One Sunday during Mass, Father Philip was giving one of his now famous homilies, on the difficult subject of what we think God looks like. He went on for some length and then told the congregation that they should not think of God as being this old man with a long white beard.

He noted with some satisfaction that none of the congregation had fallen asleep and they were all listening attentively to him. Then he spotted a young lad of about thirteen years old who appeared to be taking copious notes in a large notebook. He thought to himself, this must be going better than I’d hoped; he must be taking notes in order to tell his friends and classmates all about my homily. He finished, sat down for a moment and then carried on with the rest of the Mass.

After Mass he walked to the back of the church and waited in the porch for the final hymn to finish so he could have a chat with his parishioners before they all left for their Sunday lunch. Saying his final goodbyes
he made his way down the aisle towards the sacristy to disrobe. As he was passing the seat where the young lad had been sitting, he noticed he had left his notepad behind. Fr. Philip couldn’t resist having a peek to see what the lad had written, so picking up the pad he opened it to find not lines of writing as he had expected, but a caricature of himself preaching at the altar. Looking down on him from a cloud was an old man with a long white beard who was saying, “And how does he know?”

It isn’t really important what image we all have of God, what is important is our awareness of His love for us all.


Francis De Sales.