The challenge has started!

What many feared might not happen has dramatically occured. What many ruled out to be the solution for healing marital relationships has now been solemnly chosen in a referendum. The blunt truth is that more than 53 per cent of the Maltese electorate wants the immediate introduction of divorce legislation in Malta.

In front of this shocking reality there stands a big contradiction.

Ironically, a year ago, almost the total number of those who voted in Saturday’s referendum, about 232,730 voters, went on the streets to jubilantly welcome Benedict XVI, the Vicar of Christ on earth and the successor of St Peter on his first apostolic journey to our shores marking the 1,950th anniversary of St Paul’s shipwreck. That same number who warmly welcomed the Pope was the electorate that opted for the divorce legislation the following year.

When meeting the young people at Valletta Waterfront, the Holy Father ardently encouraged us Maltese to staunchly uphold the family: “Here in Malta, you live in a society that is steeped in Christian faith and values. You should be proud that your country both defends the unborn and promotes stable family life by saying no to abortion and divorce. I urge you to maintain this courageous witness to the sanctity of life and the centrality of marriage and family life for a healthy society. In Malta and Gozo, families know how to value and care for their elderly and infirm members and they welcome children as gifts from God. Other nations can learn from your Christian example. In the context of European society, gospel values are once again becoming counter-cultural, just as they were at the time of St Paul”.

On his account, Blessed John Paul II hammered the same point in his farewell ceremony address at Malta International Airport on May 9, 2001.

On that occasion he entrusted us Maltese with the noble mission of defending and promoting the family. “I have wished to encourage believers and all people of goodwill to defend life, to promote respect for the dignity of every human being, to safeguard the family against so many present-day threats, to open their hearts to the world’s poor and exploited and to work for an international order built on respect for the rule of law and on solidarity with the less fortunate. This is also the task and the ideal I leave to you, beloved people of Malta” (§ 4).

It seems that last Sunday’s referendum result was a total abnegation of both Pontiffs’ wishes.

However, Sunday’s electoral defeat for family supporters has inaugurated once again hope and authentic Christian renewal in Malta.

Back to my theology classes during my long academic and spiritual preparation for the priesthood, I have always been enthralled by what Karl Rahner SJ (1904-84) wrote concerning the future of Christianity. He correctly observed that “the Christian of the future will be a mystic or he or she will not exist at all, if by mysticism we mean… a genuine experience of God emerging from the very heart of our existence”.

Saturday referendum’s outcome proved this giant Jesuit theologian right. Those of us who claim they appertain to Jesus Christ and his Church are at a crucial crossroads now: either founding their family on Christ’s logic or choosing to align themselves with the distorted prevalent cultural trends at the expense of tragically witnessing the dissolution of their families.

In view of the local scenario, the time is ripe for reinforcing once more Jesus’s vision for both marriage and the family. At this critical moment in Catholic Malta, the Church needs to forcefully re-emphasise the Christian understanding of marriage. In homily at Mass for the families in York on Monday, May 31, 1982, Blessed John Paul II said:

“Marriage is a holy sacrament. Those baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus are married in his name also. Their love is a sharing in the love of God. He is its source. The marriages of Christian couples, today renewed and blessed, are images on earth of the wonder of God, the loving, life-giving communion of Three Persons in one God and of God’s covenant in Christ, with the Church. Christian marriage is a sacrament of salvation. It is the pathway to holiness for all members of a family. With all my heart, therefore, I urge that your homes be centres of prayer; homes where families are at ease in the presence of God; homes to which others are invited to share hospitality, prayer and the praise of God” (§3).

We Catholics, together with our families, are called to be “the salt of the earth” (Matt 5, 13) and “the light of the world” (Matt 5, 14).

With the referendum result our challenge has begun!