This month we celebrated National Vocations Awareness Week here in Australia – an occasion which always prompts me to both give thanks and to pray just a little bit harder.

I give thanks for the fact that our formation house, Dorish Maru College, in Melbourne is quite literally full with young men training to be missionaries. It’s such a wonderful sign of hope for our Society and for the world.

These students come from all the corners of the globe to undertake their formation and studies with us in the AUS Province. They are a gift to us and a gift to the Church.

The challenge for us though, is that with the exception of the Thai District, our Province has had difficulty attracting candidates from within the Province itself. It’s this situation that prompts me to pray just a little bit harder.

Australia is a heavily secular society, with the Census showing us that fewer people are identifying with a Religion. Families have become smaller over recent decades and both career and travel options have opened up for young people in ways never dreamt of previously. Young people are growing up in an era when commitment for life, whether to a job, marriage or religious life, is simply not on their radar.

And yet, I believe there are still young people who feel the stirring of the Holy Spirit in their heart, calling them to religious life. Perhaps it’s our job to provide the space, the quiet to hear the call and then the encouragement to act on it.

Life as a missionary has lots to offer – adventure, travel, challenge, the ability to make a difference – but at its heart it is less about what’s on offer and more about personal offering. In a world in which everything is on offer, Jesus reminds us that, “whoever loses his life for my sake, will find it” (Matthew 10:39).

Our young seminarians at Dorish Maru come from different countries and different cultures, but they are a joyful testament to the fact that Jesus still calls young hearts to follow him in religious life and those young hearts are still answering ‘Yes’.

Their presence amongst us is a powerful reminder that God is still at work in our world, and through them, God is present in a special way in our Province. May their example and their joyful living of the Gospel be a beacon of light in our community.

Please join me in praying for our seminarians and praying that other young men will be inspired to join them in a life of love and service to Christ’s Mission.

Yours in the Word,

Fr Henry Adler SVD

Provincial Superior

PHOTO: Dorish Maru College students gathered together earlier this year.