Appreciation - Samuel Attard Montalto

Raymond Portelli, head of school, St Benedict College Boys Secondary Kirkop, writes:

I came to know Samuel Attard Montalto a little more than a year ago when I came to head St Benedict College Boys' Secondary, Kirkop. My initial perceptions were soon confirmed by those who had known him much longer. My colleagues in the school administration and all those who had taught him would single him out as the student everyone would love to teach: intelligent, diligent, respectful of authority. Both classmates and schoolmates would immediately refer to him as a trusted friend and someone who was really pleasant company.

At a time when the world of education, here and elsewhere, is passing through really testing times, losing such a valid student and friend as Samuel comes as a double blow, especially as one tries to come to terms with the reality of his untimely demise. In such circumstances, we impulsively ask ourselves, and perhaps one another: Why did it all have to happen?

Samuel was not teasing life. He wasn't wasting it, either. So why did he have to slip away the way he did? Certainly, he didn't deserve it. A logical mind inevitably asks such questions, to which, alas, no logical explanation is forthcoming.

At a moment when even the right words might fail us, we pause in silent recollection as we seek a different message. It is the kind of message that is to be found in the reaction of the Attard Montalto family to the sudden grief that has befallen them. Humanly speaking, they feel devastated by the tragic circumstances. By contrast, their spiritual fortitude is a shining example to us all of the small miracles a genuinely cultivated faith can work in our daily lives. If, for a moment, we stop looking for logical explanations, we shall start seeing why the more the Attard Montaltos loved their Samuel, the more they will miss their son and brother, the more spiritually serene they will feel. From what I have been told about Samuel's own spiritual ways, he will now expect this of his family and, I should add, of us too. We shall not disappoint you Samuel.