Transcript

Having been, uh, a Protestant, the, the phrase, uh, personal relationship with Christ, personal relationship with J- Jesus, was, uh, very familiar to me.

Um, and I know that, uh, in our church today, in the Catholic Church, some people struggle with that phrase.

But I look at it this way.

You know, we're in a church where Christ has given himself to us, um, tangibly, physically, uh, spiritually.

When we can consume him in the Eucharist, that's pretty personal.

And, and he's calling us and grants us the, uh, avenues through the sacraments to, to get intimately personal and familiar with him.

And, and I think we need to help one another to be comfortable with this idea that absolutely we were created for intimacy with God.

And that's very personal.

And he, he wants to know you well and he want Well, he knows us well.

I guess he Um, we should wanna know him as well as, uh, he knows us and, and, and be on a journey with him.

So I'm not, um, uncomfortable with that phrase.

And I think we need to help each other to say, We have everything at our disposal to know him well, and personally, and deeply each and every day.

And that's okay, and we need to share that with others.

Before I converted, uh, became Catholic, um, Jesus is always something that, uh, I, I'm familiar with, but not don't have a relationship.

And the reason is Jesus is probably the most famous person in this world.

Um, everybody knows him, but not everybody has a relationship with him.

And I, I would, I would have to say after I was converted, uh, on a day-to-day basis, uh, you feel like Jesus is a part of our lives.

And, and, and the reason is because, uh, you know, when you go to church, you try to apply the church teaching into our daily lives.

And part of it is just constantly reminding us that the existence of, um, Jesus, you know, e- on a daily basis, and how he's always there to guide us to make the right decision.

Yes.

Uh, so, um, when Ivan started, um, thinking about converting and he was, um, deciding whether or not he wanted to start RCIA, um, I wanted him not to go in feeling like he had to believe in everything at first, but to slowly get to the point where, um, he felt how I felt as far as having that one-on-one relationship with Jesus.

Um, and it doesn't have to be public.

Um, it doesn't s- have to be something where you have to, um, tell everyone about.

Um, but they could see it and that they know that you have this special bond with Jesus.

And that I wanted him to get to that point, um, that he doesn't have to talk to me about how he's feeling, um, about Jesus or the church.

Um, but for him to have that special, um, connection himself, um, so that he could, um, live his life and reflect that.