Experiencing Jesus by Gerald O’Collins, SJ; Chapter 2 – “Jesus the Meaning”

As we continue our journey through Lent, the second chapter of O’Collins’ book challenges us to consider our personal relationship with Jesus. O’Collins begins the chapter with a brief story of Augustine, a fourth century Christian of great renown, and his ill-conceived plan to wait for his teacher, Faustus, in order to learn all the secrets of life. Augustine was convinced that Faustus’ arrival would make all things known and his life’s plan would unfold clearly from the knowledge obtained from his insightful teacher. Faustus did arrive and impart his knowledge to Augustine, but everything in Augustine’s life was not neatly explained as he had thought. Life is a journey of unfolding truths, gained through experiences revealed to those with open minds and open hearts. The people of Nazareth struggled with this truth, as they rejected Jesus’ ministry among them as simply the works of the familiar carpenter. Although their actions may surprise us, we too can be guilty of trying to domesticate Jesus or suffer from over-familiarity with the powerful news of the Gospel…happily nodding to ourselves, “yes, I know that story and its lesson quite well.”

Lent is a season that particularly calls us to prayer and action in specific and personal ways. The lenten road is a journey that must be made with great intimacy and with personal intentions toward Jesus and all that Jesus invites us to be. O’Collins captures the intimacy and intentionality of Lent with the following words: “What ultimately matters is the ‘felt’ knowledge of our own experience…It is the same with our experience of Jesus. We experience him for ourselves or not at all. We pray to him ourselves or not at all. No one else, not even the dearest or closest person in our life, can take our place here. We do our praying to and our experiencing of Jesus personally…When Jesus knocks on our door, it is we who must open it to him. Here we cannot say to another person: ‘Please get up and see who is at the door of my heart.'” (p. 26) O’Collins’ insight is true for Lent and it is true for the days beyond Lent, when we continue to experience our ongoing and unfolding relationship with Jesus and with others. Throughout this holy season of Lent, let us renew and refresh our desire to seek Jesus in the grace given to us each day. The personal experiences that shape our lives and draw us into deeper relationships are forged through our desire and our commitment to our common life together.