We have our deacons and our religious directors, our priests and bishops and our cardinals … and our pope. We have confession, the Eucharist, penance, indulgences, litanies and prayers repetitively prayed to Christ’s mother. Yet, what of Christ? As our protestant brothers and sisters contend, has the Catholic Church inserted a bloated bureaucracy of man-made religious practices between Christ and his people?
In contradistinction, our Protestant brothers and sisters — especially evangelicals — speak of a personal relationship with Christ as the primary mark of the faith. There is no mountain of rituals populated by ecclesial bureaucrats. They speak of a certain sweet simplicity. It is just them and Jesus — together, without any need for ancient mediations or the authority of men. They just go to Jesus, and Jesus answers.
We all know their mantra: “It’s a relationship, not a religion.”
In her book Come Meet Jesus: An Invitation from Pope Benedict XVI, Amy Welborn presents the proposition that it is exactly an intimate friendship with Christ that has energized Pope Benedict XVI throughout his life. Welborn provides a compelling and convincing compilation of texts from the Holy Father’s speeches and books in which he describes the importance and nature of a living and personal relationship with Christ.
Welborn’s work is interwoven with insightful quotations and superb commentary. However, simply stating that an intimate friendship with Christ is important or even necessary in Catholicism does not exonerate it from the charges brought against it. On one hand, we tout a friendship with Christ, and on the other we demand an adherence to ancient rituals. In her own words, Welborn comments on the Pope’s thoughts about this:
[Pope Benedict XVI] speaks often about listening to Jesus through his body, the Church, through the word of God, and through the liturgical life of the Church. Our first instinct might be to see this in a negative way, as if he is trying to tell us that the ways in which we can meet Jesus are limited and must be controlled. But this is truly the opposite of the pope’s intention. He wants us to see all of this, not as places with walls and rules, but as gifts through which Jesus really and truly comes to meet us.
To those who question the compatibility of a personal relationship with a hierarchal and ritualisitc Church, we quote one of Cardinal Ratzinger’s most antidotal descriptions of the papacy: the pope is the “advocate of Christian memory.” The Catholic Church is not a pile of bureaucratic intermediation, but a wondrous set of gifts that guide us to Christ. The papacy and the doctrines of the Church are guideposts, they are there to remind us of the Christian path revealed to the apostles and handed down by our forefathers. By reminding us who Christ truly is, they save us from falling off into cheap cultural or relative imitations of Christ. The gifts of the Church present to us the reality of Jesus Christ.
The doctrines of the Church are no more limitations than truth itself is a limitation. Though dogma is a pejorative to many, to Catholics it is a word that should ring with freedom. It is the freedom to embrace the true identity of Jesus Christ, and not spend our lives wondering if our understanding of Christ is simply a personal projection or cultural trend.
Welborn further shares our Holy Father’s words on the encounter with Christ:
The encounter with Jesus Christ requires listening, requires a response in prayer and in putting into practice what he tells us. By get¬ting to know Christ, we come to know God, and it is only by starting from God that we understand man and the world, a world that would otherwise remain a nonsensical question.
Drawing from Pope Benedict XVI’s wisdom, Welborn touches upon two main considerations: first, that there is a knowledge and intimacy that only comes from living like Christ, and secondly, that the Church affords us the confidence to embrace the true Christ, we in turn are able to embrace the world according to the wisdom given to us by Christ. Christ is the Truth, and the clarity that Truth has in the Catholic Church allows for an authentic relationship and clear illumination of how to engage in and with the world.
The beauty of the Catholic Church can stand on its own, but at times it is good to have clarification by contrast. While our Protestant friends do promote a personal relationship with Christ, it is a radically antiseptic and often shallow contractual “gospel” (see Galatians 1 for more on this) that suffers from the rejection of the ecclesial and sacramental gifts passed down to us from Christ himself.
The true Church of Christ should be able to understand, live, and clearly articulate what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus and Pope Benedict is a sure and wise guide to this reality.
Welborn’s work Come Meet Jesus: An Invitation from Pope Benedict XVI carries on this discussion of embracing the true Jesus Christ in a deep and relevant manner.
Amy Welborn will be appearing on EWTN’s literary show Bookmark this Sunday at 9:30am ET and then again at 11:30pm ET. If you miss these you can catch them again on Monday at 5:30am ET and then Wednesday at 5:30pm ET.
Everything in the Catholic Church is christocentric. Everything points and guides us to Christ. Let us as Catholics find joy and freedom in the doctrines and rituals of the Church. They free us to live and love the real Jesus Christ — especially the gift of the holy Eucharist.
As Catholics, it is our Christ-centered religion that enlivens and purifies our relationship.
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You must have a limited space and narrow view of reality. Unlike you, we are out on the street helping the needy and neighbours.. So, when are you joining the greener sites of Protestants then…
Peter, what on earth makes you think that Catholics such as Mr. Burke aren’t also out on the streets helping their neighbors and being good stewards of the earth’s resources while having a personal—and certainly very intimate—relationship with Jesus Christ in the Eucharist? You must have a limited space and narrow view of reality.
Not only CAN we have a personal relationship with Christ, but as a matter of fact we have THE BEST and closest personal relationship with Christ! Most importantly in Eucharist (it doesn’t get more personal than being able to receive our Lord or have him in our midsts in the Blessed Sacrament !!) and through daily prayer (prayer can be very personal since you are sharing your deepest thoughts and emotions) , and through reading and understanding his teachings in the Bible (who does not listen to what a trusted friend has to say, specially when they are telling you truth?). So, my answer to this question, as a Catholic, is always YES. The beauty of our Catholic Faith and the Church and the Saints, and all our priests and bishop and the Pope, and all those other things that are so Catholic, is that it all feeds our personal relationship w/Christ even more. All these things that are part of our Catholic faith not obstacles to that relationship, but rather fertilizers that nurture that reality of Christ’s presence in our life. Life could never get better than to be a Catholic that is fully alive and thriving in their faith!! The Church, in her beauty and her wisdom, leads us to Christ.
By Peter “Unlike you, we are out on the street helping the needy and neighbours..”
Really? That’s why you’re here on a Catholic website bashing a Catholic author? You should also get a grip on reality. The Catholic body is greater in charity by numbers, organizations, and more importantly UNITY (ya’know what Jesus prayed we be in as he is with the Father) unlike the multiple, factioned, and often quarreling Protestants sects.
Catholics must have an ongoing personal relationship with the Lord.
“Unlike you, we are out on the street helping the needy and neighbours” ... Nothing could be further from the truth Peter! Check out this video for a brief synopsis of how the Catholic Church has been feeding, teaching and healing throughout history (www.catholicscomehome.org) and click on the EPIC video. Add to that the countless ministries in every parish that reach out, and the families that through their friendships also reach out to others. Just because you have not seen them in your street block this past week, it does not mean they are not reaching out. The world is a bit bigger than that. I would invite you to bring your protestant talents to the Catholic Church and experience what it is like to have a full and meaningful relationship w/Jesus Christ. (For the record, there is this ongoing joke among cradle Catholics, that coverts do seem to make the best Catholics!!)
No doubt, as Catholics, we are on a journey with The Living God rather than a quest for The Living God, for as M. so eloquently stated, the BEST and closest personal relationship with Christ is when we receive Him, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in The Blessed Sacrament, The Holy Eucharist, The Sacrifice of Love of The Most HolyTrinity.
Thanks to our Sacraments, we as Catholics have the most intimate personal relationship with Jesus. We can hear his words of absolution in confession and we can touch, speak, taste and consume him in the Eucharist….How much closer can we get without being in his eternal presence after this life???
As a Pentecostal going through the RCIA program, I can tell you why protestants think Catholics don’t have a relationship with Jesus. Because all of your rituals- including the eucharist have no meaning to many Catholics. They forget why they are doing it. They go through confirmation, and that’s the end of it. My husband was a cradle Catholic, he was confirmed and went to Church with his family every Sunday. But he had no idea how to pray the Rosary, he thought it was just repeating the same thing over and over again. And he had no idea you could go to Jesus and the Church for guidance in your life. The only thing he could tell me about the Eucharist was that it was the body and blood of Jesus. Now he is my sponsor for RCIA and we area learning the Catholic faith together.
We used to get so many Catholics in our bible studies that had no relationship with Jesus because after they went through confirmation they had no other bible studies and mentors to help them further that relationship. You can learn about the Eucharist in the 2nd grade, but if you don’t keep seeking the meaning of it after that it will fail to mean anything to you later.
The people that are coming out of the Catholic Church and pouring into Pentecostal Churches are giving the message that they have no relationship with Jesus. With tears in their eyes they tell us they had no idea Jesus loves them. Catholic church was just a bunch of rituals for them with no meaning. Which is sad bc I am going through RCIA and I see the point of all those rituals, and they are beautiful and bring me closer to God. Pentecostals didn’t come up with this on their own. We’ve experienced it.
@Natasha: Thanks for your wise words. Catholicism offers the fullness of a relationship with Christ, but too many Catholics haven’t the slightest idea how to take advantage of that. Meanwhile, many Protestant groups may offer only an attenuated relationship with Christ—but they are really explicit with congregants about how to build that relationship. We’re offering two birds in the bush; they’re offering one in hand. Until our catechesis and our parish life reach the average “Sunday Catholic” more deeply, we shouldn’t be surprised about ex-Catholics “pouring into Pentecostal Churches.” Christ has given his Church all the tools; we need to use them.
Irenist- Thank you, you summed it up perfectly. I love the Catholic teachings, and I wish more Catholics could grab ahold of it. When I was at a protestant and then a Pentecostal Church they used this ALPHA bible study program. A lot of ex Catholics came to these bible studies, because they were looking for answers. They now have one for Catholics! I loved the bible study, and after I am done with RCIA I want to get this going in my church. Here is the link http://www.alphausa.org/Groups/1000042056/Alpha_for_Catholics.aspx
Irenist and Natasha, spot on. I rather get the feeling that among so many cradle Catholics, they assume that once they’re in, they’re in. Once they’ve “got all the Sacraments,” that’s it; there’s nothing more they need do. It’s more of a culture that’s handed down to them.
The problem is that faith isn’t like that. It’s something that must be cultivated and something in which one must grow. You can’t expect a sixth-grade understanding of the faith—of the Eucharist and whatever else—to sustain you as an adult. You must learn, bit by bit, to have an adult faith. Our rituals aren’t meant to be routine; they’re meant to be assented to with our hearts and our minds. The two must work together.
As a revert, boy did I learn the hard way how much that is true. Upon paying closer attention to what I was hearing at Mass during the homily, the nature of the Mass itself, and the rituals, bit by bit I began to understand how everything was supposed to fit together. And it took a lot of reading as well as attending the Extraordinary Form in preparation for the new Roman Missal that I had a lot of “Aha!” moments.
We are all on a journey to home and our God and we are EACH responsible for that journey. As a convert I’m so exhausted of hearing whining ex Catholics talk about not knowing anything about their faith because no one told them. It’s tiresome. Like a bunch of grown up babies whining “feed me, feed me”. SEEK AND YOU WILL FIND.
this prayer sums up my personal relationship with Jesus:
I love You, O my God, and my only desire is to love You until the last breath of my life. I love You, O my infinitely lovable God, and I would rather die loving You, than live without loving You. I love You, Lord, and the only grace I ask is to love You eternally My God, if my tongue cannot say in every moment that I love You, I want my heart to repeat it to You as often as I draw breath.
Saint John Vianney
Love that prayer
Having been a protestant (several denominations)for sixty years, having attended a great seminary (Fuller) and been in pre-ordination ministries (teaching, leading worship, preaching, pastoral care)throughout my middle adult life, I am totally grateful to be in the Catholic Church, where the personal relationship with Jesus that I was graced with for so long is constantly, OBJECTIVELY available to every believer through the sacraments, especially Reconciliation and Eucharist. One thing that has frustrated me, however, for the last five years as a new Catholic, is how strong the parish traditions are against adult catechesis (which the protestant churches call Sunday School) on Sunday mornings. If this kind of education were to be strongly promoted BY THE PRIESTS and even inputted by the priests in, perhaps, co-teaching classes at times, my experience is that there would be a tremendous increase in general knowledge and enthusiasm on the part of the Catholic faithful adults (and teens after confirmation). I wonder why this opportunity is systematically overlooked in our Church. ‘Tis a mystery!
Of course Catholics have a personal relationship with Jesus. That relationshiop however, is dependent upon one seeking it and having their heart be open to the workings of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is my life, my love, my everything. My one and My all. Catholics can deepen their relationship with God by going to daily Mass and frequent confession and spending time each week in Adoration. Bring yourself to Jesus, receive Him and He will come to you. Taste and see the sweetness of the Lord.
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