Dear Friends,

One of the wonderful things about our SVD AUS Province is that we are blessed to have young men from all over the world completing their formation at Dorish Maru College in Melbourne.

This constant influx of youth and energy keeps us young as a Province and their energy spills over into many aspects of our lives and ministry.

Next week the Church in Australia will celebrate National Vocations Awareness Week and we look forward to joining in those celebrations.

We will give thanks for the vocations that God has given to the Divine Word Missionaries and pray that we might attract more young men to explore the possibility of vowed religious life in the SVD.

But we will also be praying for all vocations – not just to priesthood and religious life – but to marriage and the single life as well.

It is well documented that where the vocation to marriage and family life is thriving, so too are vocations to priestly and religious life. It is like a circle of love and self-giving. Marriage is under a lot of pressure in our world today and needs all the support it can get. We give thanks to the many lay partners and friends who share the fruits of their married love with us who have chosen religious life and we hope we can be a support to them as well. People called to single life also need our love and support. Sometimes they have chosen to remain single, but sometimes the choice has not been theirs. Their generosity and freedom to share God’s loving kindness with those around them is a precious gift. Each vocation brings with it both opportunities for love and sacrifice. They are intertwined and indeed, love and sacrifice are two faces of the one reality.

Our vocation is really about listening to God and letting him call us and lead us forward in the state of life that allows us to love God and love people in the fullest way we can. How best can we serve this call in our own life?

Yours in the Word,

Fr Asaeli Rass SVD,

Provincial.