How a relationship with Jesus enriched my life Part II

by Fr Augustine Acheme

Parochial Vicar

Basically, change means to become different or to make something or someone different. Therefore, change can be either positive or negative. To this end, I wish to state categorically that my journey towards Christ has brought about tremendous transformation in my life. He has given my life a profound meaning and heightened my sense of direction to the attainment of lasting peace, security, and fulfillment.

When I first started in earnest my journey towards Christ, I was a kid with no sense of purpose in life. Basically, I wanted to be left alone to play with my friends and go for Block Rosary Devotion which usually marked the end our day as a group of children in my neighborhood. At this stage, it was more about the desire to make myself happy and to stay around those I was comfortable with. But I worried about what the future would turn out to be. Will I be a success or a failure?

Christ helped me to answer this question by opening my eyes to divine providence. Trust in God’s providence eliminated the fear of the unknown completely from my life. Over the years, I have come to realize concretely that all the things life throws at me work together for my good, as long as I remain faithful to the teaching of Christ. Now, in Christ, I sense a great assurance of security, knowing that the only way to failure is to drift from the tenets of the Christian faith.

Moreover, the feeling that I am not alone when following Christ has helped me to grow in the virtue of patience. I have noticed over time that in this world trials abound, difficulties exist, and even (as Isaiah says) that weapons will fashion against me but will not prevail. Also, what I use to see as obstacles in the past, I now perceive as stepping stones. The awareness of the presence of Christ makes the difference.

Following Christ has aided me to become more sensitive to the needs and plights of others. I feel down within me a transition from the “self” to the “selfless” in my attitude towards others. Thus, I find great fulfillment in my vow of poverty when it translates into both spiritual and material support for God’s children.

Furthermore, journeying with Christ has over time deepened my faith and purified my intentions. Some years ago, as a new believer, I measured my faith merely on the basis of what I have been able to receive from God in prayer. But now I appreciate that faith or Christian maturity is not only about what I have received from God but more about what I surrender to him.

Thus, my experience with Christ as his follower has revealed to me in practical terms that I am not my own. And my fulfillment does not stem from doing what I want, but in doing what God wants me to do: to do good and to avoid evil. This is the key to my happiness and peace in this life, in view of the next.