Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1080741
19 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 10 FEBRUARY 2019 Mikiel Galea Delia's fate WHAT will it take for the Nationalist Party to wake up? MaltaToday's Sur- vey (3 February 2019) is clear enough: Adrian Delia, poor chap, is heading to- wards sure defeat, perhaps heavier than expected. Indeed, we could blame his detractors and their poor understand- ing of party democracy. But come the European elections this year, will Delia be packing his bags? Surely his summer holiday plans are ruined. The PN has been totally outflanked ideologically. It has lost the spark that made it the natural party of govern- ment – and 'for Europe' – back in the early 2000s. The real alternative is not the Labour-bashing snooties that dislike Delia. It is somebody who can challenge Muscat and his neoliberal fantasies with an alternative narrative of what the Maltese can have. And it's not just about money. It is about qual- ity of life. Henry Cauchi, London, UK Paul of Tarsus A statue of St Paul at a church in Val- letta depicts him as a tall, imposing man with a full head of hair and a long beard, and wearing gaudily-em- broidered vestments. All the requisite "Pauline" details – including Bible in hand, long sword, fire and snake – are packed on a lavish, gold baroque ped- estal featuring naked cherubs sitting on over-sized, decorative scrolls, typical of Maltese kitsch. In a local advertisement for a film en- titled "The shipwreck", Paul is depicted as a tall, well-built, handsome man in his 50s. He sports a well-groomed beard, and is dressed in an elegant, maroon toga. The reality was far different. Paul described himself as "insignificant in appearance". Tradition pictures him at fifty as a bent and bald ascetic. The proselytiser of Christian "cari- tas" did not always practise what he preached. He cursed "those who do not love the Lord". He wished his enemies – "the party of circumcision" – to "get themselves emasculated". While Paul railed against circumcision, the Catho- lic Church itself, until 1960, celebrated the feast of the circumcision of his "Lord"! John Guillaumier, St Julian's Blessing of animals CHRIST bestowed the power of bless- ing – calling down God's favour on creatures – on His disciples (Matt: 10-12), a power which the Church has always exercised. This may seem superfluous, unneces- sary and trivial especially when applied on animals but if one continues reading the Bible text, there is a crucial pro- phetic message. Just skip one verse. "And whoever does not receive you, or listen to your words – go forth out- side that house or town, and shake off the dust from your feet. Amen I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgement than for that town" (verses 14/15). Even if for the sake of argument this tradition makes no difference to the animals, why should we abolish it be- cause it has religious connections? The people of Pamplona still hold the run- ning of the bulls and in Bunol they still get involved in a tomato fight purely for entertainment purposes. Come summer and perhaps we will have a couple of occasions to wit- ness the greasy pole spectacle which reminds me of us poor mortals diving into the sea of eternity, one after the other, to face the Divine Judge on that day of judgement mentioned above. The competitions know that beneath the small flag flow dark and troubled waters, sweeping human beings to destruction. The only way over these satanically ruled waters is to get hold of that small flag that is Jesus, whose pole is much less hazardous than the con- ventional ones but is a rather bumpy but accessible narrow bridge between heaven and earth. John Azzopardi, Zabbar Letters & Clarifications