Even as believers, we can fall into subtle traps in our relationship with God—ways of thinking or living that, deep down, don’t fully align with what we profess to believe. We might not say these things out loud, but sometimes our actions, thoughts, or prayers reveal them.
Here are a few examples:
God exists, but He’s not present.
God is real, but He’s not active.
God is around, but He’s not listening.
We may live as if God is like a distant relative—always reachable by phone if we really need Him, but not here, not now. Or we might even think, "Sure, Christ is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament... but that’s ten minutes away at the church."
These unspoken “buts” put limits on God. They box Him in, making Him feel distant and uninvolved in our everyday lives. Yes, there’s a grain of truth in these thoughts—God does work in specific ways, and the Eucharist is uniquely His Real Presence. But when we let these truths turn into conditions, we lose sight of the bigger picture:
God isn’t confined to our terms. He’s present in every moment, in every place, whether we perceive Him or not.
The real question is: how are we responding to Him? Are we living, praying, and thinking as if God is distant—or as if He’s truly here, in the thick of our lives, walking alongside us in the ordinary and extraordinary alike?
The truth is, there are no “buts” in God’s love for us. He is Emmanuel—God with us. He is closer to us than we can imagine. Let’s stop living like He’s far away and start inviting Him into every part of our lives, no matter how small or mundane.