Ecumenical Service organized by the British Residents’ Associsation, Gozo Group
St. Goerge’s Basilica – 6th Nov., 2014
Reflection by Bishop Mario Grech
The commemoration the beginning of the Great War of 1914 is not a joyous one. This war took away the lives of 10 million human beings. As Pope Francis recently said visiting the military memorial in Redipuglia, “war is madness…war destroys…war ruins everything… war is irrational”. (Francis, 13 September 2014.)
Much has been said whether this Great War could have been avoided or not. While we leave this matter to the historians, we must keep alive the memory of those who lost their lives for what Pope Benedict XV rightly described as “a useless massacre”. This Pope, elected just a month after the beginning of the conflict, highlighted one of the main causes of this war: a false sense of brotherhood. War was creating a strong sense of belonging to one’s own nation, but this “coming together” was in fact an illusion. His words are still relevant for us today: “Never perhaps was there more talking about the brotherhood of men than there is today; in fact, men do not hesitate to proclaim that striving after brotherhood is one of the greatest gifts of modern civilization, ignoring the teaching of the Gospel, and setting aside the work of Christ and of His Church. But in reality never was there less brotherly activity amongst men than at the present moment. Race hatred has reached its climax; peoples are more divided by jealousies than by frontiers; within one and the same nation, within the same city there rages the burning envy of class against class; and amongst individuals it is self-love which is the supreme law over-ruling everything.” (Benedict xv, Ad beatissimi apostolorum (1 november 1914), 7.) Continue reading >>
B’niket inħabbtu l-mewt ta’ Mons. Ġużeppi Gauci, minn Ta’ Kerċem, li seħħet ilbieraħ, il-Ħamis 6 ta’ Novembru 2014, fl-Isptar Ġenerali ta’ Għawdex.
