“In the beginning was the Word…And the Word became flesh and pitched His tent among us and we saw His glory… full of grace and truth” (John 1: 1-14)
1. Greetings
The Peace and Joy of the Christmas event, in which we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, Saviour and King, the Word made flesh, who incarnates the everlasting Love of God, be with you!
2. Introduction
A few days ago the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) through its President, Most Rev. Matthew Kwesi Gyamfi, Bishop of Sunyani Diocese, shared with us their Christmas and New Year message with a rallying call to peaceful living, unity, goodwill and hope amidst the challenging times in which we live.
We, the Conference of Major Superiors of Consecrated Persons in the Catholic Church would like to add our voices to that of our chief shepherds. We wish to re-echo the message of hope which Christmas brings and so doing rekindle in each one of you – Consecrated persons, baptised Christians, people of faith, and all persons of goodwill – the joy which only the birth of Christ brings.
3. The Christmas message
“Joy to the world, a Saviour has been born,” said the angel to the Shepherds on the night of Christmas (cf. Luke 2:10). The Christmas event is full of drama and contrast. While it brings us Good News of great joy in celebrating the birth of a new-born child, the gift of family life, of motherhood and fatherhood, and hope in a new beginning, the surrounding context of harsh realities of human existence cannot be overlooked in the midst of festivities:
- The vulnerability of the baby and mother in the manger, which reminds us of all the associated complications we still witness as a nation where giving birth has become moments of life and death for mother and child.
- 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.
- The reality of homeless children and families who find no place in the Inn of our motherland Ghana.
- 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.
- The sad reality of human trafficking and abuse of our 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. They are our own realities too. Yet we cannot but re-echo the song of the angelic host, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth Peace to those on whom his favour rests” (Luke 2:14). 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” (cf. Luke 2: 10-11).
4. Christmas – The Hope of a New beginning
The birth of Christ inaugurates the hope of a new beginning, a new era. For “in the beginning was the Word… through Him all things were made” (John 1:1-3). It is no coincidence therefore that Christmas is celebrated at the time of the year when the sun overcomes the longest night in the year, for “in Him is life and the life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1: 4-5).
As we celebrate Christmas this year and enter into the year 2023, let us think of a new beginning as a nation, as a people, as a family and as individuals. The Year 2023 will mark the 66th anniversary of our Independence as a nation and 31st anniversary of the 4th Republic. A nation flowing with milk and honey, with all the natural resources any nation could dream to have. Yet ours is a history filled with dashed hopes and shattered dreams, many false starts and broken promises. Like John the Baptist, we ask once again “Are you the one who is to come or should we expect someone else” (Matthew 11:3). The bitter antagonism that has characterised our political history and development agenda since independence has not led us too far. It only continues to divide the country into “for” and “against” camps. Meanwhile, the resultant effect of what we can call “one step-forward two steps-backward development” affects us all.
Our current economic hardship offers us a favourable occasion to start afresh, to beginning anew, to create new opportunities and to rekindle new dreams and fresh hopes. The Word who was in the beginning has taken flesh and pitched his tent among us.
- It is time to look within, to dig deep into our local resources and indigenous knowledge and expertise to create new economic structures and political systems.
- This Christmas is the time to shun our appetite for foreign goods and promote a taste for local ones. The Black star of Africa must shine again!
- It is time for a new mentality switch and aptitude upgrade: that we are capable of the best, we deserve the best, and we can create the best.
- It is time to shun mediocrity and champion Excellence, to put the common good above partisan interest, to rebuild the Ghana we all want.
- It is time for a new beginning in the Spirit of the Word made flesh who was in the beginning, and who is Life and Truth. Let our religiosity count!
- It is Christmas, a time to hope again!
- Its Christmas, let’s start anew
The Christmas hope is something we have and still wait for with patience. As St. Paul says “For we must be content to hope that we shall be saved…it is something we must hope for with patience” (Romans 8: 24-25). This hope, which is made visible in “the child wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:12), “the Emmanuel, God with us” (Matthew 1:23), calls us to work tirelessly and courageously, in the power of the Spirit to make the kingdom come. “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity but of power, of love and of sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). “Behold I am making all things new”! (Rev. 21:5).
May the Joy of Christmas and the Hope of a new beginning fill your hearts and our nation! May the New Year 2023 engender a new life of truth and prosperity in our motherland!
Rev. Fr. (Dr.) Paul Saa-Dade Ennin SMA
President, Conference of Major Superiors Religious -Ghana
