This blog is an article for the Together Paper of Wagga Wagga Diocese April Edition.
At the most recent Virtue Ministry retreat, Father Sean Byrnes shared an anecdote from the
seminary classroom. During a lecture he posed the following question: “Whose sins did
Jesus die for on the cross?” To which the seminarians dutifully reply, “Our sins.”
Again he repeats the question, receiving the same answer. This, he reflected, can happen
any number of times until eventually the penny drops and a seminarian answers: “My sins.”
He died for MY sins.
We Catholics can get caught in the collective, and lose sight of the individual. Yes, Jesus
died for our sins, and those of the whole world. But he died for my sins, and for yours,
individually.
Herein, observes Fr Byrnes, lies the “outrageously beautiful truth: he died for me.”
This reality, which we can become complacent about, is the most perfect and profound
example of love that we will ever see or experience.
And yet, how easy it is to skip over the crucifixion and land on Easter Sunday. How easy it is
to race out of the church after Mass instead of spending a few extra moments with Our Lord.
Discipleship requires relationship
Saint Augustine is credited as saying that “God loves each of us as if there were only one of
us.” It’s a beautiful thought. But it raises a question in return: how much do I love God?
Don’t worry, I’m over here considering that I’m falling short of the mark too.
However, that can be rectified, through a little effort on our part and, more importantly, the
grace of God.
G.K. Chesterton famously wrote: “Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love
affair.”
He doesn’t mean this in the worldly sense of course. What he is encouraging us to is a
relationship with God.
Relationship – the way in which two or more people or things are connected, or the state of
being connected – is not a one-way street. We are all aware that relationships take effort,
investment, time and often patience. We learn to accept people despite their faults,
encourage them to be their best self and forgive them when they hurt us.
At least, that’s what we’re aiming towards.
None of us are perfect, but we should all be attempting to acquire these virtues, to model
healthy relationships with those around us, and most importantly of all, to build and invest in
our relationship with God.
It is not enough to say our prayers out of obligation or routine. Saint Josemaria Escriva once
inscribed in the cover of a book, gifted to a young architect: “May you seek Christ, may you
find Christ, may you know Christ, may you love Christ!”
We can’t become more like Christ, and advance on the path to holiness, if we don’t know
Him personally. We need to seek Him out; in meditative prayer that goes beyond rote
recitation of prayers, sit in silence with Him in Adoration, and receive Him regularly in the
Eucharist. We need to read and meditate on His life, reading the Gospel everyday.
We will only hear His voice in the silence. We will only learn more about Him, to recognise
His voice, if we are open to Him.
This is where the virtue of self-knowledge comes in – ask yourself, am I really open to
hearing God’s voice or just my own? Do I make time to spend with Him each day in a
deliberate and planned way, or do I go about my day without making time for prayer and
thinking that I can ‘catch up’ another time?
How can I seek Him more? How can I get to know Him better? How can I love Him, as
much as is humanly possible?
I don’t have all of the answers, but the Church does, It also has the Sacraments, the Saints
and the deposit of faith.
But, what if the most outrageously beautiful thing we could do for Christ was to seek Him,
find Him, know Him and love Him?
Written by Emily Shaw
VM Writer and Graphic Designer.
Wife of one, mother of 8. Tackling growth in virtue one (baby) step at a time.