Image of Jesus . Shalom Place

Growing in Christ
Encountering the Personal/Historical Christ: part 2

In conference #1, I shared how coming to understand the Gospels as a means of contacting not simply the faith of the early Church, but Christ’s own living memories enabled me to open up to him in a new way. This conference will build on that understanding by emphasizing basic relationship skills that can help us to come to know the personal/historical Jesus.

This issue of developing a relationship with Christ is one that comes up frequently with people I meet with for spiritual direction. They will say things like “I don’t have a very good relationship with Jesus at this time” or “I’m not sure where I am in my relationship with Jesus,” and ask for some suggestions on how to move toward a more positive experience. My response is usually to ask them what their experience with their spouse or a close friend is like at this time? I follow by inquiring what kinds of things they do to help that relationship grow when it begins to falter. You can probably predict what they say: spend more time together, get away from it all to be together, share what’s going on, listen to one another, etc. These are very basic relational activities and we all know how helpful they can be, which is the point I’m trying to make. If we don’t do these things in our relationships with our spouse, children, family and friends, we eventually lose a sense of closeness to them. If we make the relationship a priority and take the time to do these activities, we maintain and even grow in a sense of closeness or intimacy. Same goes for our relationship with Jesus, as the people I meet with see right away.

Our relationship with the personal/historical Jesus grows for the same reasons our other human relationships grow--primarily because:

I know that might sound simplistic, but I think those are the basics. If we fall short on either one of those points, our relationship with Jesus will be diminished. If we tend to them, they will grow.

Let’s take the first point: the issue of priority relationship. How important is your relationship with God? “Top of the list,” you’ll probably say. How about your relationship with Jesus? It’s possible to have a sense of relationship with God that is different from your sense of relationship with Jesus; I shared my experience of that in our first conference. But I raise these questions only to help you reflect on where you are in these relationships, and where Jesus fits in. If he is not up there at the same level as your relationship with God, then is this something you would like to see happen? Where are you with Jesus?

OK, tough questions, I know, and I’m listening to them myself. Let’s move on to the second point I made above on the importance of taking time to develop the relationship through sharing and listening. Obviously, if relationship with Jesus is of the highest priority in your life, then spending time with him will come a little easier than if you’re just not sure where you are with him. But now here’s the irony, and it’s something I’ve seen confirmed in spiritual direction many, many times: if one takes the time to communicate with Jesus, he will eventually become the priority he wants to be in our relationships. That just always seems to happen. Jesus, being who he is, just can’t seem to be held down as a person of secondary importance in our lives once we actually give him more time and attention. We gladly, willingly come to regard our relationship with him as not simply significant, but decisive.

This brings us to the nitty-gritty issue of just how, exactly, one communicates with Jesus? And the answer again is very basic: the same way we communicate with other human beings. The difference, here, is that we don’t see him with our eyes or hear him with our ears, but that doesn’t matter. He communicates his presence to us through his Word just as surely as if he was standing before us speaking. There are even times when we sense him speaking directly to our thoughts and feelings, or through images stirred up within. Jesus knows what human communication and relationship is like, how it works, and what is required in order for us to develop a relationship with him, and he’s more than willing to meet us halfway. In fact, it seems that this is one of the main reasons for the Incarnation of the Word/Second Person of the Trinity in the Person of the human Jesus: that we humans might have a human connection with the invisible God.

How do you relate to other humans? Relate to Jesus the same way and see what happens. Of course, sometimes it helps to have a method or process to relate. That’s true in our human relationships, especially marriage. Many couples find it helpful to learn better ways to communicate, or to journal their thoughts and feelings before sharing them with each other. Sometimes we’ve learned unhealthy ways of relating with others, and this can impair our relationship with Jesus as well.
There’s an ancient method of prayer called “Lectio Divina” (sacred reading) that provides for many a helpful approach to communicating with Jesus. I publish several of these methods in Daily Spiritual Seed from time to time, but will include a few below since we’re on the topic. These are just guidelines for prayer; feel free to develop your own method or to modify the ones below to suit your needs. The important thing, here, is to spend time with Jesus, to open yourself to be known by him, and to learn of him and his ways in the time you spend with him.

- Use passages from the Gospels for your Scripture readings -

LECTIO DIVINA METHOD (Benedictine Approach)
1. Relax. Settle in. Be aware that God is here, now, loving you.
2. Read a short passage of Scripture as though God were speaking directly to you in it.
3. Choose a phrase from the passage that strikes you and repeat it slowly, prayerfully, non-analytically.
4. When your heart is full, express to God the needs and sentiments awakened by your meditation. When you're done, read another passage and repeat steps 3 and 4.
5. If, at any time, you feel moved to simply be present to God in loving silence, put the Scripture aside and rest in God.

PRAYING WITH SCRIPTURE (Ignatian Method)
A. Preparation: acts of faith and reverence in the presence of God; asking grace of a good meditation; petition for specific graces sought in meditation.
B. Reading the Scriptures slowly, prayerfully.
C. Exercise of the memory, imagination, and intellect: consideration of the material.. What practical applications are suggested? 
D. Expression of feelings and sentiments awakened in meditation. Conversation with God.
E. Exercise of will and imagination in making resolutions. Prayer for grace to fulfill resolutions.
F. Vocal prayer (Our Father, Hail Mary, other prayers).

PRAYING WITH SCRIPTURE (Contemplative Method)
- adapted by Philip St. Romain from a variety of sources -
A. Select a short passage that you will use for prayer.
B. Settle in by sitting straight (on tailbone, spine erect). Notice sensations in your body, sounds around you, the manner of your breathing. Call to mind that God is present in and amidst all of this.
C. Read the passage aloud slowly, prayerfully. Let the words make their own impact, and voice whatever they awaken in your mind and heart to God. 
- proceed to Step E if you already feel yourself coming to contemplative silence -
D. Read the passage a second time silently. Again, voice whatever is awakened to God, or acknowledge before God in your heart. Let this be a spontaneous conversation which includes your questions, intellectual reflections, petitions, resolutions, and so forth.
E. Read the passage a third time. If there is a word or phrase that sums up this passage, or that speaks to you in a special way, repeat it in your mind prayerfully. Let it express your willingness to allow God to be God in your life.
F. Allow yourself to simply be present to God in loving silence, aware of God's unfailing Presence to you in love. When distractions come which capture your attention, re-introduce the sacred word from Step E. Continue with this resting until your prayer time is over.
G. Close your prayer time with a sincere vocal recitation of the Lord's prayer, putting your whole being into the words.