“It was the Superior that sent you to read your Philosophy or Theology. It was your Bishop who made you who you are,” says the Most Rev. John Yaw Afoakwah, Bishop of Obuasi Diocese in Ghana’s Ashanti Region in Takoradi.
In a homily at the Opening Mass of the 45th Annual General Meeting of Catholic Vocation Promoters in Ghana on February 14, he challenged Vocation Directors in Ghana to obey their Leaders, for it is a mark of growth in faith.
The Meeting was held at the St. Kizito Pastoral Centre, Apowa, Diocese of Sekondi-Takoradi, Western Region of Ghana.
Bishop Afoakwah, who is the Episcopal Chairperson for Vocations, Seminaries, Chaplains, underscored that some Priests and Religious do not obey their Superiors who have made them who they are.
“You think you are wiser than your Bishop, you think you are better than your Superior; it was the Superior that sent you to read your philosophy or Theology. It was your bishop who made you who you are. How can you be wiser than him?” he wondered.
The Prelate of the Obuasi Diocese charged the Vocation Directors to work towards overcoming temptations which he defined simply as “refusal to obey instruction” rather than allowing themselves to be mastered by them. 
According to Bishop Afoakwah, Priests and Consecrated Persons must not spend their time finding faults in their Superiors and trying to understand why they must obey their instructions, but should rather do their part by obeying and leave the Superiors and God to handle the consequences.
“If we would want to grow in faith, then accept to obey instructions. If it is bad, God Himself will ‘punish’ your Superior or Bishop. That is the matter between your Superior and God,” he reiterated.
The Episcopal Chair reinforced the need for Priests and Religious to obey the Will of God through their Superiors, stressing that they can’t be happy if their Wills do not synchronize with that of their Superiors.
“When you obey, you become comfortable, you are at peace, you become a happy person, and you do it from the depth of your heart. Subject your Will to the Will of God; to the Will of your Superior, that is all about obedience,” the Bishop maintained.
The Chief Shepherd urged the Priests and Religious in Ghana to try to understand their Church, and they would be peaceful men and women.
Touching on temptations, the Bishop buttressed that apart from the devil who comes subtly and cunningly to tempt and lure humanity into sin, another main source of temptation is the Self; what the Scripture calls ‘flesh’, which includes human cravings, which must be guarded against.
Making reference to 1John 2:15-16, he admonished the Priests and Religious not love the world or the things of the world.
“If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world; sensual lust, enticement from the eyes, and pretentious life is not from the Father, but is from the world,” he told them.
The Prelate reinforced that people are lured into sin either by the lust of the flesh, desires, passion, appetite, pleasure, rather than any tricks of the devil.
“If you can look at what gives you pleasure, you can overcome temptation,” he upheld, adding that if Priests and Religious can be sensitive to such areas in their lives, they can make strides, and it is in such states that they could be more useful in God’s Hands.
He prayed that through the intercession of Saints Cyril and Methodius, whose Feast Day it was on February 14, “God will give us the grace to overcome temptations in our lives”.
By Sr. Sylvie Lum Cho, MSHR (Sister Communicator)
