WORDS FROM FATHER YOHANES: Growing Through Guidance

By Father Yohanes Akoit

Every one of us experiences moments of weakness and vulnerability. It happens in many ways and often repeatedly. For some, it may happen through their physical health. They experience a series of sicknesses, one coming after the other. For others, it happens in the form of communication; they live as family members, but each one follows their own interests. In different expe-riences, some may undergo split concentration; they prepare well to attend mass, but once the celebration starts, they are still thinking about another matter. Still, we can describe many more moments of weakness we face in life.

All the examples above explain that we cannot fully control our being and the environment around us. Sometimes, due to that weakness, we make a promise and commit to battle against our bad tendencies. But when vulnerabilities appear on the surface and we fail to keep our commitment, we mostly say, “Next time I will not fall again.” This is the portrait of shortcoming. We have a positive desire for a better future, but our commitment is weak and our memory is short. That is why any resolution we make, we too easily break. And when we break the oath, we regret it so much. So, even though time may push us forward, our mind and feelings are still jailed by our failure. As a result, we become imbalanced in doing our mission. We are like living in a recurrent cycle: making oaths, breaking them, and planning to take up commitment again. This tendency even happens in areas of life where we believe we can handle it.

Let us say we make a decision with complete knowledge, out of good intention and sincere motivation: “Every Sunday I will go to church without fail.” But as time goes on, there are times we skip Sunday Mass several times. This small example shows that, no matter how hard we strive, our decisions and good intentions are often limited by our human condition. Life reminds us re-peatedly that we are not fully self-sufficient. This fragility is part of being human, showing that we depend on guidance, support, and care from others to grow and fulfill our responsibilities. That guidance must authoritatively come from an element that overshadows our weakness. Only then will it cover our entirety.

Saint Joseph offers a clear example of how a human being can respond faithfully to the difficult situation and overcoming the tendency to break the oath (Mat 1: 18-24). When he discovers that Mary is with child before they live together, he is faced with a confusing and difficult situation. At first, he chooses a path that is to break his commitment: to separate quietly from Mary. Actually, his decision reflects moral goodness, but it is still limited by human understanding. Joseph is not left alone in his struggle. God intervenes through an angel’s message in a dream, giving him guidance to see the truth and act rightly. This divine guidance does not take away Joseph’s freedom. He wakes and obeys, doing exactly what the Lord commands. His obedience is free, faithful, and fully responsible. From this story, we learn that human beings grow spiritually not by standing alone, but by accepting guidance and care. Dependence is not a weakness; it is a condition through which we can develop our abilities and fulfill our responsibilities. Like Joseph, we are called to trust in God’s direction, allowing ourselves to be guided so that our actions align with what is good, true, and just. Saint Joseph stands as a model of how vulnerability, guidance, and faithful obedience come together. Our human frailty finds its purpose when it opens us to divine care, showing that true freedom is realized not in isolation, but in dependence, trust, and responsiveness to God’s will.

Father Yohanes Akoit is pastor of St. Julian and St. Anthony Catholic churches in Kentucky.