Sharing on the theme: “The Year of Hope for Consecrated Men and Women in our Wounded World,” the Very Rev. Fr. Bernard Adjei Appiah, SVD, Administrator of the St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, Donkorkrom has maintained that hope is not a denial of suffering, but the conviction that God is present and working even in man’s brokenness.
He made this statement in a talk delivered to Religious men and women of Donkorkrom Apostolic Vicariate, during the climax of the Jubilee Year for Consecrated Persons, in the Small Chapel at the St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, Donkorkrom.
According to Fr. Adjei, Hope is born from suffering, and our wounded world mirrors the suffering of Christ, who himself entered into human pain on the Cross.
He however noted that when Christ did enter the human pain, he transformed suffering into a path of Resurrection. Hence, “the cross, the sufferings that we bear, the Lord transforms into a path of resurrection”.
To buttress the inevitability of suffering in human life, the speaker drew the attention of his fellow Religious to Romans 5:3-4, where St. Paul outlines that “we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character and character produces hope.
Touching on the peculiarity of Afram Plains where the Religious working there, are by all means brought face-to-face with the wounded world of destruction of the environment through felling of trees for charcoal burning, plastic pollution, teenage pregnancies, among others, Fr. Adjei, who is also the President of the African Religious Union of Ghana (ARUG) upheld that the wounds of this world calls all Consecrated persons not to despair, but to deeper compassion and perseverance.
“In Christ, even the darkest night can give birth to a new dawn. If we trust in Christ, the peculiarity of our situation can give birth to a new dawn in this dark situation,” he underpinned.
Alluding to the Scriptural Good Samaritan who attended to the wounded traveler (Lk.10:30-37), the SVD Priest elucidated that Hope heals. It restores human hearts and renews their faith in God’s plan.
He called on all Religious to be instruments of healing and reconciliation, stating that every act of kindness, forgiveness, and service becomes a seed of hope, planted in the soil of the wounded world.
“Every act of kindness that each and every one of us performs here, becomes a seed of hope planted in the soil of the Vicariate; in the soil of the Afram Plains,” he buttressed.
The Cathedral Administrator encouraged the Religious to continue witnessing to one another in their respective communities, so that others may come to believe that love is stronger than hatred, that peace is still possible, and moreover that there is life in the Afram Plains. He further reminded them that their ultimate goal as people who have been called together by the Holy Spirit, is to give their lives to one another, and to pledge to live a religious life of freedom, in Obedience, Poverty, Chastity and simplicity.
He called on all to reflect on the fact that their lives as Religious, working in the Apostolic Vicariate of Donkorkrom, are not only a call to holiness, but a profound invitation to place their trust in God’s promise; to surrender to His Will and to live in the hope of eternal life, underpinning that hope does not disappoint.
To hm, the Year of Hope comes as a Divine invitation to rediscover God’s faithfulness amidst the wounds of the world, and to hope in Gods promise of renewal.
The year of hope, he added, reminds all consecrated men and women that God is making all things new. That His promises stand firm amidst all uncertainties, as reflected in Rev. 20:5 “This is the hope, we Consecrated People cling to; that the pain of our today will one day give way to the joy of God’s renewal,” he remarked.
Fr. Adjei, further called on the Religious, who are the bearers of hope, not to be passive but to participate actively in building a world rooted in justice, mercy and faith, maintaining that their lives of prayer, service and simplicity proclaims that God’s love endures even when the world faulters, as echoed in the words of Isa 40:31 – “those who hope in the world will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles”.
In the spirit of Hope, the ARUG President invited all Consecrated men and women to lift up their eyes above the chaos and pain of present time, and fix them on Christ, “the source and fulfilment of our hope”.
“In a wounded world, hope becomes our mission. Mission to heal, to rebuild and to believe in God’s promise of a renewed creation. As pilgrims of faith, let us echo the Psalmist cry: “Why are you cast down, my soul? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, my Salvation and my God (Ps.42:11),” he resounded.
“May the Lord be with us, that what He has given to us, that is the soul, we will take good care of it, hope in him, that what is ours, the eternal life, will indeed be ours,” he prayed.
By Fr. Matthew Akakpo and Sr. Sylvie Lum Cho, MSHR (DEPSOCOM – AVD)
