If someone were to approach me asking, “What would be my first step in becoming a member of your church?” I’d have to check, first, what that statement means to them. Sometimes, they are simply talking about the logistics of adding their name and contact information to the parish roster. At other times, they are actually talking about seeking baptism and becoming a Christian or converting from another faith tradition.
What comes up, for me, in this context is the question of what makes us Catholic Christians. Are we members by simply signing up, or is there more required? I have to say, I think the answer to that question has been shifting in Catholic circles. I have noticed it at official archdiocese meetings, catechetical (formation) gatherings, and through living parish life. That shift regards moving from membership in a religious organization to one of relationship with Jesus and (then) his body, the Church. The foundation, then, becomes a relationship with Jesus, but what does that even mean? In simplistic terms, where, years ago, much of formation was focused on learning about prayers and sacraments (the “facts of the faith”), it is now aimed at finding this “personal relationship.” This relationship is one where time together and communication are integral, where pleasing Jesus (and, in fact, the Trinity) is at the forefront of my mind, and where that relationship infuses itself into my life to such a degree that I can become “Christ” for others. Over the next few weeks, I’d like to use this space to share some thoughts about what I have found to be effective in building this relationship. Let’s start at the first step. We need to learn who Jesus is!
The scriptures are the absolute first place to learn about Jesus. As St. Jerome said, “Ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ.” If we haven’t read much of the New Testament and are just relying on the readings from the Mass for our information, we could be lacking. It can be hard to connect the dots and see the chronological trajectory of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, along with the early spread of the Church, when we jump from story to story. Further complicating the situation is that, without context, it can be easy to lose sight of whether we are hearing an actual historical fact or one of the parables, which are stories that Jesus told to illustrate a point. Jesus can feel abstract if we only get snippets here and there. If we want that personal relationship with him, we’ll need to put in more effort than simply attending Mass. Reading the gospels (the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) is our first task.
In reading the gospels, we can approach them in several ways. We can simply read them in the order that we find them in our bibles (as listed above), or we could read them in the order of the time frame within which they were written. Using that approach, we would read them in the order of Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John. The benefit of reading them in that order is that we can see the growth in understanding who Jesus is by the book’s human authors and the communities they represent. Yes, while we assert that the gospels were written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the influence of the writer’s style and understanding manifest these nuances. A third way to read them is by using a tool called a “gospel parallel.” The one I used for most of my academic career was in book form, written by Burton H. Throckmorton, Jr., but you can find several options online. If you look at a gospel parallel, you’ll find the same or similar stories within each gospel lined up next to each other for easy comparison. If a story is found in only one gospel, you’d also see that. Reading the gospels this way is a great way to see how much of our understanding of who Jesus is based on a synthesis of all four Gospels.
There is so much to say, but whichever way you choose to dive in, please do! I don’t think you’ll regret it.