Gozo bishop celebrates fourth episcopal ordination anniversary

A bishop’s mission was to help people grow in their likeness to God for them to reflect his beauty, Gozo bishop Mario Grech said yesterday.

In an homily during Mass celebrating his fourth Episcopal ordination, Mgr Grech said a bishop carried out his work assisted by priests, religious and other lay operators.

As the shepherd, the bishop looked at people with the eyes of God, helping them retain the essence and identity of their humanity, so that they would not lose their ability to acquire truth and love.

According to St Peter, the bishop was the guard of the soul but the word soul no longer formed part of popular language.

There was a fear that if one spoke about the soul, man would be divided between the spiritual and the physical.

This was a serious shortcoming and matters of the soul were not safeguarded, the spiritual aspect of man would not be enlightened by God.

It was not true that one spoke about the soul to the detriment of social life. Because social illnesses were the result of spiritual ones.

If a remedy had to be sought to so many existing social problems, man’s spiritual dimension had to be addressed, he said.