Next week, from August 7-14, the Church in Australia will celebrate National Vocations Awareness Week, a time to shine a spotlight on how we choose to respond to God’s call in our life.

We all have a vocation – that is a path to knowing, loving and serving God in our life. Whether it be marriage or single life or a vocation to priestly or religious life, each vocation, given to us by God, is precious and to be valued.

In the Divine Word Missionaries we are blessed to have a formation house full of young men from a range of different countries who are pursuing their vocational discernment towards vowed religious life, and in most cases, priesthood.

What a blessing this is in the life of our Society! To see young men still answering the call to serve God in this way is a shot in the arm for those of us further along the vocational track. Their youth, enthusiasm and missionary zeal brings fresh energy and renewed commitment to us all.

At the other end of the scale, we are also blessed to have a strong seniors community within our SVD Province. These men have decades of missionary life behind them and continue to live with missionary spirit in their retirement. To listen to their stories of missionary life in the highlands of PNG, sometimes in places only accessible by days of walking and crossing rivers, is to be transported to another time and place. To see them still placing their vocational gifts at the service of others, even in retirement, is even more inspirational.

Recently, our seminarians have begun regular visits to SVD parishes, where they share their vocation story and spend time with the youth. It is our prayer that by sharing their stories and encouraging genuine encounter, these visits will help more young people from across our Province to discern a call to vowed missionary life and “come and see” what it’s all about.

Finally, all vocations are nourished in the family and strong marriages are the bedrock of nurturing the Christian life in young people. Please join is this Vocations Week in praying for families, that through their love, faith and example they would not only nurture their own beautiful vocation but create fertile soil for all vocations.

Yours in the Word,

Fr Asaeli Rass SVD

Provincial.