“God has chosen you” – SVD Provincial urges faithful, religious to embrace holiness

Nkwatia, Ghana –  Provincial Superior of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) Ghana-Liberia Province, Very Rev. Fr. Cyprain Kuupol, has called on newly professed SVD members as well as the faithful to embrace holiness and remain committed to it as well as God’s missionary mandate.

In a homily delivered during the profession of vows of 11 Norvices at St. Peter’s SHS Chapel in Nkwatia, in the Eastern Region of Ghana on Monday, Fr. Kuupol noted that consecration is not only for religious but for all baptised Christians. “God has consecrated all of us. God has declared us holy,” he declared, urging the congregation to strive daily to remain in that holiness.

Fr. Kuupol said that while all the baptised are set apart for God, some are called to live a radical form of consecration. “It is not because those people are more intelligent or more beautiful or handsome. God chooses whom He wants,” he said.

Addressing the eleven young men from across Africa who had just professed their first vows in the Society of the Divine Word, the Provincial Superior likened their calling to that of the prophet Jeremiah: “Before you were even born, I already chose you. In your mother’s womb, I had you in mind.”

“If you are talking about intelligence, you are not the best. If you are talking about holiness, you are not the best. If you are talking about wisdom, you are not the best. But God has chosen you. He wants to use you,” Fr. Kuupol told the newly professed.

He urged them to remain grounded in the Word of God and to bear witness to Christ through their lives and mission. “Let the Scripture be part and parcel of your life. Make anyone who comes into contact with you experience the Divine Word,” he said.

Drawing from the writings of St. Paul, he stressed the importance of humility and transformation: “What matters is that I become a new creation… Let what is in the heart be seen outside.”

Fr. Kuupol concluded with a threefold reminder from God’s words to Jeremiah: “I will send you. Whatever I command you, you shall speak. I am always there to protect you.”

He also encouraged the families of the newly professed to continue supporting their sons in this new journey: “It is not your commitment. It is their commitment. Let us allow them to live their lives.”