BEREKUM, Oct. 3, 2026: Bernice Kyeraa Asante, Esther Maanu, Bernice Sarpomaa and Jennifer Yeboah made their First Profession of Vows today at St. Theresa of Avila Catholic Church, Berekum. The Most Rev. Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi, Bishop of Sunyani, presided. Many priests and religious men and women working in the Diocese attended, and the candidates’ families came from Brodi, Seikwa and Badu to stand with their daughters.

The Bishop’s Homily

Bishop Gyamfi began with the parents rather than the Sisters. He took his text from the Prophet Micah (6:6-8), who asks what offering the Lord could possibly desire, and whether a father should give his firstborn. The Bishop said that question has been answered in flesh and blood by the families sitting before him.

He walked through Scripture’s great givers. Abraham found it hard to part with Isaac, and Jephthah in the Book of Judges gave up his daughter. Zechariah and Elizabeth offered their only son, John, and Hannah and Elkanah gave Samuel, who became a prophet. Hannah and Elkanah had other children as well, he noted, but their names have been lost. What history remembers is the child given to God. “It is not common,” he said, “because it is not easy.”

“You are just like God, because you have offered your daughters.“

— Most Rev. Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi

He said they deserve the Church’s praise and thanks, and that not every family is able to do what they have done. His counsel to them was practical. They should give their daughters fully, he said, and not with a divided heart. God deserves a whole sacrifice, as Isaac was a whole sacrifice, and not a half-hearted one.

They should support the Sisters with prayer, because a religious does her most important work where the eye cannot follow. She may teach, nurse or serve in other ways, and others do the same things, but her way of doing them is different and holy. He also offered consolation. God has never abandoned those who give to him, he said, and the grandchildren these parents may never hold will come back to them as other blessings. These daughters will be a mother and a sister to many.

Serve Joyfully

Turning to the Sisters, the Bishop took up St. Paul’s counsel to rejoice always. The Lord loves a cheerful giver, he said, and the work of a religious is more than saying yes and following him. It is giving oneself with joy. The quality of a consecrated life depends on the one who lives the vows, and on whether she lives them with commitment and cheerfulness.

To make the point he turned to Cain and Abel. Both of them sacrificed, but only one was accepted. Cain gave reluctantly, without rejoicing. Abel gave the best he had, trusting that the Lord would receive it. “You may work,” the Bishop said, “but what is the spirit behind what you do?”

He asked the Sisters to examine whether they live as true religious. Many people keep the law correctly, he said, but the one who keeps it sincerely, joyfully, devoutly and with commitment is the one the Lord loves. He added that a person can be consecrated and still unhappy, and that peace is another word for cheerfulness.

Remain in the Lord

From the Gospel of John (15:1-8), the Bishop drew the homily’s last movement. Jesus told his disciples they were already clean because of the word he had spoken to them, and that apart from him there is no fruit. “Remain in me,” the Lord says. The Bishop asked whether the Sisters, when they pray, truly meet the Lord or simply pray because prayer is required of them. He urged them to be sincere and to follow the Lord and not the crowd.

He closed on a note of affection. “We are proud of you, but also jealous of you,” he said. Many beautiful and wise women live in the world, but the Lord has called these four. He calls hundreds, he said, and they are among them. Whoever remains in the Lord, he concluded, becomes a firm branch, and bearing fruit.