Dear Reader:

I was listening to a podcast on the radio and it was telling the story of the most bombed island in World War II -the Mediterranean island of Malta. Italian and German air bombers conducted over 3000 air raids, dropped 15,000 tons of explosives and destroyed 30,000 buildings over a 154 day period-total 6,700 bombs dropped.

There was one building that was spared by miracles-the Mosta Dome. On April 9,1942, two German bombs fell on the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady in Mosta … in central Malta. Mass was going on at the time and more than 250 parishioners were in the church.

Alarms rang out-some people left the church while others stayed and prayed. The first bomb pierced the dome and fell to the floor. The second cleared the left side of the church’s facade.

Those bombs had every reason to explode-but neither did. It was hailed as a miracle. Somehow Divine Intervention prevented the church and town from turning to rubble. The bombs were later defused and dropped in the sea-today visitors can see a replica of one of the bombs.

Overall during WWII Malta was heavily bombed being a strategic outpost for the Allies. The bombing was so extensive that by the end of the war, Malta had become the most bombed nation on the planet.

Today Malta boasts they have 365 churches-one for each day of the year!

It’s citizens also have something else to brag about-while still a British colony during World War II-every citizen was awarded Great Britain’s highest honor-the George Cross-Britain’s highest civilian honor for bravery!

So until tomorrow… we never know how brave we are until we get pushed in a corner… and then come out fighting for life, for love, for freedom!

” Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

Today the capital of Malta, Valletta, is known as the smallest national capital in the European Union by area-it is also the oldest-the first planned city in Europe-built in 15 years and completed in 1565.