Coming up to St Patrick's Day I sometimes wonder why Malta has kept the faith that Ireland has largely lost. The simple and profound answer is through the grace of God. Yet the signs of the times oblige me to probe deeper.

Acknowledging that grace works through human nature, supremely so through the human nature of Jesus Christ, and that religion thrives or declines according to the circumstances of the times, how do we account for the fact that religious adherence and practice has become threadbare in contemporary Ireland?

Should you visit Dublin you will notice that in the leafy suburbs, Sunday Mass is well attended whereas in the sprawling housing estates the congregation is sparse. Could it be that for the middle classes religion is reassurance and comfort while for the lower classes it has lost its significance? I don't know. What a difference from times gone by.

Then the poor and oppressed, despite the scourge of penal laws - which made the practice of their religion unlawful - and the desolation of the Potato Famine, a consequence of the prevailing economic philosophy, heroically kept the faith alive and brightly burning.

What I love and admire about the Maltese is that for the most part they have retained that poverty of spirit, that indwelling simplicity and humility, through which God's grace is channelled to an unbelieving world.

So, please, on March 17, pray that Ireland shall recover and renew that faith which in previous centuries propelled its missionaries to travel to the far corners of the world to share with other peoples the Good News of Jesus Christ.