The Australian Province of the Society of the Divine Word has celebrated the feast days of the two SVD saints, St Arnold Janssen and St Joseph Freinademetz, with special Masses and social gatherings of confreres, SSpS Sisters, parishioners, lay partners and partners in mission.
St Arnold founded the Society of the Divine Word in September 1875. He later went on to found two orders of Religious Women, the Servant Sisters of the Holy Spirit and the Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration.
His feast day was on January 15, the date of his death in 1909.
On March 2, 1879, the first two SVD missionaries set out for China. One of these was Joseph Freinademetz.
St Joseph, whose feast day is on January 29, stayed for many years in China, during turbulent political and cultural times, and he faced many challenges, but he came to know and love the Chinese people and was loved by them in return.
“I do not consider missionary life as a sacrifice I offer to God, but as the greatest grace that God could ever have lavished upon me,” he said.
The two feast days were celebrated across the Australia Province, from small villages in Thailand to parishes in New Zealand, Myanmar and around Australia, from Balgo in Western Australia to the Tiwi Islands in the north, Central Australia, parishes in Queensland, the Northern Territory, New South Wales and Victoria.
At the Provincial centre in Marsfield, Sydney, the Provincial, Fr Asaeli Rass SVD was chief celebrant at the feast day Mass of St Arnold Janssen, held in the community’s chapel, which was followed by a barbecue and social evening.
He said the Mass followed the special feast day readings set for the day.
“The Feast Day of St Arnold Janssen is a Solemnity for us, for the Society,” Fr Rass said. “And the prayers and readings all reflect the Trinitarian spirituality of the Founder and his missionary charism, with the Gospel taken from the Prologue of St John’s Gospel.”
Fr Rass, who hails from the South Pacific, said that in his homily he compared the Prologue of St John’s Gospel to the Pacific Ocean.
“One of my favourite past-times when I go home to Fiji is to go spear-diving in the clear blue Pacific Ocean. You see so much when you’re down there – beautiful fish and reefs, but the ocean is so deep and wide and massive you can’t ever explore it all,” he said.
“I can get in the water and splash around like a little child, taking what I need and leaving the rest, but at the end, the ocean is still mysterious to me.
“I think the Prologue to St John’s Gospel is like that for me. It holds the deepest truths, explained in the simplest and most beautiful of language.
“You can never reach the depths of it, but it touches on the foundations of our faith, the Doctrine of the Trinity, the Eternal Logos who became flesh, and the light that this brought to the world.”
Fr Rass said that St Arnold nominated the Prologue of St John as one of his favourite Bible passages.
“He took the theology in it and the Trinitarian missionary spirituality and he left that with the three congregations he founded,” he said.
“As SVDs then, this is the origin and purpose of our existence, that this mystery is to be made known to the whole world. And we consider it our duty to proclaim it to all peoples.
“We’re grateful we’ve been handed this heritage and the opportunity to take part in God’s mission.”
In his feast day message, the Superior-General of the SVD, Fr Paul Budi Kleden SVD, said the name, Societas Verbim Divini, “given to us by our founder Arnold Janssen, is a fundamental part of our identity”.
“Rooted in the word, the incarnate word of God, we establish our life’s foundation in Him and cultivate an intimate dialogue with him. And with our roots in him, we become the true messengers of the Gospel, witnesses of the Good News in our wounded world,” he said.
From its modest beginnings in Steyl, the SVD is now one of the largest religious and missionary congregations in the Catholic Church, present on five continents, in 79 countries, 59 Provinces, Regions and Missions and with almost 6000 members (5754) from all over the world.
“As we prepare ourselves for our 19th General Chapter this year and the celebration of the 150th anniversary of our Congregation (in 2025), we are grateful to God for the special gift he has given us in the person of our Founder Arnold Janssen and for the many other blessings we have been receiving,” Fr Budi said.
“Our response to these many blessings, is our commitment to be faithful and creative disciples in this wounded world. With this, we participate in the mission God has entrusted to us.
“Through the intercession of our founder Arnold Janssen, may God bless our missionary endeavours.
“Happy feast day to you all dear confreres, dear SSpS Sisters, SSpSAP Sisters, and dear lay partners.”
IMAGES
TOP RIGHT: St Arnold Janssen SVD
MIDDLE LEFT: St Joseph Freinademetz SVD
BOTTOM RIGHT: Fr Hung Nguyen SVD and parishioners on Bathurst Island sing 'Happy Feast Day' for St Arnold.