Am I able to listen to God’s voice speaking to me personally before the Blessed Sacrament, in Scripture, in the Homily? Most importantly, am I able to go aside from the crowd, the community, the group, to an isolated place like Elijah and the still small voice in the Cave, or Jesus going to a mountain or deserted place, where I can commune with God?
Notably, there were many answers to the first question: what people say, and this reflects the general, communal and abstractive manner of connecting with God. The second question however, likely created a deep pause exposing a sense of partial emptiness, uncertainty, doubt and dilemma like the disciple of the wise man - possibly amidst an exchange of glances among the 12, each taking cover, passing the buck. This was a moment of personal profession of faith and connection. Peter spoke finally:
‘You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!’
The proclamations that followed about this not coming from flesh and blood but from the Father, as well as the unique power of the keys given, are indicative.
A few things become clear in this solitary, bold and clear profession of Faith:
1. Peter alone spoke-out among the 12, many of whom had been speaking generally in the sense of communal faith;
2. Peter’s profession of Faith was not purely a human act of flesh and blood, but came with help (Grace) from the Father in Heaven;
3. Peter’s profession of faith indicated not only a special and personal connection with the Divine, but also earned him an even closer connection with God, along with a Divine Mandate and special keys.
Many lessons can be drawn on personal connection with God. To state them sporadically: a general, communal knowledge and connection with God is a good starting point; God requires His children to step up and develop personal knowledge and connection with Him; building a truly personal connection cannot be achieved through strength of flesh and blood alone but by the grace of God;
Mary as Mediatrix of All Graces is uniquely positioned to pour out these graces and facilitate the development of a personal knowledge and connection with God; with personal knowledge and connection comes a call to be God’s special children with responsibilities in becoming salt and light.
Let us conclude by pointing at one secret ingredient for building personal knowledge and connection: LOVE. The Gospel of John exposes the subject of personal connection with God quite succinctly. John 14 makes for profound reflection on this. Here, Jesus profoundly implores and explains to the 12. Among others, Jesus says ‘Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know Me, Philip?’ (14:9); also ‘whoever has My commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves Me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.’ (14:21).
In practical terms, certain features should indicate when and where a believer has built personal knowledge and connection with God: am I able to speak with God as a friend?
Am I able to listen to God’s voice speaking to me personally before the Blessed Sacrament, in Scripture, in the Homily? Most importantly, am I able to go aside from the crowd, the community, the group, to an isolated place like Elijah and the still small voice in the Cave, or Jesus going to a mountain or deserted place, where I can commune with God?
In other words, where would I stand if the community of believers were no longer present, or if the majority abandoned the faith under persecution or inducement? Is my faith able to endure rejection and the Cross? In a world increasingly drifting away and seeking to obscure its God in atheistic, humanistic and hedonistic (devotion to pleasure as a way of life) embrace, am I willing and able to resist the temptation to recreate a false ‘god’, an idol promising prosperity and comfort while obscuring the narrow way and the rugged Holy Cross? Am I able to trample my ego in a world where men and women are daily perfecting the art of self-worship and deadly narcissism?
In reflecting on these, one should remember the poser by Jesus: ‘When the Son of Man returns, will He still find faith on Earth?’ (Luke 18:8).
To the disciple lost in a dilemma of community/group faith versus personal knowledge of, and connection with God, it is safe to echo the words of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces at Cana, at the point of the first miracle of Nature performed by Jesus - ‘Do whatever He tells you’ (John 2:5).