The Joy of the Gospel

3. I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day. No one should think that this message is not meant for him, since "no one is excluded form the joy brought by the Lord." The Lord does not disappoint those who take this risk; whenever we take a step toward Jesus, we come to realize that he is already there, waiting  for us with open arms.....

7.   ....I never tire of repeating those words of Benedict XVI which take us to the very heart of the Gospel: "Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and  decisive direction."  

(So why do so many of us Christians still presume our religion is basically a matter of adhering to free-floating moral standards and doctrinal truths disconnected from the person of Christ?)

 

The Joy of the Gospel,  Pope Francis,      pp. 1, 4