Rev Fr. Ignatius Ayivor preaching

The Parish Priest of the St. Augustine Catholic Church, Ashaiman, Rev Fr. Ignatius Ayivor has appealed to health personnel to be more sensitive to the plight of their clients.

He observed that since they were most of the time surrounded by the sick, there was the tendency to get used to it and would not treat their calls for help with the urgency it deserved.

Rev Fr. Ayivor said this during his homily at a Unity Mass by the church on the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time in the Year where the Gospel reading talked about the Richman and a Poorman called Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31.

He said the reading was to arouse in everyone a sense of duty to the less fortunate and also have regard for God and humans.

He said just like the Richman neglected the Poor man Lazarus although he knew he was suffering and needed help he closed his ears and eyes to his calls for help pointing out that some health personnel also did same to their clients which was not good enough.

The Catholic Priest said it was sad that sometimes patients were even rushed to the Consultating Rooms because of the huge number of clients waiting to be served which in some cases even compromised the quality of the services delivered to them.

He said much as the job became challenging sometimes,  they should not lose sight of the fact that they were supposed to feel for their patients.

He said even as religious persons, they were equally placed to help people in need because they were always hearing about the troubles of others but that should rather make them do their best to ease their pain.

The Parish Priest said it was important for Christians to make it a priority to share time, money, energy, knowledge or anything they had with the poor but sadly “others don’t do so to alleviate their suffering instead they use that to exploit them.”

He stated that all some people needed was a listening ear, prayers, food and visits at hospitals, prisons, among others to make them feel loved but it was unfortunate that many had become too busy to do so or put themselves in a certain class that had made them unapproachable.

He said whether a person was rich or poor, they were equal before God and so there was no point to look down on others and advised the parishioners to be respectful to all persons, smile and be sensitive to the needs of all persons.

From Dzifa Tetteh Tay, Ashaiman.