Knowing our story

The gospel is the story of the world and of everyone in the world, whether they know it or not. Again, in the words of (St.) John Paul II, "Christ is the answer to which every human life is the question." The mission of the Church is bring the world to itself, as we are told that the prodigal son in that distant country "came to himself." . . . Again, the Church does not have a mission, as though missionary work were one of its programs or projects. The Church is the mission of Christ, who continues to seek and save the lost who do not know their story." - Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, Death on a Friday Afternoon

I don't know how closely related this prior post is, but it seems relevant. 

There is this train of thought in the world today that no one knows us as well as we know ourselves, and that this self-knowledge should be sufficient to justify every decision we make. We see this approach at work in many different contexts. I'm sure my mom had similar thoughts when she engaged in the illicit relationship that produced me. Often we arrive at a later point in our resulting story realizing that we didn't know our real story at all. Many times we find that we have written subsequent chapters in our own lives and in others' that have resulted in very painful repercussions. 

The truth is that none of us know our story until will know our Savior. There is no part of our story that does not need to be redeemed and brought to completion in him, to be united to his story (history). When he has brought us to ourselves, we find that we enter into the mission of helping others discover their story in him, too. 

It may seem arrogant from the outside, but I suspect it's more arrogant by far to think that my story matters in any other context.