I once asked a priest why he had devoted his life to God.

He told me that one evening, while he was asleep, a fantastic light had awakened him. A celestial cloak had shrouded his body. Just before he was about to erupt through the intensity of the moment, he had heard the voice, of what he described, as that of God.

"what did God say?" I asked,

The priest looked at me, and then in a very low voice, almost as if he were about to reveal a revelation that would force me to question the very essence of death, life, and spirituality, he uttered, through quivering, dry lips, "God spoke the words........

"hey up my old mate, do you want a job?"

M J Martin