Probably few people have not heard of Fr George Grima, who was so active in promoting the Jesus in Thy Neighbour (Gesù fil-Proxxmu) missionary movement that he founded. Through his movement, and with the help and generosity of the Maltese and Gozitan people, Fr George provided food, shelter and education to thousands of children in Brazil and Africa.

Feeding the children in his care was his greatest priority.

I had already travelled a number of times with Fr George to Brazil, Kenya and Ethiopia when one afternoon I met him by chance at the Malta International Airport. He was on his way to Pisa on a fundraising trip. He looked worried.

“Look what happened to me,” he said in his typical Gozitan accent. He was pointing to the ground and as I looked down I noticed his toes sticking out of his shoes. I asked him where on earth he had gotten the shoes from and he simply answered: “Second-hand from a street vendor.”

He was very upset. “Now what am I going to do?” I told him not to worry and I headed for the airport shops and was lucky enough to find a pair of shoes in his size.

Although he dealt with vast amounts of money it was typical of Fr George not to spend any money on himself. Often in missionary lands he would refuse to sleep in a hotel with a group of volunteers, and no matter how much we’d insist, he would wander off into the night, saying as he walked off: “The money for the room will buy us a sack of rice and many children will eat.” Feeding the children in his care was his greatest priority.

Fr George radiated love and joy, and he was great fun to be with as he had a wonderful sense of humour. Despite the pain and tragedies we often witnessed as we went from village to village, when we were back in the compound in the evenings he would often have us in stitches as he recounted funny situations he experienced in the course of his travels.

However, when the occasion arose Fr George could be stern. The only times I witnessed his anger was when he had meetings with village leaders and discovered that the money he sent for a specific planned project had not been spent as agreed.

Fr George was never happier than when he saved a baby from a rubbish heap, or at times from a forest or a toilet. He was always on the lookout for abandoned babies. His face would light up with joy when he came back from his wanderings carrying a little baby.

Fr George founded hundreds of homes for abandoned children, disabled people, drug addicts, AIDS victims and leper colonies. He not only set them up, he also made it a point to support them financially and with hands-on help. He was very much loved and whenever he visited his homes the whole village would turn out with banners and music and dancing. He was always given a welcome worthy of a king.

Fr George radiated love and joy, and he was great fun to be with as he had a wonderful sense of humour.

I visited him at his home in Gozo a few days before his planned heart surgery. He confided that he was afraid, not of death, but of the various pipes and needles. I told him that out of all people, Jesus would surely look after him. He shook his head and did not look too convinced.

I told him that if anything were to happen it only meant that Jesus had greater and more beautiful things in store for him. He smiled and nodded and the last words he said to me were: “Grazzi ta’ kemm ħabbejtuni” (Thank you for your great love for me).

I was standing at his bedside with my husband but I know those words were not meant only for us but for all the people who really showed him a lot of love. It was not an effort, because he was such a beautiful soul that to know him was to love him.

I have no doubt that he is now enjoying the fruit of all the love he spread during his lifetime.

Cristina Mifsud is a lay missionary and leader of Hosanna Charismatic Prayer Group.

Fr George Grima, born in Victoria on December 3, 1950, died on September 25, 2017, aged 66.