To become better, live better, pray better, and work better, we must know God better. To become better husbands, wives, parents, religious, or people, we must know God better. For example, Moses, to do better than be a shepherd, had to know God better in the burning bush (Ex 3:2ff). Isaiah (Is 6:1ff), Jeremiah (Jer 1:5ff), and Ezekiel (Ez 1:4ff) all had to know God better before they could fulfill their prophetic ministry. Paul had to know God better before he could become the great missionary to the nations (see Gal 1:17ff).

We know God better through the Holy Spirit, Who "scrutinizes all matters, even the deep things of God" (1 Cor 2:10), guides us to all truth (Jn 16:13), and teaches us everything (Jn 14:26). After the apostles received the Holy Spirit at the first Christian Pentecost, they began to know God much better. Then they lived in a new dimension. They became transformed people who knew God is what life is all about. Either we "perish for want of knowledge" of God (Hos 4:6), or we "come to rate all as loss in the light of the surpassing knowledge of [our] Lord Jesus Christ" (Phil 3:8). Because of the Holy Spirit, "the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord, as water covers the sea" (Is 11:9). Plunge into the sea of the knowledge of God and emerge with a new life.

Nihil Obstat:  Reverend Ralph J. Lawrence, December 29, 2002

Imprimatur:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, December 31, 2002