Where is the church?

With Elsa at the Holy Family Chapel, a few days after my encounter with her.

'Where is the church?'.......These were the first words I heard in 2020. I woke up as usual at 5 AM to head to the local church at Naxxar to celebrate the 7 AM Mass as I do every Sunday. As soon as the local bus Number 43 passed by, a few girls who work as carers at our Retirement Home stepped off the bus, but one girl, all bundled up in the unusually cold weather stood alone. As I passed her by and said ‘hello’, she asked me a most pleasant question “where is the church?” The first words I heard from any human being in 2020.

I recognized she was an African girl and told her to follow me as I was going to church to celebrate Mass. I finished saying the Rosary on my Ipad, as I do every time I’m heading to church quietly walking alone, and then asked her where is she from. “From Ethiopia, my name is Elsa,” came the quick response as she showed me a set of white teeth with a big smile. When I asked where she works, she said she is a carer at the Holy Family Home, where I celebrate Mass three times a week. I wished her a happy New Year and proceeded to the sacristy, as she found a place in the church, attending my 7 AM Mass. This unexpected encounter consoles me give me the motivation to work harder – as if God was talking to me through this girl to bring people back to the church, something I always did in my past parishes. What a great example Elsa gave us! When everyone had spent the night celebrating and partying, her first thought was to attend Mass at the early hours of the morning of a New Year.

This brief meeting was one of the best gifts God gave me this Christmas season. He was telling me there is hope for the church and the Catholic faith. I believe it was God who placed this Ethiopian girl in my path, the first person I met and spoke to at 6:15 AM in the New Year, with a simple question ‘where is the church?’ I realized that many of the immigrants we have in Malta have strong faith, and maybe God is using them to bring back the Maltese who have abandoned their faith, which according to the last survey, only 38% attend church regularly. I asked myself, was it accidental that I met this girl? I don’t think so. I believe that God was giving me a message that 2020 is going to be a good year for opportunities to bring people back to church, and encourage them to be more active.