Would you say that you know a lot about God, or would you say that you know Him personally?  Did you know that it’s possible to have a deep, intimate relationship with the God who created the cosmos and galaxies, even though we’ve never seen Him?

Today, I’d like to share with you some aspects of my faith journey to illustrate how it’s not only possible to have a personal relationship with the living God, but that He longs to have such a relationship with all of us, regardless of how sinful we are.

My name is Francine Dilawri, and I have been a parishioner at Holy Redeemer since 1989.  I grew up in a catholic family and attended catholic school.  In the third and fourth grades, I learned about Jesus’ great love and mercy.  I also learned that He performed many miracles of healing and deliverance and that He said that He had not come to call the righteous, but sinners.  I remember being filled with hope in hearing this because our family was greatly afflicted by my father’s alcoholism.  My very devout mother explained to me that my father was a good man, but that he suffered from a sickness.  She encouraged me to have faith in God and to pray for my dad.  And so, I prayed every night that God would heal my father.

Approximately 10 years later, my father started telling us that he had encountered God.  I must admit that we were skeptical, however, we could not deny that an unexplainable transformation had taken place.  He was filled with joy and began to amend his ways and clean up his life.  He became the godly father that I had longed and prayed for.  

One day, the Lord performed a great miracle in his life:  He instantaneously delivered him of all his addictions.  My father never again had a desire for alcohol or cigarettes.  He gave all the credit and glory to God.  He spent the last three decades of his life loving and serving the Lord and witnessing to all the good that God had done for him.  

The miraculous transformation that I witnessed in my father re-ignited the faith of my childhood.  I knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that Jesus is real, that He’s alive and present in our midst, and that He still performs miracles in our world today.  I too wanted the personal relationship with Jesus that my father had experienced.  In 1988, I made a Life in the Spirit seminar, where I learned more about God’s unconditional love for me and how we can be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.  My life has never been the same.  I now have that personal relationship with Jesus that I longed for.  I know that He is always with me and that He has a wonderful plan for my life.  He guides, instructs and enlightens me by His Holy Spirit living in me.  He strengthens me and helps me in all my needs.  He hears and answers my prayers.  He lifts me up when I am discouraged.  He corrects me when I take a wrong path or stray from His loving will for me.  He cleanses me of my sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

What God has done for me and my family is not for just a select few.  He wants all His children, no matter how sinful we are, to know Him and to have a personal relationship with Him. He stands at the door of your heart and knocks.  All you have to do is open the door, invite Him in and ask Him to reveal Himself to you.