It was with great relief that the whole account of the shipwreck and stay of St Paul in The Acts of the Apostles was read for the first time during the Pontifical Mass at St Paul’s church on February 10.

The whole account describes the journey, shipwreck and all the stay in Malta of St Paul. At long last, the Liturgical Commission of the Curia saw it correct to include all of it. It never made sense to me and many others why it was always partially read.

The shipwreck on its own would not have had much meaning to St Paul and to the Maltese. St Paul used this incident to preach the Catholic faith and, it must also be stressed, he found assistance from St Publius, the governor of the island, whom he ordained as Malta’s first bishop.

The decision to have it all read in this church should now be compulsory in all the churches in Malta, and presumably the Bishop of Gozo will also see to it that it is all read in his diocese. I would add that the title of the feast should read ‘The Shipwreck of St Paul and the Conversion of Malta’ because that is what it is in reality.

As a last point, I would like to congratulate Mgr Charles Scicluna for his panegyric which, for those who can appreciate its underlying meaning, reminded us that we are nothing as a nation without the light of Christ.