Hajja Salesjana July September 2018

4 Summer is here and with it, long, sunny and warm days. In Malta, this is the official season when our traditional festas kicks off with a bang, literally! We all know and are aware how many of us Maltese love our parish feast as we celebrate the life of our chosen patron saint. However, although this Maltese tradition is indeed very much part of our social make-up, I sometimes can’t help wondering whether we truly fathom the deep significance and purpose of our festas. Are we letting the lives of our patron saints, who were real, undaunted and authentic followers and disciples of Jesus Christ, touch us deeply to the core of our being? At times I ask myself, what would they tell us if they were to speak to us today, in the social milieu we are presently living in? Would they laud us, challenge us, correct us, encourage us as fellow followers of Jesus Christ, our Lord and God? What would they talk to us about? If our faith is not merely skin deep, if we do not stop at simply admiring the physical artistic beauty of the statue that represents our parish saint, I would tend to think that the increased awareness of their lives, their courage, their sacrifice, their choices, their willingness to stand up and be counted, their fearlessness even in the face of mighty social and religious persecution and upheavel from the society they lived in “HAD OUR PATRON SAINTS THE POSSIBILITY TO SPEAK UP, THEY WOULD SURELY ENCOURAGE US TO LIVE WHAT WE BELIEVE IN OUR DAILY LIVES.. ” E D I T O R I A L When the saints go marching in . . . would somehow touch our social and religious conscience and make us ponder whether we actually have their guts and stamina to stand up for what we believe in. Undoubtedly, had our patron saints the possibility to speak up, they would surely encourage us to cherish our faith, to live what we believe in our daily lives and to translate it into factual action. Faith without facts is a mere spectacle with no roots hence we cannot state that we are disciples of the Risen Nazarene unless we prove it. We cannot be followers of Jesus and not abide by His Word, His sacraments and His Church. We cannot present ourselves as a Mediterranian Catholic bulwark abiding by the Son of God’s moral parameters if we pick and choose and dilly dally around with our Christian heritage. I sometimes wonder if St. Paul were to come again, would he recognise us or would we actually shut him up or ridicule him? Malta quo vadis ? Let Christ be your bearing if you want to stand out for all the good reasons in a European continent that is forsaking its Christian roots and heritage at breakneck speed. Will we emulate our patron saints’ examples or will we just keep them in their adorned niches without any actual and real effect on our present Christian heritage, witness and identity here and now? The choice is ultimately in our hands and so too will the consequences be. Fr. Sandro Camilleri sdb