There can indeed be no comparison at all between him and us. A few short years ago you and I were as non-existent as those children who will be sitting at their tables at school in 20 years’ time. True it is that the difference between God and ourselves is infinitely greater than that between us and a swarm of midges fluttering on a summer’s evening.

But the difference does not end there, for God’s infinite greatness is equalled by his infinite holiness, a holiness such as we are wholly unable to imagine. Indeed, it would be utterly absurd to think that God had made us to share his visible presence in perfect union, if we did not also know that his generosity and his love are infinite too, infinite in depth and infinite in extent.

One thing alone prevents that union between ourselves and him, and that is our sinfulness. If we could see God now, face to face, and experience the blinding light of his sanctity streaming into our souls, we should be so excruciatingly aware of our utter unfitness in his sight that we would shrink away and flee from before his face.