PODCAST: Auspice Maria Ep. 6: The Power of Personal Encounter

Welcome to the Auspice Maria podcast. My name is Bishop James Ruggieri of the Diocese of Portland in Maine. And we continue with our series on the mission of the church, focusing on these three aspects that embody the mission, proclaim the gospel, bringing people to Christ, and building the kingdom of God.  

Today in this episode, we turn to one of the most beautiful and essential truths of evangelization, the power of personal encounter. I'd like to start invoking the Holy Spirit, if I may, with you as we begin this podcast.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your spirit and we shall be created and you shall renew the face of the earth. Amen.  

Again, this week we're talking about the power of personal encounter. Conversion does not begin with a concept or a rule book. It begins when someone experiences a real and personal relationship with the living Jesus Christ, a relationship that brings healing, fulfillment, and the promise of eternal life. The gospel is not a theory or a philosophy. It is the good news that God sees you, knows you intimately, and offers you a relationship that fulfills your deepest longings and opens the path of salvation. Christianity is not primarily about following rules or ideas, although, of course, the moral life is a part of the Christian life.  It's about really being in a relationship with the person of Christ. And all else flows from that.

Let's begin with a line from Pope Benedict the 16th in his encyclical, Deus Caritus Est, God is love. "Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction."

Pope Francis echoes this in Evangelium Gaudium, the Joy of the Gospel, paragraph three.  He says, "I invite all Christians everywhere at this very moment to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ."

Let's look at a few scenes from the gospels. Each one shows us how Jesus meets people as individuals. And these meetings are life-changing. The first is Zacchaeus, found in Luke chapter 19, verses 1 to 10.  Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector in Jericho. This meant he wasn't just collecting taxes; he was overseeing other tax collectors and profiting from their work. To his fellow Jews, he was seen as a traitor and a thief, someone who collaborated with Roman oppressors and grew rich off the backs of the poor. Zacchaeus was also short in stature, famously so to us, which meant he couldn't see over the crowds. But there's a deeper symbolism here. His status in society was low, despite his wealth. And there was spiritual emptiness beneath the material success.

So Zacchaeus takes it upon himself to climb a sycamore tree.  A gesture that's almost childlike. It shows both his desire to see Jesus and his willingness to abandon social dignity to do so. "When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house." That's from Luke 19 verse five.  

"Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house." This is shocking. Jesus chooses to be the guest of a public sinner. This encounter leads to a powerful transformation as Zacchaeus proclaims in the course of the dinner.

And this is from Luke 19, verse eight. "Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor. And if I have extorted anything from anyone, I shall repay it four times over."

I'd also now like to look at the woman at the well. This is found in John chapter four, verses one to 30. This woman, very interestingly, is just identified as the Samaritan woman. She's nameless, but her story is unforgettable. She comes to the well at noon, the hottest part of the day.  And she comes at this hour to avoid the other women who would typically come in the morning. And you may say, why? Well, because she's ashamed. She has had five husbands and now is with a man who is not her husband. In her time and place, this would have made her a social outcast. Jesus initiates the conversation with her. Also, something that would have been socially unacceptable.

He says in John four, verse seven, "Give me a drink," seeking not just the water that she's drawing from the well, but he's seeking to engage her in a conversation. He breaks through social and religious conventions. Again, a Jewish man speaking to a Samaritan woman alone, unheard of. And he reveals her life to her in the course of this brief conversation in John four verse 18. He tells her, frankly, "You've had five husbands and the one you have now is not your husband."

But beautifully, he does not condemn, he invites, he offers her living water that satisfies the deeper thirst in her soul. Then transformed by the encounter, the woman just leaves her water jar behind. It's a powerful symbol of leaving behind her past life and former priorities. And she goes to the people of her village who had shunned her. And she tells them in John chapter four verse 29, "Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Messiah?"

Her courage, awakened by grace, leads others to faith. "Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified." That's what we are told by John in verse 39. "Many of the Samaritans began to believe in Jesus because of the word of the woman who testified."

This Samaritan woman becomes one of the first evangelizers in John's gospel. And the third encounter I'd like to present to you is the one from John chapter nine, verses one to 38, that we find here in verses one to 38, about the man born blind. Now in Jesus' time, in that culture, people believed that physical blindness was a punishment for sin. The man is not only blind but also marginalized and judged. So, Jesus, recognizing all of this, heals him in a very tactile way. He makes clay with saliva, spreads it on the man's eyes, and tells him to wash in the pool of Siloam. But after the miracle, the man is interrogated by the religious authorities.  They reject him, even though he tells them, "One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see." It's from John chapter nine, verse 25. He tells them very plainly, "I was blind, but now I see."

Eventually, after he's expelled, Jesus finds him again and the dialogue ensues. "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"  The man replies to Jesus, "'Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?' 'You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.'" The man replies, "I do believe, Lord, and he worshiped him." This is the dialogue in John 9, verses 35 to 38.

So amazingly so, this physical healing, this encounter between Jesus and this man leads to spiritual sight, and ultimately worship.

Each of these three stories that we find in the scriptures shows a deep truth about the human condition. In Zacchaeus, we meet someone who initially is very successful, but spiritually impoverished. In the Samaritan woman at the well, we see a woman who is relationally wounded and socially isolated.  And in the man born blind, we see a man afflicted, judged, and presumably forgotten. They are all marked by the effects of the fall, sin, shame, fear, isolation, pride. And they reflect the human heart in need of redemption. And what changes everything for these three is a personal encounter with Jesus. In each case, Jesus initiates the encounter. Jesus meets the people where they are. Jesus offers truth, healing, and love. And the person, the recipients of all this, they respond with faith. We see transformation in their lives. And in some cases, in the case of the Samaritan one, we see mission, mission.

This is what evangelization looks like. It's not programmatic. It's deeply personal. We know, my dear brothers and sisters, that Jesus is risen. He's alive. And amazingly so, he continues to encounter others.  Just maybe some scenarios to consider. These may actually resonate with you.

Consider a middle-aged man burnt out from work and maybe broken, devastated by divorce. One day he decides to step into a small parish chapel. He's not sure why, something draws him there.  This man hasn't been to mass in years, but he goes into this chapel, this adoration chapel, and he just sits in silence before the Lord, before the blessed sacrament. During this time, something within him stirs, a peace he can't explain washes over him. He doesn't hear any voices, but he knows  in the very depths of his person, that God is real, that God has not forgotten him.

Or maybe consider another possibility, another scenario. A teenager who reluctantly goes on a retreat, maybe for sacraments or maybe because she was forced to by her parents, and during Eucharistic Adoration in the course of this retreat, typically at night, she hears the speaker say, "You are not an accident, you're wanted." A simple message, maybe she's heard it before, but almost instantaneously, as she hears the message again, she begins to cry. She had been struggling with her self-worth, and this had been hidden from everyone, including her closest friends. But in that moment, she believes God sees her.

And finally, just a third scenario. A widow sits at the funeral mass of her husband of 50 years. The priest reads from the Gospel of John, chapter 11, verse 25. Quoting these famous words to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life." And the priest in his homily explains that death is not the end. In fact, the whole reason why we have funeral masses is to give us hope, to pray for our beloved dead in the hope of resurrection.  Well, as the mass goes on, she receives Holy Communion. She experiences, after communion, some deep consolation, deep consolation. Christ is near. The hope of new life is real. In each of these encounters, although again, very perhaps simple, not complex, but we see something personal happening.  

We can't force a person to meet Christ. We can't force anyone to have a relationship with Christ. But I think we can work at removing obstacles, meaning we can try to make room for people to open the doors of their hearts and minds. Once again, if perhaps those doors are obstructed or closed, I'd like to suggest four ways.

The first, pray. Pray. Ask Jesus to reveal Himself to perhaps that person who is on your heart, who maybe is desolate, maybe is angry at life, maybe is feeling, again, no self-worth. Ask Jesus to reveal himself to that person.

Two, witness, share. Perhaps your story, and again, as simple as it might seem to you, as maybe undramatic as it may occur to. We don't need the drama but just be sincere. Maybe your story about your relationship with God or how the Lord has somehow worked in your life or transformed your life. Maybe that's the very narrative that will stir the heart of your listener.

Third thing is invite. Invite people to mass, invite people to confession, adoration, a retreat. Why not? Why not? Why not invite? The most people can say is no.

And then fourthly, I would encourage you to accompany people, walk with people. This requires a lot of patience.  We're not in control here, but we can control our availability, our empathy, our compassion. Sometimes it's simply just being patient with others, being present. But evangelization really begins with an encounter, but it continues through friendship.

I think this is another important point. Friendship has an important role in evangelization.  And you may say, why? Well, just consider something with me for a moment. Consider an image for true friendship. It's not my original image, but it really, when I heard it, it just sort of resonated with me. Two people walking side by side. So, two friends are, we could say, the image of friendship, two people walking side by side with their eyes fixed on a common horizon. Now consider two Catholic Christians, friends, walking side by side, and the common horizon is heaven.

My dear brothers and sisters, the Lord doesn't need to meet us anew. Jesus already knows us. He knows every hair on our heads, every wound in our hearts. He knows our every hope, and He knows all our fears.

But Jesus invites us to experience His presence in a new and deeper way. He invites us to live to a life of abundance. He said in John chapter 10 verse 10, I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly. Jesus invites us to the abundant life, the abundant life of peace, the abundant life of healing, the abundant life of joy, a joy that no one can take away.

I'd like to close with this prayer, part of a prayer from St. John Henry Newman, which St. Teresa of Calcutta embraced and lived very deeply. Again, in the opening.  "Dear Jesus, help me to spread your fragrance everywhere I go. Flood my soul with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of yours."

Thank you for listening this week. Next time, we'll talk a little bit about accompaniment and what it means to actually walk with someone on the journey of faith after that first encounter or after that renewed encounter.

Until then, may you encounter the Lord in very real and personal ways this week. I'd like to close in entrusting all of you, all of us, our church to the maternal care of Mary, our mother.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.  Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.