There are few things that unite us as Maltese.

The Eurovision song contest is one of them, and we have celebrated successes together or ended up disappointed together, as happened this year. The football (and now even rugby) national team also brings us close together in our few achievements and many disappointments, as was the case last Saturday following the 4-0 defeat against Norway. Sports events such as the one to be held this week in Monaco – the Small Nations Games – also find us as one group behind the national flag.

There is little else that unites us, as we are more or less divided on practically everything, starting off with politics. We are a country that is divided right down the middle in this regard, blue and red (with a touch of green), and the more an election approaches – as is the case now – the more this division is felt, also because the political parties do nothing to tone it down.

We cannot even agree on one national holiday, and have to have a few so as to satisfy the whole population, effectively however creating even more division. Because, while the Nationalists celebrate Independence Day, the Labour Party tries to ignore it. And while the Labour Party celebrates Freedom Day or Republic Day, the Nationalists play them down.

Football divides us too, other than for the national team. Each time a World Cup or European Championship is being played, the country is split half-way, with the “Italians” and the “English” in their own corners looking at each other like enemies do. This division is also evident at club level, with the most recent example being the Champions League final between Milan and Liverpool, and within the strictly local sphere too, as the way groups of supporters at Ta’ Qali stadium treat each other every week shows.

Village feasts are unfortunately a source of division too, with the “our saint is better than yours” syndrome so evident that there have been cases when feasts have had to be called off because of fights. On other occasions, rival supporters from different band clubs have also been involved in brawls while celebrating the same feast.

There are then of course other issues that crop up less regularly than politics, football and village feasts, and which find us on different sides of the fence. And therefore it does mean a lot for Malta that the canonisation of Dun Gorg Preca – now effectively Saint Gorg Preca – has brought us all together in one common front.

Of course, there are a few detractors who always try to be negative, and do their best to try to ridicule anything that comes their way. You will always find people who love to be different, perhaps just for the sake of it, and who lack respect towards the feelings and thoughts of the rest of the population. But, as is often the case, these people find themselves isolated.

What Malta experienced yesterday – with 5,000 Maltese pilgrims getting drenched in St Peter’s Square just to be able to say “I was there” when Dun Gorg was made a saint, and the thousands of others who watched the ceremony on television – was an event that brought the whole country together. It was an event that will be remembered.

And, in his way, Saint Gorg Preca will be yet another exception to the rule that unfortunately sees us so divided as a country.

Because his sanctification yesterday got us all together as a people.

It did unite us, at least for one day. And although it will be impossible to expect that the unity that prevailed yesterday is maintained just because Malta now has a saint, yesterday’s event should inspire us to work harder towards being more respectful towards each other.

We will still be a divided people, but if the example given by Saint Gorg Preca is followed, Malta will certainly be a better place to live in.