Reflect on your encounters with Jesus. How do you cultivate a vibrant relationship with Him? - Daily Reflections October 30,2015

THE GREATEST ANGUISH OF ALL

 

In these next three chapters, Paul is anguished by be the greatest unsolvable problem of all time. Why did most of the Jews, and in particular the leaders of the faith, reject Jesus as the Messiah? This issue both puzzles Paul and causes him great worry as he cannot bear to see anyone from the faith of his childhood lost. Yet this is a reality that confronts believers of all generations and all faiths. Why do some people choose to reject what is to you the most self-evident of all truths? Perhaps it is a bit ingenuous of Paul to wonder about this question too much because he was not the most straightforward of conversion cases.

     For me, the key to a vibrant Christian faith is one’s personal experience of God. If an encounter with Jesus at the affective level of our being is lacking, then it is not surprising that a vibrant faith in God is also lacking. How can one ensure a strong and affective experience of God in the life of another person? You simply cannot enforce this upon another person. The very nature of our faith demands that the individual chooses it willingly. Paul’s anguish will not be lessened by this understanding; however, we are challenged to look for the most effective ways of making our Gospel proclamation as affective as possible.

       We need to avoid emotionalism, as this is the kind of response to God that is here today and will be gone tomorrow. Our emotions need to be awakened in our encounter with Jesus, but only insofar as they serve to deepen our encounter with Jesus and not control it. It is our minds and hearts that ultimately have to be won over to the truth of the Gospel. It is in choosing Jesus in a reasoned and  reflective manner that we will be saved. Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Reflect on your encounters with Jesus. How do you cultivate a vibrant relationship with Him?

 

Holy Spirit, help me to engage my emotions in my faith so as to deepen my relationship with God and make it more real to me and to those who experience it with me.