President George Abela's inaugural speech yesterday may have been admirably short, but it was packed - much like Jesus's parable of the mustard seed which he chose to recount - with plenty of symbolic meaning.
From the moment Dr Abela asked the national television station to ensure the deaf would be able to 'hear' his speech, he signalled a clear intention that in the next five years he will seek to leave nobody out.
Young and old, people with disabilities and in the voluntary sector, those involved in his beloved world of sport and Maltese who live far away from these shores - he will attempt to find time and space for them all. This was very much a trait of his predecessors.
In one masterful sentence he managed to pay tribute to former leaders of both major political parties - to the one who achieved independence, the one that turned Malta into a republic, and the one who ensured that it is now democratic and free.
The President did not name them. He did not have to. But he did use this statement as a springboard to stress the importance of opposing ideas in political debate - emphasising how people must realise that they are not always right and therefore have to change their views sometimes.
Dr Abela also recognised the two great challenges facing the country - in the form of recession and looking after our environment, as well as explaining how these two elements in our case could be linked - before nailing what should be two politically neutral colours to his Presidential mast.
One is the thorny social challenge, as he put it, of not being anchored in the past; which he translated into learning to accept more minority groups in our midst. Recognition of that, he correctly maintained again without going into any detail, would strengthen our democracy.
The other - perhaps contradictory element, perhaps not depending on how one interprets the President's ambiguous words - is the necessity and just nature of upholding and strengthening our traditional values, foremost among which, he said, was the family.
Was Dr Abela making a case for the secular role of the state, as Joseph Muscat said he would in Parliament last Wednesday, or was he taking a stand more in tune with the line of the Church? In time his opening statements should become more clear, though yesterday's address seemed to be pointing in the direction of the latter.
One area where clarity was not an issue in the President's speech yesterday was at the beginning, when he told the nation that he was humble and grateful for being given the chance to be its figurehead. These words were not necessary because the sentiments were written all over his beaming face.
But as is often the case with major occasions, there was a sense of irony. The man who was Dr Abela's political adversary for many years, Eddie Fenech Adami, put his arms around his successor, while former collaborators Alfred Sant and George Vella chose to boycott the event.
Though churlish, their conduct reminds us all that mustard seeds have a bitter taste when they are unable to grow and flourish. And this is the message that our new President should make it his mission to convey.