The priest’s blessing

We have just celebrated Easter. Christ, who died for our sins, has risen. But before undergoing his Passion, he ordained his apostles and gave us the Eucharist, his body and blood. The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. It is food for our souls. Without the Eucharist, our souls wither away.  ‘Whoever eats this bread will live for ever’ (Jn 6:51). We are blessed to be able to have access to the Lord’s table and to eat this bread of life.

It is thanks to the priests that we are able to receive the Blessed Sacrament. The priest is a blessing; he is a gift from God to us. Without him, we would not be able to receive this Blessed Sacrament. When I was a child, I realised during the holidays I spent in my mother’s village that the parish church was a three- to four-hour walk through the forest. The villagers therefore only received Communion occasionally. Even today, many Christians in remote villages are unable to receive the Eucharist regularly due to a lack of priests. Before the 1990s, in communist countries many people were deprived of the Eucharist; priests went into hiding because they were persecuted, and some major seminaries operated clandestinely. Without the Eucharist, without the priest, there is no Church.

That is why we must give thanks to God for all those who choose to give themselves entirely to God through the sacrament of Holy Orders; by choosing not to marry and by living out the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience. Today, the media are reporting on paedophile priests. For me, the solution to such a problem does not automatically lie in allowing priests to marry, as some are calling for, for how many men promise fidelity and love to their wives on their wedding day, only to be unfaithful to them time and again? It is not because Judas betrayed Jesus that we should condemn the entire college of apostles, nor that Jesus should have resigned from his mission. Whilst it is true that there are priests who bring the Church into disrepute through such behaviour, we must not forget the vast majority – a multitude of priests who devote themselves day and night to the service of Christ and their brothers and sisters in various fields.

The life of the Church is dotted with priests who have lived out their mission with love and devotion. The Holy Curé of Ars, the patron saint of priests, is one such example. Closer to home in Cameroon, we have the example of Baba Simon, who became a missionary in the north of the country. Born in 1906, Baba Simon was baptised at the age of 12. Hailing from the Diocese of Douala, Father Simon Mpèckè – as he was known by his real name – had the idea of going to northern Cameroon after reading an article in the newspaper *Les Études Camerounaises*, published in 1947. Here is an extract from what Cardinal Christian Tumi said about him in his homily on the 20th anniversary of his death. After his ordination to the priesthood, he became parish priest of the parish of Notre Dame des Victoires in New-Bell, Douala, in 1954, and expressed to his bishop, Mgr Bonneau, his desire to go to northern Cameroon. The bishop, having visited Northern Cameroon himself, went to see Father Simon and said to him: “If I were young, I would ask you to go there, but now it is too late.” He added: “I cannot really judge whether you should go to the North or stay here.” On the death of Bishop Bonneau, Father Simon went to see Bishop Mongo and told him that this matter needed to be settled. This is what Bishop Mongo replied: “You keep asking to go to northern Cameroon. I am not allowing you to go there, my friend; it is I who am sending you there. If anyone asks you why you have come here, you must say that it was Bishop Mongo who sent you because he believes that our Christianity in Cameroon will only be strong when it rests on two pillars: the North and the South. Baba Simon set off without any pretensions. He knew he was going to encounter a different culture. He learnt the Kirdi language and integrated so well amongst them that a leader of the Mouyang faith testified, in the presence of Baba Simon himself, in these words: ‘We, the people of the mountains, have but one friend in the lowlands. It is you, Baba Simon: why you alone? Because you came without an escort and are welcomed by everyone: Zoulgo, Moloko, Mboko, Guemjek, Ouldeme, Mada, Mouyang. Baba! You have befriended everyone. You are our father, you are our mother. You look after us like a true parent. You have become the head of the great Kirdi family. Baba Simon, sent to the North, has become a Kirdi amongst the Kirdis. Bishop Plumey recounts how Baba Simon evangelised the mountain dwellers: “The mountain villages were visited by this priest from the Diocese of Douala. For fifteen years, along the sun-scorched, rocky track; sometimes in the midst of a storm during the rainy season, this priest—already elderly and weary—would make his slow ascent to the village, crossing its small terraces which demand feats of ingenuity from the inhabitants... Baba Simon travelled along all these tracks; he spent his evenings crouching amongst the people, by the light of the family saré fire, explaining the parables of Jesus of Nazareth. With Baba Simon, the children learnt the Gospel by heart. They were then proud to go and repeat it to others.

Throughout his years of ministry, Baba Simon could not even manage to keep a pair of shoes for himself: everything he owned, he gave away to others. His capacity for self-sacrifice, his deep love for his neighbour, and his zeal for proclaiming the Gospel consumed him right up until his death in 1975, on the eve of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. The true missionary is the saint (Pope John Paul II, *Redemptoris missio*). The priest should therefore ardently seek holiness.

Since the beginning of the first ‘Word of God’ group, we have also had a great many priests and bishops who have supported, guided and advised us. If the Movement of the Incarnation is what it is today, it is also thanks to them. We give thanks to Jesus for this. That is why we advise all members to sponsor a priest through prayer until the end of the Year for Priests in June 2010. Say a prayer for him every day and, if possible, support him at least once with a financial or material donation. We can also take this opportunity to help a seminarian. Come, Holy Spirit!

Henri Bayemi