An inclusive pastoral letter

The inclusive Lenten pastoral letter of our bishops, Mgr Paul Cremona and Mgr Mario Grech, drives home God's unconditional love for his beloved children through his wise and caring instruction.

Compared with the past, instruction is now widely and easily accessible. Nevertheless, the irony is that the more it is available the more "the dignity of every man, the meaning of truth, of goodness, of the beauty of life, and where humanity is ultimately heading for" are seriously contested and, at times, negated. In the face of this existential and spiritual confusion, the Maltese bishops affirm that God is the basic educator we really need.

God is the solid guiding reassurance who can lead us out of the desert of doubt we took ourselves in. "He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. Like an eagle that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions, the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no foreign god with him".

If we are open to His companionship, God will guide us with the utmost care and diligence. Because in us He continually sees His very image, God is eager to gently shepherd us as the apple of His eye.

In their exhortative letter for Lent, the bishops spell out how God will do that. "First and foremost, He speaks to the heart. He finds us exactly where we feel the void, where we are hurt, where we are completely doubtful".

Secondly, "God never abandons man. God has great trust in us. The ugly realities of our life do not scare and worry God. He knocks for us to let Him in, so that he fashions and protects that person and that society 'like the pupil of His eye'".

Third, since "true education in faith can only be affected in the deepest knowledge of the Word of God", God meets us when we read the Bible in faith. Fourth, God is found in and through His Church. "The Church, while showing compassion and mercy, cannot fail to offer and point out the way of truth as found in the word of God... Like Christ who died for all so that all might be saved, the Church, a sister and handmaid, can never be exclusive."

Thanks to their Lenten pastoral letter, Mgr Cremona and Mgr Grech have portrayed an inclusive Church. Inclusivity is and remains the password for the 'new evangelisation'.