On Thursday 26th September the body of Fr. Damian Grimes was returned to Uganda. He will be buried at Namasagali on Saturday.
A fellow Mill Hill missionary penned this reflection:
VAS-Y MON FILS, VAS-Y MA FILLE!
(All missionaries are equal but some are more equal than others…)
“ALLEZ-Y MES ENFANTS – CHANTEZ, DANSEZ, CELEBREZ, TEMOIGNEZ!”
(To, for and by a commander in chief, a mentor incapable of deceit with all his flaws)
In the past, you went to the missions on mission to die and be buried there – you literally gave your life to the Lord, to the Church and to the people – to alleviate suffering and to save souls, in the words of Herbert Vaughan.
The funeral of Fr Damian Grimes, RIP – a hero, a veteran, a teacher. Let’s hear him and many like him say ‘vas-y mon fils’… go ahead my son, my children, do what you want as tribute to me whom providence designed to touch and change your lives…
When you spend years toiling, teaching, preaching, sponsoring, training, educating, building, praying, giving, blessing, disciplining and even torturing; and even if you were so imperfect or displeasing to many, as long as you tried to resemble Christ, serve the Church and build the Kingdom of God and its values, and touch and shape many lives and future, you will be honoured – even if you made life hell for others or were unbearable or stubborn or harsh…
Not just you Fr Damian Grimes, but many could have been honoured the same way, to bring your body back to where you lived and toiled and served – Fr Len Wiedemayr, Fr Hans Burgman, Fr James Nielen, Fred Heptonstall… the veterans I knew.
The lives you touched and changed can do anything for you and will take no “no” for an answer. The light you lit in their lives shines on.
And with The Changing Face of Mission, will and can any of the younger and future missionaries toil and sacrifice and be remembered and honoured in the same way? The answer is : yes.
Vas-y mon fils. Allez-y mes filles. Adieu grand maître. Gloire à Dieu qui nous appelle, envoie, utilise, glorifie et récompense.
The time-honoured challenge is to do a good job as a mini-ster and a servant, even if imperfectly so, and not scandal or lazy or proud or egocentric or self-referential.
Where sin is great, grace is even greater!
Dear Lord, help us to honour the living and the dead, the veterans and the ancestors, and give us the grace to keep helping the poor and the underprivileged and to navigate all challenges for your glory and for our sanctification and salvation.
Emmanuel Mbeh MHM
