[A Trilogy for] Our Christian Adventure – Weekly Message for October 20, 2015

Dear Fellow Digital Pilgrim, pax Christi:

Only around this time of year, when here in the Great Lakes area of North America the trees are in their full autumn splendor, do I really become convinced that summer is over. The beauty of fall never fails to strike my heart. It seems to create a kind of serene and meditative atmosphere that helps me reminisce about past blessings. I want to share one of those blessings, from this past summer, with you in this note.

As you may remember, the RC Spirituality Center (and all of you who so generously support us) arranged for myself and a few other Legionary comrades to spend a few weeks in July working on writing projects. Thanks be to God, I was able to make good use of those weeks, and I want to let you know about some of their fruits. 

The first book-length manuscript that I finished is currently called: “Go! 30 Meditations on How Best to Love Your Neighbor as Yourself.” It is a companion piece to last year’s work, “Seeking First the Kingdom: 30 Meditations on How to Love God with All Your Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength.” But I also see it as a companion to The Better Part: A Christ-Centered Resource on Personal Prayer. 

In a sense, these three books make up a trilogy. They reflect three core dimensions of our Christian adventure. The Better Part is a companion for prayer, for developing a real, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, for encountering him one-on-one. Seeking First the Kingdom is a series of meditations that help you assimilate the implications of that friendship with Christ, really becoming his disciple. And Go! is all about the often overlooked aspect of what it means to follow Christ: sharing in his mission, his mission of love and evangelization.

Encountering Christ, becoming his mature disciple, and sharing in his mission – these are three ongoing elements in any healthy Christian’s life.  

All three of these books are written in meditation form, because I firmly believe that it is not enough for us just to understand the right ideas. We need to give those ideas a chance to penetrate our hearts and our emotions, so that they can have their full impact on our lives. And only prayer can really make that happen.

Early in 2016, God-willing, Ministry23 will be publishing Go! and the trilogy will be complete. I hope and pray that it will be another resource to nourish your spiritual life and to encourage you in the great adventure of following Jesus Christ. 

In the meantime, I want to take this opportunity once again to thank all of you for your spiritual and material support, which makes it possible for all of us here at RCSpirituality.org to keep on living out our mission to evangelize the digital continent. God bless you!

Yours in Him,

Fr. John Bartunek, LC, SThD