What is the Catholic definition of a personal relationship with Christ?

[McKevin]

Cradle Catholics have been raised in the faith, no doubt :clapping: , and this is a foreign concept to me…my question is two part:

1. Do you have a personal relationship with Christ?
2. How did that relationship begin and what was the state of your soul up until that point in time?

Thx!

<>
Mick

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

Cradle Catholics have been raised in the faith, no doubt :clapping: , and this is a foreign concept to me…my question is two part:

1. Do you have a personal relationship with Christ?
2. How did that relationship begin and what was the state of your soul up until that point in time?

Thx!

<>
Mick

1. Yes, every time I receive Him in Holy Communion! You can’t get any closer than that.
2. At Baptism, that was my first encounter with Christ. Up until that time My soul was separated from God by Original Sin.

 

[YinYangMom]

1. Do you have a personal relationship with Christ?

yes.

1. How did that relationship begin and what was the state of your soul up until that point in time?

Thx!

<>
Mick

Cradle catholic here, product of catholic schools (except high school).

Like Br. Rich, I suppose Jesus’ personal relationship with me began with my baptism…but my personal relationship with him didn’t begin until a couple of years ago (early 40s).

Up until then I suppose I took Him for granted as most children do of their blood relatives.

State of my soul was pretty good, thanks to ignorance. Of those teachings I really knew and understood, I followed. Those I did not know, I didn’t bother to look into, so I continued down the wrong path on those, but fortunately not with any grave circumstances, for the most part.

My personal relationship with Jesus sprouted from my children entering their teen years at about the same time as I felt called to help out my parish with marriage prep as a FOCCUS facilitator.

While my ignorance and so/so knowledge of Catholicism served me adequately I wanted/needed more in order to raise my children in a stronger faith than I had, and to be able to speak accurately about sacramental marriage to these young couples.

Recognizing mistakes made in my early teen/early 20s despite being raised by very good Catholic parents and in the Catholic school system, I wanted to do something different for my kids so they would have a stronger beacon to follow than I did. Thats when I started reading up on all those teachings I didn’t understand and I started praying more devotions for guidance. I also learned about Eucharistic adoration about that time - I still cannot recall a time in all my Catholic school years that we talked about EA, let alone served an hour in the chapel…imagine that!

Anyway, through parenting, through Relevant Radio and these forums Jesus became real to me. More real than my immediate family it seems. It is a relationship I value with my life, of course, and one which brings me much joy and peace.

 

[Todd_Easton]

Cradle Catholics have been raised in the faith, no doubt :clapping: , and this is a foreign concept to me…

What is the Catholic definition of a personal relationship with Christ? A personal relationship with Christ is knowing, loving and serving Him in this world, and then being happy with Him forever in the next. (See Baltimore Catechism2, A. 6)

 

[BlestOne]

Like many others here I am a cradle Catholic. Yes, I have a personal relationship with Christ. As you will find with many Catholics, we have a very deep personal relationship with our Saviour, but we don’t often share the nature of that relationship.

When I was a kid, I knew and I believed. My parents introduced me to many different groups of Catholics. There were charismatics, there were tradionalists, liberal or what we sometimes call cafeteria Catholics that don’t get too involved in their faith community. I prefered a very active life in my parish community. Sometimes we don’t understand just how deeply Christ affects our lives. When I was studying for Confirmation, I knew I wanted more of a relationship than most of my friends, but I didn’t know exactly how to go about it because I knew charismatic wasn’t something that made me feel closer to God like my dad felt.

I spent many years reading and praying trying to find that “place” where I felt I belonged. I joined different groups and decided that religious life wasn’t for me, I loved choir and contemporary christian music groups in my parish, but yet it wasn’t enough. As the years went by, I never lost my faith even when I lost myself. When I had no family of friends that I could count on…I always knew God was there for me. I made some major mistakes in my life when I tried to do it all myself, but somehow it always brought me closer to God in the end.

I became a wife and mother and I found that this is where I felt God most in my life. Every time I looked at my kids I marveled at God’s greatness. I had been told I couldn’t have children…so even more than most mom’s I could see God’s love and miracles all around me.

Today I find that my relationship with God the Father is the unconditional love, stability and mercy in my life. God the Son is my teacher and inspiration when I need a boost and God the Holy Spirit is the grace and energy I feel when I am living the way I am supposed to live.

My home parish is a very special place. I am active in Bible study, all kinds of different volunteering opportunities donating what little time I have for my parish and my daughters school. I find that being an example to others is the best thing I can do.

My personal relationship with God? I can honestly say it is an everyday thing… A very special and personal relationship, more than a best friend or parent, or even a lover…my Saviour is the love of my life, the reason for my existence and happiness today. Is that personal enough?

 

[mosher]

Cradle Catholics have been raised in the faith, no doubt :clapping: , and this is a foreign concept to me…my question is two part:

1. Do you have a personal relationship with Christ?
2. How did that relationship begin and what was the state of your soul up until that point in time?

Thx!

<>
Mick

What do you mean by relationship? It is a vague term. If you define the term relationship then I would be more than happy to answer your questions.

 

[Scottgun]

While there are certainly aspects of our relationship with Christ that are personal or intimate, our relationship is primarily patronal. Personal relationship is a modern concept in an ill-advised attempt to make Jesus our buddy or our boyfriend as opposed to Our Lord.

 

[mrs_abbott]

Cradle Catholics have been raised in the faith, no doubt :clapping: , and this is a foreign concept to me…my question is two part:

1. Do you have a personal relationship with Christ?

Yes I do.

1. How did that relationship begin and what was the state of your soul up until that point in time?

I went on a Teens Encounter Christ retreat when I was 17 years old. Before then, the relationship was non-existant. I was taught that God was someone to fear and respect and not one that you could befriend. That retreat showed me that it’s a combination of all three.

 

[MountainMan]

McKevin -

In answer to your questions, yes, I do have a personal relationship with Jesus; it started in earnest with the birth of my first child (see my response on the “Does God Talk to us” thread). At that time, my life was far from ‘Catholic’ and may have been called a path to destruction. Since that time, it has received numerous ‘booster’ shots, the most significant coming during my Christians Encounter Christ (a shortened version of a Cursillo) weekend in 1993.

Chuck

 

[itsjustdave1988]

Cradle Catholics have been raised in the faith, no doubt :clapping: , and this is a foreign concept to me…my question is two part:

1. Do you have a personal relationship with Christ?
2. How did that relationship begin and what was the state of your soul up until that point in time?

Thx!

<>
Mick

Although unaware of it, my personal relationship with Christ began when I was conceived and my rational soul was created ex nihilo in person by God.

That relationship grew and matured as many relationships do, as I grew and matured. Months after my birth, I was justified in person by God through the sacrament of baptism, when I was made holy by Him and consecrated to Him for the first time. As I grew to know Him better, I came to understand the many wonderful things he’s done for me, and grew in my love and faith in Him.

Years later, in elementary school, I began to be influenced more by the world than by God. In retrospect, I understand that my guardian angel was always their to protect me, urging me toward the right path. Yet I sadly allowed–through the faulty use of my freewill–other unholy influences to affect my soul. I chose sin contrary to God’s will for me. I took for granted the love of God, and my love and faith in Him grew lukewarm. As a teenager I became quite slothful with respect to worship of the Lord and the practice of my Holy Religion, until I had no prayer life to speak of. My soul undoubtedly suffered from me ignoring my relationship with Christ, yet Christ kept calling me to Him. I never doubted that Christ was my Lord and Savior, but I lacked the “obedience of faith” (Rom 1:5; Rom 16:26). Consequently, due to my deliberate grave disobedience to Christ’s will, my soul became unjust, “severed from Christ…fallen away from grace” (Eph 5:4).

Through Divine providence, manifest in a series of grace-filled encounters with many number of people, most especially my relationship with my wife and witness to her conversion from atheism, and through much grace, conversion and suffering of my own, I realized I had been taking for granted what God has given me, and began to “turn again” (Gk epistrepho; cf. Matt 13:15; Acts 3:19, 26:18, 28:27; Luk 1:17, 22:32) toward Him, and to seek from Him His will for me.

After having confessed the sins of the prior 25 years in the Sacrament of Penance, my soul was cleansed by the sacramental grace of Christ and I consequently began to worship God and prayerfully study and practice my Holy Religion more meaningfully, which has made my relationship with Christ more deep and loving than ever before.

 

[mom2three]

While there are certainly aspects of our relationship with Christ that are personal or intimate, our relationship is primarily patronal. Personal relationship is a modern concept in an ill-advised attempt to make Jesus our buddy or our boyfriend as opposed to Our Lord.

He is our Lord… but he is also our friend. He calls us “friend” many times. I believe he does seek an intimate friendship with us… though we should not forget to revere Him as our Lord.

“Personal relationship” is a modern term but an old concept, established by Christ. We relate to him personally when we pray, read His word, receive him in Holy Communion, and trust Him with our lives… when we surrender our whole being to Him!

 

[Della]

The closest concept to the Evangelical idea of a “personal relationship” is what the Catholic Church refers to as the “interior life.” This interior life of the Christian is born at baptism, nurtured by being taught the truths of the faith, prayer (private and corporate), reception of the sacraments, and meditating on God’s word.

Catholics have an extremely rich banquet of spiritualities, mysticism, and charisms within one Church. In my case Carmelite spirituality helps me live out my baptismal vows as I am formed into the image of Christ. It is a life of both prayer and service, to the Church and my fellow man.

 

[itsjustdave1988]

“…it is necessary to enter into real friendship with Jesus in a personal relationship with him and not to know who Jesus is only from others or from books, but to live an ever deeper personal relationship with Jesus, where we can begin to understand what he is asking of us.”
– Pope Benedict XVI, Meeting with the Youth of Rome, 6 Apr 2006

“This mystery [of faith], 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.”
– Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2558

“prayer is the living relationship of the children of God with their Father who is good beyond measure, with his Son Jesus Christ and with the Holy Spirit.”
– Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2565

“Contemplative prayer is a covenant relationship established by God within our hearts.”
– Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2713

"*We have spoken of faith as an encounter with the One who is Truth and Love. We have also seen that this is an encounter which is both communitarian and personal, and must take place in all the dimensions of our lives through the exercise of our intelligence, the choices of freedom, the service of love. *A privileged place exists, however, where this encounter takes place more directly. Here it is reinforced and deepened and thus can truly permeate and mark the whole of life: this space is prayer."
– Pope Benedict XVI, Address to Ecclesial Convention of the Diocese of Rome, 5 Jun 06

 

[McKevin]

“…it is necessary to enter into real friendship with Jesus in a personal relationship with him and not to know who Jesus is only from others or from books, but to live an ever deeper personal relationship with Jesus, where we can begin to understand what he is asking of us.”
– Pope Benedict XVI, Meeting with the Youth of Rome, 6 Apr 2006

Wow! If all Catholics lived a life in this type of relationship with Christ then imagine what the Christian world would be like…

Thanks for these awesome quotes, I am going to save them for future reference

The funny thing is that I came into the Catholic Church already having a personal relationship with Christ and I really didn’t expect so many people in the Church to not have that relationship…so I always wonder what is the state of their souls if they don’t have that burning love for Christ deep within their hearts? I’m sure that there are many answers to that question but the words that always bother me are the words considering the luke-warm followers of Christ…that they will be spewed out.

 

[McKevin]

He is our Lord… but he is also our friend. He calls us “friend” many times. I believe he does seek an intimate friendship with us… though we should not forget to revere Him as our Lord.

Thanks! It reminds me to the words of a song:

 

[McKevin]

I went on a Teens Encounter Christ retreat when I was 17 years old. Before then, the relationship was non-existant. I was taught that God was someone to fear and respect and not one that you could befriend. That retreat showed me that it’s a combination of all three.

This is good stuff! May I ask what was said on that Teens Encounter Christ retreat that got through to you?

 

[mtk76]

Although I was baptized as an infant and realize that grace was imparted to me then and likely enabled me to come to know Christ later I did not have a “Personal” relationship with him until much later around 26. Fpr me it came like part of The Beatitudes Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. I was comforted by no less than Jesus himself.

 

[Stephen_C]

Wow! If all Catholics lived a life in this type of relationship with Christ then imagine what the Christian world would be like…

Thanks for these awesome quotes, I am going to save them for future reference

The funny thing is that I came into the Catholic Church already having a personal relationship with Christ and I really didn’t expect so many people in the Church to not have that relationship…so I always wonder what is the state of their souls if they don’t have that burning love for Christ deep within their hearts? I’m sure that there are many answers to that question but the words that always bother me are the words considering the luke-warm followers of Christ…that they will be spewed out.

WOW! so TEC is still up and running. I went to a TEC retreat back in 74. I was also involved with TEC up tell 1981. Great program back then. Google for Teans Encounter Christs. See if there is a program in your Diocese. As I recall it was run at the Diocese level.

 

[Stephen_C]

Yes I do.

I went on a Teens Encounter Christ retreat when I was 17 years old. Before then, the relationship was non-existant. I was taught that God was someone to fear and respect and not one that you could befriend. That retreat showed me that it’s a combination of all three.

WOW! so TEC is still up and running. I went to a TEC retreat back in 74. I was also involved with TEC up tell 1981. Great program back then.
McKevin,
Google for Teens Encounters Christs. See if there is a program in your Diocese. As I recall it was run at the Diocese level.

 

[HailMary]

Cradle Catholics have been raised in the faith, no doubt :clapping: , and this is a foreign concept to me…my question is two part:

1. Do you have a personal relationship with Christ?
2. How did that relationship begin and what was the state of your soul up until that point in time?

Thx!

<>
Mick

The Sacraments;
The Mass;
Personal Prayer;
Mortification and Fasting;
etc.

My question is, and its a naughty one, what is a non-Catholic Protestant definition of a personal relationship with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit? They never seem to ask that question; I find it perplexing.