An Early Call – Frt. Joseph Mensah SVD

On the 29^th of August 2017, we set off from Ghana at about 12:15 in the afternoon on an Ethiopian airline to Ethiopia. The aircraft taxied along the ground and then finally took off. Personally I felt it when the plane was about to take off but things came back to normal afterwards. It took us about seven hours in the air before landing in Ethiopia at about 9:30pm in the evening. In Ethiopia, we went through another check in because we were on transit. Again at about 12:00  midnight we took off from Ethiopia and landed in Dublin on Wednesday 30^th of August 2017 at about 5:45am in the morning. We spent nearly thirteen hours in the air before reaching Dublin in Ireland. It was a joyous and remarkable experience but a bit stressful, particularly at the check in.

Once upon a time there was this catholic priest who came to minister in my parish. I was touched deeply and felt as if I should be the one to do the preaching or the proclamation of the word. In fact I saw myself in the priest. It will interest you to know that this experience of mine happened in my early childhood. This burning desire has remained in my heart over the years. The response to this desire landed me in Tamale in the Northern Region of Ghana. In July 2013,through the Divine Word Missionaries, I was admitted to the St Joseph Freinademetz Formation House, Tamale to study philosophy at the St Augustine Millennium Major Seminary, the philosophy campus of St Victor Major Seminary, all in Tamale.

After three years of philosophy, I was accepted to continue the Novitiate program at Nkwatia-Kwahu in the Eastern Region of Ghana for my canonical year from July 2016 to July 2017. The whole of my novitiate year was geared towards helping me to discover my own personal experience of God. In our thirty days retreat in the Novitiate, I came to discover God as a person of love, the Son as the Savior of my life and the Holy Spirit as a person of power. At the end I came to believe that the Holy Triune God is an indispensable source of my Christian ministry now and in the future. I professed my first Vows on the 8^th of July 2017.  After the First Vows, Clement Kwabena  Narcher and myself were sent to Ireland to continue our studies.

My experience in Ireland so far has been good. I am still trying to find my feet and to see what the Lord has for me here too.

May the Holy Triune God live in our heart and in the heart of all people!!!

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• (Photo box): Frt. Joseph with Fr Tim (Provincial) and Frt. Clement.
• Featured photo: Ghana, Chapel in Nsawkaw Parish, Fr. Stanislaw Gergont SVD –
• © Stanislaw Gergont SVD archive. (www.svdphotos.org)