In his Lenten Message for 2024, Pope Francis recalls that Lent "is a season of conversion, a time of freedom" because "God does not want subjects, but sons and daughters" and, citing the Book of Exodus, he emphasises that the Word of God addresses each one of us personally today: "I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery".
Along these lines, the Holy Father emphasises that "it is time to act, and in Lent to act also means to pause, to pause in prayer, in order to receive the word of God, to pause like the Samaritan in the presence of a wounded brother or sister" because "love of God and love of neighbour are one love".
The Presentation Parish in Thailand celebrated its feast day recently with a special Mass and shared meal attended by the local bishop, parishioners and villagers, including people from other faiths.
The parish is situated on the banks of the Mekong River between the Thai-Laos borders and the villagers came together to decorate the church beautifully for the celebration and prepare special food to share together afterwards.
Members of the Divine Word Missionaries who are serving in the Good Shepherd Parish, Kirwan, in Townsville recently celebrated SVD Mission Weekend with parishioners.
The Mission Weekend also marked the postponed feast day celebrations of SVD founder, St Arnold Janssen.
Lent really crept up on us this year, didn’t it? It felt like we were no sooner waving a wistful farewell to the Christmas season when Ash Wednesday was upon us.
Now, we are well and truly in the midst of our Lenten journey – a journey that will take us all the way to Calvary and then, to the glory of Easter.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. Today we enter the second week of Lent. Today's Gospel shows us the transfiguration of Jesus. Literally, transfiguration means a change of face.
Temptations are a regular part of our lives. When I was still living in Macquarie Fields, five days a week, I would go out in the morning and take an hour’s walk. Basically that was my exercise for the day.
Today, our Mother Church continues to remind us that Jesus is a compassionate and loving God to all who approach Him with open minds and hearts.
There’s a saying: “A good start is a job half done.” On this first day of Jesus’ public ministry this is not just a good start but also a rousing start.
Two SVD members from the Australia Province have recently returned from Europe where they took part in a Renewal Course which helped them re-charge their missionary batteries and return back to their ministry refreshed and re-invigorated.
Fr Viet Nguyen SVD, who is the Mission Secretary for the SVD AUS Province, travelled to Steyl in the Netherlands and Nemi, outside of Rome for the course, along with Fr John Quang SVD, who had been serving in a New Zealand parish.
Happy New Year! In this, our first edition of In the Word for 2024, I pray that the year ahead will be filled with God’s blessings for you.
Each new year begins with such promise. Perhaps you made a raft of resolutions, but as we reach the end of January they are starting to slip away. Fear not. At times like this, I am reminded of Mother Teresa’s words: God doesn’t require us to be successful, only faithful.
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