Father Joeker

By Fr Joseph Panabang SVD

We were bringing a woman in labor to Sekesua Clinic around 3:00 in the morning. The woman was writhing in pain shouting, ‘Eyoo, eyoo, eyoo’, the cry of Krobo women when in that situation. ‘That is what you get for tempting Adam. Just beat your husband sitting on your left’, I said teasingly. ‘For getting you in trouble,’ added Joseph Kweku-Duah, our catechist. 

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At the annual Marian pilgrimage in Osonson, my new parish, a woman came for confession. She was nervous and I observed at the end of every sentence, she would stamp the ground with her left foot. Finally she finished what seemed to her an ordeal. Advising her, I said, ‘When temptation comes, kick it!’ At the same time I kicked the ground with my left foot, imitating her; ‘when it comes again, stamp on it!’ I stamped the ground again with my left foot; ‘if it still comes, trample on it!’ Again I trampled the ground with my left foot. With my gradually louder voice and stronger stamping, she smiled but understood, while the penitents waiting in line must have been wondering what the kicking and stamping were all about.