Who is Jesus to each one of us?

In the book, The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything, Father James Martin, SJ speaks about being asked the question, "Who is Jesus?". Then, Pope Francis poses the same question to us at the end of his Sunday Angelus Address. While I am guiding my Confirmation children to the next steps of their own Catholic Faith, I asked the same question. Who is Jesus to each one of us?

There are all the normal answers of Christ, Son of God, Messiah, Rabbi, Teacher, and the list goes on and on. Yet, while really thinking about the answer, who Jesus is to me, is not going to be the same for the next person. A part of me went back to the words of Father who told me that I should not be striving to have the same kind of relationship with Jesus because my relationship with Christ is totally different from my students. A part of me was sad to hear those words, but I was and am determined to know who Jesus is to me. Who is this Man that I speak to in the car? Who is this Man that I scream out to in desperate times? Who is this Person who I shake my head at when I am praying? Who is Jesus to me?

Then, somewhere in the midst of my prayers, my answer came to me. Jesus is my friend. Jesus is the one who gives me the inspiration to keep fighting. Jesus is the one who gives me the eyes to see that He is present in every thing that I do. He is the one that allows me to grow in my faith, and love me at the very point I am at. He keeps my story intact and allows me to make decisions. He does not care if I am going to mess up because he is willing to give me the strength I need to lead me in the way that I can become the person He created me to be.

By looking at Jesus as a friend, I realized that He is not just someone that I think about for an hour on Sunday. He is someone who is constantly on my mind. I look forward to going to Daily Mass. I look forward to reading the Bible. Most importantly, I look forward to sitting at Adoration and just being with Him. It is difficult at times to know that my relationship with Christ will never be like the people around me at Mass. However, it is amazing to know that my relationship with Jesus is uniquely defined by me, and no one will ever have the same kind of relationship with Christ as I do.

So as Catholics, we need to stop putting ourselves in the box of "Jesus is just some history story", but we need to realize He is a real person who is still present today. Although Christ is not humanly walking on the Earth right at this moment, Christ is present in each person we encounter on a daily basis. By emitting love and compassion to each human we come in contact with, we are being present with Christ. We will all come to know that our personal relationship with Christ is something special to each one of us. It is a relationship that no one will ever get to experience because we all will have a different relationship with Christ.