At the end of a church service, an African mother came with her three children. The eldest had just turned 6 and wanted me to bless her. So I knelt down in front of the child to talk to her and bless her. At the same time, an older man I didn't know arrived, looking a little bedraggled. He saw me blessing the child and said loudly: ‘Now I'm really touched and I'm about to cry!’ Then the African family left. I would have had to be on the highway immediately for a follow-up appointment. But I decided to listen to the older man. He talked to me about his story and was quite surprised that he had ended up in a Catholic church. When I let him know after a quarter of an hour that I now had to say goodbye, he looked at me for a long time and said: ‘You've given me a great gift by listening to me for so long. I feel very honoured. Thank you!’
