Jack’s Testimony

I was raised Catholic and attended Catholic schools, but I never had a relationship with God. I knew I wanted to go to Heaven someday, but once I left home I never went to Mass. After I got married and had kids, we attended church most Sundays, a time when I’d check out who was there, and a time for planning my week. Even that stopped once the kids went to college. I just wasn’t into it.

Once I turned 60, I started thinking about eternity more deeply.

I started reading books about the afterlife and near-death experiences. I started going to Mass again, but I was still just checking a box. I did learn from my spiritual reading that it wasn’t about just me and God—I needed community. So I started teaching Religious Education at my parish. One day I got a call from my Faith Formation Director asking me to join and play a leadership role in a new program the church was going to run called Christlife. God must have told me to say “Yes,” because it wasn’t me.

I went to a 3-day training on how to lead ChristLife. While I was at the training, I felt the presence of God and felt excited and called to lead ChristLife.

At the time, I didn’t realize how much it would change my life.

Once we began Discovering Christ, I sat at a table with other guests. I immediately felt a connection with them and understood the value of community. We shared our thoughts, our doubts, our fears, and our questions about our faith.

Discovering Christ talked about a God who loves us unconditionally, a God who wants to have a personal relationship with each one of us, a God of mercy and empathy, a God who is with us every moment of our lives, a God who really hears our prayers, and a God who can and does change lives. It was so different from what I remembered from school—that religion was a “don’t do this, don’t do that” religion, all about the rules.

I had never heard of the concept of having a personal relationship with the Lord.

I never realized religion is all about Love–God’s love for us, and our response to that Love. A simple concept, but one I had never really gotten.

At the Discovering Christ retreat, I encountered, for the first time, the love of God, and I knew without a doubt that Jesus was with me and in me. I go to Sunday Mass now because I want to go, not because it’s a rule. I go to daily Mass, pray every day, and read spiritual books for the same reason. Most days, I stop by church on the way home, sometimes for 10 minutes sometimes longer. Daily rosaries  and monthly confession are now a habit. I hadn’t been to confession in over 30 years.

At the very end of the ChristLife Process, there are Cardboard Testimonies where in just a few words you write where you were before and after ChristLife. My ‘before’ was: self-centered, pleasure seeking and fear of death. My ‘after’ is: God-centered, joyful and peaceful.

Simply put, I have fallen in love with the God who created me.

My life now has purpose and meaning. I have joy and peace I never knew was possible. I wake up now ready and eager to face each day. Sometimes, I feel so happy I want to jump up and down and start laughing.

My goal in life now for whatever time I have left here on this Earth is to bring the Love that God has given me to as many people I can. With help from a monsignor in the Archdiocese of Washington, an old high school friend, I’ve introduced the program to six churches in the DC area. Two are running the program now, with the other four starting in the Fall.

Thank you Jesus, for showing me how to live my life!

Jack experienced and leads ChristLife in the Archdiocese of Washington.

Jack’s testimony was originally shared on the May 2025 Proven Path webinar.