Priesthood is Living Life of “total self-denial”: Ghanaian Prelate at Ordination

He noted that not even Jesus Christ took honor of the High Priest upon himself but was glorified by God himself.

“Like Elisha, the Lord Jesus is calling you to follow Him unreservedly leaving every security of life, even family ties and expectations in order to be fit for the Kingdom of God,” the 70-year-old Ghanaian Prelate told the Deacons he was about to ordain as Priests.

At the September 19 ordination Mass witnessed by the Clergy and selected few lay faithful with the strict observance of COVID-19 protocols of social distancing, the Local Ordinary of Ghana’s Cape Coast Archdiocese underscored the need for older and senior Priests of the Archdiocese of Accra to offer support to the young men who have availed themselves to be ordained to the Priesthood.

“My older Priests, may you be good examples for these young ones just like Elijah was to Elisha. Be ready to give them even your clothes and teach them to listen to God only and to look up to Him only,” he counselled.

In his ordination sermon, Archbishop Palmer-Buckle who doubles as the Vice President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) added that “as elder brothers in the priesthood, you must lead these young ones to understand God in the difficulties of their lives and to follow Him selflessly. May you never be a source of scandal for these young ones.”

The Prelate urged the Priests-to-be, “Never forget that God is in control and He is good all the time. Even in COVID-19 times, God is good.”

“Take time to meditate upon this COVID-19 and like Jesus Christ with tears, prayers and supplications, learn to be obedient, Christ-like, selfless and self-denial. Only this way will you also be perfect and become a source of eternal salvation in Christ Jesus in your priestly Ministry and be fit for the Kingdom of God,” the Ghanaian Prelate who was ordained a Bishop in January 1993 advised.

He stressed that the call to Priesthood was also “a call to obedience, simplicity and poverty.”

“By this we know how to do with the little and to share with the little. It is a call to greater charity and pastoral attention,” Archbishop Palmer-Buckle who served as the Local Ordinary of Accra Archdiocese from March 2005 to March 2019 told the Deacons who was about to ordain as Priests for Accra Archdiocese.

Earlier, during the ordination of 13 Deacons to the Priesthood for the Archdiocese of Cape Coast on September 12, Archbishop Palmer-Buckle reminded the candidates that the holy Priesthood is totally gratuitous and undeserving.

“No one takes this honor upon himself but only when called by God,” he said.

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In his homily at the ordination Mass at St. Teresa Minor Seminary at Amisano, Archbishop Palmer-Buckle encouraged the candidates to the Priesthood to make every effort to live in Christ-like selflessness and self-denial by giving up on worldly expectations.

“To follow Christ in the priesthood, you must be ready to follow Him in the evangelical counsels of obedience, poverty and chastity,” the Prelate urged at the ordination Mass where Archbishop Matthias Nketsiah, Emeritus Archbishop of Cape-Coast was in attendance.

He further entreated the lay faithful including the families of those he was about to ordain as Priests to give prayerful support to the new Priests as they embark on their journey of service to the people of God.

“Do not become for these young men the stone of scandal and the obstacle of their becoming fit for the Kingdom of God,” the Ghanaian Prelate cautioned.