I HAVE A DREAM

‘’I  HAVE  A  DREAM’’

“LORD, HOW I WISH THAT ALL THE WORLD WOULD ACCEPT THE GOOD NEWS”

What a wonderful dream! What a holy wish! What a paradise would the world be!

That was ‘the dream’ of a young Maltese priest, back in 1907. Now that same priest, Fr.George Preca has been canonized and thus he is the first Maltese Saint …Saint George Preca. As a young priest, Fr. George founded the Christian Doctrine Society, popularly known as ‘MUSEUM’.

Why MUSEUM ? In a museum we find treasures, precious objects, and in this MUSEUM, the treasure is the Holy Scripture, taught by the members of this Society to children, boys and girls, to young people and adults alike.

But there’s more to that name ‘MUSEUM’, because this word is formed from that dream, wish of Fr. George, when he said: “LORD, HOW I WISH THAT ALL THE WORLD WOULD ACCEPT THE GOOD NEWS”. This expression in Latin is; “Magister Utinam Sequater Evangelium Universus Mundus”. Fr. George took the first letter of each word from the above expression , and the result was;     M-U-S-E-U-M. From that day onwards, till today, the Christian Doctrine Society is popularly called MUSEUM.

                                                               

                                           

 As a young priest, Fr.George, who in Malta was addressed as Dun Gorg, always dreamt of helping laypersons, men and women, to serve Mother Church, especially by evangelization. An idea, which, in those days was unheard of, almost ‘preposterous’, absurd. Notwithstanding the fact that Malta, then was all Catholic, yet there was very little Religious instruction. Religion was mainly based on popular devotions.

When still a student at the Bishop's Seminary, Saint George Preca befriended a group of young men in his parish, who used to spend their time talking and playing football in front of the church after their day's work. He very quickly made friends with them and started talking to them about matters that interested them. From there on, he started talking to these young men about the ‘Word of God’. That was the beginning of the Christian Society.

The Society spread rapidly, opening Centres in many parishes around Malta.  Eventually in 1932 the Society was canonically approved for the dioceses of Malta and Gozo.

Nowadays, besides Malta and Gozo,  Branches or Centres of this  Christian Doctrine Society, the M.U.S.E.U.M.  are found spread in Australia, in Albania, in England, in Kenya, in Peru, in Poland and in Cuba, Praised be Jesus Christ.

Years before the Vatican Council II was convened, Fr.George had started to make his dream come true. His main aim was to give importance to the study and ‘the living’ of the Gospel, besides encouraging the Laityin making it their business in the spreading of the Word of God. Both aspects were later on brought up in the Vatican Council sessions.

He had a great foresight. Very little people know of the fact that Fr.George Preca, (Dun Gorg) had thought about the five Luminous Mysteries, years before they were promulgated by the Pope. These thoughts are found in his writings, today printed in book form.

Many have first hand experiences of this holy priest and many stories are recounted to show, to attest to the holiness of this priest, including the undersigned.

St.George Preca, Pray for us.