If God Is Not Physically Here, How Are We Supposed to Have a Relationship With Him?

If God is not physically standing in front of us… if we cannot see Him, hear Him audibly, or sit across from Him at a table… then how are we supposed to have a real relationship with Him?

It is an honest question. And it deserves a real answer.

From a Catholic perspective, the foundation of this answer begins with who God actually is. The Bible tells us plainly, “God is spirit” (John 4:24). Because God is spirit, He is not limited by a physical body the way we are. His absence of a visible body does not mean absence of presence. In fact, Scripture teaches the opposite. Psalm 139 says, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?” The answer is nowhere. God is not confined to a place. He is everywhere. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that God is “infinitely perfect and blessed in himself” (CCC 1) and that He freely created us to share in His life. That means relationship with God is not an afterthought. It is the very reason we exist.

But the question remains. How can that relationship feel real?

The Catholic Church teaches that God is not distant. He actively reveals Himself. The Catechism states that “the desire for God is written in the human heart” (CCC 27). That longing you feel for meaning, for love, for something beyond this world, is not accidental. It is built into you. God created you with the capacity for Him. Relationship with God begins because He first desires relationship with you.

Most importantly, God did not remain invisible. He became visible. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). In Jesus Christ, God entered human history. He walked, spoke, touched, wept, and loved in a way we could see and understand. The Catechism teaches that Jesus Christ is the definitive revelation of the Father (CCC 65). When we ask what God is like, we look at Jesus. When we want to know how God loves, forgives, or responds to suffering, we look at Jesus. Relationship with God is not abstract. It is personal because God became a person.

But what about now? Jesus ascended into heaven. So how are we in relationship with Him today?

The answer is the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). He fulfills that promise through the Holy Spirit, who dwells within believers. The Catechism teaches that through Baptism we become temples of the Holy Spirit (CCC 1265). God is not merely near us. He lives within us. That indwelling presence is not symbolic. It is real. Through grace, we share in the very life of God.

The Church also teaches that we encounter Christ in concrete ways. We meet Him in Scripture, because “in the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet his children” (CCC 104). When we read the Bible, we are not just reading ancient words. We are hearing God speak. We meet Him in prayer, which the Catechism describes as “the living relationship of the children of God with their Father” (CCC 2565). Prayer is not pretending God is there. It is responding to a God who already is.

Most profoundly, Catholics believe we encounter Jesus in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. At the Last Supper, Jesus said, “This is my body… this is my blood” (Matthew 26:26–28). The Church teaches that in the Eucharist, Christ is truly present, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity (CCC 1374). That means He is not absent. He is sacramentally present in a way that is real and substantial, even if hidden under the appearance of bread and wine. Relationship with God, for Catholics, is not only spiritual or emotional. It is sacramental.

Relationship also grows through faith. Faith is not blind belief without evidence. The Catechism defines faith as a personal adherence of the whole man to God who reveals Himself (CCC 176). It is trust in a Person. Every relationship requires trust. We trust people we cannot always see. We maintain relationships across distance through communication, commitment, and love. In a similar but deeper way, we relate to God through faith, sustained by grace.

It is also important to understand that Catholic teaching does not say we create this relationship by our own effort. God initiates it. “In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us” (1 John 4:10). The Catechism explains that prayer and relationship with God are possible because God first calls us (CCC 2567). The relationship is not imaginary. It begins with His action, not ours.

So how are we supposed to have a relationship with God if He is not physically here?

Because He is here. Not in a limited, visible, earthly body at this moment, but truly present as Creator, as sustaining Lord, as Incarnate Son, as indwelling Spirit, and as sacramental presence in His Church. The Catholic faith teaches that God is not far away waiting to be discovered. He is already sustaining your existence at every moment. Acts 17:28 says, “In him we live and move and have our being.” Your very breath depends on Him.

A relationship with God grows the same way any relationship grows: through communication, trust, shared life, and love. Catholics communicate through prayer. We listen through Scripture. We share in His life through the sacraments. We grow in love through obedience and charity. And we trust that even when we do not feel Him, He remains faithful.

The absence of physical sight does not equal absence of reality. We do not see gravity, yet it holds us to the earth. We do not see love, yet it transforms our lives. God’s presence is deeper than physical visibility. He is spirit. He is eternal. And He desires communion with us more than we desire it with Him.

The Catholic answer is not that we imagine a relationship with God. It is that He makes Himself present in ways that go beyond what our eyes alone can perceive. Through Christ, through the Holy Spirit, through Scripture, through the Church, and especially through the Eucharist, God bridges the gap.

The relationship is possible because He never left.