Maurice Caruana Curran, who lived through most of our cultural and political history of the last century and into a venerable age in the present century, left to his fellow citizens his magna carta through his wisdom, knowledge and vast experience.

This is quite evident from the subjects of the prayers of the faithful that were read out during his funeral Mass namely: for human rights, for culture, for justice, for our earth, for our children and for the families.

What I really liked was the prayer “for our earth”, the only one having two paragraphs, which I quote: “O Lord, help us to use our technological inventiveness to undo the damage we have done to your creation, to protect the beauty of our built environment, and teach us how to live in harmony with nature.

“We have not inherited the earth from our parents, we are borrowing it from our children. Lord give us the will to continue protecting din l-art ħelwa, our beautiful land, and to preserve it for future generations.”

This was a striking prayer from a person who loved his country through his various contributions to all sections of the Maltese society. Hence, it was quite fitting to read about ‘a true son of Malta’ and a ‘patriot’.