The Jesus question Every time I start thinking seriously about Jesus, I always come to the same conclusion: I don’t know him anywhere near as well as I should. Jesus is the one who changed everything. Lots of people talk about changing the world, but Jesus did. All of human history revolves around him. It is impossible to measure his impact on the world. And your life will never really make sense until you place Jesus at the CELEBRATING center of it. Jesus made the lame walk, taught CATHOLICISM the simple, set captives free, gave sight to the blind, fed the hungry, Matthew healed the sick, comforted the afflicted and afflicted the KELLY comfortable. The more I get to know Jesus, the more I get to know my true self. And what I discover is this: I am the lame that he makes to walk. I am the simple person that he patiently teaches. I am the captive that he wants to set free. I am the blind to whom he wants to give sight. I am the hungry that he “To really work wants to feed. I am the sick and he wants out who Jesus is, to heal me. I suggest you find I am the afflicted who he wants to comfort. yourself a quiet And, at other times, I am the comfortable that he wants church, sit in to afflict. front of the He is the healer of my soul, and my soul needs healing. tabernacle, and I think if you are honest talk to him about with yourself, you will discover that yours does, too. what is Jesus is the friend you have been yearning for your whole happening in life.
your life. Jesus really existed He is the friend The first thing to get really clear about is that Jesus you have been walked the earth. This is yearning for your indisputable. The culture tries sometimes to presents Jesus in whole life.” the same category as Santa
Claus and the Easter Bunny. This is ludicrous. You are smarter than that. We need to start thinking about Jesus on a deeper level than the popular culture. How do we know Jesus actually existed? The most comprehensive presentation of Jesus’ life is in the Gospel, and the Scriptures clearly establish Jesus as living at a particular time and place in history. They are not vague about when he lived or where he lived. They go to great length to establish his birth in the context of world history. But the best evidence to establish that Jesus walked the earth is not in Christian writings, but in secular writings and other religious traditions. Secular historians of his time wrote about Jesus, and Jewish writers establish that Jesus walked the earth at the same time and place that the Gospels set forth. It is also worth noting that the other major world religions all acknowledge Jesus. This is important because all these other religions are rivals to Christianity. The easiest way for these religions to disprove Christianity would be to demonstrate that Jesus
Matthew Kelly
Please turn to JESUS on back page of section
The Catholic Spirit • April 11, 2013
What is THE question for tod NET Ministries staffer knows . . . and he has the answer, too By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit
What are you going to do with Jesus? That question is put to about 65,000 teens a year on NET Ministries retreats across the country and in various parts of the world. Joe Roueché, NET’s outreach coordinator, has watched how the young people have answered that question for the last 19 years. In our modern culture, he says, lots of people say they believe in God. But something changes when Jesus is brought into the conversation. And, he has witnessed amazing things when youth are invited to encounter the person of Christ at NET retreats and events.
Tough mission “At Discipleship Week a couple summers ago, this one girl, Sarah, comes in,” he said. “And, Sarah is tough, she is hard. . . . Her parents were drug dealers and the grandmother got custody of this granddaughter.” That faith-filled grandmother is the one who sent Sarah to the week-long retreat, where the girl made it clear it was only because of her new legal guardian that she came. Roueché sensed there might be trouble with Sarah. All he had to do was take one look at her to know that her background and lifestyle was going to clash with the message she was about to hear at the retreat. In his own words “She was as Goth as I’ve ever seen Goth — black eyelids, fingernails, lipstick, all the piercings, oversized black, huge Tune to “The Rediscover Hour” on honking pant legs, and jet-black dyed hair, as black as I’ve ever Relevant Radio 1330 AM to hear Joe seen,” he said. Roueché talk about the work of NET It was an intimidating sight, he admits, and it stirred some fear Ministries and bringing youth closer to about how she might react when she was told about Jesus. After Christ. The show airs at 9 a.m. Friday, all, Roueché has learned, Jesus is controversial, especially in our April 12, and is rebroadcast Saturday modern culture. at 6 p.m., and Sunday at 9 a.m. But he also knew that the human heart longs for truth, longs for a personal relationship with God. This retreat was going to provide the opportunity for Sarah to meet Jesus. The question is: Would she accept?
Opening hearts Throughout the entire week, Roueché could not get Sarah out of his mind. As the young people walked through the paces of Mass, confession, prayer and eucharistic adoration, one nagging question kept poking at him: How’s it going for Sarah? On the last day of the retreat, the answer came. Near the end, Roueché, who was leading the retreat, laid the microphone down in front of all the kids gathered together and invited people to come up and share their experiences. Lines quickly formed and the kids started opening up their hearts and minds in front of the group. Roueché was enjoying the stories, but couldn’t help searching the crowd for the troubled teen he had met at the beginning who honestly confessed her hatred for God and the Church. “And then, out of nowhere, Sarah makes her way to the front,” he said. “Whoa! Part of me was afraid. I had no idea what Sarah was going to share because I had only talked to her a little bit at the front [end] of the retreat. It was tough. She was angry, and rightly so. What a childhood she had, as I came to discover. “She grabbed that microphone and those kids in that room stood up and applauded her, and applauded her and applauded her. I get a little emotional even thinking about it. And, they sat down, and I’m like, ‘What’s she going to say?’ I’m not sure what she’s going to say. She talked for about 10 minutes. She could have gone on for 10 hours. She said, ‘I want to let you know that I came here and I hated God, and I hated the Church. And, when I went to Mass — because my grandmother made me — I would go to Communion and bring the host back to the pew and throw it on the ground and stomp it and grind it into the dirt. I hated Jesus. “But when I got here, all of you welcomed me. No one has ever welcomed me. And, when I went to confession, I didn’t even know what confession was. And, that priest talked to me and he prayed with me, and I met Jesus in confession. “I love Jesus and I met Jesus, and I’ll never forget this retreat,” she continued. “Pray for me as I leave here because it won’t be easy.” And that, Roueché said, is the difference a personal relationship with Jesus can make. It can take away anger, it can take away hate, it can transform people’s lives and give them joy. Roueché himself experienced that kind of transformation. As the oldest of eight children in a strong Catholic home in Chattanooga, Tenn., he had every opportunity to experience Jesus throughout his upbringing. But he kept
Meeting Jesus: It’s pe
NET Ministries in West St. Paul specialize encounter Jesus and develop a persona young adults travel the country putting local teams in the Archdiocese of St. Pa Lifeline events. For information and a sc WWW.NETUSA.ORG. To help teens — and people of all age relationship with him, outreach coordina steps:
■ Ask Jesus to come into your heart, e where the invitation is extended, such a
“It’s that simple act of faith,” Roueché been trying to live on my own. I’ve been from you. I’m not doing a very good job you’re awesome. I just ask you to come understand what that means. Jesus, if yo Give me the grace to help me to know ■ Continue to seek him regularly.
“The Lord says, ‘Draw near to me and said. “Jesus wants us to continue to seek confession, through Scripture, through p relationship with him — every day makin
Christ at arm’s length. He went to Mass, b “It was more of an external, exterior, al now 53 and married with three children. remember sitting at Mass and looking at get going. It’s NFL Sunday.’ The ball game o’clock on Sunday. That was pretty much or 16 years old — just going through the heart, no passion, no understanding. You doing it.”