The year has begun in typical fast-paced fashion for us all, and we are just about to leave summer behind in most of the AUS Province and head into Autumn.

I quite like the fact that here in the south, Lent normally takes place in Autumn – a time when we see the leaves start to fall from the trees and we ponder the fact that they will return to the earth, from where they came.

Of course the flip-side of that is that Easter, that joyful season of new life also takes place in Autumn, rather than the Spring of the northern hemisphere. But even that is wonderful in its own way because it calls us to be people of hope, to have faith in the resurrection, even as nature begins to slumber around us.

As Christians and missionaries, we are of course always called to faith, hope and love. In his parting words for the Year of Consecrated Life, Pope Francis touched on this when addressed the religious of the world. He spoke of the three pillars of religious life: being prophetic, being near all people and having hope. Once again, he calls us to authenticity in the way we live our religious vows.

The SVD AUS Province is committed to living out all three of those values as we pursue our mission priorities.

To be prophetic means to be courageous in the world we live in; to be a voice for the voiceless and to call for, and to help make a reality, a more just society. In light of this, we join with so many others in our community who are seeking a more just and humane treatment of asylum seekers and refugees. There must be a better way than our current system of incarceration on Nauru, and we are committed to being a part of the conversation that seeks to find that better way. In recent years the SVD AUS Province has helped to house asylum seekers while their claims were processed. Our confreres in Europe and other places are doing the same and we will go on looking for ways to respond prophetically to this worldwide situation.

When Pope Francis speaks of being near all people, he gets to the heart of missionary life. As missionaries, we are called to really pitch our tent among the people we serve. That is, we live with them, get to know them, learn from them, and love them. Mission is a two way street, where we receive as much as we give, and often much more! It is hard to share the love of Christ if we don’t draw near to the people we are with and truly become a part of their lvies. Sometimes it takes years to achieve such nearness and it always takes a large dose of humility, but as SVDs we are convinced that being near people is a fundamental missionary need.

And finally, Pope Francis refers to hope as being one of the three pillars of religious life. Certainly this is true. But are these three characteristics reserved only for religious? I would say not. All Christians are called to be prophetic, to be near to people and to be people of hope.

This Lent, as we await the glorious feast of Easter and once again affirm the reality of the resurrection, maybe you can join me in taking some time out to ponder how we’re travelling when it comes to those three attributes. How can I be braver and more prophetic? How can I draw nearer to the people in my life, either at work or at home? And how can I live my life as a person of hope, knowing the firm foundation from where my hope springs and sharing that with others?

Yours in the Word,

Fr Henry Adler SVD

Provincial