My dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Today, we celebrate the fourth Sunday of Advent. Today's Gospel invites us to concentrate on the figure of Mother Mary.

The theme of our SVD's 19th General Chapter and its reflections clearly indicate how missionaries need to deepen their understanding of mission, identity, charism, and spirituality. One aspect is crystal clear: we are called to become a light in the wounded world for oneself and for others.

The Divine Word Missionaries are completing a year with our presence at Tiwi Islands. During this year, it has been a time of reflection, understanding, walking along, appreciating the culture, being with the people in sorrow, and, above all, making the Tiwi people know that we are with them.

Christmas is being celebrated in a range of different ways throughout the SVD Australia Province, but at the centre of it all is the birth of the Christ-child in Bethlehem.

Several parishes across the Province held Christmas carol gatherings, while in others parishioners donated Christmas hampers for those in need, and in poorer parts of the Province, basic food staples were given to parishioners to help them celebrate.

The Divine Word Missionaries have taken up the pastoral care of communities in Daly River in the Northern Territory and Balgo in Western Australia’s remote Kimberley region, in a move which further demonstrates the SVD’s commitment to ministry with indigenous peoples.

Two SVD priests were installed by Darwin Bishop Charles Gauci this month at Daly River in the Northern Territory, while another arrived at Balgo. He will be joined by a second priest in the New Year.

With the help of generous donors and partners in mission, the Divine Word Missionaries have finally taken delivery of a small campervan which will allow the missionaries in Central Australia to stay with outlying Aboriginal communities for longer periods.

Previously, the missionaries have driven hundreds of kilometres to be with the people in those communities, but often, after celebrating Mass or other sacraments, they have to turn around and make the long drive back to Alice Springs again.

Fr Michael Nguyen SVD who has been teaching at the Good Shepherd Seminary in the Archdiocese of Mount Hagen, Papua New Guinea this year, has been appointed Dean of Studies for the next academic year, and says he’s enjoying the “vibrant tapestry” of PNG, a place he now calls home.

Fr Michael, originally from Vietnam, is a member of the SVD Australia Province, working in Mount Hagen Archdiocese at the request of Bishop Douglas Young SVD.

Advent is drawing to a close and as you receive this edition of In the Word in your inbox, the joy of Christmas is just days away.

This Christmas, as we struggle with the reality of significant conflict in our world, the impact of the loss of the Voice Referendum for our indigenous brothers and sisters, the cost-of-living crisis which affects us all, and general exhaustion after a long year, we look more than ever to the coming of the Prince of Peace at Christmas.

How many of us whenever Christmas comes around, can’t wait to open up our gifts? Whenever somebody hands us a gift, we try to shake it, press on it to feel what could this be.\

It’s now the start of another liturgical year. This year is Year B, meaning that most of the gospel readings for Sundays will come from the Gospel according to Mark and also a good number of Sundays will be coming from the Gospel according to John.

As he prepares to farewell his first parish appointment since ordination for further studies in Rome, Fr Clement Baffoe SVD looks back on how his ministry with a parish community in Townsville has changed him.

"As I leave the parish, I leave better than I came in three years ago. I’ve been challenged, encouraged, supported and allowed to grow in every way humanly, spiritually, and pastorally possible," he writes.