A Pastoral Letter by the Archbishop of Malta for children on the occasion of ‘The Year of The Faith.’

Dear children,

“Pope Benedict XVI wrote a letter to all Christians about the Faith and wishes that this year we think a bit about how we are going to live better our Faith. This Year of Faith starts on the 11th October and ends on the 24th November 2013, the feast of Christ the King.

We and the Faith

The fact that nearly all of us Maltese say “we are Christians” unites us. The Christian is the one who believes in God who sent among us His Son Jesus.

But I think that being Christian does not mean the same to everybody. There are those who say that they believe because their parents baptized them and have the Baptism certificate. There are those who say that they believe because when they were young they used to go to Catechism classes until they received the Sacrament of Confirmation by the Bishop. And there are others who even after receiving the Confirmation, or else even when they became youth or adults, they continued to live their faith. But it might be good to ask: Today, how much do we hear Jesus talk to us? So it is good for you as children to see how much are you listening to Jesus and taking note of what he says. We need to see where The Faith has arrived in our life.

The Faith

The word “Faith” has different meanings. The most common use is in relationships between us when one has faith in the other person. It is like when I lend something to somebody because I have faith that he or she will take care of it.

Even if this is good, the Pope in this year of the Faith wants to talk to us on another meaning. We are going to speak on how much in my life I trust God. In order to do it, God gave us two big gifts, which only we human beings do have.

1. While animals do only that which they feel, man has the power inside of him to do what is needed and what is good. He does so because he believes.

2. The second gift that God gave man is that God showed Himself both in the Old Testament through holy people and also in the New Testament through Jesus.

Choices

Pope Benedict this year is telling us to appreciate more these two gifts God is giving us:

The first choice

This means that we have to give more of our time to God than to many other things that take our time. Giving more time to God means that we pay more attention to Jesus by letting Him lead us in our life.

The problem is that we have many things that rob our attention like music, computer, television, the play station….

So today we have to lessen some of the time we pass with these things and find some time in which we can think more of God, like when we stop to pray.

In order to create space for God in our life, we need to believe that He created us and to keep contact with Him to live our life better.

The second choice

The second choice is that “I want to know who is God.” I must have the desire to know more on Him. Thus it is important to continue going to catechism classes, to attend the Mass, to read the Bible, because these help us know God better.

An occasion that helps me approach God and trust in Him is when we are sick. Without wanting it, I find time to pray more and to place my trust in Him as I know that God is He who loves me. But is it necessary that I be sick to find time and to trust Him. Why should I not do this all my life?

The man of Faith

The man of faith is he who does not wait to be sick to have the time to pray, but that every day he finds the time to talk a bit with God.

God, who created us, when He sent Jesus among us, said all that He wanted to give us. By this teaching that he delivered through Jesus, God wishes to help us to go forward in life.

The Basic Faith

Almighty God gave us Christians some great gifts so that we can walk ahead with Faith in Jesus:

He knew that we human beings are not able to walk alone. So He sent His Son Jesus as a man to show us who is God as the Father and that in every circumstance he shows us how to behave as sons of the Father. So we need to read what Jesus did and said especially in the Gospels: otherwise how can we know what to do to follow Him.

Jesus knew how difficult it is to walk ahead alone in this way and so he gave us Christians the gift of baptism that unites us in one Church that is formed of us all to walk ahead together.

God gave us also the Eucharist. During the Mass, after hearing the Word of God, we succeed to strengthen our Faith through Jesus in the Eucharist. The graces we receive in the Mass we cannot get from elsewhere.

Conclusion

Therefore Pope Benedict, in a few words is telling us to use more often and better the two gifts that we mentioned before, that is: to give more time to God so that he can fill us with his gifts; and that we get to know more what Jesus told us so that we can know better who is God.

So now all of you children, now that you have heard all this, what can you do to live the Faith that you received in Baptism?

In order to help you I will remind you of two important things that we mentioned:

We find the quiet time to talk to Jesus through prayer

To look for what Jesus said to us in His Word. Therefore:

We need to know Him so that we can talk on Him

We need to know what He taught so that we can walk in His footsteps

We need to walk behind Him as He is the Way

We need to discover His love

All that we need to give God is only time and attention: all the rest will be given to us by Him. That is Faith. That is the generosity of God. As Faith is coming from God, nothing can overcome it if we live it within us.

Dear children I impart on you my apostolic blessing.”

+ PAUL CREMONA O.P.

Archbishop of Malta

This Pastoral Letter is also available on Youtube www.youtube.com/knisjamalta.

Permalink: Pastoral Letter for children by the Archbishop of Malta