“God’s mission is our mission.  His life, our life.” That’s the message that the SVD shared with more than 5500 young people attending the Australian Catholic Youth Festival (ACYF) in Perth this month.

The Divine Word Missionaries had a stall at the Festival’s ‘Encounter Expo’, where they shared the SVD charism with youth who dropped in to visit. A number of SVD parishes and chaplaincies also took groups of their young people to experience the big faith gathering which had the theme: ‘Listen to what the Spirit is saying’.

While at Sydney University in the late sixties, I belonged to the Catholic Bushwalking Club. Groups of us would go for day walks and weekend camping in the Blue Mountains, this being a well-known mountain range west of Sydney. There were a number of Columban Missionary priests who were also present on these different walks and camping weekends.

When I finished my studies in Geology, I applied and was accepted to work for a mining company in Queensland. However at the same time that career seemed less and less appealing. One time when I was on a Bushwalking camping trip I experienced a calling to follow Jesus as a priest.

“I am a sinner,” said the newly appointed Pope responding to his first interview. By the same token in introducing myself to the AUS province, I will take on Pope Francis’s words and proclaim that I too, first and foremost, am a sinner.

To see me and to understand my physical, emotional, spiritual, and psychological make-up, one has to look through that lens. It is inseparable to my being. It took me 27 years to actually scratch the surface of that truth. Of course, three years of vows were momentous for my understanding.

I am most thankful for the Lord’s steadfast love in my life. He has led and guided the journey of my vocation, and strengthened me to be able to walk this special path. God holds me up when I experience difficult times. I am blessed in my vocation by the joy of his great love. He has always been with me in my journey as a seminarian. This teaches me to totally surrender to God, and understand that being a religious missionary is such a huge blessing for me.