Walking on marble slabs commemorating illustrious people, I came to realise how human life can be anything but human. On the one hand the splendour of Saint John’s Co-Cathedral made me sing a joyous song of praise and worship to the Lord for the genius He bestows on the human being. “How great are thy works, O LORD! Thy thoughts are very deep!” (Ps 92, 5). On the other hand I heard the silent cry of pain and frustration of the people of the age who produced this fabulous jewel of architecture, art and sculpture with much fatigue and sterling dedication.
Nevertheless, amid its hardship and turmoil, humanity never gave up to prove to itself that it has been created on the image of God. It never stopped heralding to every generation that divine inspiration was its faithful guide. The complexities of a well built building complex of worship never dimmed for a second the human’s spirit urge to encounter the Transcendental. And the irony is that the same God who fought the Egyptians and drowned them at the bottom of the Red Sea to save his chosen People is the same God who designed this magnificent house of worship through the capable hands of Gerolamo Cassar, or painted this monumental temple through the gentle and precise hands of Mattia Preti and Michelangelo Merisi, known as Il Caravaggio.
Amazed as I was at the inscrutable ways divine initiative upsets and operates within the human agenda, the words of the prophet Daniel stupefied my already stunned spirit. “How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation” (Dan 4, 3). In the splendour of its baroque majesty, Saint John’s Co-Cathedral evokes a powerful spirit of prayer and devotion for a heart that is searching to meet its God. It gently leads the soul to surrender to a God that can take on himself the human precision and turn it into an opportunity of beholding his human face in the person of his beloved Son Jesus Christ.
The humble and mighty Messiah is sensed in his apparent absence. It is He who upholds this world class piece of architecture together. Once again, Jesus effuses his Holy Spirit on those visitors and believers who want to enter into a profound personal communion of committed love with Him. Jesus’ eloquent Eucharistic presence enfleshes the intricate artistic valour of Saint John’s with a hope that never disappoints. Jesus is brought every day on the altar by the descent of the Holy Spirit on the gifts of the bread and wine together with the consecratory words uttered in faith by the priest, during every Eucharistic Assembly that occurs within the Cathedral. Jesus is made present by the anointing of the Holy Spirit in each and every deacon and priest who is ordained in this pearl of baroque architectural style.
This year is the International Year for Priests. May those who enter Saint John’s Cathedral this year make the courageous resolution of spiritually adopting the Jesus who gives this worldly famous Cathedral its real meaning and value by continually interceding for priests, his beloved living icons! I am sure that Our Lady of Carafa’s most tender smile would empower and accompany them in this silent yet most heroic act of charity the Church and the world badly needs at this moment in time.
Dear reader, while enjoying your visit inside Saint John’s Co-Cathedral never forget Christ’s incessant cry: “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.”(Matt 9, 37-38).
Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap
San Gwann