Melting Pot

John describing the Battle of Malta (very serious)

Yesterday we visited the Malta War museum - located in the Lascaris War Rooms which are a series of underground tunnels dug into the limestone of Malta.  The museum tells the story of Malta during World War 2 and how they survived the longest and heaviest bombardment by the Axis powers during the war.  They went into some detail describing the system that the Royal Airforce devised to be able to husband their resources and defend the island against Italian and German bombing raids.  

Malta is a very Catholic country as it's diocese was founded by St. Paul and later it was ruled by the Knights Hospitalier from 1530 to 1798.  Malta has two cathedrals - one dedicated to St. Paul in Mdina and the other dedicated to St. John in Valletta - so it was a logical destination for John and I on this trip. 

A painting from the house of the Grand Master

We also visited the house of the Grand Master (who was the head of the  Knights Hospitaller).  His place is very opulent and filled with history and  beautiful paintings.  It was overwhelming.  Today we had a chance to visit the Co-Cathedral of St. John in Valletta.  While the Master's house was amazing, the Cathedral (which is done in a Baroque style) is overwhelming.  The floor is covered with the most ornate ledger stones (a marking on the floor for a knight who is buried there) I have ever seen.  

To get to all these places we would spend between 30 minutes to an hour on the mass-transit buses of Malta, observing the people going about their daily life.  Malta strikes me as a melting pot of cultures from all over the world - British, Australians, Indians, Pakistani, Malaysians, Maltese, Africans all living with one another without any obvious racial tensions.  Everyone seemed to mingle comfortably with one another - which is a beautiful thing to see.  In this country who draws its population from across the globe - North and South, East and West 82% of them are Catholic - and proud of their faith.  It is a beautiful thing to witness and reminds me of the reason why Christ came - "I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly" (John 10:10)