Galahad Research

How do we develop a personal relationship with the person of Christ?

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. St John 1:4‭-‬5 DRB

In Christ is life; in his words, in his actions, in his precious body and blood. At the heart of the Christian faith lies a relationship to the flesh and blood person of Jesus, the living embodiment of God. Yet, this relationship is difficult for us to develop because we can only encounter Him in the pages of the Bible, and under the accidents of bread and wine in the Eucharist. The Gospels, including this one, are relayed to us by those who had the privilege of knowing him in the flesh. And what a privilege it must have been! Despite the risk of death, the Apostles and early disciples proclaimed the revelation of Christ to Jews and Gentiles alike because through Him they had received life. He showed them how to truly live here on earth, and he merited for them and all of us the gift of eternal life through His sacrifice on the cross.

Still, many who had the privilege of knowing Jesus in the flesh could not accept the salvation he freely offered them. They could not accept the gift of life; they could not comprehend the truth, preferring instead to remain in the darkness of the shadow of death. Today nothing has changed. Many cannot accept the salvation Christ freely offers. The only difference is that we who live today extending His invitation have only the memory of Christ and His teachings in Sacred Scripture as well as the Sacred Tradition handed to us by those who knew Him to guide us. Our consolation is His presence in the Eucharist to sustain us. Where then do we turn for the human dimension to this personal relationship with Jesus that we might offer it to others?...

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made. John 1:1-3 DRB

St. John transports us all the way back to the beginning of Genesis to bring the story of Adam to its long awaited closure in Christ. The seeds of our understanding of God's triune nature lay gently within the life-giving soil of these poetic words. Before creation and its countless dramas that would unfold was the Word (Λόγος, - Logos), which was distinct from God the Father, and yet was God.

By these words we are meant to know that Christ was before all else. His existence was not a reaction to deteriorating circumstances, but a necessary precondition for the liturgical procession of creation itself to commence. As God begins speaking things into being in the first chapter of Genesis, we know that Christ too was there.

While the Holy Trinity is indeed mysterious, what is made plain by these opening lines is that Christ was truly sent in the fullness of time (Gal. 4:4). This moment was one of God's choosing that truly could have been made at any point before this since Christ existed before all else.