On Saturday 22 March 2025, Sister Death took my dear Mum Maria to her meeting with the Father in Heaven. Although for me it was a great shock seeing my dear Mum going like this, the deep peace I feel in my heart is indescribable.
Pondering upon her simple, loving and dedicated life, I can simply say that my Mother Maria is simply God’s special gift to me. She taught me to love Jesus and Mary with all her heart and soul. Two hours before going to meet the Father, my Mum had the grace of receiving the Holy Eucharist. My Mum strongly believed what Pope St John Paul II wrote in his encyclical on the eucharist and its relationship to the Church, Ecclesia de Eucharistia: The Eucharist is a true banquet, in which Christ offers himself as our nourishment (no.16). Because she ardently and devoutly received the Eucharistic Jesus she also served him in her neighbourhood, starting from me, my Dad and my siblings and to the people in need. The great sacrifices she made for us are incredible.
Moreover, my dear Mother Maria was a simple living icon of what it means to abide in Jesus. In what she was and did she always radiated that loving care for all those who were vulnerable, starting from her roommates at Casa Maria Residence, the home for the elderly in Sliema, Malta, where she would knit those small caps for the babies who are to be born, thus being a great pro-life campaigner. Thus, within the same encyclical, Pope St John Paul II writes: Indeed, it is because of him that we have life: “He who eats me will live because of me” (Jn 6:57). Eucharistic communion brings about in a sublime way the mutual “abiding” of Christ and each of his followers: “Abide in me, and I in you” (Jn 15:4) (no.22).
Her strong support for the gift of life, especially of the unborn, gently reminds me of the close relationship there is between receiving the Eucharist and defending life from its conception till its natural end. My Mum’s convincing witness reminds me of what Bishop Michael F. Burbidge wrote on January 23, 2024 on the topic The Eucharist Makes Us Pro-Life:
That union with Christ in his saving Death and Resurrection is deepened and nourished by sacramental Communion, where we receive Our Lord truly, substantially and personally present under the appearance of bread and wine. The consecrated bread and wine are not ordinary food. They are the Body, Blood, soul and divinity of Christ Jesus, who revealed to St. Augustine, “I am the food of strong men; grow, and you shall feed upon me; nor shall you convert me, like the food of your flesh, into you, but you shall be converted into me” (Confessions, VII.10). Unlike any other kind of food, when we partake of Communion, we do not transform him into us; rather, we are transformed into him.
In its document, The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops recently recalled, “The personal and moral transformation that is sustained by the Eucharist reaches out to every sphere of human life.” In this, my brother bishops and I echo the reminder of Pope Francis that we participate in Mass not simply to fulfill a precept but, more importantly, “because only with Jesus’ grace, with his living presence within us and among us, can we put his commandment into practice, and thus be his credible witnesses” (Audience, Dec. 13, 2017). In other words, our specifically Catholic witness to the gift of human life flows from the Eucharist.
In all simplicity, humility and commitment, my Mother Maria was a credible witness to the gift of human life because she always sought to be filled with the Most Precious Body and Blood of the One who said: I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me (John 14:6).
My Mum Maria used to say to Jesus all the time: Heart of Jesus, I trust in you. In my Mum’s heartfelt words I could feel the tender affection of Jesus’ Heart to which my Mum’s response was simply utter trust. This fact reminds me of what Pope Francis says in his encyclical letter which speaks on the human and divine love of the heart of Jesus Christ, Dilexit Nos:
Since the heart continues to be seen in the popular mind as the affective centre of each human being, it remains the best means of signifying the divine love of Christ, united forever and inseparably to his wholly human love. Pius XII observed that the Gospel, in referring to the love of Christ’s heart, speaks “not only of divine charity but also human affection”. Indeed, “the heart of Jesus Christ, hypostatically united to the divine Person of the Word, beyond doubt throbbed with love and every other tender affection” (no.61).
Thank you, my dear mother Maria, for teaching me to love Jesus the way you did. Today I just wanted to celebrate how much you loved Jesus. In another writing piece I look forward, with God’s grace, to celebrate your incredible love for our Mother Mary, your and mine Mother in Heaven. Amen.
