WHY@Breakfast

I can tell you what I do as a person. Perhaps, I can even tell you why I do certain things a certain way because I am a Catholic. However, it will be difficult for me to give a two -lines answer to the question “What does Jesus Christ mean to me?” to a non-Christian on the spot.

At the 69^th Ontario Catholic Women’s League Convention yesterday, Bishop McGrattan , Bishop of Peterborough, talked about the Year of Mercy and what it means for members of CWL. One of the points he asked us to think about is the need to evangelize. Of course, to evangelize, one has to engage someone else in a conversation on Jesus Christ, but how many of us can readily give a concise answer to the question: What does Jesus Christ mean to you?

So, after pondering on this for some time, I think I will say:

If spirituality means living the tensions of life, then being a Christian means living those tensions by following Christ’s example. In order to do that, one must get to know Christ and his Church.

God reveals himself to us in many ways. He shows us who he is through his creations. Sometimes, he talks to us directly. Other times, he might give us subtle hints. These revelations are, unfortunately, often missed. Fortunately for us, God also gives us his divine revelation through Christ. Now, here is someone’s life that we have a record of in our Bible. The teachings of Jesus Christ are studied and contemplated on through and through by the Church, which are presented to us as our Church teachings. Living the tensions of life, therefore, gets easier, if we pay attention to the Word and get to know our Church teachings.

During the past December, when my family was confronted with the impending death of my father, my children asked if we should carry on with our usual joyous celebration of Christmas. It was a very confusing time. On one hand, we had our Christmas celebrations planned out and were looking forward to the excitement, the anticipation, our Christmas experience at church, and our Christmas concert (which happened to be our 100^th sharing) at a local seniors’ residence. On the other hand, we were constantly waiting by the phone, waiting for updates on my father’s condition, or sharing our sadness with relatives and close friends. Talking about tensions of life! Of course, God seems to be always ahead of us… The topic of my December session at my CPM course happened to be “The Mystery of Christ.” A section of the course was on how Jesus taught us to be human and another section on the meaning of his death. After taking in all that I could that session, it was surprisingly easy for me to announce to my family that it would be even more important for us to celebrate Christmas during those agonizing weeks. Without Christ, there would be no hope. Without Christ, there would be no meaning to our lives.

So…What does Jesus Christ mean to you?