Fr. John Hurley in a workshop a couple of years ago asked the question, “When did you first encounter the Risen Christ?”. His question made me pause.  I had to think about when I began to feel the transforming power of Christ.   His challenge to reflect on that question was rooted in the idea that we need to draw from those first experiences of Jesus as we live, work, and serve others.  We cannot get so caught up in the “head” that we forget what happened to us in the heart when we first encountered Christ.

In the Gospels, we hear stories of Jesus working in people’s lives- healing them, transforming their hearts, and challenging them.  We see Jesus coming into the disciples’ lives and inviting them, changing them, opening their eyes.  “Their hearts burned within.”  We have experienced moments like this in our lives–when our eyes were opened, when our hearts burned within, when we experienced the transforming power of God at work in our lives.

I ask each of us today:
When did we first encounter the Risen Christ?
How did that encounter transform us?

Becky Eldredge

Becky is an Ignatian-trained spiritual director, retreat facilitator, and writer. She is the author of the Busy Lives and Restless Souls (March 2017, Loyola Press) and The Inner Chapel (April 2020, Loyola Press). She helps others create space to connect faith and everyday life through facilitating retreats and days of reflection, through writing, and through spiritual direction. With nearly twenty years of ministry experience within the Catholic Church, Becky seeks to help others discover God at work in the every day moments of people’s lives by utilizing St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises and the many gifts that our Catholic faith and Ignatian Spirituality provide.