How hope works

Hope is the bread and butter for our lives! St Augustine gives us an excellent description of how hope works.

He says: “Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are.”

In what way can St Augustine’s vision of hope help us improve socially, psychologically, spiritually, personally, culturally and politically?

Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap – Marsa

Unjust rents

May I kindly suggest to John Consiglio to do the following: he should buy an expensive car on which he has to pay taxes, then rent that car to his supposedly poor neighbour for an annual rate of €200 but still pay all government insurance and expenses every year himself and he will then see how he likes that.

These supposedly poor tenants have been renting properties for over 50 years and very few are actually poor.

The government has a rent assistance scheme that pays the tenant up to €3,600 and all the tenant has to do is apply for it. The reason they won’t is that they have to submit for an income and asset test, which a lot would fail.

Over the years, these rented properties have been inherited by the children of the original owners who, then, have to pay thousands of euros in inheritance tax so they can have possession of a property that gives the grand total of €200 a year in rent. The tenants have been on a gravy train for years.

The government does not know how many really poor tenants there are and the Maltese are masters at hiding their true wealth. Many of these tenants have inherited property from their parents, yet, still live in the property for which they pay cheap rent .

Henry Gal – Shellharbour, Australia

Heaven on earth

I was taken aback by the prime minister’s comment that Malta is heaven on earth. No country on earth can describe this situation as such and certainly not Malta.

Let us take justice as just one example, in particular the length of time it takes to give verdicts and sentencing. Who remembers the National Bank of Malta saga of over 30 years ago? And many other cases.

One of the fundamentals of any democracy is the rule of law and its efficient unbiased application.

I recently came across this and, in my opinion, these are the ideals that could possibly qualify a nation being heaven on earth or close enough:

Surrounded by corruption, let me not be corrupted;

Surrounded by lies and deception, let me deal only in what is true;

Surrounded by egoism, let me be humble;

Surrounded by envy, let me not be the cause of it;

Surrounded by hatred, let me give only love and understanding;

Surrounded by selfishness, let me give generously and freely;

Surrounded by despair, let me give hope;

Surrounded by grief, let me be charitable and caring;

Surrounded by self-importance, let me serve others;

Surrounded by killings, let me give life;

Surrounded by hunger, let me give food;

Surrounded by loneliness, let me give solace;

Surrounded by beauty, let me be thankful.

Our children are going to have to deal with the mountains of cement we are leaving behind us; our beautiful historic villages and countryside gone forever in the name of progress.

Because all that matters is the bottom line and that too is slowly disappearing.

Carol Zammit Briffa – Balzan

A big thank you from Pakistan

I would like to inform all benefactors who contributed towards Sr Anna Maria (Carmela) Sammut’s mission in Pakistan that the sum collected amounts to €3,355.

Sr Sammut, of the Sisters of Charity of St Jeanne Antide, thanks all benefactors who, together with their families alive or deceased, feature prominently in the sisters’ community daily prayers.

Theresa Zammit Marmarà – Attard

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