Taking personal responsibility of my Faith

The Peace and Grace of Christ be with you all! It is my undoubtful belief that all of us are reflecting on the Christmas; the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ as we prepare to respond positively towards the salvific event, and not just to react on it. I strongly encourage you at this stage of your life to step out of the circle of interpersonal relationships that have all along been sustaining your life. That is, conforming with others, doing things like others without taking personal engagement with God.

Take a point of reflecting upon the self as separate from the groups and the shared world that defines your life however difficult it may be. Using the words of one Philosopher, George Santayana ‘we for sure don’t know who discovered water, but we know it wasn’t fish’. My brothers and sisters let us not behave like fish who comfortably stays in water with no intuitive idea of what that water is. Spring out of the water and start to reflect upon the water. Figuratively speaking, water is the Church and the fish is our faith. Though we do everything as one family of God, personal encounter and responsibility are of great importance because at the judgement day we will individually be accountable to God.

As a people of God let us ask for God’s divine guidance to enable us to move out of common beliefs about faith and God such as the shallow knowledge about who the true God is and how to develop a deep concern on how God should transform you into a better Christian as opposed to the ways of the common Christians; Christians whose greatest desire is just to have God as their friend, companion or interestingly only want to be associated with other Christians, for example, the common saying ‘ I am a member of Basilica’ ‘ I worship at Basilica’.

These Christians follow the conventional paradigm of faith. My good friends, I urge you not be like them. Find an inner relationship with our God and by so doing you will be able to follow formal operational thought which will change how you think and behave, relate, and carry out your daily activities. You will be able to analyze your own thoughts and handle faith-related concepts or/and ideas. A positive transition from your Childhood or youthful understanding of faith and God is very important to all of us because it makes you be a different person, a person who witnesses Christ in the Church, at home and place of work You ought to be concerned with your personal Christian development.

To achieve this development and maturity of faith I encourage all Christians to remain God-fearing/honoring, daily family prayers;Rosary inclusive, daily Holy Mass, frequent sacrament of reconciliation, reading the Bible, performing acts of mercy and being active in the Church coupled with the virtues of humility because God delights in humble people, patience, obedience and making noble sacrifices like Jesus Christ our Savior and Redeemer. Taking responsibility in your faith is much concerned about authenticity/genuineness and a fit between the self you feel yourself to be in a group and the moral commitments that you are attached to.

May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the Communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all as you respond to God’s LOVE during Christmas and the coming new year.

Rev. Fr. Peter Kamomoe