How did you meet Christ?

It is often said that God writes straight with crooked lines and sometimes He brings people on incredible journeys to arrive at a place where they are ready to face Him and accept Him. At the same time, some people knew of Christ "from the cradle", but they will still be able to tell a great tale of the goodness and mercy of God.

As for myself, I come from a family of practicing Catholics. Church every Sunday, which was fantastic, and some limited faith related activities (such as Catholic summer camps for myself and my siblings), but unfortunately not nearly enough. This left me with quite a poor knowledge of Christ and His Church as a teen and into my early 20s.

My big breakthrough came in college. I lived abroad and had a lot of free time, so I browsed various forums and websites a lot. I was impressed with the Christian posters and the beauty of the Bible verses they would cite. When I got back to Ireland, I resolved to read the New Testament from cover to cover and boy did that set things off. I also immersed myself in the old Catholic classics like On the Imitation of Christ by Tomas a Kempis. Generally I just began to read more spiritual books, spend more time in prayer and go to Adoration at the local parish. I also came to appreciate the Mass and Confession a great deal more, as places where Christ is truly present.

I have to say that my life has changed completely since those college days. To know Christ, to know something of His love and strength is absolutely incomparable. He freed me from my sins, addiction and fears. He taught me that I need to always love my neighbour, whether he is Catholic or not, and whether he returns my love or not. I am still most definitely a sinner, but 'I know that my Redeemer lives' (Job 19:25)!