Hajja Salesjana - September October 2016

4 E D I T O R I A L As summer begins winding to its end, September brings the good tidings of Mother Theresa’s canonization. She has been a much loved personality even when she was alive, shining bright the beacon of Christ wherever she went. She was very small in stature but her spirit was an indomitable giant. She was powerful through Jesus Christ’s Spirit vibrantly alive within her. She never shied away, through the much-trumpeted political correctness of today, to say the truth based on God’s Word. Everybody listened to this tiny nun because her example spoke volumes and she was considered a living saint already in her lifetime. She lived what she preached. There was no compromise between her faith and her life. The powerful speech she gave at the United Nations in 1985 roared like rumbling thunder in the ears of her listeners who must have felt her words resonate deep within them. Even today, those same words still bear a powerful resonance. She had clearly said: “... I feel that abortion has become the greatest destroyer of peace. We are afraid of nuclear (war), because it is touching us, but we are not afraid, the mother is not afraid to commit that terrible murder. Even when God himself speaks of that He says, ‘Even if a mother could forget her child, I will not forget you. I have carved you on the palm of my hand. You are precious to me, I love you.’ These are God’s own words to you, to me, to that little unborn child. And this is why if we really want peace, if we are sincere in our hearts that we really want peace today, let us make that strong resolution that in our countries, in our cities, we will not allow a single child to feel unwanted, to feel unloved (...). And let us help each other to strengthen that. That in our countries, that terrible law of killing the innocents, of destroying life, destroying the presence of God, be removed from our country, from our nation, from our people, from our families.” At another time she had also said that "It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish." Why am I sharing all of this you may wonder? Well, Mother Theresa is a much loved saint of our time and her message regarding abortion is more than necessary to us in Malta especially as arguments rage about the morning- after pill and whether to legalize it or not. Malta quo vadis? How ironic can our Maltese society get when we fuss about animals’ rights and about the need to treat them well, and it is right to do so, don’t get me wrong, but then turn a blind eye on actually protecting a helpless, tiny, human person developing in her/his mother’s womb? Our values seem to have turned upside down. Like Mother Theresa we must be bold in Christ and stand up for what we believe in. The choice is in our hands but the difference we can make with and through our life is never to be underestimated. St. Theresa of Calcutta’s life eloquently proves this! Fr. Sandro Camilleri sdb "IT IS A POVERTY TO DECIDE THAT A CHILD MUST DIE SO THAT YOU MAY LIVE AS YOU WISH." Mal ta quo vadi s?