Our God is “not an isolated God, He is the God-with-us. Jesus will continue to walk with us until the end of the age”. Pope Francis said this, speaking off the cuff during his general audience catechesis today, seasoned with several unprepared remarks. “Our God is not an absent God, segregated in a very distant heaven”, Pope Francis began: “Rather, He is a God who is passionate about man, so tenderly in love that He is unable to separate Himself from him. We humans are good at cutting off bonds and bridges. But He is not. If our hearts become cold, His heart keeps burning. Our God always accompanies us, even when we, unfortunately, forget Him”. “Our life is a pilgrimage, a journey”, the Pope explained. “Even those who are moved by mere human hope can perceive the seduction of the horizon that drives them to explore worlds they still do not know”. “Our soul is a migrant soul”, Pope Francis said, reminding the faithful that the “Bible is full of stories of pilgrims and travellers”. “Abraham’s vocation begins with this command: ‘Go forth from your land’”, the Pope remarked, quoting from the Book of Genesis: “And the patriarch left that piece of world that he knew well and was one of the cradles of the civilization of his time. Everything conspired against the good sense of that trip. Yet Abraham left. We cannot become mature men and women without perceiving the attraction of the horizon: that limit between heaven and earth which calls to be reached by a people of pilgrims”. “On his pilgrimage on earth, man is never alone”, Pope Francis assured. “Christians in particular never feel abandoned, because Jesus assures us that He does not only wait for us at the end of our long journey, but that He accompanies us every day”.