As was to be expected, what had to happen, happened. In our country too, the modern pressures of consumerism, secularism and I don’t know how many other isms, will continue to permeate the Maltese identity. Participation in the religous life on traditional lines declined progressively, in my view as a result of the isms just referred to.

However, when Good Friday is with us, ordinary people still attend religious processions in great numbers, even if perhaps they are less numerous than the crowds of say thirty years ago.

Beyond that, there are also many people, young ones included, who at this time observe religious practices that they will ignore for the rest of the year. Why and how this happens is an open question.

When I raised the point with some of them, they hardly seemed to understand what I was after.  In their view, they’re just behaving the way they should. So, for the feast of Our Lady of the Sorrows and a week later, it is like hedonism and indifference are banished. Or am I imagining things? 

***

Regarding the presidency

I was pleased when MEPs came up to me to say how impressed they were with the manner by which the Maltese presidency of the EU is functioning; and how they met others who shared the feeling. I do not believe they came to say this in order to be polite or courteous. In fact, they brought the subject up, without it having crossed my mind to quiz them about it.

Their words of praise covered practically all levels of management and administration in the presidency process that they interfaced with. I think that given how they expressed their conclusion, they had expected the Maltese side not to get on top of the Presidency assignment. That they were surprised the opposite happened makes one feel even more gratified. (If everything must be said, I heard some criticism about arrangements that were sometimes set for accomodation in Malta of visiting delegations.)

For the second half of the Presidency, it will be important to stay focussed so that arising, ongoing tasks continue to be run with the same drive that has been shown up to now.

***

Terrorism

The list has grown longer and longer. Ankara... London... Saint Petersburg... Stockholm... Cairo and Alexandria... “Artisanal” terrorism (in the sense of an activity carried out by a few individuals who do not need to plan meticulously or to mount a big organization beforehand) is spreading while destroying the lives of innocent people.

The latest happenings in Egypt were simply atrocious. In addition to the deaths that were caused, the attack was meant to inflame religous hatreds within that great country which still attracts the interest and sympathy of the whole Arab world.

It is difficult to understand how minds that have been instilled with religious beliefs, independently of what these are, can come to believe that there is there is some gain for mankind in the deployment of blind, unscrupulous acts of terrorism.

But these minds do exist. No alternative remains except that of guarding against their initiatives, by reinforcing protection and security measures, running them with an iron hand and affording them the resources needed to wage a total war.