The Divine Word Missionaries joined more than 2000 high schoolers, young adults, youth leaders, teachers, priests and religious who took part in a life-changing encounter with God and the Church at the Ignite Youth Conference in Brisbane recently.

SVD AUS Province Vocations Director, Fr Yon Wiryono, who attended the event, said the conference, which reflected on the theme ‘Rise Up’ was “incredible and encouraging”.

Greetings from Nemi, Italy, where I am attending the 19^th General Chapter of the Society of the Divine Word.

With Fr Prakash Menezes SVD, I am representing the Australia Province at the General Chapter and working hard as part of the Chapter’s Steering Committee and as a small group facilitator. Fr Prakash was a part of the International Preparatory Committee which helped formulate the Instrumentum Laboris, or working document which guides the Chapter’s proceedings.

To borrow a joke from one of my favourite preachers Fr Bel San Luis, SVD, there was a young man who was praying to God. This was his prayer, “Lord, grant me the gift of patience … I want it NOW!!!” 

Most of us when we were children may have tried to figure out what would happen if we put a seed in a glass of water. At first, it seems nothing is happening, then maybe after a few days, the outer shell of the seed begins to crack, then slowly a little green sprout springs out of the seed until a little bud form and a green leaf slowly unravels.

Most of us would want to have an eventful day so that we may feel that our day has been productive for us. In the gospel for today, it is an eventful day for Mary and Joseph as they presented the infant Jesus at the temple.

A series of online academic presentations on the theme of ‘Mission and Dialogue Today’ which were hosted this year by the SVD Australia Province have been hailed a success with plans underway to do something similar in the future.

The Mission, Education and Research (MER) presentations ran from June to November and featured speakers from within the Province as well as overseas.

Fr Prakash Menezes SVD, who is currently serving as Parish Priest of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish in Alice Springs, has been appointed by Darwin Bishop Charles Gauci to be Vicar-General of the Diocese.

Fr Prakash, who is from India, completed his SVD formation at Melbourne’s Dorish Maru College and was ordained by the former Bishop of Darwin, Bishop Eugene Hurley, in 2014, before being assigned as a missionary to Central Australia.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. Today, we celebrate the 25th Sunday in ordinary time year A. Today's gospel is about the generosity of an employer who gives equal pay to workers. All workers were paid one denarius a day, even though they worked in different hours.

The Gospel on this 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time presents us with Jesus’ beautiful teaching on forgiveness and an encouragement for us to forgive one another, as God forgives all our wrongdoings.

As I walked through the heart of European cities Cologne, Brussels and Amsterdam, I saw so many gothic church buildings standing in the midst of high energy bustling crowds below.