing evidence of what the true “personal relationship” consists of. I cannot see a problem with that.
 
The Catechism of the Catholic Church uses the expression “personal relationship” with God in a couple places:
God creates an ordered and good world
299 Because God creates through wisdom, his creation is ordered: "You have arranged all things by measure and number and weight."151 The universe, created in and by the eternal Word, the “image of the invisible God”, is destined for and addressed to man, himself created in the “image of God” and called to a personal relationship with God.152 Our human understanding, which shares in the light of the divine intellect, can understand what God tells us by means of his creation, though not without great effort and only in a spirit of humility and respect before the Creator and his work.153 Because creation comes forth from God’s goodness, it shares in that goodness - "And God saw that it was good. . . very good"154- for God willed creation as a gift addressed to man, an inheritance destined for and entrusted to him. On many occasions the Church has had to defend the goodness of creation, including that of the physical world.155 (source)

PRAYER IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
2558 “Great is the mystery of the faith!” The Church professes this mystery in the Apostles’ Creed (Part One) and celebrates it in the sacramental liturgy (Part Two), so that the life of the faithful may be conformed to Christ in the Holy Spirit to the glory of God the Father (Part Three). 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. This relationship is prayer. (source)
 
Thanks to Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist, we have a personal relationship with God. After all we are His children.
 
Sword_of_Fire said:
It seems as though in modern times, many who call themselves Catholic are into asking whether or not one has a “personal relationship with Jesus”. This is particularly big with those who buy into “charismatic renewal”. It seems as though, in an attempt to unify with protestantism, these folks think they are going to “ween people away” from what they consider archaic about Holy Mother Church. Perhaps they don’t believe in the teaching authority of the Church and that the Church as the visible Body of Christ is not necessary. Thoughts?
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A personal relationship with jesus does not ween people away from the Church. We all need that relationship and we need to recognize that we have it. Perhaps that has bee a problem for many Catholics who have don all the Catholic things like Mass, rosaries, novenas, etc. As the quotes from Todd mention, prayer IS that relationship but we have often not made the connection.
 
Sword_of_Fire said:
It seems as though in modern times, many who call themselves Catholic are into asking whether or not one has a “personal relationship with Jesus”. This is particularly big with those who buy into “charismatic renewal”. It seems as though, in an attempt to unify with protestantism, these folks think they are going to “ween people away” from what they consider archaic about Holy Mother Church. Perhaps they don’t believe in the teaching authority of the Church and that the Church as the visible Body of Christ is not necessary. Thoughts?
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Three questions for you. Do you think these “many who call themselves Catholic” aren’t actually Catholic? Two, is it wrong to connect with our non-Catholic Christian brothers? Finally, didn’t Jesus promise miracles and healings in conjunction with evangelization (which is a large part of the charismatic movement)?

I will agree the “personal relationship” with Jesus is a trend but it is a good trend. We can and should have a relationship with Him through the Holy Spirit, the Mass and prayer. Saints can intercede but we can also talk to Jesus and He will answer us in His own way, maybe through the scripture or some other way. I look at the fruits of the spirit as a good indicator of our Christian faith; joy is a great one to indicate our relationship with Christ. Joy is found in fervent worship and praising of our Lord through music, adoration and prayer. As long as there is no heresy, I’m not sure what the issue is with this movement.

Pope Benedict XVI to paraphrase from “Jesus of Nazarath” “Everything depends upon intimate friendship with Jesus” and “So the most urgent priority is to help foster the growth of a personal relationship with Him…” pgs xxii & xxiv

Pope Saint JPII “Christianity is Christ! It is a Person, a Living Person! To meet Jesus, to love Him and make Him loved: this is the Christian vocation. Mary was given to you to help you enter into a more authentic and more personal relationship with Jesus.” - 18th world youth day

“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.” CCC 2558

“This conversion must be taken as an initial one, yet sufficient to make a man realize that he has been snatched away from sin and led into the mystery of God’s love, who called him to enter into a personal relationship with Him in Christ.” Pope Paul VI, Ad Gentes 7

And there are many more… like Moses who had a personal relationship with God… The evangelical/Billy Graham personal relationship is when someone makes a personal decision for Christ and then lives in the faith so maybe we and they have some common ground and that common ground is Jesus Christ, my Lord and your Lord and Savior!!!
 
We receive His Body and Blood in Holy Communion. That seems far more personal.
 
Anna_jane said:
We receive His Body and Blood in Holy Communion. That seems far more personal.
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Are you referring to the personal decision of evangelicals? If so, I would agree but they are sincere in their faith and let’s be fair to them, they didn’t “protest” against the church so we should pray for them and with them in Christ’s name. We really do have a lot in common and bitterness towards them is not charitable; not directing that at anyone. We are thankful to be called Catholic since we are sinners and in need of His grace. And many are reverting and converting the Catholic faith so we should pray for them and if they convert we should pray for them and if they hate us we should pray for them…
 
Sword_of_Fire said:
It seems as though in modern times, many who call themselves Catholic are into asking whether or not one has a “personal relationship with Jesus”. This is particularly big with those who buy into “charismatic renewal”. It seems as though, in an attempt to unify with protestantism
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No.

Christians (Catholics) have had a personal relationship with Jesus since the very beginning (they did not use that exact phrase - which is a more resently created phrase - but yes the do use it now that phrase has been now in use in language…indeed the term “person” was developed over time in its current usage). They have been his disciples and he has been their Lord!
 
“Faith opens us to knowing and welcoming the real identity of Jesus, his newness and oneness, his word, as a source of life, in order to live a personal relationship with him. Knowledge of the faith grows, it grows with the desire to find the way and in the end it is a gift of God who does not reveal himself to us as an abstract thing without a face or a name, because faith responds to a Person who wants to enter into a relationship of deep love with us and to involve our whole life.”

~ Pope Benedict XVI (Sunday, 14 August 2011)

“Happy are you who believe!” (cf 1 Peter 2:7). Let us turn to Jesus! He alone is the way that leads to eternal happiness, the truth who satisfies the deepest longings of every heart, and the life who brings ever new joy and hope, to us and to our world."

~ Pope Benedict XVI (Homily at Yankee Stadium)

“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 Deus Caritas Est

“I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day. No one should think that this invitation is not meant for him or her, since “no one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord”.”

~ Pope Francis (Joy of the Gospel)
 
Michael_Mayo said:
A personal relationship with jesus does not ween people away from the Church. We all need that relationship and we need to recognize that we have it. Perhaps that has bee a problem for many Catholics who have don all the Catholic things like Mass, rosaries, novenas, etc. As the quotes from Todd mention, prayer IS that relationship but we have often not made the connection.
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Agreed. Now I will say there was a very clear and defining moment when I realized that Jesus Christ is in the Church, and specifically in the Blessed Sacrament. Before that point, the notion of Jesus being in all that we do was purely intellectual and I often did not “feel it.” It was only at that point when I really began to appreciate everything Christ gives to us through His Church. I can certainly empathize with people to whom that Truth has not yet revealed itself.
 
Sword_of_Fire said:
It seems as though in modern times, many who call themselves Catholic are into asking whether or not one has a “personal relationship with Jesus”. This is particularly big with those who buy into “charismatic renewal”. It seems as though, in an attempt to unify with protestantism, these folks think they are going to “ween people away” from what they consider archaic about Holy Mother Church. Perhaps they don’t believe in the teaching authority of the Church and that the Church as the visible Body of Christ is not necessary. Thoughts?
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We are supposed to have a personal relationship with Jesus. We are supposed to know, love, and serve God. How can we do this without a personal relationship? We worship a Person, not an idea. Jesus is our Creator, yes, but He also says He is our friend and brother. He also is our Heavenly Food. God is our Father. The Holy Spirit is our Advocate and Comforter. How can we actually believe and live this without a personal relationship with the Lord?

And you have the wrong idea about the “Charismatic Renewal”. It is not an attempt to unify with Protestantism. It is about using the gifts of the Holy Spirit to build up the Church, and it is quite legitimate and approved by the Church. If some leave the Church, they were not well-formed in the first place. And many who do leave come back. Don’t make rash judgments.
 
RedFox0456 said:
Agreed. Now I will say there was a very clear and defining moment when I realized that Jesus Christ is in the Church, and specifically in the Blessed Sacrament. Before that point, the notion of Jesus being in all that we do was purely intellectual and I often did not “feel it.” It was only at that point when I really began to appreciate everything Christ gives to us through His Church. I can certainly empathize with people to whom that Truth has not yet revealed itself.
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I can identify with this–I had a clear and defining moment also–I call it my “Conversion Experience”. And it had nothing to do with the Charismatics or Protestants. And that is when Jesus became personal and real to me, not just an idea. That is what He wants.
 
Sword_of_Fire said:
It seems as though in modern times, many who call themselves Catholic are into asking whether or not one has a “personal relationship with Jesus”. This is particularly big with those who buy into “charismatic renewal”. It seems as though, in an attempt to unify with protestantism, these folks think they are going to “ween people away” from what they consider archaic about Holy Mother Church. Perhaps they don’t believe in the teaching authority of the Church and that the Church as the visible Body of Christ is not necessary. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
We are supposed to have a personal relationship with Jesus. We are supposed to know, love, and serve God. How can we do this without a personal relationship? We worship a Person, not an idea. Jesus is our Creator, yes, but He also says He is our friend and brother. He also is our Heavenly Food. God is our Father. The Holy Spirit is our Advocate and Comforter. How can we actually believe and live this without a personal relationship with the Lord?

And you have the wrong idea about the “Charismatic Renewal”. It is not an attempt to unify with Protestantism. It is about using the gifts of the Holy Spirit to build up the Church, and it is quite legitimate and approved by the Church. If some leave the Church, they were not well-formed in the first place. And many who do leave come back. Don’t make rash judgments.
 
Blue_Rose said:
I met an ex-Catholic who now attends the mega-controversial-pentecoastal-church Hillsong in Australia who said she left the Catholic church because she didn’t know Jesus there. To her, knowing Jesus was having a service based on listening to bands sing about Jesus and waving your hands in the air and feeling “the Holy Spirit” (she thought the good feeling you get when you go to a concert was the Holy Spirit, when it’s actually endorphins released in the brain)
So clearly she was looking for a physical experience, that’s what she interpreted a relationship with Jesus as, and ended up believing a natural reaction to something was supernatural.
sigh
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What in the world is more personal, more physical and a closer relationship with Christ that to partake of the Body and Blood of our Savior?
 
Sword_of_Fire said:
It seems as though in modern times, many who call themselves Catholic are into asking whether or not one has a “personal relationship with Jesus”. This is particularly big with those who buy into “charismatic renewal”. It seems as though, in an attempt to unify with protestantism, these folks think they are going to “ween people away” from what they consider archaic about Holy Mother Church. Perhaps they don’t believe in the teaching authority of the Church and that the Church as the visible Body of Christ is not necessary. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
I was a Protestant and I used that term. Guess what? I still use the term. Only now I realize the partaking of the Body and Blood of our precious Lord is the most beautiful personal relationship with Jesus that we can ever have.
 
I’m Catholic and I didn’t have a personal relationship with Christ until I became Catholic. I was really never any other Christians before that. I have Jesus in the Eucharist, Jesus in the confessional, how could I not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? Just because something sounds Protestant doesn’t mean it can’t be Catholic. As someone already quoted the catechism on this are you sure that you have it right? Could it at all be possible that the term was Catholic before it was Protestant?
 
RedFox0456 said:
Agreed. Now I will say there was a very clear and defining moment when I realized that Jesus Christ is in the Church, and specifically in the Blessed Sacrament. Before that point, the notion of Jesus being in all that we do was purely intellectual and I often did not “feel it.” It was only at that point when I really began to appreciate everything Christ gives to us through His Church. I can certainly empathize with people to whom that Truth has not yet revealed itself.
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What a blessed moment!!:extrahappy:

What do you think occassioned it?

How can it be fostered in others?
 
This is frequently used to mean that the role of the Catholic Curch and the Sacraments is inconsequential. The truth of the matter is that frequenting the sacraments IS having a relationship with God.
 
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