One of the things that all Divine Word Missionaries have to do when we are assigned to a foreign country is to learn the local language. And in the process of acquiring the language skills, we progress from learning simple sentence structures using basic grammatical rules and easy vocabulary to practicing how to form more sophisticated sentences with more complex linguistic rules.

Each language system has its own unique characteristics and therefore requires a specific approach to learning it. Those of us who are assigned to Thailand usually start learning the language by memorizing basic patterns and common vocabulary that fit those patterns. For example, you can have a sentence like: “Thai food is delicious, but spicy.” Once you have mastered this pattern, you can make new sentences like: “Japanese food is delicious, but expensive.” Or “Bangkok is beautiful, but crowded.”

SVD Missionaries from across the AUS Province gathered together in Sydney for the Provincial Assembly and Chapter last week, affirming their commitment to the current missionary priorities and drawing deeper into wells of personal and community renewal.

Provincial, Fr Henry Adler SVD, says the Assembly and Chapter focused on the theme: ‘The love of Christ compels us: Rooted in the Word, Committed to Mission’.

Vocations to Religious life are not so common these days, but the newly appointed Vocations Promotion Coordinator of the SVD AUS Province says he’s convinced there are still plenty out there, and he is looking forward to the challenge of talking to people about their vocational possibilities.

Emmanuel Bautista, known as Manny, is the first lay person to take on the vocations role in the Province, a move that signals both a deepening desire for lay collaboration and the priority being given to looking at new ways of engaging in this ministry.

The Thailand-based SVD confreres had a surprise recently when the Governor of the Nong Bua Lamphu Province and staff from the Social Welfare Department paid a visit to the Mother of Perpetual Help AIDS Centre.

The Centre, located in Nong Bua Lamphu, in the North-East of Thailand, about 100km from the Mekong River on the Thai-Laos border, is an SVD ministry which works to make a difference in the life of people suffering from HIV/AIDS in the Northeast of Thailand.

The first Divine Word Missionary assigned to the new mission in Myanmar will arrive next month, to begin offering the Biblical formation that the SVD has been invited to provide in the south-east Asian nation.

Fr Jacob Kavunkal SVD will arrive in Myanmar in early March, and says he is looking forward to helping get the new mission underway.

Are we shaping mission, or is mission shaping us? That’s one of the excellent questions that we reflected on during our recent Provincial Assembly and Chapter.

In previous eras, missionaries such as us would have been seen to be heading off, Bible in hand, to shape mission in foreign lands. Now, we know that actually, it is the mission that is shaping us. It is being with the people, listening to them, learning from them.

As the New Year rolls on, we plan resolutions to make some changes in life over the coming year. Often times, we fail to persist with the promises we made and find that the resolutions just made have been broken. It’s hard to consistently persist with our resolutions, but it’s not impossible. Amidst all the hustle and bustle of life what we often forget to include in our life is ‘the God particle’ which can enthuse us when we fail and raise us when we fall.

When God intervenes in our life, something surprising happens and we are dumbfounded. Many of the Biblical stalwarts were the same - they sought the hand of God in their life and God surprised them. 

Fr Thuy Xuan Pham SVD celebrated nearly a quarter of a century in vows recently by taking a few months out and heading to Italy for a Renewal Course in which he says he sought to deepen his relationship with God, with the SVD, and with other people.

Fr Thuy was born and raised in Vietnam, but came to Australia to complete his formation as a Divine Word Missionary and took his vows in 1995 and was ordained here before being assigned to the AUS Province.

January has been a big month of prayer and thanksgiving at Divine Word Missionary communities throughout the AUS Province with the celebration of not one but two SVD saints’ feast days.

Both of the SVD saints, St Arnold Janssen and St Joseph Freinademetz, have their feast days in January, prompting SVD and SSpS communities to come together for special Eucharistic Celebrations and gatherings.

Final preparations are underway for the 2018 Provincial Assembly and Chapter for the SVD AUS Province, to be held in Sydney next month.

The Assembly will begin on February 19 and the Chapter will start on February 21 and both events will help set the missionary priorities of the Province for the coming years.