Presenting Jesus

"If Christianity, as so often and so rightly has been said, is not primarily a doctrine but a person, Jesus Christ, it follows that the proclamation of this person and of one's relationship with Him is the most important thing, the beginning of all true evangelization and the very condition for making such a thing possible. To reverse this order and put the doctrines and obligations of the Gospel before the discovery of Jesus would be like putting the carriages in front of the railway engine that is supposed to pull them. The person of Jesus opens the highway of the heart for the acceptance of everything else. Anyone who has once known the living Jesus has no further need to be goaded along; we ourselves burn with desire to know his thought, his will, his word. It is not on the authority of the Church that we accept Jesus, but on the authority of Jesus that we accept and love the Church. So the first thing the Church has to do is not present herself to the world, but present Jesus. Insistence on the importance of a personal encounter with Jesus Christ is not a sign of subjectivism or emotionalism but is the translation, on to the spiritual and pastoral place, of a dogma central to our faith: that Jesus Christ is 'a person.'"--Father Raniero Cantalamessa

This quote was spoken in one of the FOCUS Summit talks.  And...it's beautiful.

I want so much for others around me to discover/encounter/be touched by beauty.  I think, maybe, I've missed many opportunities to introduce somebody into relationship with Jesus and instead try to introduce doctrine first.  Oooops.  This has been a spiritual 2x4 lately...why do you think you can put the cart before the engine?  Why do you think you can put conclusions before the question/invitation?  Why do you expect people to accept the Church's teachings on contraception before introducing them to how Jesus has sanctified marriage and brought meaning to human suffering and let the children come to Him?

My spiritual director asked me what I wanted to focus on until the next time we meet.  I don't know what led me to say it except the Holy Spirit, but I said friendship with Jesus.  The past three weeks I've been very convicted concerning my friendship with Jesus Christ and how it touches my other friendships and relationships.  I've discovered that I focus very much on the conclusions.  In my friendships, I forget that I have to work on them.  I get complacent...pure and simple.  That's because I (think) I've worked through the reasoning, come to the conclusion, and I think it's pure and simple like that, and leave it at that.  I let myself believe that there's no more questions to ask to get to know each other, or even that there's no way they can touch my life further.  Not that I'm ever discontent by that...I actually get comfortable with that.  I get comfortable thinking how much my spiritual life has grown and get comfortable exactly where I am, thinking that my present state is my conclusion.  I think it's why I'm so comfortable and excited by doctrines of the Church.  I've worked through the reasoning and I'm comfortable with the conclusions...they make sense for me, so it's beyond me sometimes that others still have to work their way up to the conclusions.  Everything that the Church says on (dignity of life, social justice, economics/politics, Sacraments, etc.) are enough for me, and it surprises me that it's not fulfilling for others...

So my friendship with Jesus impacts my human friendships, and further how I relate with...anyone.  And I forget the person of Jesus.  Rather, I forget those moments where He touched my heart and loved me in my brokenness and THEN led me, slowly, to the natural ends of a relationship with Jesus Christ.  But now, I get hung up by the details that I forget the big picture.

I mean, let's even take a virtue for example.  Patience.  Patience by itself hurts.  Why in the WORLD would I EVER fall in love with PATIENCE of all things?  But I can fall in love with Jesus Christ.  Who can change hearts.  Who can show me how He orders the universe, and is Author of my life and Lord of time, and that, if I love Him, then I want to accomplish His will, no matter how long I have to wait.  And THEN I love patience, because it pleases HIM, and when you're in love, you want to make your Beloved happy.

Basically, I'm a fallen human being.  Surprise!!!!  And because of that, my priorities and will are disordered.  But, by the grace of God through the person of Jesus Christ and His Church, His Bride, I have the tools and help to learn the will of God to learn how to order my life to become a reflection of His.  Further, it presents the tools to help others to also enter relationship with Him.  I pray that I may always bring people to Jesus first and foremost and allow Him to lead them the rest of the way.