Happy New Year! I trust that as you receive this edition of In the Word, you are feeling rested and refreshed after a break over the Summer period.

As 2021 begins to unfold, it’s hard not to wonder what is in store for us after all the turmoil of 2020. And yet, our faith tells us it is better to take each day as it comes than to worry about the future.

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells us: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own”.

Certainly we need to prudently plan for the future, but what Jesus doesn’t want us to do is to become anxious about the future. Anxiety can paralyse us and stop us both enjoying today and moving forward in trust and faith.

I often think of our two SVD saints, St Arnold Janssen and St Joseph Freinademetz, whose feast days we celebrate this month.

St Arnold, was dogged in his desire to establish a missionary society to respond to the needs of the world in the late 1800s. Plenty of people told him it wouldn’t work and he should give his idea away, but he stuck with it. He started small and refused to give in to anxiety about the future. He placed the endeavour in God’s hands, invoking especially the Holy Trinity and he detached himself from the outcome. Today, there are SVD missionaries right around the world, carrying on St Arnold’s dream and his legacy, serving the poor and the marginalised and sharing the love of God.

What would have happened if St Arnold had listened to his detractors, become anxious about the future and abandoned his dream? Instead, he moved forward, trusting in God’s guidance and much good has come from it.

The same can be said of St Joseph Freinademetz who was one of the first SVD missionaries. He was sent to China, which in those days was many weeks’ journey and with no real likelihood of ever returning to his home in Europe. He put his faith in God and set off for the unknown, where he worked hard to learn the language, get to know the people and their culture, share his love for Jesus and help them in many ways.

As we begin a new year, let us take heart from our SVD saints and set out into the deep of 2021. Last year showed us that we have no idea what is in store for us, but we can continue to be missionary in our own circumstances. We’ve learned to adapt and be flexible and we’ve learned, once again, to put our trust in God who alone is unchanging.

May God bless you and your family and may the new year bring us all closer to God and to our neighbour, no matter what surprises are in store.

Yours in the Word,

Fr Asaeli Rass SVD

Provincial.