The 65th Autonomous Day of the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus in the Ghana Province, has been celebrated at the HHCJ Novitiate at Nsoatre in the Bono Region of Ghana.
This day celebrated on Saturday, December 28, 2024 also marked the feast of the Holy Innocents.
It is always a family feast for the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus worldwide and it is expected to be celebrated in each Province, Region and Mission Territories of the Congregation.
In a Holy Mass which began the activities of the day, Rev. Fr. Boniface Ameyaw, the Parish Priest of the St. Paul Catholic Church, Nsoatre, asked thought provoking questions in his homily. “How holy are we? And how innocent are we?”
He again asked: “Can we apply the feast we celebrate today to our lives?”
Fr. Ameyaw admonished the Sisters to be holy and innocent in their daily undertakings.
He therefore advised them not be like Herod who had no feelings as to how the parents of the innocent children he killed would feel.
According to him, Herod did all these out of fear of power, thus urged the Sisters to be careful of power, “for absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
“There are many Herods in our mists. We may not have killed physically, but some of us are killing life, killing the initiative of others, killing the foundations laid, we are killing our communities, provinces and the entire congregation,” the Priest emphasized.
“Those of us behaving like Herod need to stop and become holy,” he urged the Sisters.
He indicated that “Because of power, the new born King became a refugee, he said, adding, “Many of us are in Religious Life and are not happy because of our Superiors.”
“We hear or see their calls and our hearts are rising. Many of us are refugees among ourselves, in our own Congregations and in the Christendom,” he pointed out.
Among all these, he stated that “We need the Josephs among us with good hearts, who can protect the innocent ones, the future of the universe. You can be that Joseph, I can be that Joseph to our generation.”
He concluded with a prayer that God would speak to us at all times to flee to protect the innocent.
He prayed that God would fill the Sisters with His peace and love to be able to do what is expected of them as Religious and Christians.
By Sr. Emmanuella Dakurah, HHCJ (Sister Communicator).
