Every Fourth Sunday of Easter, Mother Church celebrates Vocation Sunday, also known as the Good Shepherd Sunday, which occurred this year on April 21, 2024.
The Parish Vocation Group which through the initiative of the Parish Vocation Team was inaugurated on Vocation Sunday, May 8, 2022 by Rev. Fr. Emil Setsoafia, SVD, former Cathedral Administrator of St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, Donkorkrom marked the Vocation Sunday of this year with some spiritual activities.
The Vocation group coordinated by Sr. Sylvie Lum Cho, Vocation Directress for the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary (MSHR) in Ghana, dramatised the Call of Samuel (1Samuel 3:1-10), and together with all the Religious present, they sang a song for Vocations: ‘Hark the Voice of Jesus Calling’ before the Christian faithful, as a way of encouraging the young people to answer God’s call and also for parents and guardians to play the “Eli” role in the lives of their children.
There were also special intercessory prayers for Vocations, especially into the Priesthood and Religious Life.
The Mass for this special Sunday for Vocations was celebrated by Rev. Fr. Vincent Amuzu-Asafo, SVD, Bishop’s Secretary and assistant to the Cathedral Administrator of St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, Donkorkrom Apostolic Vicariate.
In his homily, Fr. Amuzu-Asafo underlined the role of a shepherd as one who guides, leads protects, supports, strengthens and eventually lays down his life for his sheep, as Christ himself amplifies in the gospel of the day by saying that he will lay down his life for his sheep.
The preacher charged the Faithful to lay down their lives for their brothers and sisters after the example of Christ – “In our response to a particular vocation that we embrace, God invites us also to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters’’.
When we respond to a call (vocation), he continued, “we are accepting to be shepherds, and if we accept the shepherd role, then it demands that we make sacrifices for those we have accepted to guide, lead support and be examples to.”
Fr. Amuzu-Asafo called on each and every one to take the opportunity of the Vocation Sunday to reflect on their vocations again, bearing in mind that a true shepherd makes sacrifices for his/her sheep.
Still in the spirit of Vocation Sunday, Rev. Fr. Felix Awaitey, the Vocation Director for Donkorkrom Apostolic Vicariate, in two Masses celebrated in two different Stations under St. Cecilia Parish Forifori, led the faithful in a Prayer for Vocations.
He also made a passionate appeal to parents and relatives to consider it an honour if one of their children is called by God to serve in His vineyard.
By: DEPSOCOM , Apostolic Vicariate of Donkorkrom
