The Church attaches particular importance to the celebration of the birth of the Virgin Mary because it was another step in the fulfilment of the plan of salvation, which was to be accomplished through the Incarnation of Jesus, the Son of God. Besides this coming of God into the history of the world through Mary, for us Maltese people, 8 September also has another significance, so much so that we refer to it as Victory Day. This is because our people experienced the special protection of the Mother of God in a very direct way at different moments of our history on this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First of all, we recall the victory over the threat to the Christian faith during the Great Siege of Malta. They were difficult months of fighting under the scorching sun, but on 8 September the Turkish attacks came to an end following the arrival of the Gran Soccorso, bringing fresh troops for the battle on the previous day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The French blockade also came to an end around this feast, at the beginning of September 1800, after the Maltese resisted with all their strength the attack on religious freedom in the name of liberty, fraternity and equality \u2014 ideals which proved to be little more than fine words, resulting instead in bloodshed and hostility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closer to our own times, during the Second World War, on 8 September 1943, Italy withdrew from the war against the Allies. This time, it was a victory against the assault on human dignity perpetrated by extreme ideologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the struggles we face today have changed, but these same threats are still among us, in more subtle forms and, at times, even from within. How easy it is for us to deny our faith when we compromise with evil. How easy it is to embrace ideas of freedom that appear to liberate us, yet instead leave us more enslaved, because such freedom cuts human beings off from the very source of their life. How easy it is to undermine our own dignity or that of our brothers and sisters; to regard some people as less human than ourselves through discrimination and racism; and to accept a culture of death that is gaining ground even within our own society \u2014 a culture that does not recognise the inherent value of every human being, but instead applies other criteria and fails to respect life from the moment of conception until its natural end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And so, as we struggle against all that opposes the beauty of God, we still need Mary\u2019s intercession and witness. May we, like her, neither be overcome by fear nor give way to panic, but continue to choose love to the very end. As St Paul exhorts the Christians in Rome: \u201cDo not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good\u201d (Rom 12:21).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"