L-omelija tal-Arċisqof Charles Jude Scicluna
1,700 sena ilu, fis-sena tal-Mulej 325, l-Imperatur Kostantinu sejjaħ lill-isqfijiet f’post li llum hu fit-Turkija, Niċea. U f’din il-laqgħa, f’dan il-konċilju, il-Knisja ifformulat, ġabret fi kliem il-Kredu li nistqarru f’kull quddiesa. Dan il-Kredu li se ngħidu wara din l-omelija qasira, għandu 1,700 sena. Twieled mill-għaqda tagħna l-Insara, bħala espressjoni tal-fidi tagħna: “sallbuh għalina, bata taħt Ponzju Pilatu, miet u difnuh, u fit-tielet jum qam minn bejn l-imwiet, skont il-Kotba Mqaddsa”.
Din hi l-fidi li tagħżilna u tagħmilna dak li aħna. Minħabba l-festa tal-lum lill-Mulej Ġesù, “l-Iben waħdieni ta’ Alla, imnissel mill-Missier qabel kull żmien”, bir-raġun insejħulu: “Alla minn Alla, dawl minn dawl, Alla veru minn Alla veru”. Illum inġeddu din il-fidi, u nitolbu, li kif f’Niċea konna familja waħda, imbagħad aħna l-Kattoliċi żiedna espressjoni li hija korretta, imma ma ftehmniex flimkien, u beda l-inkwiet.
Nitolbu lil Alla, li naħdmu flimkien, nimxu flimkien, nesprimu l-istess fidi flimkien.
1,700 years ago, Emperor Constantine called the meeting of all the bishops, the Council of Nicea, that gave us the creed we profess at every Mass on Sunday. It is the synthesis of the essentials of our faith: “By the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake, he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, He suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures”.
Today we pray that this expression of our unity in Faith, after so many centuries of quibbles, quarrels and division, bring us again to the same table of the Eucharist. Our friends from the Greek tradition have a beautiful greeting on this blessed morning: ‘Christos Anesti’ – ‘Christ is risen’. And the response is: ‘Alithos Anesti!’ – ‘he is truly risen’.
May the joy of this blessed day bring us peace!
✠ Charles Jude Scicluna
Arċisqof ta’ Malta
Qari tal-quddiesa
Qari I: Ġen 1:1-2,2
Salm: 117 (118):1-2,16ab-17,22-23
Qari II: Kol 3:1-4
L-Evanġelju: Ġw 20:1-9