Malta (Gozo), July 20, 2014

Dear parish priest, brothers in priesthood, religious sisters and brothers, distinguished representatives of State authorities, brothers and sisters in Christ!

1. First of all let me cordially greet all of you and express my deep gratitude to Fr. Tarcisio Cammilieri for his kind invitation. It’s my second visit to your parish. The first one took place in 2004 when we celebrated the Jubilee of 1700 anniversary of martyrdom of St. Margaret of Antioch. Still I remember very well that celebration, magnificent processions and cultural events. All these things are very good testimony of great Christian tradition of Maltese people, people of St. Paul the apostle, who first brought the Gospel to your land, situated in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

2. Today the Catholic parish of St. Margaret of Angtioch in the island of Gozo celebrates the patron feast and 1710th anniversary of heroic death of this Saint.

St. Margaret the virgin-martyr is known as Margaret of Antioch in the Catholic and Anglican Churches and as St. Marina the Great-martyr in the Orthodox Church. In Greek she is called “Ἁγία Μαρίνα” – “Saint Marina” What means that she is connected with the sea and such meaning fits very well to Malta.

Our Saint is well known both in the Western and Eastern Christianity. Commemoration of St. Margaret of Antioch in the Catholic and Anglican Churches is celebrated July 20th, in the Orthodox – July 17th. Because of that she plays very important role in ecumenical relations. Great Pontiff of our time St. John Paul II was dreaming about Europe breathing with two longs. Veneration of St. Margaret in the West and in the East very well fits to his idea and helps to promote ecumenical dialog and cooperation between different Christian Churches first of all due to effectively respond to very dangerous challenges of our time.

In the Catholic Church St. Margaret of Antioch is considered as one of the well known Fourteen Holy Helpers, and is one of the saints who spoke to St. Joan of Arc.

3. There are a lot of stories and legends about St. Margaret of Antioch, but in general it can be present like this. She was a native of Antioch and was the daughter of a pagan priest named Aedesius. Her mother died very soon after her birth and Margaret was nursed by a pious woman who lived not far from Antioch, now Turkey. The nurse introduced Margaret to Christianity and as a young teen; she devoted herself to Jesus Christ, vowing to remain his bride for the rest of her life.  Having embraced Christianity and consecrated her virginity to God, she was disowned by her father, adopted by her nurse and lived in the country keeping sheep with her foster mother. A very wealthy man named Olybrius, Governor of the Roman Diocese of the East, asked to marry her but with the price of her renunciation of Christianity. When neither promises of wealthy life nor threats of punishment could succeed in moving her to yield to his desires, he brought her to trial at Antioch. Threatened with death unless she renounced the Christian faith, the holy virgin refused to adore the gods of the empire and an attempt was made to burn her, but the flames, as it is written in her Acts, left her unhurt. She was then bound hand and foot and thrown into a cauldron of boiling water, but at her prayer her bonds were broken and she stood up uninjured. During numerous tortures various miraculous occurred. One is related with Satan who appeared before her in the shape of a dragon. The dragon tried to swallow her, and with a cross she held in her hand, she defeated it. Of course, this victory did not seal her fate.  Still refusing to submit to the rich man, she was eventually beheaded.

4. As today we venerate Saint and martyr it is need to underline that for modern human being, leaving in democratic society, it is very difficult even to accept the idea of martyrdom.

I have come to you from Belarus, which is one of the countries of the former Soviet Union, where religion was persecuted for three generations. Till today we do not know true number of victims of communist and atheist regime. Some historians say about fifty to seventy million. It seemed that religion would never recover. But Our Lady in Fatima promised spiritual rebirth of Russia. And now we are witness and agents of this very difficult process. Thank God at present time we have a lot of possibilities to exercise religious practice.

But at the same time in many countries still there is lack of freedom of religion, and religion is persecuted. Christianity is becoming most persecuted religion and last year more that one hundred thousand Christians were killed.

Also there is another kind of persecution, first of all – moral. It is easily state that the currant vision of the world, especially Europe, finds itself in competition with powerful forces that seem intent on eradicating the Christian roots of Europe and forcing a secular and non-Christian Europe as their political and cultural goal. As a result we see the devaluation of the spiritual, moral, philosophical and cultural foundations of life of human being. Europe is loosing its Christian identity and becoming more secular. The godless stile of life, which many politicians are trying to impose to modern world, is dangerous and is the cause of much of the crisis we are witnessing today. Democracy without spiritual values becomes enemy of freedom.

What are the most dangerous symptoms of the moral illness in the modern world?

First of all it is a crisis of the family, which is the beginning and basis of society, its first and vital cell.

The most basic truths about the family are now being called into question and many are trying to subvert in actual law this institution. As a result divorce has become a common thing. In many countries marriage is declared as a union between two people of any gender and homosexual unions have been legalized. In such cases the right is also given to such couples to adopt children, which in turn will transmit to future generations these ideological attitudes. This error perpetrates a grave injustice against the child who has a natural right to a father and a mother. This new ideology contradicts not only reason but an institution created by God. This is coupled with the erroneous idea of freedom, which teaches that if somebody does not violate the rights of others, he can live according to his own desires.

Malta recently has approved the low permitting same sex marriages with the right of adoption of children. Is it not a scandal, that nation with its deep Christian tradition accepts such kind of law? Is I not a sign of devaluation of established by God institution of Family? Is it not a new challenge for people of Malta?    

Another problem is the ideology of “gender” which has been deliberately introduced into the life of modern society. Accordingly this ideology, the words “man” or “woman” refer not to the sexuality of the person, but rather to a subjective role which people choose for themselves. This ideology states, that parents are no longer to be designated as “mother” and “father”, but simply two people who may be of the same sex, and that therefore they don’t necessarily need to be called “mother” and “father”. They can just be called “parent number one” and “parent number two”. Such a unity is called by many, the family, and is to be considered equal to marriage with all its rights. But this ideology is contradicted by science, reason, morals and Divine Revelation.

The victims of abortion worldwide by far outnumber the worst tragedies seen in Europe in the XXth century. No rights in a democracy can be preserved for long, if the first and most important right to life is being violated.

In spite of  the will of absolute majority of people of Malta abortion law has been approved also. This decision questions future of such small country, as Malta is. St. John Paul II in 1993 during his visit to the USA for World Youth Day in Denver said to the American President Bill Clinton: “America, if you wish to be great, defend life!” We can repeat his words regarding Malta: “Malta, if you wish to be great, defend life!”

Furthermore the immoral use of scientific achievements, especially in genetics, has led to a tragic manipulation and commercialization of human life.

Some countries have unbelievably approved laws allowing euthanasia, including for children, what shows the depth of the crisis which modern world is facing today.

The modern world is dominated by the culture of insatiable consumerism, which brings spiritual harm to people in today’s contemporary pseudo-Christian world. As a result, many are in real danger of becoming slaves to material things and pleasures, which can become a new god, which has to be served.

The spiritual less media has formed a new lifestyle, dominated by what is often referred to as the americanization and the macdonalization of society without any spiritual dimension.

Liberalism tries to downplay religion and limit it to the private sphere of human life. Religion for many is a phenomenon of the past and modern humanity should move more and more away from spiritual values. As a result in the contemporary world there are a lot of cases of religious persecution, religious discrimination and deliberate desire to withdraw religious traditions from public life. In fact, people are forcibly imposing ideological attitudes that violate the traditional Christian style of life. A real discrimination against Christians is taking place in modern societies. In this way Satan demonstrates his power and activity.

5. St. Margaret of Antioch overcame demon and she is a good example for us, people of the XXIst century haw to do the same.

Jesus takes reality of demons seriously, and so we need too.  Jesus teaches us that only He can overcome him. And so we have to do and with help of God conquer him.

As long as we understand our present and our future as dependent only on human capabilities, we will forever be fighting and clawing our way through human systems, confronting human fear and human limitations. This is the starting point for Jesus’ message about his ministry. He is deeply engaged in the human condition, the personal and private, the systemic and the corporate. He wants us to know that when on behalf of ourselves or others we are wrestling with devil, He is with us. He wants to free us from the systems to which we are all captive and His power is amazing and irrefutable.

Having said this, the reality of life particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, shows that the faith of millions of our people was and is a deliberate choice, an existential reality that is normative in their lives. Many of them, as the XXth century’s history of our lands has proven, were ready to give their lives for the faith, as St. Margaret of Antioch did.

St. Margaret of Antioch is a fitting patron saint for all who wrestle with demons. Shy is the patron saint that knew the power of Jesus and used it properly. She knew that when we confront our demons Jesus is there along side us and that the life-giving kingdom of God is at hand.

Name “Margaret” in Greek language means “pearl”. We know haw precious is pearl. St. Margaret of Antioch is a real precious pearl of Christianity.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, malteses, people of Gozo, be faithful to your Christian vocation and imitate St. Margaret – precious pearl of authentic Christian life and witness. Entrust yourselves through her intercession into the hands of the Divine Providence and open doors of your souls for Christ to conquer depraving our spiritual life dictatorship of the moral relativism and be authentic Christians, due to build civilization of life and love for the glory of God and our salvation. Amen.