Acta Benedicti Pp. XVI 281

III

Iter Apostolicam in Insulam Melitensem: In eucharistica celebratione Florianae

habita.*

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ,

Mahbubin uliedi [My dear sons and daughters],

I am very glad to be here with all of you today before the beautiful church

of Saint Publius to celebrate the great mystery of God's love made manifest

in the Holy Eucharist. At this time, the joy of the Easter season fills our

hearts because we are celebrating Christ's victory, the victory of life over sin

and death. It is a joy which transforms our lives and fills us with hope in the

fulfilment of God's promises. Christ is risen, alleluia!

I greet the President of the Republic and Mrs Abela, the civil authorities

of this beloved Nation, and all the people of Malta and Gozo. I thank Arch-

bishop Cremona for his gracious words, and I also greet Bishop Grech and

Bishop Depasquale, Archbishop Mercieca, Bishop Cauchi and the other

bishops and priests present, as well as all the Christian faithful of the Church

in Malta and Gozo. Since my arrival yesterday evening I have experienced

the same kind of warm welcome which your ancestors gave the Apostle Paul

in the year sixty.

Many travellers have disembarked here in the course of your history. The

richness and variety of Maltese culture is a sign that your people have prof-

ited greatly from the exchange of gifts and hospitality with seafaring visitors.

And it is a sign that you have known how to exercise discernment in drawing

upon the best of what they had to offer.

I urge you to continue to do so. Not everything that today's world pro-

poses is worthy of acceptance by the people of Malta. Many voices try to

persuade us to put aside our faith in God and his Church, and to choose for

ourselves the values and beliefs by which to live. They tell us we have no need

of God or the Church. If we are tempted to believe them, we should recall the

incident in today's Gospel, when the disciples, all of them experienced fish-

ermen, toiled all night but failed to catch a single fish. Then, when Jesus

appeared on the shore, he directed them to a catch so great that they could

scarcely haul it in. Left to themselves, their efforts were fruitless; when Jesus

* Die 18 Aprilis 2010.