The Most Rev. John Alphonse Asiedu, SVD, Vicar of Donkorkrom Apostolic Vicariate in Ghana’s Eastern Region has during his Pastoral Visit to the Island Missions from November 22 – 25, 2024 celebrated the Missionary Childhood under the theme given for this year’s celebration by the Holy Father “Go Out and Invite Everyone to the Banquet” drawn from the parable of the marriage Feast (Mat. 22:8-14).
The November 23 Congress included children from across the seven Mission Stations of the Island, namely: Kokrobuta, Galilea, Nyakuikope, Menekope, Battorkope, Kedekope and Kpatsakope, who all congregated at Kokrobuta all through the Bishop’s visit, together with their leaders, parents/guardians.
Also present for the celebration was Sr. Francisca Kumevor, SMMC, Co-ordinator of Missionary Childhood Society for the Vicariate. Others were some young people from Donkorkrom who had accompanied the Bishop on his trip to the Islands.
Activities featured during the Congress included Holy Mass officiated by Most Rev. John Alphonse and concelebrated by Rev. Fr. Sofronio Endoma, Priest in charge of the Island Missions and Rev. Fr. Otmar Auingar Aklah, one of the newly ordained for the Vicariate. Other activities were Bible quiz, various games and dancing competition by the children. There was also prize award to deserving Mission Stations and individuals.
In a homily during the Missionary Childhood Mass, his Lordship noted that “in one sense, we will say that our Holy Father is inviting us in the Apostolic Vicariate of Donkorkrom with this theme to reach out to our brothers and Sisters, to our children who for all these years have been left out of this beautiful, this important celebration of the Missionary Childhood whenever we celebrate it on the mainland in the Vicariate”.
He explained that the Feast has habitually been celebrated annually in the Mainland, and it has been practically impossible for the Island stations to join, which explains why this year, pride of place has been given to the latter to have the celebration at their base, while the mainland parishes will have theirs on the day proper for the celebration – December 28, Feast of Holy Innocents, a day “to recall the Holy Innocents who had to sacrifice their lives to protect the infant Jesus when Herod was looking for him to kill,” he added.
According to the Prelate, children also have a role to play in the proclamation of the Catholic Faith. But they first have to learn from the parents and adults, so that they will also be strengthened in their faith, and be able to stand firm as they grow up in this faith.
Reflecting further on the theme of the Missionary Childhood celebration, the Bishop challenged the Christians with the thought-provoking question: “What are the kind of people we invite for our occasions?”
He pointed out to the nature of persons that the master asked to be invited at the end; people who would have otherwise been left out from such banquets, he quoted the Scripture passage which says that the stone rejected by the builders has become the keystone.
By no means inferring that the children on the Islands are the rejects of the Vicariate, the Chief Shepherd, however, underscored that the Lord was calling them to join at His banquet; to come and celebrate with Him.
“The Lord is inviting us to have this beautiful celebration. To bring all our children under his feet, at his table to celebrate with him,” he added.
Bishop Asiedu encouraged parents, and by extension, every Christian look after their children amidst modern day reality of raising children.
He said “Today, we want to encourage our parents to take very good care of our children. We know that these days, the children have become very stubborn, disobedient; it is very difficult for them to listen to the kind of training , the kind of upbringing you know will make them responsible people for the future. But it is your God-given responsibility to be patient with these children and to have special love and care for them, so that they will not become wayward”.
He emphasised that the role of caring for the children should not be the sole responsibility of their biological parents, but that of every Catholic Christian, saying that “every Christian parent, every Christian father, mother, every Catholic parent is a mother, a father, a parent to whoever child you come across. The child’s wellbeing, welfare must be priority number one for you, even though that child may not be your biological child”.
The Bishop further admonished the Christians to prioritize the education of their children and live exemplary lives that could attract the children to respond to God’s call in the Religious and Priestly Vocations that the Church has always prayed for, and not just pray by words of mouth. And as parents and adults, that they are, they should be concerned about the kind of conversations, talks and activities they engage themselves in, conscious of the fact that the children are watching them and learning from them.
“Ask yourself, what kind of legacy am I leaving behind for these children? When anything happens to these children; when their names are mentioned, can I stand out with pride to say that yes, I am also associated with this child because of his or her success?” the Bishop challenged.
“It is only the Word of God that can touch us, the Word of God that can shape our thinking, our hearts, our lives, to be able to do what the Lord is asking us to do for our children,” he underpinned.
Alluding to the Virgin Mary, who according to Scripture is Blessed because she heard the Word of God and kept it in her heart, his Lordship prayed that “Blessed are you today if you listen to the Word of God and take every child you meet as your own child, as your God given gift, to be able to cater for this child , to be able to help this child to be a responsible Christian and responsible catholic and also open his or her heart to accept whatever plan or task the Lord has for him or her”.
“As we gather with our children to celebrate with them and to pray with and for them, let us also ask the Lord to give us the strength, the courage and the desire always to put the need and the good of our children as priority number one,” the Bishop said.
He added that as Catholic mothers and fathers, the Christians might see every child as one entrusted to them by God and help them grow up to know, fear, love and serve God.
For all Catholic parents/guardians, the Bishop prayed that “God will bless the work of our hands, that what we spend on our children, may never be in vain, but the Lord Himself will make it bear fruits abundantly”.
Reflecting on the First Reading of the day (Rev.11:4-12), the prelate drew the attention of the faithful to the message that like the two people symbolized in a lampstand, anyone who wants to keep faith in Christ will also face difficulties and persecutions.
“They will disturb you, mock you, laugh at you, but stand firm. At the end, the very people who are persecuting you, who laugh at you, mock at you will be the losers,” he said, adding that as men and women of faith, as believers, the life of a Christian is not different from the life of Jesus Christ whom they follow.
The Bishop further reminded the Christians that just as Jesus went through a hell of troubles, in his lifetime, but kept faith and was even prepared to die a humiliating death; to die as a loser on the Cross, so it is for every Christian who wants to be faithful. This, he explained, is because of the belief that “our life in this world is only a transition; we have a true home with God in heaven where we shall live eternally with him after our Resurrection”.
And reflecting further on the Gospel of Luke 20:27-40 on the question of which of the seven husbands will be considered the rightful one to the woman at the Resurrection since all were once married to her, the Chief Shepherd explained that “yes there is Resurrection and there will be Resurrection, but to talk about marriage after the Resurrection, you are completely mistaken, because we enter the Resurrection with a transformed life, a new life, a completely different life. In the Resurrection, we do not marry and we are not given in to marriage, because all those who rise to new life become children of God and they are like the angels”.
“We don’t carry with us the same kind of life and activities we performed in our lifetime into the new life with God in eternal glory. After the Resurrection we all become sons and daughter of God, brothers and Sisters of one another and we cannot marry each other. Our bodies are transformed to become the spiritual bodies of Jesus Christ himself and we are not given into marriage and we don’t marry,” he added.
The homilist accentuated that if Christians could truly understand what it means to be with the Risen Lord in His glory, they will not be looking forward to meeting a beautiful woman or a handsome man to marry after death, as in the case of the Sadducees; for, such concerns, desires and preoccupations belong to this life; not the life of eternity.
He, however, noted that the kind of life Christians live here on earth would tell if they are indeed fit for the new life they are looking forward to.
By Sr. Sylvie Lum Cho, MSHR (DEPSOCOM, Donkorkrom Apostolic Vicariate)
