Let us give thanks to God for his priceless gift

My dear Brothers and Sisters,

January each year marks not only the beginning of a new year but also the beginning of many new administrations in the Marshallan Order. I wish to use this medium to welcome into office and congratulate all new administrations and to thank out gone administrations for their contribution to the progress, stability and image of the Noble Order. To those doing a two-year term and so are still in office, please accept my thanks as well. I look forward to meeting you all in Kumasi in February.

Pope Benedict XVI has proclaimed the period of June 2008 to July 2009 as the Year of St Paul. By that proclamation, the Pope urged all Catholics to focus on the teachings of this great Apostle as part of their formation to becoming real sons and daughters of God. Beginning this January, I shall in my letters to you, draw attention to portions of St Paul’s letters for our reflection at meetings. May I also request all Councils and Courts and their Chaplains to as much as possible base the themes for their spiritual reflections at meetings and retreats during this period on the teachings of St Paul. In view of this, I have chosen for our reflection in this month’s letter, the above quotation from 2Cor.9:15.

Looking back on the year just ended, I am sure many would agree on the numerous priceless gifts God bestowed on us and for which we need to thank Him profusely. If we were to reflect on our activities during the past year in each Council and Court, I am sure we would find many reasons to agree with St. Paul. At the Supreme Council and Grand Court levels, we had very successful meetings including the Re-union Conference without incident. That for example, is one very good reason for thanking God.

In my introduction to the Grand Lady’s Christmas message, I prayed that this New Year will be filled with the Lord’s blessings upon your marriages and family lives, businesses and economic activities, community and social relations, religious vocations and Marshallan activities. In all these areas of your lives, I am sure you can count many blessings and gifts received from God in the last year for which you must thank Him.

A few times during the last year, the Noble Order issued statements of appeal to members of our fraternity and Ghanaians in general to pray to God for peaceful elections in December 2008. When I had the privilege of meeting with His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI during our pilgrimage to Rome in October 2008, I presented him with a miniature flag of Ghana and asked him to pray for our dear nation which was preparing for elections. The Pope smiled back at me and asked if I was referring to Ghana in Africa? Though he said nothing more, the smile and question was significant, knowing Africa’s election history. Our elections have come and gone and but for a few isolated incidents, our country is still intact. Have we thanked God enough for listening to our prayers and I believe that of the Pope, for the priceless gift of peace to our country?

Perhaps the most priceless gift that God has given mankind beyond life itself and for which we must be ever grateful is this gift that we celebrate every Christmas. God promised this gift through Isaiah, 700 years before its fulfilment, to reconcile mankind to Him. Since the fulfilment of the promise, the “Priceless Gift” of “the Emmanuel” has been with us for over 2000 years. Scripture is clear that to get the full benefit of this Gift, mankind must not only receive Him with our lips but believe in Him and confess Him to others. Human as we are, we receive and celebrated the Gift every year but only with our lips and not our hearts. Is it any wonder therefore that for many of us, instead of love, hope, joy and peace being our portion, malice, grudge, vindictiveness and revengefulness is what resides in us?

As we enter this New Year, let us resolve to make it a habit to give thanks to God for the gifts we so freely receive from Him. But even more importantly, let us share them with others especially those who have no way of reciprocating such gestures except to say “thank you”. By so doing, “you will not only meet the needs of God’s people but also produce an outpouring of gratitude to God” (2 Cor.9:12.)

Let us continually give thanks to God for his priceless gifts.. Happy New Year!

Yours fraternally,
SIR KT BRO EDDIE PRAH)
(SUPREME KNIGHT)

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