When you tell people that you live in Malta for the winter, their inevitable response is to say: “O you lucky devil, no snow or ice, no rain or wind.” And, of course, all that sentiment is very true, especially when one considers the awful weather northern Europe has been having this particular winter. Then again, there are aspects of this perceived Mediterranean idyll that would perhaps pass by those experiencing such challenging weather.

Malta is the size of the Isle of White. It has a population of 420,000 people and a car population of over 300,000 and growing. It is experiencing unprecedented levels of wealth, such that half the island is a building site. I tell you all this because Jesus would have had grave difficulty finding a lonely, quiet place to pray, something he was very partial to doing, as is mentioned in today’s Gospel.

With such overcrowding, the noise level is off the Richter scale for at least 18 hours of the 24-hour day. Where oh where to find a quiet and lonely place? Of course, in the many churches and chapels that are dotted around the island? But, O dear, they are places where people can meet without having to shout at each other to make themselves heard.

Then there are many couples who go to Church to pray the rosary aloud to each other, usually just before Mass when a period of silent contemplation is much needed! Well, you would say, at least they are praying, so stop complaining!

The need for a lonely, quiet place so that one can listen in silence has become an obsession with this particular deacon. You will be glad to know that he has at last found one or two!

We can become addicted to noise, and the need for human contact of any sort; technology has seen to that. We need to ask ourselves if we have the courage to be in a quiet, lonely place and meet our true self with all its talents, many unused or abused; its weaknesses, many we may be ashamed of.

The self that God our Father made with all its wonderful and beautiful potential, a potential that we can only truly recognise and make use of by frequent visits to lonely and quiet places, to listen and talk to our loving Father and Mother; perhaps a Lenten resolution?

With every blessing.