A pastoral visitation to Thailand and Myanmar highlighted once again the inspirational work being done by SVD missionaries in those places, said Provincial, Fr Asaeli Rass SVD.

Both Thailand and Myanmar are part of the SVD Australia Province and both districts are experiencing their own joys and challenges in mission.

SVD members who have been ordained or ministering in Australia for fewer than five years gathered in Townsville recently for a week of ongoing formation and fellowship.

The confreres, who come from all around the world, and are assigned to various parts of the country, gathered over the first week of April and said they returned to their respective parishes happy, refreshed and re-energised.

Fr Kevin Cantwell SVD, who recently celebrated 65 years as a priest, says his vocation came to him as a bolt out of the blue, and once received, it never wavered, giving him a lifelong sense of certainty which he believes “must have been a matter of grace”.

“My vocation was solid from the moment I received it. It came to me one morning in just a minute or two. I didn’t think about it or weigh up the pros and cons or anything like that. I had no hesitation about it,” he said.

For each of us, this has been a unique experience of Lent and Holy Week, reflects Fr Asaeli Rass SVD.

When I arrived in Myanmar few days ago, much of the suburbs of Yangon were still in darkness and reports of ongoing armed conflict in northern Shan, Rakhine and Kachin are adding uncertainty about the future of this beautiful country.  I too am conscious of what’s happening in Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, and science has not completely eradicated COVID-19. It is shocking to think how much the world has changed in such a brief time. Now we enter all of this, into the epic stories of the Paschal Triduum.

An international gathering of SVD Lay Partners in Italy was an “inspirational and transformative” event for Helen Festejo, who represented the Australia Province.

“It was very enriching,” Helen said of the meeting which took place in Centro Ad Gentes, Nemi, outside of Rome, from mid-February to early March.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. From today we enter Holy Week. The first part of today's Mass is the celebration of Palm Sunday, where we celebrate the event of Jesus being welcomed as a King in Jerusalem.

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.

Today’s Gospel passage is a part of the dialogue of Jesus with Nicodemus, a Jewish Pharisee and religious leader, who had come to Jesus expressing a sincere belief from his very heart.

The Divine Word Missionaries in the Indian state of Odisha are running a range of projects to support people living in the marginalised slum communities and to give them the education, skills, motivation, leadership animation, and financial assistance to help lift them out of poverty, reports Society Matters mission magazine.

Fr Rasal Xess SVD, the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Coordinator for the SVD India East Province (INE) said the urban poverty is characterised by exclusion, including inadequate and insecure housing and basic services, limited access to services like health, nutrition and water sanitation.