50 Years ago…..  
    It happened 50 years ago when in June 1951, together with another 23 candidates, I was incorporated as an SDC Member, by the late Superior General Eugenio Borg. At that time, I was 18 years old and had never envisaged what I was to experience through these 50 years in the Society. I do remember very well the day of preparation we had together prior to our incorporation. This day of recollection was held at the Hamrun Centre, and at around mid-day, our Founder, Blessed George Preca, came to visit us. He chose to be seated in the middle of the chapel, right on the altar steps and started his short exhortation using this sentence: “Every sidling that is not planted by my Father, will be plucked out and thrown away.” This very sentence, is a sentence that has never left me and that I still cherish up to this very day. Before leaving us, he gave each and every one of us a small token, a holy picture of Christ Crucified, which I am still keeping and obviously treasuring. I do also remember that, on the back of the picture, I wrote a note that reads: “From our Founder on the day of our membership at the society.” (see picture) 
     50 years have passed and it is my duty to share with you some of the thoughts that came to my mind during these days. First of all I feel obliged to thank God for all that He, through his Providence has planned for me in relation to my vocation. It would have been impossible for so much good to be experienced if He had not called me to this way of life. In the days of my incorporation, I was not aware of the grace I had received, but now, looking back, I do realise how thing were being tailored, something I could have never ever thought about. Now that I look back on these years, with a mature mind, I understand better what it means to be a member in this Society. Today I find myself torn between two realities. The more I appreciate the dignity of being a Member, the more I feel the need to work and promote this ideal. Yet, lthough I am so eager to work, age and body frailty are very often showing their toil on me and therefore limiting me in my apostolate. 
     Therefore, my message to you, especially young Members, is that there comes a time when you also find yourself in more or less my situation. So, now that you have the time and energy in your favour, do work hard with love and prayer, and I assure you that your Golden Anniversary will be full of joy and peace as is mine, today. Peace be with

Vincent Meli sdc Luqa, Malta.   

THE MUSEUM GROUP IN ALBANIA 
     Every artist performs works of art out of inspiration. I must say that I’m neither an artist, nor a writer, but I feel inspired. I am inspired by the work of the MUSEUM group in Albania. Together with two other students, I decided to spend Christmas and the New Year in a poor country and a humble environment away from the materialistic way of life that seems to have conquered us here in Malta! Albania was the setting. A few hours away from Malta, this post-communist country still suffers from poverty and bad political management. In Korcë, a city with about 70,000 inhabitants, situated in the South of Albania, the SDC group has built a reputation that deserves much praise, respectability and honour. 
     The SDC Members have quite a tough mission to carry out. They are the founders of Preca College, the best Middle School in the area. Together with the help of local teachers, they run the school with a busy schedule and offer a variety of subjects that qualify students to oversea universities, especially Malta and the USA. In the evening, they hold catechism classes for the young people of Korcë. They also organize games, offer transport home and are open to everyone, including non-Catholics who feel welcome and happy with the SDC Members. The number of youths is always on the increase and parents urge their children to attend and participate. 
     Christmas was somehow different. So many activities and celebrations were organized amongst which drama, parties, presents, Christmas carols, prayers and get-togethers with parents. Other activities were also held at the school ­ a concert was organized by students in front of large gatherings of parents and other visitors. This event initiated Christmas holidays both for the students and for the school administration. 
     The SDC group is really setting a good example to the Albanians. Their hard work and love to others is really standing out in a shattered country like Albania. Participation in the plays and activities keeps the youths away from the streets. Love and attention attract the children and give them an identity and the hand-made cribs have replaced the toy-guns. I must say that I was impressed with these four SDC Members who manage to   carry out God’s will on a daily basis, they themselves inspired by the zeal of their saintly founder Fr George Preca. 

Edward Mazzacano D’Amato