Rev. Fr. (Dr.) Paul Saa-Dade Ennin, SMA, President of the Conference of Major Superiors of Religious- Ghana (CMSRG) has stated that the surrounding context of harsh realities of human existence cannot be overlooked in the midst of the Christmas festivities.
In a Christmas and New Year Message on behalf of the Conference of Major Superiors of Consecrated Persons in the Catholic Church in Ghana issued on December 23, 2022, he said the vulnerability of the baby and mother in the manger, should remind all the associated complications “we still witness as a nation where giving birth has become moments of life and death for mother and child.”
He gave instances and realities which included “The oppressive effects of decrees issued by kings and people in authority on ordinary citizens as occasioned in a pregnant Mary having to leave Nazareth for Bethlehem.”
He also cited the reality of homeless children and families “who find no place in the Inn of our motherland Ghana” and persons who suffer violence and persecution because those in authority feel threatened by their presence as occasioned by the killing of the innocent children by Herod.
Fr. Ennin lamented the sad reality of human trafficking and abuse of young girls who are sent to the Gulf countries and the dangerous road of migration of our youth to non-existent Eldorado in the West as depicted by the fleeing infant Jesus with his father and mother into Egypt.
“These are the realities of the Infant Jesus at his birth,” he noted, saying, “They are our own realities too.”
He re-echoed the song of the angelic host, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth Peace to those on whom his favour rests”. We have hope and assurance from the Angel “not to be afraid”. He who has come to pitch his tent among us is “the Messiah, Christ the Lord”.
