Pope John Paul II, like his namesake Saint Paul of Tarsus, had a special feeling towards Malta mostly attributed to the great hospitality shown by the Maltese and Gozitan people. Besides the great welcome he had everywhere in these islands, I suppose the sea passage from Gozo to Malta on the catamaran accompanied by the many small boats made a great impression on John Paul II.

Whenever John Paul II met a Maltese he showed a special care. This behaviour was reported by all the Maltese who met the Pope personally. Now it was established that this special feeling was also felt at the time of John Paul’s passing away to his Master of Eternity.

Before he left, two hours before, he made a prodigy on Malta. At that time, and I repeat, two hours before John Paul left us, he influenced the drawing of the lotto numbers in Malta. These numbers were 58, 21, 37, 33, 85, which are all related to the Pope’s life.

The 58 is his age at the accession to the Papacy. The next two numbers are the prophetic announcement of his meeting with the Lord. More than two hours before, he announced the exact time of his demise. Prodigious, is it not? The fourth number, 33, is the sacred number of the age of Our Lord Jesus, the number which is a blessing to the believers in Jesus and a curse to the enemies of Jesus. The last number shows that John Paul was in the 85th year of his life, just 46 days short of closing it. All this he did just more than two hours before he left.

Then there is another prodigy John Paul II did to help Malta. On Saturday evening I watched the Satellite report of the weather in the Mediterranean. It showed a few scattered clouds coming towards Malta with no prospect of much rain, if any. But on Sunday morning the sky was overcast with rain pouring down regularly.

March was almost rainless with just nine millimeters at its beginning. Farmers were already complaining of the lack of rain. But just after the Pope left, Malta had over 14 millimetres (more than half an inch) of rain. The proverb in Maltese says hrug Marzu, dhul April, ix-xita karru tad-deheb fin – exit March, enter April, rain is a wagon of pure gold. John Paul II took care of Malta.

Joseph S. Ellul

ZURRIEQ