Two years after the announcement on the feast of St Paul’s Shipwreck, Pope Francis has reconfirmed his desire to visit the people who welcomed the Apostle, with “unusual kindness” (Acts 28:2). In his apostolic visits, Francis has reached out to persecuted Church communities; has encountered religious and political leaders in gestures for world peace; has accompanied those wounded by the Church herself; most evocatively, he has touched the wounds of those on the peripheries, in particular, the millions of displaced people, victims of a “globalisation of indifference”. From Lampedusa in July 2013 to his return to Lesbos last December, the plight of all those who flee their homes desperately seeking refuge, has remained a foremost concern of the pope.
As islands in the Mediterranean “graveyard”, the plight of migrants will be foremost on Pope Francis’ mind as he visits us too. Furthermore, as Archbishop Charles Scicluna reminded us in his 2021 Christmas message, the very name “Malat” is synonymous with the safety of our harbours and the sweetness of our honey that for millennia have evoked an oasis of warm hospitality. In a world of dispaced people, rescuing from the terror of the abyss and pampering back to life, is not only a Maltese virtue par excellence, but a model of true humanism.
Still, February 10 recalls how the Apostle Paul was not only saved by our gestures of kindness. As he healed our sick, he proclaimed Christ, through whom all suffering finds its meaning and redemption. The irony – and beauty – of the Maltese story is that we are truly saved as we seek to save: our small gestures of kindness bless us with the infinite gift of being among the first to be evangelised: truly chosen as Christ’s own because of our exemplary kindness and hospitality.
The irony – and beauty – of the Maltese story is that we are truly saved as we seek to save
The uniqueness of our land and of the beating heart of its people – of whichever ethnicity, but always entrusted to carry out the duty to be a sweet, safe haven – becomes a symbol not just of virtuous hospitality, but of the Gospel itself as proclaimed through “unusual kindness”. Christ, who was generous ultimately through giving his life for the salvation of the world, chose us as his special bride, adorned with the beauty of hospitality.
As a pilgrim among us, His Holiness will celebrate the liturgy with the People of God in Malta on the fifth Sunday of Lent, as the Church retells the story of the adulteress condemned to public stoning (Jn 8:1-11). As bride of Christ, we also commit adultery every time we fail to live up to our promise to be “a Church that welcomes”. All trembling and repentant, may we also hope to find consolation: as Jesus our husband, gently approaches us, his adulteress bride, may we hear his voice not condemn our very public transgressions, but tell us to sin no more and start afresh, living with renewed zeal our charism of hospitality.
In the coming weeks, as we ponder in a spirit of repentance living up to our name, Malat, may we find the courage to renew our commitment to generous hospitality: not only towards guests from wherever they visit us, but to blaze the heart of the world, that “global indifference” too may turn to “unusual kindness”.
nadia.delicata@maltadiocese.org