I have just returned from the Naxxar Cemetery. I visited my mother Pawla on the 19th anniversary of her death. They say that 19 years is a very long time. Is it really? They say that 19 years is enough to forget. Is it really?

I vividly remember my mother as a simple woman with no ambition except to take care of us – her children – and our father. We were everything for her. We were her joy and fulfillment. Today many speak of spending quality time with their children. Generally they mean to say that they have very little time for their children so, in order to feel better, they call it quality time. My mother never heard the phrase quality time. She did not need to know its meaning. She did not just give us time, she gave us all her time; all her life.

My mother was a hard worker. She never worked outside of the house but she more than worked inside it to give us the best quality of life possible. For the ETC statistics – had they been kept then as they are kept now – my mother was "inactive". What a farce and an insult to women who dedicate their lives working at home for their families!

She was a woman of great courage, faith and convictions. She was never afraid to publicly state what she thought or believed in, even when it was dangerous to do so. Thanks to her and my father who resembled her in this aspect we do not find it difficult to stand up for what we believe in.

We lived in a very small house in St Anthony Str. Balzan. I think that now the street's name has been changed. We had just one bedroom and a makeshift bathroom of sorts thanks to the inventiveness of my father. But that was a home with a very large heart.

In 1970 we moved to the house where I still live. Compared to the small house at Balzan, this is a palace. My mother was not extremely enthusiastic about the move but adapted herself as her family needed her to adapt herself to the new situation.

She hated it whenever I went abroad even if it was for very short visits. So I always invented all sorts of excused like going on retreat to Gozo. (I must have been the priest who did more retreats than all the other priests together!) That would keep her calm. I also used to phone home every day independently of which part of the world I was in.

Sometimes I got caught. Once I was in Los Angeles on an educational tour visiting radio stations. There was an earthquake and I phoned RTK – I was still its Chairman at that time – to report about it. She was listening to the radio!

My mother's last years among us were difficult ones for her and for us. She was suffering from Parkinson. It is only thanks to my sister who sacrificed herself so much for my mother that we could cope. For many years my sister used to come to our house with her little daughter. She came in the morning and left in the evening.

At that time I still had my work as one of my idols. I used to leave home at 7.30.a.m. and come back after 8.00p.m. On most days my mother was asleep when I left and asleep when I came back. I tried not to repeat this mistake – which I greatly regret – by taking care of my father in a way that I never took care of my mother. I believe that she was happy that I took care of him.

Since last December they were united again in the house of our Heavenly Father. They had been separated for too many years. Now they are again happy in each other's company and hope that they are also happy by what they see me, my sister and my brother doing over here.