The SVD Australia Province celebrated Good Shepherd Sunday – World Day of Prayer for Vocations by launching a new suite of vocations materials, urging young people to begin a dialogue with God about where their life is going.
Vocations Director, Fr Joe Jacob SVD, said the new brochures, posters and social media materials helped explain what a vocation is and also issued an invitation to consider life as a Divine Word Missionary.
Christ is risen! He is truly risen! Alleluia!
Today’s Gospel, on this very special day, takes us to the morning of the first day of the renewed creation. It is not merely the dawn of another ordinary day, but the beginning of a wholly new era, of a reality transformed by the victory of life over death, said the Society of the Divine Word's Superior-General, Fr Anselmo Ribeiro SVD in his Easter Sunday homily.
There is a beautiful song often sung by the Tiwi people: “Holy Spirit in this land, reach out and touch us as you can, from the high, high mountains to the deep, deep valley, Holy Spirit in this land.”
These words truly capture my experience of God’s presence in the sacred land of the Tiwi Islands. Over the past three and a half years of my ministry, I have been deeply blessed to witness the love of God alive among the Tiwi people and to experience how the Spirit moves gently yet powerfully in their lives, in simplicity and sincerity, writes Fr Niran Veigas SVD.
Happy Easter! As you receive this edition of In the Word, we are midway through the Easter season, with our Sunday gospel readings highlighting the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus and the joy this brings to his followers.
The empty tomb reminds us that God’s power brings new life and endless hope and, here in the SVD Australia Province, we are experiencing this with a range of new missionary assignments and new initiatives to support confreres in their missionary life.
A seminarian from China has arrived at the SVD’s Dorish Maru College in Melbourne to undertake Theology studies and complete his formation for priesthood.
Ling Shuang Niu (Francis), who arrived earlier this month, will first engage in English language studies as he begins the journey of learning the Australian way of life.
Two young SVD seminarians have arrived in Australia to begin their Overseas Training Program, spending time in several ministries of the Divine Word Missionaries in the Province to deepen their lived experience of missionary life.
Yulles Vitoria is from Brazil and Felix Infant is from India and both have arrived at the SVD’s formation house, Dorish Maru College in Melbourne, looking forward to being immersed in new cultures, languages and missions.
Fr Satheesh Voora SVD has arrived in Wellington, New Zealand to take up his first overseas missionary assignment, following his recent ordination in India.
He said his arrival in the Australia Province has been met with warm hospitality from both SVD confreres and the parishioners of the Te Awakairangi Parish in Lower Hutt, to which he has been assigned as assistant priest.
Today is a very meaningful Sunday for me, as I have just begun my first mission here in this parish. I am still learning your names, your stories, and the life of this community. Thank you very much for your kindness and warm welcome.
The gospel for this week, which is pretty long, is about knowing who Jesus is from the efforts of the woman at the well. And as we read along the gospel, we will learn that the woman at the well slowly discovered who Jesus was - from a Jew, to a prophet and then a Saviour.
If one single word is used to describe the foundation upon which the whole Christian life is based, it is HOPE. Hope is the main theme running throughout the heart of the Bible, from Genesis down to Revelation.
