[markomalley]

Sadly, we Catholics are collectively terrible at reflecting on and learning to give witness to the Lord in our life. Frankly, many of us were never taught to give personal testimony, and even worse many have never been taught even to expect a personal encounter with the Lord.

That is a true statement, but a really sad one to see in print. Without such a statement being the norm rather than the exception, there's no wonder why "cultural Catholics" are so common and "committed Catholics" are so rare.

[markomalley]

Morning all! Msgr Pope ping.

[Hacksaw]

Without such a statement being the norm rather than the exception, there's no wonder why "cultural Catholics" are so common and "committed Catholics" are so rare.

Vatican II.

[NYer]

Ping!

[slipper]

Enjoyed reading this. And, if I may say this and not offend, this can apply to ALL Christians, and not just those of the Catholic Faith.

Thank You for posting this, a good way to start my morning.

[ravenwolf]

Hebrews ch 8
The New Covenant

7
For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.

8
For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:

9
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.

10
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

11
And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

12
For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

13
In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

---

I believe witnessing with actions is the most profitable in some one showing their faith.

I went into a store one time a few years ago to buy a dry washer for gold recovery, i think it was about a $550.00 item, after talking for a time the two guys talked me out of it.

They could have made a good profit.

They could see that i did not have any idea of what i was doing even though i was well on the way to 70 years old and knew that it was a waste of money under the circumstances which they knew i could not afford.

I don,t remember their names but these kind of people are a kind of Gods representatives here on earth in my book.

[FourtySeven]

This is an excellent post full of important considerations. The one below is worth repeating in my opinion.

"Doctrine and Scripture are essential and help us to verify whether our experiences of God, are in conformity with the truth of who God is as he has revealed himself. But one of the dangers is that we become content to quote the doctrine, to quote Scripture, but not really come to know the One, who reveals them. We run the risk of becoming content to know about the Lord, rather than to know the Lord, personally and intimately."

Emphasis added. I simply can't emphasize it enough.

This should be a provocation, a reminder of what it really means to be a Christian. What it really means when we say we have "faith" in Jesus Christ. He isn't "met" in a book. He is met in the world because He is Risen! Allelujah!

To anyone reading this post: Can you honestly say you have met Him? In a real concrete way? Not just by reading the Bible and/or studying history, but that you have met Him now?

This is a question to provoke serious reflection, not to be "debated". It's a question only "you" can answer for yourself. And it's what is being proposed by this article (in the OP).

May you meet Him everyday,

[Mrs. Don-o]

I don't know what to make of this.

Surely every one of us, in our preparation for the Sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist, and in the (to my mind, excessively) affective, almost emotionally-solipsistic "Jesus My BFF" prayer style they encourage in the Youth Formation programs, at least everybody expects to have a "personal relationship with Jesus"?

If it's true that we --- as a whole --- haven't got even that, then it's a great deal worse than I'd thought.

(And how could my life have been so atypical that I haven't seen this? And I've been, like, "around".)

[Iscool]

That is a true statement, but a really sad one to see in print. Without such a statement being the norm rather than the exception, there's no wonder why "cultural Catholics" are so common and "committed Catholics" are so rare.

It's interesting that after all these Centuries, you religion has decided it must parrot the Protestant churches to sustain its membership...

I don't see this working out as well as hoped since Christians don't become Christians by 'meeting' Jesus as the author suggests...

One becomes a Christian by acknowledging that he/she is a sinner, deserving of hell no matter what you do and calling on the name of the Lord Jesus to save him/her and accepting Jesus as the Savior of his/her soul...

But heh, if that will lead some Catholics to Jesus, I'm all for it...

[cloudmountain]

I listened to the guys chat on EWTN — about the new evangelization. GOOD stuff.