Getting intimate with God

THIS should be a constant concern of ours. How can we get

more and more intimate with God everyday? This is the most ideal

condition that we can and should be in, and we just have to figure out

how it can be achieved.

             To be sure, this is no pipe dream. This is not only

possible and feasible. It is first of all God’s will and he has given

us everything so that we can truly get intimate with him, privy to his

will and ways.

  

            He loves us no end. Our weakness, our mistakes, our sins,

if acknowledged and repented, are no problem to his undying love for

us. In fact, they would even provoke God to love us more, to help us

more.

             We just have to do our part. Perhaps the first thing we

have to do is to realize that whatever we are doing, whatever

condition we may be in, is always an opportunity to be and to work

with God.

  

            This is because God is always present in us. And not only

is he present in us in a passive way. He is actually always

intervening in our lives. He is the one mainly directing us and things

in general with his ever-abiding providence.

  

            We need to be most aware of this reality and live and act

in accord to it. We should not be contented only with fulfilling the

technical goals and requirements of our daily work and affairs. While

that is necessary, we would still miss the real thing unless we refer

everything to God.

  

            We should not forget that God meets us in our daily work

and affairs which are part of his will for us. The duties and

responsibilities that are inherent to our state in life and to our

profession, etc., are part of God’s providence over us. It’s there

where God actually converses with us.

  

            This truth of our faith should not be ignored. In fact, we

have to act on it always. That’s why we need to have the constant

desire to dialogue with God in all our work and affairs. We need to

know him better and find ways of loving him better each day.

  

            For this purpose, we have to exert the effort of nurturing

the presence of God in ourselves, seeking and renewing the human

devices that are so helpful for keeping a constant dialogue with him.

We have to reach that point where we can truly say we are saying

affectionate words to him, praising, glorifying and thanking him for

everything.

            We have to be wary of our tendency to simply go through

the motions while doing some acts of piety. Our prayer should be a

living encounter with God. This can be proven because such living

encounter would unavoidably fill us with joy and peace despite all

kinds of problems, setbacks, etc., that we may be experiencing at a

given moment.

  

            Besides, we would always be moved and motivated to do

whatever we are doing in the best way we can. We would be driven with

love that is not afraid to make sacrifices and is always generous in

self-giving.

             We would also have a running apostolic concern for

everyone, because our living encounter with Christ in our prayer would

lead us to adopt Christ’s mind and heart that only works for the

salvation of mankind. As we said above, we would not simply be

interested in meeting the technical requirements of our work. Our work

will always have an apostolic dimension.

             We should do everything to get intimate with God. This is

the way we can be properly intimate with all the others, and to view

and understand things correctly.