Today’s first reading at Mass is all about Israel as the Bride of God (and the Church, as the New Israel, as the Bride of Christ).

One of my favorite quotes from Chesterton is “Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair.”

And he’s absolutely right. Orthodoxy matters, of course, but the core of religion is a relationship. A love affair.

This was the breakthrough of my conversion experience in 2014, and it made ALL the difference. I didn’t have that relationship previously. I’d understood theoretically that God loved me, but a big part of me didn’t believe it, and I didn’t even realize that.

I lived my life more or less under the unconscious impression that I was mostly a face in the crowd to Jesus. My conversion experience proved to me, utterly unexpectedly, the He truly has searched me and known me. That every hair of my head has been counted. That every second of my life is under his providential care. Because HE LOVES ME. Me, personally. Me, individually.

It was all true, I realized . . . everything I’d always been told and believed in my head in some vague way. Jesus loved ME. He knows ME. He chose ME.

He also loves YOU. He knows YOU. He has chosen YOU. If you don’t feel that to the very core of your bones, invite Jesus in. That’s what Advent is for, after all. Ask Him to show you the truth. Take some time for prayer. Go to Eucharistic Adoration. Attend an extra Mass.

In the best time and way for you, Jesus WILL show you.