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The heart of the matter, when it comes to the Year of Faith is not the lines of the Catechism that you memorize, though that’s laudable… or the bible study you will be leading at your parish, though that’s fantastic… or the course your gonna take on Catholicism, though that’s a great commitment… or the service to those in need you might undertake, though that’s really needed.
No, the heart of the Year of Faith, as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, is an actual beating heart… it is the heart of Jesus that beats wildly for you and for me.
In my column over at Patheos this week, I share a little bit about how my hubby and me have a big anniversary coming up… one of those that end in “0” and how that long-lasting love all began with an encounter, an introduction, a meeting that led to a whole lot more. And yet, the heart of the matter of this Year of Faith, as I was saying, is how the really great love of our life ought to be Jesus, above all.
Here’s a sampling…
The relationship is the thing. It’s that way in marriage… and it’s that way for the Year of Faith. Both require only one thing… that I encounter my true love and renew my bond with him, and live a life that reflects the depth of that love.
I first met my husband when I 16. A mutual friend introduced us — during a fire drill, of all things — as we stood outside on the front lawn of our high school waiting for the “all clear” to go back inside. Our friend wanted to introduce us because we were both into playing guitar. Turns out, I had already seen the boy before, and I had at least one class with him… I just had never spoken to him. You could say I had known of him, but I didn’t know him.
[snip]
The true task of the Year of Faith is so simple we might miss it: it is a call to be in a relationship with Jesus… not to just know of him, but to know him. Faith practice is like a marriage that has many good and holy distractions: children, work, worship, and any number of special events in the course of a year. Yet the heart of the thing is the relationship of the lovers at its center. It all begins with an encounter with another person…
We’ve got a really big year coming up in the Church. Let’s fall in love with the Lover of our soul.
Read all of my column here, and feel free to subscribe here. Oh, and you can subscribe to this blog right over there —> in the sidebar, too.
