"Deya Jumping at Christ the Redeemer" by Nan Palmero is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Only 48% of American Catholics are certain that you can have a personal relationship with God (Pew Religious Landscape Survey, 2008). Only 5% of “practicing” Catholics are what Sherry Weddell* calls intentional disciples, that is, women and men who have a growing personal relationship with Christ, and have made a definitive choice to dedicate their lives to God through prayer, study, virtuous living in love of neighbor as self, service for the common good and public witness to their faith. The majority of Catholics, she says, are in one of the earlier, essentially passive, stages of spiritual development characterized by trust, curiosity, and openness but have not yet reached the levels of serious seeking and the commitment to a life of discipleship.

How does this information about American Catholics resonate with you? Are you certain that you can have a personal relationship with God? Who is Jesus for you? Are you taking conscious steps to grow in your prayer life, theological understanding of your faith, personal maturity, commitment to serving the last and the least in our society, and willingness to publicly witness to your faith?

*I attended the National Religious Vocation Conference (NRVC) this past week. One of our keynote speakers was Sherry Anne Weddell, co-founder, and co-director of the Catherine of Sienna Institute, an affiliated ministry of the Western Dominican Province. Over the past twenty years, Sherry has developed a variety of formation resources and has worked with an international team that has formed Christian disciples in hundreds of parishes, in 137 dioceses on 5 continents.

Blessings,