LEAVE DEATH TO GOD, NOT DOCTORS: BISHOP TEUMA’S UNAPOLOGETIC CALL
By Mario Attard
The Bishop of Gozo, Anton Teuma, delivered a stirring sermon at the parish church of Sannat. Parishioners had gathered on 26 July to celebrate the feast of Saint Margaret of Antioch. He urged them to follow the saint’s exemplary life.
Bishop Teuma recalled the well-known story of the dragon that swallowed the young martyr in prison. She made the sign of the cross. The beast split open. “Even if it did not happen, it is a true story,” he said. The tale, he explained, speaks of every Christian who identifies with the crucified Jesus in a society that thinks the opposite way. Such a society is marked by corruption and drugs in its dark corners.
The bishop pointed to the cross held by the statue of Saint Margaret. He posed a direct question to the faithful. What will the Christian do when faced with the choice in our country? Will we leave the moment of death in the hands of God, or place it in the hands of man? Will we burst the dragon, or allow ourselves to be swallowed by it?
He linked this choice to other daily tests. What will a Christian do when faced with questions of justice: what suits us, or what is true? What happens on a Sunday when many other commitments compete with the Eucharist? Will the cross of Jesus still stand out with its power against contrary currents?
Saint Margaret was a young girl of little strength. Yet she chose Jesus as everything. In that way she overcame every opposing force. She now takes us by the hand and leads us where she herself arrived.
The bishop then turned to the saint’s early life. She was born into a pagan family. Her father was a priest of a pagan religion. Her mother died soon after birth. From the start Margaret faced difficulties. A shepherdess who cared for her, loved her, and introduced her to Jesus. The woman did not force the child against her father. She simply showed what is true, beautiful and important.
Bishop Teuma stressed the lesson. How important it is to teach about Jesus from earliest childhood. Parents must recognise that Jesus is more important for the future of their children than worldly inheritances, professions and academic studies.
Margaret discovered the treasure of Jesus. She saw that he is beautiful. What he says, though not always comfortable, is the most important thing for a human being. She acted like the man in the Gospel who found a treasure hidden in a field and sold everything to buy that field. Her name itself means “pearl.” She sold even the most necessary human affections for the sake of Christ.
The bishop invited the parishioners at Sannat to allow the Church to take them by the hand, just as the caring woman once took Margaret. In that way they too may receive the precious pearl: the Word of God, the Eucharist and sound teaching. When the moment of truth arrives, they may pass from this world into full union with Jesus, the treasure for which every heart longs, concluded the bishop.
Sannat’s link to St Margaret dates back to the late Middle Ages with a chapel dedicated to the saint. It is firmly documented as already functioning in 1575. In Malta, the first church in honour of St Margaret of Antioch, in the Bormla area, dates to 1563. Saint Margaret was one of the most popular saints across medieval Europe, one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers (in German, “Vierzehn Nothelfer”), a group of saints venerated together in the Catholic Church. The devotiontowards them grew strongly in 14th-century Germany, particularly the Rhineland, during the Black Death. Their intercession was believed to be especially powerful against diseases, epidemics and various dangers. Saint Margaret is the patron of safe childbirth.